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What if business growth has less to do with pushing harder and more to do with alignment?

In this episode of Outside Insights, Chris Burkhard sits down with Philippe Bouissou, a physicist turned business leader who worked at Apple under Steve Jobs and went on to study why some companies grow while others stall.

Philippe shares his approach to understanding growth through the lens of alignment, particularly the connection between what a company offers and what the market actually wants.

Chris and Philippe explore why companies can do many things right and still struggle to grow, what leaders often misunderstand about their market, and how identifying areas of misalignment can create a clearer path forward.

They also talk about the importance of authentic relationships and why sustainable growth is about more than simply pushing harder.

If you've ever looked at a business and thought, “We should be growing faster than this,” this conversation offers a different place to look for the answer.

Choose how you want to tune in:

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What if we have the job search completely backward?

We are taught that companies do the hiring. Bobby Moesta sees it differently:

“Employees hire companies more than companies hire employees.”

In this episode of Outside Insights, Chris Burkhard sits down with Bobby Moesta, co-creator of the Jobs to Be Done framework and co-author of Job Moves: Nine Steps for Making Progress in Your Career.

Drawing on research into more than 1,000 career transitions, Bobby shares a different way to think about career progress. He and Chris explore the four career “quests,” how to identify what gives you energy and what drains it, why every career decision involves trade-offs, and how to better understand what you're actually looking for before making your next move.

They also dig into a bigger idea: the best person to manage your career is you.

Whether you're actively considering a career change or simply wondering what your next chapter could look like, this conversation offers a fresh way to think about what's next.

Choose how you want to tune in:

🎧 Listen to the episode
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Connect with Bobby Moesta

Explore Job Moves: Nine Steps for Making Progress in Your Career

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"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." We have all heard the phrase popularized by Mark Fields, but if your team engagement is dragging, turnover is high, or your daily meetings feel like a waste of time, it is time for a harsh reality check.

In Episode 77 of Outside Insights, host Chris Burkhard sits down with multi-time entrepreneur, speaker, and best-selling author of Worth Doing Wrong, Arnie Malham. Returning to the show five years after his first appearance on our Culture Reflects Leadership episode, Arnie delivers an unfiltered masterclass on why your company culture is a direct reflection of your leadership, good, bad, or indifferent.

Chris and Arnie dive into the exact tactical playbook to stop pushing your team and start leading them, including:

• The Mirror Test: Why you need to stop blaming clients, employees, or your industry and look directly at your own leadership style.
• Bottom-Up Culture: How to stop trying to be the single "rah-rah" person and successfully delegate culture projects to champions lower on your org chart.
• Fixing Broken Huddles: Why generic updates like "doing calls and meetings" kill productivity, and how to bring brutal specificity back to daily huddles.
• Toxic Superstars: How to handle the high-performing, high-billing employee who refuses to align with your values.
• Continuous Growth: Why reading must be built into your leadership habit and how books accelerate your pattern recognition.

Stop waiting to focus on culture "when you make money." Hit play to learn how fixing your culture is exactly how the money gets made.

📚 Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Featured Guest Book: Worth Doing Wrong: The Quest That Builds a Culture That Rocks by Arnie Malham
• Culture & Reading Platform: The Better Book Club (founded by Arnie Malham)
• Leadership Primer: The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
• Classic on Hiring: Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
• Classic on Meetings: Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni
• New Release Feature: What to Make of a Life by Jim Collins
• Connect with Arnie: Explore his speaking and consulting work at worthdoingwrong.com
  
  
  

If this episode made you a little uncomfortable or gave you practical ideas to take back to your team, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this with a leader who needs to hear it!

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What happens when you mix punk rock, hip-hop, and a relentless pursuit of culinary-centric brewing? You get Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

In this episode of Outside Insights, host Chris Burkhard sits down with founder Sam Calagione to unpack his 30-year journey of entrepreneurial bliss. From rewriting Delaware state laws at 24 years old just to open his doors, to orchestrating legendary collaborations with the Grateful Dead and Patagonia, Sam reveals how treating a business like a band can create an exponentially powerful culture.

Chris and Sam dive deep into the real-world definition of partnership, the humility required to hand off parts of your business, and Miles Davis’s ultimate advice on finding your industry's "white space." Grab a cold one and tune in to learn how educating the head, heart, and hand can help you close your personal and professional gaps.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The transition from a tiny 11-gallon system to a top 20 national craft brand.
• Why hospitality is the ultimate foundation for future entrepreneurs.
• The 10-year relationship that led to merging with Boston Beer Company.
• Sam’s obsessive "60-minute" rule for earning his beer calories.
• The hilarious "beer-infused bratwurst" mistake that delayed their canning line.

Resources Mentioned:

• "Let My People Go Surfing" (Book by Yvon Chouinard)
• "Extreme Brewing" (Book by Sam Calagione)
• "On A Back Porch" (Vinyl collaboration with David Lemieux)

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This week on Outside Insights, I sit down with Logan Herring, the CEO of The WRK Group, to talk about how he has spent the last decade completely transforming community revitalization in Wilmington, Delaware.

Logan challenges the traditional nonprofit model, arguing that social impact organizations should be run with the exact same professional infrastructure and financial discipline as top for-profit corporations. From turning around a failing community center to spearheading a massive 800-unit mixed-income housing development, Logan shares his exact blueprint for scaling with purpose.

In this conversation, we get into:

• Why the nonprofit label is an operational disadvantage for social change.
• How to build a high-performance culture that balances deep passion with absolute professionalism.
• The strategy behind hiring for tomorrow instead of playing catch-up today.
• Mental Health Mondays and sustaining executive leadership at a high pace.
• The upcoming Purpose Built Communities Conference in Wilmington.

Connect with Logan: theworkgroup.org

 Books Mentioned

• JUMP: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom by Steve Perry and Rocco Staino (Foreword by Logan Herring)

P.S. Logan challenges every leader to practice the power of proximity. Urgency does not come from a corporate boardroom; it comes from being close to the people you serve.

If this conversation resonates, forward it to a friend or colleague. Insight is meant to be shared.

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We’ve made mental health really hard at work. In this episode, Chris Burkhard sits down with Stephanie Lemek, founder of The Wounded Workforce, to simplify the conversation.

Stephanie translates complex psychological concepts into actionable leadership tools. We discuss:

• Why accountability is a mental health tool.
• The "Three E's" of trauma and how they show up at work.
• How to use "Choice" to empower your team.
• Practical resources like 2-1-1 and EAPs.

Connect with Stephanie: www.thewoundedworkforce.com 

Recommended Books: The Good Life (Dr. Robert Waldinger) and What Happened to You? (Oprah Winfrey & Dr. Bruce Perry).

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"I’m an overnight success 30 years in the making."

For 40 years, Tracy Davidson was the face of Philadelphia news. But behind the anchor desk, she was quietly developing a toolkit for resilience and intentional living. Today, she’s stepping away from the screen to help you navigate your own ups and downs.

In this episode, we dive into:

• The "Rubber Band" Theory: Why we feel stretched to the max and how to bring the tension back in.
• The Time Audit: A practical way to stop lying to yourself about how you spend your day.
• Radical Agency: Why Viktor Frankl’s principles are the ultimate antidote to feeling "stuck."
• Temporary Incompetence: Why being a beginner again is the secret to stoking your curiosity.
• Practical Stillness: Simple, "at the red light" practices to keep your faith and intentions front-and-center.

Whether you're a leader battling burnout or just looking for a more purposeful way to show up for your family and yourself, Tracy’s wisdom on realistic optimism and quiet confidence will change how you view your day.

Books mentioned:

• Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl
• Stillness Is the Key — Ryan Holiday
• Alone Together — Sherry Turkle
• The Second Mountain — David Brooks

Connect with Tracy:

• Website: tracydavidson.com
• Personal Development: liftingyourvoice.com

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Grant Otto on what 1,000 feet underwater can teach us about career purpose and the power of "waiting."

“The biggest ‘career moves’ don’t start with a resume; they start with curiosity.”

I recently sat down with Grant Otto, a marine scientist and researcher specializing in marine robotics. If that sounds like a job from a movie, that’s because it almost is, complete with stories of underwater ROVs getting tangled 1,000 feet down and “wet storage” missions to recover equipment worth more than a house.

But Grant didn’t come on Outside Insights just to talk about how cool the tech is (though it is very cool). He came because he’s on a mission: he’s trying to get more talented people to care about the ocean.

Three Lessons from the Deep

1. We need more than just “Turtle Lovers.” Most people get hooked on marine science by watching National Geographic. But to solve the massive challenges facing our oceans, warming waters, and rising acidity, Grant argues we need more than just biology fans. To build a “Blue Economy,” we need:

• Engineers and Builders to design resilient tech.
• Artists and Communicators to tell the story of our changing coastlines.
• Problem Solvers who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty (or wet).

2. The Power of the Cold Email Grant’s career didn’t start with a recruiter; it started with a cold email. While studying mechanical engineering, he realized he loved robotics and surfing. He asked a simple question: “What about marine robotics?” That curiosity turned into a Master’s degree and a career with deep purpose.

3. Surfing as Leadership Meditation We dove into the difference between work that “funds your life” and work that “defines you.” Grant shared a powerful perspective on surfing, describing as 80–90% waiting.

For leaders who feel like they are constantly “pushing through,” Grant’s advice is a necessary pivot: Sometimes leadership isn’t about pushing harder; it’s about knowing when to get quiet enough to hear the right wave.

Try This This Week

Take five minutes of “waiting” time today, no phone, no music, no noise. Just observe. Like Grant waiting for a wave, use that quiet space to remember your “why.”

🎧 Listen Now

Watch on YouTube | Listen on Buzzsprout

Connect with Grant:

• Sea Saturated Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Until next time,

Chris

P.S. You may notice a few small audio/video glitches in this episode. We had some technical issues during the recording. We debated re-recording it, but the conversation was too good (and too valuable) to lose. Thanks for sticking with it.

If this conversation resonates, forward it to a friend or colleague. Insight is meant to be shared. Quick reviews on your listening app go a long way, too.

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A conversation with community banker Marc Pelletier on trust, credit, and how entrepreneurs can walk into the bank with confidence

Most entrepreneurs would rather go to the doctor than go meet a banker.

So I brought on my first banker, and an old friend, Marc Pelletier to talk about what entrepreneurs actually need to know about banks, credit, and building trust.

In this episode:

• How banking has changed since 2001
• What banks look for (and why)
• Community banking explained
• Banker vs. investor
• Finding the right fit (yes, banks have personalities)

Marc Pelletier: https://www.meridianbanker.com/people/marc/

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Why slowing down, listening better, and taking the long way still matters

I sat down with Jeff Ton expecting a conversation about leadership and history. What I didn’t expect was how much we’d end up talking about attention, where we place it, how rarely we slow down, and what happens when we actually do.

Jeff calls himself a “hippie coder turned CIO,” and that range alone tells you he’s lived in very different worlds. Over time, his love of leadership and fascination with Lewis and Clark merged into something more personal, eventually culminating in a book he’s finishing now called Uncharted Moments. It’s not out yet, but after reading an early version and talking with Jeff, I can tell you this isn’t a typical history story.

Leadership Without A Clear Map

One idea we kept coming back to was uncertainty. Jeff reminded me that Lewis and Clark carried a map that labeled most of the western territory as “conjectural.” Unknown. That didn’t stop them from moving forward, but it did require vision, trust, and adaptability.

That challenge feels familiar today. Leading without perfect information isn’t a new problem, but it’s one we often forget has been solved before, by people who understood the value of relationships and shared purpose.

Listening Changes The Story

One of the most compelling parts of our conversation was about listening. Jeff talks about how his understanding of the expedition shifted when he stopped seeing it as a story of discovery and began to see it as a story of relationships, especially with Indigenous tribes who already knew the land.

That shift didn’t just change how he understood history. It changed how he approached leadership, learning, and even his own marriage.

Uncharted Moments

Jeff uses the phrase “uncharted moments” to describe the experiences you can’t plan for, the ones that don’t announce themselves as important until much later. They’re the moments you only notice if you’re willing to slow down, take the side road, or stay curious a little longer than usual.

It’s a simple idea, but one we don’t practice often enough.

Where Are You In The River?

Jeff shared a metaphor that I think many leaders will recognize. Imagine your team in a river, navigating the current every day. Sometimes you need to be in the water with them. Sometimes you need to be on the bank helping them find a way through. And sometimes you need to step back far enough to see the whole valley.

Leadership isn’t about picking one role. It’s about knowing when to shift.

Try This Week

Take five quiet minutes and ask yourself:

• Where am I rushing past something worth noticing?
• Where do I need to listen more rather than pushing ahead?
• Where am I in the river right now, and where does my team need me to be?

Listen To The Episode

Jeff’s book Uncharted Moments isn’t out yet, and we’ll share more when it’s released. For now, the conversation and Jeff’s website are a great place to start.

👉 Watch the full episode of Outside Insights with Jeff Ton

👉 Visit Jeff’s website to sign up for his free newsletter and to learn more about his book.

Until next time, friends,
Chris

If this conversation resonates, forward it to a friend or colleague. Insight is meant to be shared. Quick reviews on your listening app go a long way, too.