Built On Purpose

Craig DeMarco - Founding Partner of Upward Projects

Today I'm interviewing Craig DeMarco, one of the founding partners of Upward Projects, which is better known for its family of restaurants including Postino Wine Cafe, Joyride Taco House, Windsor, Churn, and Federal Pizza. In this spirited discussion, Craig shares stories related to:

• Lessons learned watching his entrepreneurial father
• The power of venturing off the beaten path, when visiting new places
• The underrated quality of having a beginner’s mindset
• Challenges of growing a neighborhood-focused business and the creativity that comes from hard times
• The amazing power of True Hospitality
• Why having a purpose beyond profit leads to more profit
• And, some other odds and ends that involve a VW Rabbit, and Alpine Stereo, Skateboarding, and a Playboy wall installation

If you live in the Phoenix area, you’ll love this episode. If you don’t live in the Phoenix area, you’ll want to listen in so you know where to eat the next time you visit the Valley of the Sun. And, if you have no plans to be in Phoenix any time soon, well, this episode is a great example of an inspired leader who wakes up every day with one purpose in mind: to raise vibrations. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy this conversation with Craig DeMarco.

Listen to this episode and more interviews on the Built On Purpose Podcast at yscouts.com/podcast.

Katharine Halpin Podcast Interview

I am Brian Mohr, co-founder and Managing Partner of Y Scouts, and today I am interviewing Katharine Halpin, president & CEO of The Halpin Co. Katharine grew up in the “mad men” era of Mississippi in the 1960s, assuming a great amount of leadership responsibility at a very young age through the oversight of her four siblings, and through her working hands-on with clients at her father’s small CPA firm. She carried the knowledge she gained when she "escaped" Mississippi to work with Touche Ross in Dallas, which is now part of Deloitte.

Katharine believes we’re born with innate and unique skillsets, and that leadership, creativity, and innovation are her personal strengths. She’s always been itching to channel them appropriately, and this desire lead her to the significant work with which she’s currently engaged. Centered around the concept of organizational-wide alignment, Katharine wrote and published “Alignment for Success: Bringing Out the Best in Yourself, Your Teams and Your Company” in which she offers advice about the importance of leadership and self-diligence and how these things contribute to successful and positive business results. She presents several helpful ideas about time-management and self-care, and how they both have a profound effect on business and organizational efficiency. Currently, Katharine is overseeing The Halpin Co., where she focuses on dynamic team-building and cementing sustainable practices into businesses.

Listen to this episode and more interviews from the Built On Purpose Podcast at yscouts.com/podcast.

Paul Spiegelman - Chief Culture Officer at Stericycle

Today I am interviewing Paul Speigelman, the chief culture officer for Stericycle, a globally traded public company with over 25,000 employees. Prior to that, he was the founder & CEO of BerylHealth, a company that won nine awards as a best place to work. Paul is a New York Times bestselling author of three books about culture and employee engagement, and he speaks often on the topic to convince other businesses about the power of values-driven leadership and the ROI of culture. He also acts as CEO of the Small Giants Community, a membership organization of small-business leaders who believe that as a business you don’t have to be big to have a big impact.

Paul says the relationship between culture and building a great business has become a passion for him, discussing his journey from leaving a career at a law firm to collaborate with his two brothers to create a revolutionary new company. He reflects on the values his parents instilled in him and his brothers, and how it renders them kind, caring people with good core values and a strong potential for leadership.

Paul genuinely believes culture lies in both the grassroots origins and the outreach strategies of the business. He also feels companies flourish by selling who they are, not what they do. This episode is full of endearing lessons about family, teamwork, and genuine leadership that everybody will appreciate. Enjoy this interview with Paul Spiegelman.

Listen to this and more episodes of the Built On Purpose Podcast at yscouts.com/podcast.

Danielle Harlan - Founder & CEO, Center for Advancing Leadership & Human Potential

Danielle Harlan is the author of “The New Alpha: Join the Rising Movement of Influencers and Changemakers who are Redefining Leadership.” She's also the Founder & CEO of the Center for Advancing Leadership & Human Potential.

Growing up in a small oceanside town in California, Danielle’s perspective was slowly shaped by the conglomerate of open-minded, thoughtful people surrounding her, inciting her to question how she can go above and beyond individual success to truly benefit her community. Before pursuing a masters and PhD, Danielle worked for Teach for America and taught special education in a fairly under-resourced area of San Jose. She feels like she derived purpose and also gave back to her community through this area of strenuous, yet rewarding, work.

Danielle says leadership and human potential have been woven into everything she’s done, right down to her doctorate-level dissertation for a Stanford PhD in political science. After earning several degrees as the first person in her family to graduate from college, Danielle wrote and published her book, as well as founded The Center for Advancing Leadership and Human Potential. Danielle’s work as both an author and CEO focuses on what our responsibilities as human beings are to others, and how we can maximize our impact on others and the world through leadership.

Aaron Hurst - Co-Founder & CEO of Imperative

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.

Brett Hurt - Co-Founder & CEO of data.world

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/.

Corey Michael Blake - CEO, Speaker, Storyteller

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.

Gavin Armstrong - Founder & CEO of Lucky Iron Fish

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.

Brian Walker - CEO of Herman Miller

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.

Tucker Max - Author, Entrepreneur & Public Speaker

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.