The Operator's Code

Suresh Sharma grew up in India with a father earning the equivalent of $4 a month. His family couldn't afford schoolbooks. Years later, he helped grow GE businesses that became billion-dollar businesses.

Looking back, he calls those early limitations a blessing in disguise.

In this episode, Scott Bowman sits down with Suresh to explore the choices and standards behind that journey—from studying under trees and borrowing books to naval aviation, a NASA research project, and business leadership at GE.

Suresh shares his personal 60/30/10 rule for hard work, adaptability, and being ready when opportunity comes. He explains what GE taught him about operational excellence, why leaders need to break down departmental silos, and how his father's small paycheck changed the way he thinks about creating jobs.

At 48, he left corporate life to become an entrepreneur, despite friends and colleagues telling him he was crazy. They also discuss America's untapped innovations, the difference between growth and greed, and why learning and mentorship matter at every stage of leadership.

If you're building a business or leading a team, this conversation will challenge how you think about limited resources, opportunity, and the responsibility that comes with growth.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why Suresh sees his childhood poverty as a blessing in disguise

• The lessons his father taught him when they couldn't afford books

• His 60/30/10 rule for hard work, adaptability, and opportunity

• Leading by example in naval aviation

• Lessons from GE during the Jack Welch era

• Operational excellence, breaking down silos, and the 21-minute rule

• Why creating jobs became his calling

• Becoming an entrepreneur at 48

• Turning research into businesses outside Silicon Valley

• Growth, lifelong learning, and finding the right mentors

CHAPTERS

00:00 From $4 a month to billion-dollar businesses

01:06 Why Suresh sees poverty as a blessing

02:51 Borrowing books and getting ahead

05:46 The 60/30/10 rule

07:41 Naval aviation and earning people's trust

10:21 The choices behind opportunity

13:06 A NASA research project and advanced composites

15:21 Joining GE during the Jack Welch era

16:56 Building with talent around the world

20:11 Operator's Truth: systems create freedom

20:56 Operational excellence and the 21-minute rule

24:56 From engineer to business leader

27:01 Leaving corporate life to become an entrepreneur at 48

30:21 America's innovation logjam

34:46 Open Range and industrializing innovation

35:36 Rethinking education and personalized learning

37:46 Global thinking and local manufacturing

39:41 The difference between growth and greed

40:51 Lifelong learning and sharing what you know

45:26 Finding mentors—and becoming one

CONNECT WITH SURESH

Open Range Capital Partners:

https://openrangecapitalpartners.com/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suresh1sharma/

SIMPLIFY YOUR OPERATIONS

The Operator's Code is made possible by Strategic Alliances, Inc. If you're spending more time managing chaos than leading your company, learn how SAI helps build operating systems that create room to grow:

https://sainc.biz/

Subscribe to The Operator's Code for more conversations with founders and operators about the standards that shape how they lead.

#TheOperatorsCode #Entrepreneurship #Leadership

At 12 years old, Zoran Todorovic was forced to flee his home during the war in Yugoslavia.

A few years later, he arrived in America without speaking English, worked his way through high school and college, and eventually took a job pushing carts at Sam's Club.

That job became the beginning of a career that would take him into leadership at Walmart.

In this episode of The Operator's Code, Scott Bowman sits down with Zoran to unpack the experiences and principles that shaped that journey.

They talk about:

-losing everything and starting over

-why survival changed Zoran's definition of pressure

-learning English while working and going to school

-starting at Sam's Club as a cart pusher

-how doing good work when nobody was watching changed his career

-the role mentors played in opening doors

-why over-preparation became one of his greatest advantages

-faith, continuous learning, and refusing to quit

-choosing the right people to surround yourself with

-adapting to AI and the changing world of retail

Zoran's story is a reminder that careers are rarely built through one massive break.

They're often built through years of doing the next right thing well.

Chapters:

00:00 From war-torn Yugoslavia to Walmart

01:06 The war begins overnight

06:11 Given 24 hours to flee

11:06 Forced to leave everything again

13:11 Celebrating a birthday while escaping

14:46 The opportunity to come to America

16:21 Starting over without speaking English

22:36 Going from everything to nothing

24:41 Why Zoran wanted a job at 16

26:21 Starting at Sam's Club pushing carts

28:41 From cart pusher to Walmart director

32:41 What kept him from quitting

36:06 The character traits survival created

41:06 Why you need mentors

42:26 The introduction that changed his career

46:16 Doing the right thing when nobody's watching

48:31 You can make a million and still be poor

51:41 Choosing the right partner

54:46 Faith, AI and continuous learning

58:51 Never giving yourself the option to quit

1:00:21 How over-preparation became an advantage

The Operator's Code explores the principles, decisions, and experiences that shape exceptional operators.

The show is hosted by Scott Bowman and made possible by Strategic Alliances. https://sainc.biz/

Scott's firm SAI helps you build the operational spine that lets you keep the promise you made when you signed the contract.

Stan Miele's father was drafted into the Korean War as a .50 caliber machine gunner.

Life expectancy in that seat was measured in minutes. Then General MacArthur's band held an audition for a saxophone player, and his father, self-taught since sixteen playing nightclubs in Boston, sat on the back of a deuce and a half with five other men and played for his life.

He got the seat. Music saved him.

Years later, when his kids turned six, he handed each of them an instrument and said: whether you like it or not, you will learn discipline through this.

In this conversation, Scott Bowman sits down with Stan Miele a 30-year friend, former U.S. Army officer, and biotech and med tech operator of nearly 40 years, to trace how one father's near-death moment shaped four kids, how a trombone at age six became an ROTC scholarship to the University of Dayton, how a Bad Kreuznach infantry division launched a career that included Abbott Laboratories, Syntex, and the Sucampo IPO, and how at 62 he now bikes 63 miles and rucks 12 more to fight veteran suicide.

Here's what Stan covers:

- The .50 cal gunner audition that saved his father's life on the back of a deuce and a half

- Getting a trombone at six with a shoelace tied to the slide because he couldn't reach seventh position

- "It's what you do when nobody's watching" — the discipline lesson that shaped four kids

- Modest means in an affluent New England town — mowing lawns at eleven so he'd never have to ask

- ROTC scholarship at the University of Dayton, ranked third of 168 Midwest programs

- Meeting Scott in Bad Kreuznach, Germany — 8th Infantry Division, 21 years old, 70 people to lead

- The pivot from military to medical sales — how he beat officers with Fortune 500 internships

- Abbott's 2,200-product portfolio and converting two Raleigh hospital systems from the basement up

- Sucampo — first of 14 employees, IPO, global licensing, strategic exit

- Consulting physician scientists today — the Rolodex, the equity, the framework

- Humility is not being a chameleon — it's how you treat materials management the same as the C-suite

- The 82nd Airborne materials manager who escorted him out of a hospital and became his neighbor

- Arizona 75 — 63 miles biking and 12 miles rucking a 35-pound pack for veteran suicide prevention

- Why AI will never replace the human-to-human interaction that closes the deal

- Failure teaches us grace — humility, judgment, and moving forward

Chapters:

0:00 Cold Open — Discipline, Humility, and What You Do When Nobody's Watching

0:36 .50 Cal Gunner Odds: Five Minutes to Live

2:00 The MacArthur Audition on the Back of a Deuce and a Half

3:15 The Trombone at Six (and the Shoelace)

4:20 It's What You Do When No One's Watching

6:00 Modest Means in an Affluent Town

7:00 Mowing Lawns at Eleven — Never Ask

9:30 ROTC at Dayton — Third of 168 Midwest Programs

12:00 Bad Kreuznach, Germany — Where We Met

14:15 Running the Nahe River Valley at 21

16:30 The Pivot From Military to Medical Sales

18:00 Syntex Labs — Carrying the Bag for Naprosyn

19:30 Abbott's 2,200-Product Portfolio

20:30 Converting Two Raleigh Hospital Systems From the Basement

22:00 The Jump to Startup Biotech — The Dark Side

22:45 Sucampo — First of 14 Employees to IPO

23:50 Consulting Physician Scientists Today

25:10 Operator's Truth — Landing the Order Is Not the Victory

25:50 Humility Is Not Being a Chameleon

28:15 Escorted Out of the Hospital by the 82nd Airborne Guy

30:35 Arizona 75 — 63 Miles Bike + 12 Miles Ruck

33:30 Be the One — Veteran Suicide Prevention

35:20 Marching the American Flag Through Town

36:00 The Next 15 Years — AI, Data, and What Doesn't Change

40:00 The Soft Skills That Still Win Everything

41:00 Failure Teaches Us Grace

Who else we reference: General MacArthur, Korean War, Boston, University of Dayton, 8th Infantry Division, Bad Kreuznach Germany, Nahe River Valley, KPMG, Cameron Brooks, MRI, Codman, Johnson & Johnson, Syntex Labs, Naprosyn, Aleve, Abbott Laboratories, Sucampo, 30th Infantry Brigade, American Legion, Be the One Campaign, Veterans Medical Leadership Council, Phoenix, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, FDA, Verizon, IBM, Xerox, Walmart, Nike.

SCALE WITH CONFIDENCE, NOT CHAOS

Stan spent four decades winning contracts most operators never survive — hospital systems, IPOs, licensing agreements, entire product portfolios. What he learned is that landing the deal is never the victory. Delivering on it is.

Scott's firm SAINC does that work every day for CPG and product operators.

Build the operational spine that lets you keep the promise you made when you signed the contract.

If you just landed the shelf, the order, or the account and you're staring at what comes next: https://sainc.biz/

Subscribe to The Operator's Code for weekly conversations with founders, CEOs, and operators who've been in the room where the hard decisions get made.

Gregory Shepard died twice at birth. It took nine blood transfusions to keep him alive. His younger brother didn't make it. Doctors told his mother he'd never accomplish anything.

He went on to build and sell 12 companies, sell one to eBay, sell another for $900 million, win four private equity awards, become a Fulbright Scholar, climb 39 mountains over 14,000 feet including the face of El Capitan, run marathons, swim marathons, wrestle alligators, and meet two U.S. Presidents.

In this conversation, Scott Bowman sits down with Gregory Shepard to unpack the mindset that turned a kid who was put in special-ed classes with a coloring book into one of the most awarded operators of his generation. The reframes that carry him through impossible things. The five traits every operator needs. And the wall that isn't actually a wall.

Here's what Gregory covers:

▸ The two deaths at birth and the nine transfusions that shouldn't have worked

▸ Being labeled "retarded" in school and teaching himself physics, math, and philosophy from a coloring book

▸ "Just run in the shoes you have" — the mindset that kills founder procrastination

▸ Why failure is evolution and how to welcome it the way you welcome muscle failure at the gym

▸ The five traits: Focus, Drive, Enthusiasm, Discipline, Optimism (and why Discipline is the linchpin)

▸ Setting one impossibly hard goal every year since age 18

▸ El Capitan, alligator wrestling, BASE jumping, marathon swimming with heart-rate-triggered asthma

▸ The 900M sale to Enterprise and the eBay exit

▸ How to adapt to the wave of change instead of fighting it

▸ The wall in your head is a door — the "other side" moment

📌 CHAPTERS

0:00 · Cold Open — Two Deaths at Birth

0:36 · Died Twice at Birth. Nine Transfusions.

2:30 · The Lungs, the Pneumonia, the Hospital

3:30 · Autism, Dyslexia, Synesthesia, Savant Syndrome

5:40 · Just Run in the Shoes You Have

8:20 · Welcome Failure. Failure Is Evolution.

9:55 · Do Something Hard Every Year (El Capitan, 39 Mountains, Alligators)

12:40 · The High Water Mark

15:00 · 12 Companies, $900M Sale, Special-Ed to Fulbright

22:35 · Focus, Drive, Enthusiasm, Discipline, Optimism

31:20 · Adapt to the Wave. Don't Fight It.

40:20 · The Wall Is a Door

👇 WHO ELSE WE REFERENCE

Barack Obama · eBay · Enterprise · Fulbright Scholar Program · MSN Top 10 Visionaries · United Nations · El Capitan · Half Dome · Yosemite · Kaiser Hospital Oakland · Ted Lasso ("I Believe")

🎯 SCALE WITH CONFIDENCE, NOT CHAOS

Gregory hit every wall on the way from newborn ICU to a $900M exit — physical limits, systems limits, mental walls he had to break through one at a time. Scott's firm SAINC does this work every day for CPG and product operators from $10M to $250M: build the operational spine that lets you scale without losing the culture, the margin, or the mission.

If you're staring at your own version of that wall → https://sainc.biz/

🔔 Subscribe to The Operator's Code for weekly conversations with founders, CEOs, and operators who've been in the room where the hard decisions get made.

#operators #leadership #ceo #founders #entrepreneurship #mindset #resilience #discipline #cpg #podcast

Pete Newell commanded more than 5,000 soldiers in Iraq. His rule for earning trust: protect your people when they make an honest mistake—and take responsibility for the team you lead.

In this episode of The Operator's Code, Scott Bowman sits down with Pete, cofounder and CEO of BMNT, to explore the standards that carry from combat into business.

Pete shares how struggling in college and joining the National Guard helped him build confidence, why he gives teams a mission instead of fixed working hours, and what leaders owe the people they ask to do hard things.

They also discuss direct feedback, choosing business partners, the strain of starting a company on marriage, and staying curious as AI and technology change how we work.

If you're building a business or leading a team, this conversation will challenge how you earn trust, handle mistakes, and develop people who can think for themselves.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why confidence grows through failure and recovery

• Building a team around the mission, not hours at a desk

• Giving honest feedback without attacking the person

• Protecting your people while keeping standards high

• Why leadership is measured by the success of others

• The family cost of entrepreneurship

• Staying curious and adaptable as technology changes

CHAPTERS

00:00 Pete Newell and The Operator's Code

00:56 College struggles and finding direction

04:31 Building confidence through failure and recovery

08:36 Retirement, purpose, and startup stress

10:56 Time is the resource you can't get back

12:51 Mission-driven teams and hiring curious people

19:31 How trust is earned—and passed down

25:31 Direct feedback and supported challenges

28:01 Operator's Truth: simplify complexity

28:41 Why feedback can't wait for an annual review

30:51 Taking the blame and protecting your people

35:01 Clear intent and leading 5,000 soldiers

38:11 Judge leaders by the success of their peers

40:36 Courage, self-discipline, and humility

47:26 Why Pete chose retirement over the path to general

52:41 Business partners, marriage, and founder sacrifice

58:36 AI, curiosity, and the accelerating pace of change

1:05:16 Daily self-assessment and experimentation

1:06:26 Get comfortable being uncomfortable

1:11:16 Compete with yourself

CONNECT WITH PETE

BMNT: https://www.bmnt.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewell/

SIMPLIFY YOUR OPERATIONS

The Operator's Code is made possible by Strategic Alliances, Inc. If growth is making your business more complicated, learn how SAI helps simplify operations:

https://sainc.biz/

Subscribe to The Operator's Code for more conversations with founders and operators about the standards that shape how they lead.

Thomas Miller built the life he thought he was supposed to want. Ivy League on a football scholarship. CEO by his early 30s. Big house at the Cherry Creek Country Club, Range Rovers in the driveway.

Then his 18-month-old daughter was diagnosed with a grapefruit-sized neuroblastoma tumor the same morning his wife found out she was pregnant with their son. And the moment he pulled up to the country club gate on the way home, he looked around and thought: "This is all so stupid." That was the first crack. The moment that actually reshaped how he operates came later.

In this conversation, Scott Bowman sits down with Thomas Miller to unpack the reframe that took him from extraction to multiplication, why his business exploded once he stopped taking from people and started giving to them, and why he's now heavily invested in AI governance instead of AI growth.

Here's what Thomas covers:

▸ The buckets-of-nails Philly upbringing that still shapes how he shows up in a boardroom

▸ Delivering Chinese food at night to the Ivy League kids he sat next to in the morning

▸ The country club gate moment when he realized none of the trappings mattered

▸ The Syrup breakfast where his son forced him to rewrite his operating model

▸ The specific reframe that unlocked his business growth — extraction to multiplication

▸ Why he coaches high school football on his own time in Northern Colorado

▸ The Overton window his friends at BlackRock live inside (and why he walked away from it)

▸ Why he's heavily invested in AI governance instead of AI growth

▸ The three things keeping him up at night about the AI capital race — LLM truth manipulation, 401K risk exposure, and triple-counted TAM

▸ The family motto ("Millers never quit") on the sign by his front door his kids tap walking out

📌 CHAPTERS

0:00 · Cold Open — The Life He Built vs. The One He Left Behind

0:51 · Blue-Collar Philly and Buckets of Nails With the Uncles

2:41 · Ivy League Football, Delivering Chinese Food to His Classmates

4:51 · The Neuroblastoma Diagnosis at 18 Months

8:11 · "This Is All So Stupid" — The Country Club Gate Moment

11:11 · The Syrup Breakfast — "Dad, I'm Here Too"

12:11 · From Extraction to Multiplication

18:56 · High School Football Coaching and the Northern Colorado Community

24:56 · The Overton Window and the Friends at BlackRock

28:16 · AI Governance vs. AI Growth

33:06 · LLM Guardrails, 401K Risk, and the Feudal Warning

44:01 · Millers Never Quit

👇 WHO ELSE WE REFERENCE

Memorial Sloan Kettering · Cherry Creek Country Club · Andover · Exeter · BlackRock · Anthropic · SpaceX · Northern Colorado high school football community

🎯 The Operator's Code is made possible by Strategic Alliances. If growth is exposing challenges in your business, we help consumer brands and wholesale distribution companies build the systems that scale with confidence.

https://sainc.biz/

🔔 Subscribe to The Operator's Code for weekly conversations with founders, CEOs, and operators who've been in the room where the hard decisions get made.

#operators #leadership #ceo #founders #entrepreneurship #aigovernance #venturecapital #cpg #familybusiness #podcast

Most operators lose their company to one bad deal they should've walked away from months earlier. John Sirianni built a career on knowing which deals to kill fast — and which to run at hard. He's an interim CEO who's stepped into semiconductor turnarounds in Prague, consulted for quantum computing companies from New York to India, and did strategy work for Wind River (an Intel subsidiary) while commuting from Rochester to San Francisco. Along the way he turned a struggling consulting firm from nothing to 125 engineers over eight years. His entire operating discipline reduces to two words: no drama. In this conversation, Scott Bowman gets John to unpack how his "no drama" filter actually works — the specific pattern-recognition process he uses to screen deals, partners, and hires before they poison a business. Here's what John covers: ▸ The Kodak-to-CEO career arc that shaped his risk profile ▸ The people, process, technology, money framework he runs on every business decision ▸ How he turned a consulting firm from zero to 125 engineers in eight years ▸ What he learned working alongside quantum computing founders in India ▸ Why he divides leaders into two categories: shepherds and stewards ▸ The exact "spidey sense" he uses to detect drama before it damages a business ▸ How to define your own operating code and enforce it every single day ▸ The personality traits every operator needs to survive rapid technological change CHAPTERS 0:00 · Cold Open — The Rule He Uses To Kill Bad Deals Fast 0:23 · Interim CEO In Prague — Where His Career Really Started 2:12 · From Kodak Lab To The Field — The Career Pivot 11:00 · The People, Process, Technology, Money Framework 13:27 · Building A Consulting Firm From Zero To 125 Engineers 16:34 · The Four Corners Of Every Business Decision 32:17 · What He Learned Consulting Quantum Computing Founders 40:37 · The Coming Post-Quantum Cryptography Shift 50:53 · Shepherd vs. Steward — Two Types Of Leaders 58:25 · The Personality Traits That Survive Rapid Change 1:03:08 · Defining Your Operating Code 1:06:07 · "No Drama Is My Operating Code" — The Filter Explained 👇 WHO ELSE WE REFERENCE Kodak · Xerox · Wind River (Intel subsidiary) · Semiconductor industry · Quantum computing companies · Prague / Czech Republic startup ecosystem 🎯 SCALE WITH CONFIDENCE, NOT CHAOS If growth is exposing challenges in your business, we help consumer brands and wholesale distribution companies build the systems that scale with confidence. → https://sainc.biz/ 🔔 Subscribe to The Operator's Code for weekly conversations with founders, CEOs, and operators who've been in the room where the hard decisions get made. #operators #leadership #ceo #founders #entrepreneurship #turnaround #quantumcomputing #semiconductor #decisionmaking #dealflow

Ken Sobaski hired talent away from Walmart, Target, and Dollar General — for a thrift store. Then he scaled the company from $50M to $105M.

He didn't out-pay them. He out-hired them.

If you're an operator watching bigger competitors dangle bigger paychecks at the people you need, this is the conversation.

Scott Bowman sits down with a CEO who has run divisions at Pillsbury, ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft, Polaris, and Capella.

Five industries. Same operating principle.

Here's what Ken covers:

• The two-way exit conversation Mike the Butcher taught him at age 13
• What Bob Eckert (former CEO of Kraft and Mattel) drilled into him about people vs. business
• The 7am call from Paul Walsh (former CEO of Pillsbury) that reshaped how he leads at scale
• Why your volume gets louder as your team gets bigger
• How he beat Walmart, Target, and Dollar General on talent without touching their comp
• The distinction between "purpose" and "mission" that changes how you sell a job to candidates
• Why he calls himself a career shepherd, not a warden
• What every operator should be inculcating right now for the next five years of change

Chapters:

Locked Chapters Time Chapter 0:00 Cold Open — The Pivot That Changed His Career 0:11 Five Industries, One Career Arc 1:56 Why He Left ConAgra For Polaris 5:13 Opportunity Optimization vs. Risk Avoidance 8:34 Growing Up With An Alcoholic Dad And A Butcher Mentor 15:26 How Mike The Butcher Fired A Thief With Grace 31:45 What Bob Eckert Taught Him About People Vs. Business 35:47 The 7am Call From The Pillsbury CEO 36:43 Your Volume Is At 8 When You Think It's At 4 46:49 Purpose vs. Mission — The Distinction 50:31 How He Beat Walmart On Talent Without Beating Them On Pay 56:44 What Every Operator Should Inculcate Today

Who else we reference: Bob Eckert (Kraft, Mattel), Paul Walsh (Pillsbury, McLaren Racing), Mike the Butcher, Stephen Covey, Elon Musk.

SCALE WITH CONFIDENCE, NOT CHAOS

Ken hit every wall on the way from $50M to $105M — new stores, new hires, new systems, new financial rigor. Scott's firm SAINC does this work every day for CPG and product operators from $10M to $250M: build the operational spine that lets you scale without losing the culture, the margin, or the mission.

If you're staring at your own version of that wall right now: https://sainc.biz/

Subscribe to The Operator's Code for weekly conversations with founders, CEOs, and operators who've been in the room where the hard decisions get made.

Michael Dirks' life was almost derailed when he was only 12 years old.

Drinking, gangs, fights.

Then things started to change.

The stars started to align.

How did this near-felon wind up sending an email that secured him a role at a cutting-edge robotics company?

Listen to find out what it looks like to consistently pursue excellence, bet on yourself, and take bold swings...even when your past is against you.

Welcome to the Operator's Code.

In This Episode:

0:00 Intro

0:26 Felony at 12 Years Old?

8:24 Transitioning From Gang Life

14:25 Mentors

18:03 Winning Friends and Influence

24:34 Robotics and Automating Delivery

39:19 Building A Code That Withstands The Coming Robotics and AI Revolution

48:27 Science

Resources:

Michael Dirks on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-a-dirks-235641289/

How To Win Friends And Influence People By Dale Carnegie: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671027034/

Blue Collar Robotics: https://bluecollarrobotics.ai/

We can talk all day about tactics, but at it's core, leadership is about one thing.

People.

And how we relate to those people as leaders changes everything about our organizations.

In this episode, Dr. Donte Vaughn takes us beyond the platitudes and popular leadership books and combines the ultra-practical "how-to" with the why and the heart of leadership, to give you the key that self-aware leaders can use to drive their organization to success.

In This Episode:

0:00 Intro

1:43 The Science of Leadership

11:46 Achieving True Organizational Excellence

18:40 Conquering Fear To Become An Incredible Leader

25:53 How To Install Good Leadership In Your Organization

42:27 Tech vs. Human Solutions

52:44 Timeless Leadership Codes

Resources:

Dr. Donte Vaughn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-donte-vaughn-dm-msm-73386a34/