Episodes
Thursday Jan 19, 2017
Aaron Hurst - Co-Founder & CEO of Imperative
Thursday Jan 19, 2017
Thursday Jan 19, 2017
Today we're interviewing Aaron Hurst, the co-founder & CEO of Imperative, and the author of The Purpose Economy. Aaron has been wired to challenge the status quo from a very early age. He sees opportunity and potential in every direction, and by his own admission is a bit of a troublemaker. During Aaron’s childhood, he moved around a lot and, as a result, he developed the important skill of pattern recognition, a trait that has served him well throughout his entrepreneurial efforts. Early in Aaron’s career, he founded the Taproot Foundation, a pro-bono community of professionals who volunteered their time and expertise to helping mission-driven nonprofits with the marketing, PR, and other important services they need to achieve maximum impact. This community blossomed into a $15 billion marketplace.
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway was the power of purpose that emerged. Aaron would constantly hear about the sense of meaning the participants would feel from helping the nonprofit community. This theme continues today; Aaron and his team at Imperative are focused on unlocking and measuring the power of purpose inside of organizations, not only for the organization, but helping the individual employees inside of organizations to connect their individual purpose to the purpose of the organization. In 2014, Aaron published his book, The Purpose Economy, which predicts the next economic wave will be known as the Purpose Era.
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Brett Hurt - Co-Founder & CEO of data.world
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Today, we are interviewing Brett Hurt, the co-founder and CEO of data.world. To say Brett has accomplished a lot at a relatively young age would be an understatement. Brett has been a part of launching five start-ups, and, with the help of three co-founders, has just launched his sixth. Brett grew up in a household of entrepreneurs. His dad was the inventor of the first-ever halogen fishing light. At age seven, Brett was given his first computer and began programming. This was the beginning of what would become a lifelong pursuit of Brett Hurt seeking to understand how things work.
Between ages 7 and 21, Brett spent close to 40 hours per week programming. He credits his parents, in particular his mom, with supporting him and helping him find his true passion. This passion led him to the co-founding of Bazaarvoice where he served as the President & CEO for 7 ½ years and the eventual IPO in 2012 — rated one of the top five IPOs in 2012 by the Wall Street Journal. Brett’s current project, data.world, is squarely focused on building the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world. This episode with Brett Hurt is full of meaningful life lessons and a series of great stories everyone will appreciate.
For this and other Built On Purpose Podcast episodes, visit http://yscouts.com/podcast/.
Friday Jan 06, 2017
Corey Michael Blake - CEO, Speaker, Storyteller
Friday Jan 06, 2017
Friday Jan 06, 2017
Today, we're interviewing Corey Michael Blake. It's difficult to put a label on Corey — he's many things: an entrepreneur, an actor, a director, a storyteller, a CEO, and an all-around great guy. I might add — I''m giving him the title of having the most contagious laugh of all time, something you'll get a taste of during the podcast. Corey is a soulful human being, full of deep insights and someone who is constantly pushing himself to learn and grow. He’s a student of the power of Vulnerability, and we dive into a tour of his life and the many experiences and lessons that have led him to where he is today. Corey’s guiding principle of life is to Lead with Love — a learned skill that requires consistent practice. Whether you're a CEO looking to up-level your leadership, or you're searching for a more meaningful existence at this thing we call life, this episode is loaded with authenticity and realness. Enjoy this episode featuring Corey Michael Blake.
Friday Dec 09, 2016
Gavin Armstrong - Founder & CEO of Lucky Iron Fish
Friday Dec 09, 2016
Friday Dec 09, 2016
Today, we’re interviewing Gavin Armstrong, Founder & CEO of Lucky Iron Fish.
As a young kid, Gavin was bullied extensively, and he channeled those negative experiences into a strong drive to become a success in the world of high finance. During his university experience, he volunteered in refugee camps in north Kenya and saw firsthand the level of abject poverty, malnutrition and hidden hunger that existed in the world. Determined to make a difference, Gavin decided to channel his drive and energy into addressing this problem. And from that, the Lucky Iron Fish was born--an iron ingot that's making a massive difference in helping cure the iron deficiency that roughly half the world’s population suffers from.
Gavin was recognized as the first Canadian to receive the William Jefferson Clinton Award for International Work Against Hunger. His story is one of inspiration, perseverance and hope. Enjoy this eye-opening conversation with Gavin Armstrong.
Thursday Nov 03, 2016
Brian Walker - CEO of Herman Miller
Thursday Nov 03, 2016
Thursday Nov 03, 2016
Today we're interviewing Brian Walker, the Chief Executive Officer at Herman Miller. Most of you are likely familiar with Herman Miller because of the success of the Aeron Chair. In fact, you might be sitting on one right now.
A deeper dive into the world of Herman Miller reveals quite a few special stories. In this engaging conversation with Brian, who has been the CEO of Herman Miller since 2004, we touch on a variety of topics. Those include: some of the high-impact leadership lessons Brian learned at an early age through his involvement in youth sports, his deep focus on always taking advantage of the experiences life has to offer, and an emphasis on spending time with people—which is interesting, because Brian comes from the accounting and finance world prior to taking over as CEO of Herman Miller.
Another topic we touch on is how it's often easy for leadership teams to reject the feedback from employees until the leadership team is actually a part of that firsthand experience, in perhaps losing a deal. Brian also shares the importance of staying in front of the customers, the importance of keeping communication lines open within an organization, especially as it grows larger—because the best ideas can bubble up from those who may surprise you. (Everyone on your team has a special gift, if you just pay attention.)
Given that Brian Walker is the CEO of Herman Miller, we'll talk about the power of design in the workplace—and how we've moved from the Industrial Revolution, where work was designed in a linear fashion, to the world we live in today: the knowledge economy, where serendipity rules.
Finally, we cover how Herman Miller, a publicly traded organization, balances the needs of all of their stakeholders and ensures that they're building something successful from a long-term perspective.
Enjoy this great interview with Brian Walker.
Listen to this interview and more episodes from the Built On Purpose Podcast at yscouts.com/podcast.
Wednesday Oct 26, 2016
Tucker Max - Author, Entrepreneur & Public Speaker
Wednesday Oct 26, 2016
Wednesday Oct 26, 2016
Today we're interviewing Tucker Max, writer, entrepreneur, father, husband, and an ever-evolving human being. But even Tucker would be the first to say he doesn’t want to label himself; that’s one of the topics of conversation we get into. This is a guy who has written four books, and three of them have gone on to become New York Times bestsellers. He has produced a movie, and has started five companies. He’s done a lot in a short period of time. The other fascinating thing he’s done is essentially evolved who he is as a human being. He wrote a blog series that talks about how he went from—these are his words, not mine—"from an asshole to the CEO." (And now, how he has "fired himself" as the CEO.) We cover so many interesting topics in this conversation, from meditation to Buddhism to divorcing your ego from your business dealings, to what it’s like to start all these businesses. Hiring people, firing people, books he recommends, and much more. For those of you who know about Tucker Max or have read any of his books, I can assure you this episode is absolutely engaging from start to finish.
Wednesday Oct 12, 2016
Della Simpson & Kari Brizius - CEO & President of Relan
Wednesday Oct 12, 2016
Wednesday Oct 12, 2016
Today we are interviewing Della Simpson and Kari Brizius.
Della and Kari share a common passion for sustainability. Their passion comes from a lifetime of living consciously and making choices with the philosophy of ‘leaving the earth a little bit better than the way they found it’. The company they purchased in 2011, called Relan, takes old billboards and other vinyl banners and repurposes them into bags, backpacks, wallets and other consumer products. They work with some of the most well-known brands and sports teams on the planet, helping them climb aboard the sustainability train.
Friday Oct 07, 2016
Amelia Newbury - Chief Operating Officer, Authentic Leadership Institute
Friday Oct 07, 2016
Friday Oct 07, 2016
Today we're interviewing Amelia Newbury, the Chief Operating Officer at the Authentic Leadership Institute.
The Authentic Leadership Institute is focused on helping leaders discover and tap into what makes them unique. It’s a program designed to harness the power of purpose and deploy it into the business world, so that we can tackle the biggest, hairiest problems we are all facing. In this episode, Amelia shares:
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The institute’s definition of authentic leadership
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Why authentic leadership and purpose matter now more than ever
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Stories and examples proving that purpose drives profitability, positively impacts health and well-being, and creates stronger organizations, especially as we race towards a more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
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And finally, a powerful question you can ask yourself if you desire to discover and tap into your own unique purpose
Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy this interview with Amelia Newbury.
Listen to this podcast and more episodes from the Built On Purpose Podcast at
Tuesday Oct 04, 2016
Boyd Tinsley - Violinist for Dave Matthews Band
Tuesday Oct 04, 2016
Tuesday Oct 04, 2016
Boyd Tinsley is the violinist and a founding member of one of the most well-known bands in the world: the Dave Matthews Band. In this conversation we talk about the 25-year journey of DMB, and the “very open process” Boyd takes when it comes to creating music, making a movie, or recruiting members from around the world to form a new rock band. This episode is full of entertainment for any fan of Dave Matthews Band or music in general.
Listen to this podcast and more episodes from the Built On Purpose Podcast at http://yscouts.com/podcast/.
Friday Sep 30, 2016
Katie Burke - Vice President of Culture & Experience at HubSpot
Friday Sep 30, 2016
Friday Sep 30, 2016
Today we're interviewing Katie Burke, the Vice President of Culture & Experience at HubSpot.
For those of you not familiar with HubSpot, they are an all-in-one inbound marketing software company. In addition to their growing financial success, the culture at HubSpot may be the topic they are most well-known for. Their culture code deck, which has been viewed almost three million times on SlideShare, contains the secret sauce behind the success of HubSpot. And when push comes to shove, Katie is the driving force behind the constant housekeeping of the HubSpot culture (although she says it’s the employees who ultimately own the culture). In this episode, Katie talks about:
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the shift of culture becoming the "hard" stuff versus the traditional view of it being the "soft" stuff in business
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The importance of transparency in today’s business environment, with a deep dive into Glassdoor and how important it is for leaders to get comfortable with reviewing and responding to your company’s reviews
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How work/life balance is an outdated notion
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How HubSpot hires for culture fit
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The one book that has had the biggest impact on Katie
Katie is a freight train of energy. If you or your organization has any interest in culture, Katie’s experience and insight is worth its weight in gold. Enjoy this episode with Katie Burke!