Truly Human Leadership

Shortly after BW Chairman Bob Chapman passing in March 2026, it was announced that Pat Berges had been named CEO and Managing Partner of Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute.

Chapman & Co. was founded by Bob to bring Truly Human Leadership to organizations around the world, improving their leadership, culture and performance.

Pat was a longtime friend and colleague of Bob's, bringing more than 25 years of global leadership experience to Chapman & Co. He shares the convictions that drove Bob's legacy. Pat is the founder of H3 Leadership, now part of Chapman & Co., and has held senior leadership roles at Covidien and Medtronic. He previously served as executive director of The Curve Initiative, a nonprofit founded by bestselling author Simon Sinek, and has led large-scale leadership development and culture transformation efforts across more than 100 countries.

On this episode of the Truly Human Leadership Podcast, Pat talks about his friendship with Bob and how his mentorship was inspiring and challenging. Pat talks about his leadership journey, the future of Chapman & Co. and why their work is more important now than ever.

A couple of episodes ago, we talked about the $60 billion problem. That is the amount of money organizations spend on leadership training a year, although recent reports say that number may be as high as $100 billion a year.

But are organizations really seeing the ROI on that money and if not, why?

This is another installment of the People and Performance Playbook where the experts at Chapman & Co. share their knowledge on leadership development. This episode is an discussion of a recent article in the People and Performance Playbook Newsletter by Theresa Carik, PhD titled: "If a Leadership Program Does Not Change Behavior, What is it Actually Changing?" Joining Theresa in this discussion is Chapman & Co.'s Gunnar Millot.

You can subscribe to the People and Performance Playbook Newsletter when you follow Chapman and Co on Linkedin.

Last fall, an episode of this podcast featured a discussion between Bob and Kyle Chapman.

They talked about the legacy of the Chapman family in Barry-Wehmiller with an eye toward the future as Bob passed the mantle of CEO onto Kyle after 50 years in that role. It was a touching, heartfelt conversation between father and son, worth going back to listen, especially in light of Bob's passing on March 19, 2026 after a 16-month battle with leukemia.

A little more than a month later, Kyle Chapman sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with our video producer, Chad Harris. Kyle reflects on the loss of his father, but also talks about how to channel that loss into action in carrying Bob's legacy forward. He talks about the future of Barry-Wehmiller, and lays out very clearly Barry-Wehmiller's intent to redefine success in business by demonstrating how human and economic vibrancy work in harmony. Continuing, expanding and fulfilling the work his dad started.

Did you know that globally, organizations spend more than $60 billion annually on leadership development and training?

$60 billion in seminars, workshops, coaches, certifications, assessments, subscriptions, books and much, much more.

A lot of money spent, but then your leaders are still micromanaging, avoiding difficult conversations and solving every problem themselves. You might as well have just set those dollars on fire.

But, here's the thing, the training didn't fail, the approach did.

On this episode of our People and Performance Playbook series, which features the experts of Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, Jami Dix and Praisy Isaac discuss why leadership development should be like Russian nesting dolls. Layered, that addresses the heartset and mindset, as well as the skillset of leaders.

You can learn more about Chapman & Co., founded by the late Bob Chapman to bring Truly Human Leadership to companies around the world at www.ccoleadership.com.

We recently started a series within the larger episode of the podcast called the People and Performance Playbook. The episodes are a little shorter, but packed filled with insight from the experts at Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute.

Chapman & Co. was founded by our late CEO and Chairman Bob Chapman to bring Truly Human Leadership to organizations around the world. You can learn more about them at ccoleadership.com.

On this installment, we hear again from Andrew Barenz and Mike Budden as they expand upon the most recent newsletter article, "What is the Cost of One-Dimensional Leadership in Your Organization?" Chapman & Co. has identified four styes of leadership, which Andrew and Mike discuss.

You can subscribe to the People and Performance Playbook Newsletter when you follow Chapman and Co. on Linkedin.

We continue to honor the late Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman and his legacy on the podcast. This episode is a virtual talk Bob gave to a book club in 2020, during the pandemic.

The club was made up of people around Aspen, Colorado, where Bob lived and they had read his book, Everybody Matters The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family. It is an interesting discussion, as Bob is in a relaxed environment talking about his life and sharing the insights he had learned throughout his career, which are the basis of his book.

As you may recall, one of Bob's last projects before his passing in March 2026 was the re-release of Everybody Matters, in a 10th anniversary revised and expanded edition. You can find out more about this new version at: everybodymattersbook.com

On this episode, we're introducing a new regular installment of the podcast, the People and Performance Playbook.

Each one of these episodes will be shorter bits of insight from experts at Chapman &Co. Leadership Institute as they share stories from their work and the thinking and methodology they use to help organizations understand and put into practice the idea that people and performance, or human vibrancy and economic growth, can exist in harmony, not in conflict with one another.

These episodes are also a deeper dive into issues written about in Chapman & Co.'s People and Performance Playbook Newsletter, to which you can subscribe when you find them on LinkedIn.

Today's topic is The Shift in Leadership Norms.

If you want to implement the principles discussed on this podcast within your organization to improve its leadership, culture and performance, check out Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute at ccoleadership.com, founded by Barry-Wehmiller' late CEO and Chairman, Bob Chapman, to bring Truly Human Leadership to organizations around the world.

A few weeks ago, Barry-Wehmiller's Chief People Officer, Rhonda Spencer spoke at the 2026 i4CP Next Practices Now Conference. Rhonda was a featured speaker, sharing our message of Truly Human Leadership alongside CEOs and other Chief People Officers from companies such as John Deere, Dick's Sporting Goods, Lumen, Northwestern Mutual, Accenture, Microsoft, FedEx and many more.

Originally, Barry-Wehmiller's Chairman, Bob Chapman was supposed to be part of the presentation alongside Rhonda, but he passed away a week before the conference. However, Rhonda was able to incorporate Bob's thoughts through a series of video clips.

As you've heard on episodes in the past, Rhonda was one of the architects of our culture at Barry-Wehmiller and as you'll hear her tell, she was often charged with implementing and putting structure around Bob's ideas.

Rhonda offers an interesting, insightful and candid perspective for anyone who wants to understand more about Barry-Wehmiller's cultural journey. One that we're still on, every day, one step at a time.

On this Truly Human Leadership Podcast where we continue to pay tribute to Bob Chapman, our leader and mentor who passed away on March 19, 2026.

All of us at Barry-Wehmiller are very appreciative of all the tributes, condolences and kind words that have come in over the last few weeks. If you'd like to send your own tribute, condolence or remembrance of Bob, we have a page to do so at bobchapman.co. When you submit it, we'll make sure it gets to Bob's family.

On our last episode, we paid tribute to Bob Chapman in his own words. On this episode, we want to hear from some of his friends, colleagues and admirers.

Last fall, there was a dinner held at Barry-Wehmiller's St. Louis office to honor Bob's 50 years as CEO of our company and to also celebrate his 80th birthday. Bob and his entire family were there to enjoy the evening and we're incredibly thankful Bob got to experience this tribute while he was with us.

On this podcast, we want to feature the speeches that were given that evening. We share them not only to remember Bob, but to share the lessons all of these folks learned from him. They include:

Raj Sisodia, the co-founder of Conscious Capitalism and the co-author of Bob's book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family

Tim Sullivan, Barry-Wehmiller board member and longtime part of Bob's leadership team

Rhonda Spencer, Barry-Wehmiller's Chief People Officer

Steve Gund, who is the CEO of the Gund Company

Simon Sinek, speaker and author, Bob's close friend and one of the biggest champions of Bob's message on 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.