Ben Cook is a hands on, people focused leader and board member with senior leadership roles at six Fortune 150 companies including Apple, The Home Depot, Kimberly-Clark and two startup cannabis ventures. He is currently the Chief Supply Chain officer for Spreetail and has over 20 years of leadership experience with a focus on leading startups, driving turnaround efforts, scaling revenue, invest to grow and global expansion.

In this conversation, Ben and I discuss how to know yourself in order to lead others, and how to grow and evolve into an executive leader.

Find out more about Ben on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cookben/

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Ben’s passion and focus is on helping to shape strong values-based cultures where high performing teams master change and execute the vision for the next phase of the company’s life. Ben has served on the Board of Advisors for several startup companies, the Auburn University College of Business and the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute.

He is also a US Army Special Operations veteran and is an avid outdoorsman and adventurer who can be frequently found hiking and camping the in Colorado wilderness.

Ben is an avid learner who holds a BS in International Business from Auburn University, an MBA with a focus on Supply Chain Management from the University of Tennessee and multiple leadership and coaching certifications from The Wharton School, Harvard Business School and the Center for Creative Leadership.

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Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Rodney Bullard is the Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility for Chick-fil-A, Inc., Executive Director of the Chick-fil-A Foundation, and the author of Heroes Wanted: Why the World Needs You to Live Your Heart Out.  He leads the Chick-fil-A, Inc. in their community engagement, philanthropic efforts and the sustainability strategy. 

Before beginning with Chick-fil-A, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting difficult criminal cases.  Due to his work, he was awarded by the United States Attorney General with the Department of Justice Director’s Award.  He’s been selected as a White House Fellow, which is the nation’s highest public service Fellowship.  As a Fellow, he was placed at NASA working for the NASA Administrator.  He is an alumnus of the Air Force Academy, Duke Law School, the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. 

In this episode, Rodney Bullard and I discuss the importance of being your own hero, for yourself and the world, the importance of followers if you want to be a leader, and the concept of fulfillment.

Learn more and connect with Rodney at the following links:

LinkedIn

Heroes Wanted: Why the World Needs You to Live Your Heart Out

Instagram

Twitter

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Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Andrew is an executive and board leader with a deep understanding of technology, innovation, and complex systems. As a physicist, program manager, and officer in the USAF he applied systems thinking to the full technology stack of command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I) systems in airborne and space-based platforms. He has used that same approach across a broad array of industries and products to create value and sustainable superior performance.

Over his career, his experiences in developing teams and implementing strategies have enabled innovation, growth, and profitability improvements in aerospace, commercial electronics, fast-moving consumer goods, and industrial sensors and safety products. He is an NACD Certified Director with experiences on Fortune 500 wholly owned subsidiaries, start-ups, private, and non-profit boards.

He currently serves as Chairman and CEO for RealWear, and as a board member on the Finance Committee for the Rogers Group. RealWear is building the world’s first voice-driven and fully ruggedized head-mounted tablet solution for connected industrial workers. It is the only wearable computer that has an inherently safe ATEX Zone-1 certified product for use in hazardous environments such as oil and gas production and chemical processing. RealWear’s approach to augmented and assisted reality solutions is transforming how work is performed by addressing key challenges in workforce training, safety, and productivity with IoT data visualization, remote mentoring, and workflow applications.

In this conversation, Andrew and I discuss the true meaning of leadership, the power of solitude, and how your strengths can become your weaknesses.

Connect with Andrew on Twitter - andrewchros and LinkedIn - /in/andrewchrostowski

Book suggestions included; Team of Teams, Out of the Crisis, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and anything by Simon Sinek

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Prior to his current role, Andrew served briefly as COO, chaired the Advisory Board for RealWear, and was a member of the Audit Committee. The Rogers Group Inc. provides crushed stone, sand and gravel, asphalt and highway construction to the southeastern United States. In 2014, the company was ranked as the eighth largest aggregates producer in the nation (Aggregates Manager, July 2015). For the past several years, has remained the largest privately owned company in the aggregates industry.

Additionally, Andrew consults and advises on issues of technology development, innovation,  productivity, operations, cybersecurity, and digital strategies.

Other roles included increasingly responsible positions in general management, operations, quality, compliance, and information systems with industry-leading companies such as Johnson Controls, Tyco, United Technologies, Goodrich, Energizer, Pfizer, Warner-Lambert, and Hitachi.

He holds two undergraduate degrees in Engineering Physics from Oregon State University’s Honor Program where he was a distinguished graduate of Air Force ROTC. He has a Master’s Degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California and later completed a certificate of professional development at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He is a founding member, Faculty Instructor, Board Advisor and Qualified Technology Executive of the Digital Directors Network, the only curated global network of digital executives, directors and organizations working together to improve digital competence and diversity in the corporate boardroom to shape and secure the digital future for everyone

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Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Emily Buckley is a COO at Cliff’s Climbing + Fitness, a CrossFit Games Athlete, and an outdoor enthusiast. She has over a decade of multi-unit experience across a broad spectrum of fitness modalities. From Kickboxing, to CrossFit, to Rock Climbing, she's done it all: mopping floors, instructing classes, managing teams across multiple units, and currently running the operations of a multi-million dollar company.

As a true believer in having a growth mindset, Emily is currently enrolled in Harvard Business School's Executive Education for High Potential Leaders. Her unique path to the executive suite is not for the faint of heart, and her relentless determination is what she credits for making it there.

In this conversation, Emily and I discuss how to bushwhack a path to leadership in the fitness industry, how to earn trust as a leader when you are brand new to a space, and so much more.

Learn more about Emily on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilybuckley2/

Discover more:

Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Jason Scharf is an experienced strategy executive and active angel investor in the life science and digital health sectors. For the past 15 years, he has built and led teams in strategic planning, market intelligence, and innovation. Today he is the Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships for Kean Health a direct to consumer at home genomic and microbiome testing company.

Connect with Jason on LinkedIn and make sure to check out Kean Health.

In this conversation, Jason and I discuss the importance of being data driven, finding and setting your north star, and how the best idea wins.

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Prior to his role at Kean, he has worked across the healthcare sector at biopharma, genomics, and medtech companies including Illumina, Becton Dickinson, and Amgen. In addition to his roles within the corporate environment, Jason has served as a co-fund manager of the San Diego Angel Conference, an investor with Tech Coast Angels, and a mentor with the NexCubed Digital Health Accelerator. He has invested in ~40 emerging companies from Seed stage to Series B focusing on the convergence of technology and biology. He is also the creator and co-host of the Austin Next Podcast. An exploration of Austin’s transformation into the next great innovation powerhouse, what it takes to accelerate the growth of an ecosystem, and what comes next. Jason Scharf earned his BA from University of California, San Diego and his MBA from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

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Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Tanu Grewal is a global brand builder and strategic marketer with over 15 years of experience working in mature and emerging markets like US, EMEA and India with companies in the CPG, durables, luxury and hospitality industries. She is passionate about using brand purpose to help drive innovation and marketing that creates real value and emotional engagement with consumers. 

In this conversation, Tanu and I discuss how leadership truly comes down to trust, and that provides the power to motivate and influence others toward their success as well as the organizations.

Connect with Tanu on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanugrewal

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Tanu is currently the Vice President Marketing & Innovation at AlEn USA, a growth stage division of the global ALEN Group. Some of her top achievements at ALEN have been the launch of a natural, green cleaning brand called ‘Art of Green’, building a world-class marketing team and enterprise wide organization capabilities. Prior to this, Tanu has worked on iconic brands like Kohler, Maytag and Whirlpool where she elevated commodity categories to lifestyle brands through a combination of award-winning product design, disruptive innovation and experiential marketing. 

Starting her career with Whirlpool North America, Tanu held a variety of marketing and product development positions over 8 years including an expat stint in Italy. Tanu holds a MBA degree from Rice University in Houston.

Outside of work, Tanu is passionate about creating communities that enable people to thrive. Currently, she serves on the International Student Advisory Board at Rice University and as a board member for the South Asian Women's Professional Network.

As a public speaker, Tanu’s topics include launching and scaling a challenger brand and standing out in a crowded market through creative marketing. As an Indian woman, living in the US and working for a Mexican company (AlEn), she also speaks on navigating multicultural work and market landscapes. Tanu has been been interviewed by Forbes and delivered the keynote address for Coke FEMSA's Annual D&I conference in Mexico City, Women’s Masters Network’s Annual Meetup 2020 and the Houston AMA's Quarterly Luncheon. 

An avid traveler and consummate foodie, Tanu lives in Houston with her husband and son.

Discover more:

Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Jake Dunlap, CEO and Founder of Skaled Consulting, is an industry influencer and C-Level Sales leader with more than a decade of experience. Jake has developed and led high-performing sales and operational functions for Fortune 500, Global 2000, and start-up organizations. Jake and the team at Skaled specialize in building out repeatable, sustainable processes.

As a thought-leader with more than 22,000 followers across his platforms, Jake's audience gains valuable insights into scaling an organization, sales best practices, and general career motivation.

Prior to Skaled, Jake was the first sales hire and VP of Sales at Glassdoor which was acquired by Recruit Holdings for $1.2Billion in 2018.

In this conversation, Jake and I discuss how to become a dangerous leader and the balance between micro-managing, coaching, and throwing associates into the deep end.

Follow Jake on LinkedIn and make sure to listen to his podcast, The Jake Dunlap Show

Discover more:

Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Pete Maldonado, CEO and co-founder of CHOMPS is a natural entrepreneur. Prior to CHOMPS Maldonado spent the majority of his twenties, during and after college, as a Personal Trainer carefully studying product labels, nutrition facts and ingredients lists to build custom meal plans for his clients.

Busy with work and always on-the-go, Maldonado was on the hunt for healthy snacks that were truly “clean”, high in protein, low in calories, and didn’t sacrifice quality for taste. Upon realizing that options were limited and identifying a market need, Maldonado was determined to develop his own better-for-you meat snack alternative. 

Having met his business partner and fellow Co-founder, Rashid Ali, at a poker game in Chicago, Maldonado knew immediately that Ali’s critical thinking coupled with his knowledge in finance and operations would perfectly compliment his own creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Together, their two-man team kicked off selling meat sticks direct-to-consumer through Facebook ads out of Pete’s spare apartment bedroom. Chomps was profitable within the first 30 days and today, nearly  9 years later, Chomps is one of the fastest growing snack brands in the country, and the fastest growing natural meat stick brand on the market.

In this conversation, Pete and I discuss the path to learning how to be a leader, “on the go",” and the power of transparency, asking for feedback, delegation, and proactive learning.

Learn more about CHOMPs at chomps.com and follow Pete and CHOMPs on LinkedIn

Discover more:

Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Tony Ambrozie currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer for Baptist Health South Florida, where he is responsible for technologies and digital transformation efforts. In this role, he has line responsibility for the Technology and Digital Division and oversees all technology and digital products supporting Baptist Health. 

In this conversation Tony and I discuss how to become a great leader, the intricacies of delegation, the power of reading, and the mindset and strategies that help you as an executive leader.

Books mentioned during the episode:

Leadership in Turbulent Times by Kearns Goodwin

The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Igers

Website for reading list: https://www.librarything.com/profile/tambrozie

Make sure to connect with Tony on LinkedIn

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Before joining Baptist, Tony served as Senior Vice President, Technology and Digital at The Walt Disney Company.  In this role, he was responsible for a number of digital and core systems and technologies, engineering, data analytics and machine learning for Disney Parks, Consumer Products, Games and Publishing.  

 Prior to joining Disney in 2013, Tony was Vice President for Digital Platform Technologies at American Express where he was responsible for platform engineering, shared services development and application security, with previous roles focused on application architecture, development, engineering and performance.

He is a proven leader in the technology and digital space with a keen focus on using technology and data to enhance the consumer experience. Prior to spending the past two decades focused on large business operations, he launched his technology career as the cofounder of a software development startup, specializing in building unique, small business applications.  

He holds a dual MBA and Master’s Degree in Information Management from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

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Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter

Elly Perets, joined as CEO of Asterra, a technology by Utilis in 2015. Previously, he founded Progressive Labs and served as the CEO, providing an innovative SAAS-based software solution for retailers worldwide.

In this conversation, Elly, and I discuss how to build a culture of innovation and prioritization, the gift of boredom, and the importance of saying no in order to say yes.

Find out more about Asterra at https://asterra.io/ and connect with Elly on LinkedIn.

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Elly also previously served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pageflex Inc., a US-based company, operating from Marlborough MA, providing web-based branding, documenting compassion engines, and campaign management solutions.

He has a vast knowledge in the Theory of Constraints having served as a consultant at the Goldratt Group. Prior to that, Elly served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Press-sense Ltd., a web-based software management systems provider.

Elly holds a Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.) from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, The Wharton School and the School of Engineering & Applied Science as well as a Law degree (L.L.B) and a Business degree from the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia, Israel.

Discover more:

Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter