The Drop In CEO

This week Grant Anderson shares how his experience working in aeronautics helped him learn the foundations of innovative leadership. Listen in as Deborah and Grant discuss how college impacted his leadership skills inside and outside the classroom, why having a mentor is necessary for individual growth, and simple strategies you can implement today to increase open communication with your team.

Mr. Anderson co-founded Paragon in 1993. From the time of the company’s inception until fall 2014, he was the VP of Engineering and Chief Engineer. He was responsible for the design and implementation of not only many of Paragon’s technical achievements, but also its processes of engineering innovation in a stepped approach of requirements, design, build, test and delivery. This process has been cited by many customers as unique, disciplined and highly productive. As his background includes not only technical but financial and managerial training as well, he has held diverse positions at Paragon including Treasurer/Secretary, CFO, Sr. VP of Operations, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Manufacturing.

A sought-after speaker, he is recognized as a leader in the life support in extreme environments field, Mr. Anderson has led the systems and conceptual design of multiple spacecraft under contract to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Space X, NASA, Inspiration Mars Foundation and others. Prior to launching Paragon, Mr. Anderson was the design lead at Lockheed Martin for the International Space Station Solar Array Panels.

Mr. Anderson holds two degrees from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.) and Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (M.S.) and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of California.

You can connect with Grant in the following ways:

Website: www.paragonsdc.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paragonsdc/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParagonSDC
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQEzDQyp66cf2vaMTZvzzDA

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Deborah shares her end of year reflections and encourages you to focus on the three metrics that matter most when creating a plan for the year ahead. Listen in as she discusses how to adapt your goals throughout the year, how to let go of goals that no longer serve you, and the importance of focusing on True North when looking at results.

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode Hersh Rephun shares the importance of focusing on empathy, humor, and truth when creating a memorable message. Listen in as Deborah and Hersh discuss how improvisational humor relates to branding, finding your core message, and how Hersh helped Bear Paw create an accessible message that scaled customer relationships and revenue in the billions.

With dual chops in comedy and advertising, Hersh Rephun has enjoyed an eclectic career spanning two decades as a writer / brand storyteller, and as a standup comedian playing gigs across the country.

Hersh often uses humor to humanize brands. Empathy and accessibility are the hallmarks of his work. Above all, as a brand storyteller, Hersh operates on one simple principle: sell the truth.

His clients include changemakers, market leaders, agencies, institutions, production companies, and Oscar-winning filmmakers.

Host of the YES, BRAND and Truth Tastes Funny podcasts, Hersh has toured the country performing in venues such as The Comedy Store, StandUp NY, Comic Strip Live, Funny Bone, and The Ice House.

He’s guided clients and colleagues in a host of social action campaigns. In 2021, he and Isack Fadlon formally launched KOSHER, a streetwear brand committed to goodwill, inclusion, and equity.

You can connect with Hersh in the following ways:

Website: www.getmessagetherapy.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hershrephun/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hersh4all/

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

: On today’s episode Gary Kooper shares the importance of empowering employees to embrace their passion and create more leaders within organizations. Listen in as Deborah and Gary discuss strategies for motivating your team, the importance of family support, and how three decades in the leadership experience inspired him to create an academy for future leaders.

Gary Kooper is a proven and skilled Leader, Trainer, Coach, Mentor, Speaker, and Author.

He has spent his professional career in the Industrial and Consumer packaging industry leading multiple world class business functions and teams for one of the largest packaging companies in the world. Throughout his tenure Gary and his teams were able to bring about world class operational improvements as well as meet the needs of the most demanding consumer and industrial packaging organizations in the world.

His determination to achieve business results through process discipline and the pursuit of excellence would earn him Director roles leading some of the most talented manufacturing leaders in the industry. Gary’s various roles provided him the opportunity to travel the globe spending time in 180 factories, training, developing, and building his teams. Through this experience Gary has learned that leaders who engage, inspire, and build trust have the biggest impact on the most important individuals of any organization…. The Front Line.

Gary has utilized his leadership experience, operational experience, mentoring experience, and coaching experience, to help shape and influence many individuals and teams professionally and outside his organization. Gary led his team to historic performance during the pandemic despite extreme supply chain challenges, including labor and material shortages. Did it by creating a culture of creative problem solving, agility, and most of all teamwork, utilizing everyone’s talents.

The foundation of his message is “It’s Up To Me I Can Make a Difference” and it’s through his company, Kooper Leadership Academy, and its mission – “To engage the hearts and minds of individuals, empowering them to consider the value they bring to themselves and others on a daily basis” that he is creating and developing more leaders to help individuals, communities, and organizations become the best they can be.

Gary has been married for 29 years, has 4 children, 1 granddaughter, and his life’s philosophy is “Every day is a great day some are just better than others”

You can connect with Gary in the following ways:

Instagram:  @kooper_leadership_academy

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-kooper-689b3733/

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode Michael Bourque shares how his passion for technology and engineering created an opportunity to teach others while facilitating his passion for leadership and building successful projects. Listen in as Deborah and Michael discuss how to identify an opportunity, asking the right questions, and influencing leadership to listen to your ideas. Michael also shares his best advice for creating a community within a team, and working toward a unified goal.

About Michael Bourque:

Michael is an inventor from Boston with more than 36 years of manufacturing experience on a mission to bring bold ideas to market. He has a vast background from industrial design through manufacturing and automation. Michael has a keen eye for quality, design, and user experience by being engaged at every stage in the process. No matter if its hardware, software, or both, he can help exceed expectations and advance the state of art.

You can connect with Michael via Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbourque/

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode Deborah breaks down the key questions you should ask yourself when assessing your needs and finding the right people to accomplish your goals. Listen in as Deborah discusses understanding the roles you need, the skills needed to lead a team, and how to find the confidence to embrace leadership.

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode David Wood shares the impact of difficult conversations on leaders and simple strategies we can utilize to create a greater impact. Listen in as Deborah and David discuss why we’re conditioned to hide information, the benefits (and downsides) of having no filter, and how to navigate a conversation with the outcome in mind.

About David Wood:

After life as a consulting actuary to Fortune 100 Companies, David built the world’s largest coaching business, becoming #1 on Google for “life coaching”.

He believes the tough conversations we avoid are our doorways to confidence, success and even love - in both work and life. David coaches high performing entrepreneurs, executives and teams - and even prison inmates - to amazing results AND connection. One conversation at a time.

You can connect with David in the following ways:

Website: https://mouseintheroom.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/focus-ceo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ExtraordinaryFocuswithDavidWood
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_focusceo/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_focusceo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/extraordinaryfocus

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode burnout expert Cait Donovan shares insights into the personal boundaries and past experiences that set us up for burnout and how to move forward with purpose. Listen in as Deborah and Cait discuss assessing emotions, creating stronger boundaries, and dealing with resentment in a healthy way.

Cait Donovan is a Keynote speaker, one of New York City’s leading burnout experts, host of “Fried – The Burnout Podcast,” author of the book "The Bouncebackability Factor", and an acupuncturist with a master’s degree in Chinese medicine. Her creative burnout recovery solutions have been featured on podcasts and online magazines such as “Forbes”, “NPR,” and “The New York Post” and in companies such as Lululemon and Pepsico.

You can connect with Cait in the following ways:

Website: https://www.caitdonovan.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/cait_donovan
Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/caitdonovan

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s episode is made for the executive working through a challenging transition. Albana Vrioni shares how her childhood growing up in Albania under dictatorship inspired her to help others navigate challenges and stay passionate in the face of change. Listen in as Deborah and Albana discuss why teams resist change, how to handle tough transitions, and how generative leadership works in a corporate setting.

Albana Vrioni is an Executive and Business Coach specializing in mission-critical transitions, and challenging situations. Her flagship program, Leading for future shaping, is conceived to support business leaders to succeed in transforming their businesses for sustainable growth on multiple bottom lines. She use a generative change process elevating generative intelligence and helping create a conscious leader in each game changer.

Albana has accomplished an executive education at MIT on Digital Business Strategy, holds the Professional Certified Coach accreditation of ICF, and works with best-in-class leadership development coaching processes. Among the first 250 coaches worldwide certified in Conversational Intelligence, Albana holds an MBA from Solvay Business School, where she specialized in Strategy, an MSc in International Marketing & Strategy, and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering, where she specialized in Industrial Systems.

You can connect with Albana via Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/albanavrioni/

Learn more about Change Crowdsourcing: https://youtu.be/lX8sMFWJDcQ

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Navigating conflict and hard conversations is a fine art in the C-Suite. Today Deborah breaks down the core strategy every executive needs to know when conflict arises within the team and why disagreements can actually be an opportunity for better understanding. Listen in as Deborah shares the framework for asking questions during conflict, how to have empathy in tough situations, and why seeking clarity of the outcome you want to achieve is critical for breaking tension and finding alignment.

Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.