The Indispensables

We're revisiting the best of The Indispensables, starting with Bruce's first guest, General Dennis Reimer.

In this episode, I talk with Brian Colker, Principal and Founding Partner of Linea Solutions, Inc.

In this episode, I talk with Craig Price, Cabinet Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, about public service, expectations for leaders, and the impact of individual actions in law enforcement.

This week on the Indispensables, I am joined by Wendy Steele! Steele is the Founder and CEO of Impact100 and the Author of Invitation to Impact.Wendy lives by the motto “Not I, but we.” She believes that, in order to create a vibrant community, we must understand the community first. For Wendy, the most rewarding part of leading Impact100 is visiting local chapters to celebrate triumphs, big and small, and encouraging more than 30,000 women to make a difference. For more information, please visit https://impact100global.org/.

This week on The Indispensables, I am joined by Dr. Tom Bigda-Peyton of Springboard Labs and Catholic Health!Dr. Tom Bigda-Peyton is Co-founder and Executive Director of Springboard Labs, a social venture organization founded in 2023 to transform corporate learning and organizational development. Dr. Bigda-Peyton is also a Senior Advisor on Organizational Development and Learning at the Center for Performance Excellence, Catholic Health. He joined Catholic Health in 2015 as Chief Learning Officer and VP, of Organizational Development. Prior to that, Tom led several major change initiatives, including the Ontario Health Transformation Learning Partnership, the Safety Across High-Consequence Industries Conference, and the Innovation Expedition in Healthcare. Tom has led several consulting practices and currently serves as a co-facilitator of Learning industry roundtables, cross-industry learning labs, and virtual learning labs for executives. He has an EdD and an EdM from Harvard University, with a concentration in organizational behavior and intervention. www.springboardlabs.org

For Episode 100, I am joined by an old friend of mine Wyatt Closs. Wyatt Closs is Senior Vice President of Creative & Cultural Strategies for Spitfire, based in Los Angeles. He has spent the last 20 years on explorations of art and design for social change, progressive politics, creative advocacy, writing and organizing for social justice. He is considered an early practitioner in a field now known as cultural organizing or culture change work.Most recently, Wyatt served as the creative force behind DearFrontline.com, an interactive property where art honors essential workers; the Strike for Black Lives Murals series in eight cities in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd; and Creative Resilience, a large-scale pop-up art show and community action space about economic justice.In 2013, he founded and served as the creative director of his company, Big Bowl of Ideas, which focused exclusively on the intersection of creativity, arts, politics, digital strategies, and social justice.Prior to his culture for social impact work, Wyatt was a political consultant and strategist for 25 campaigns across the country, including those of the DCCC, NARAL’s first independent expenditure campaign, and an independent expenditure campaign for Kamala Harris for California attorney general. He worked for SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and its locals, wearing a number of hats – civil and human rights director, community partnerships director, government affairs director, and public affairs director.

This week on The Indispensables, I am joined by the Chief Strategy Office at Fuel Cycle, Rick Kelly! Kelly and I had the opportunity to discuss his career path and the tools he uses to be a successful leader for his team.Learn more about Fuel Cycle below!https://fuelcycle.com/

This week on the Indispensables, I am joined by Yuchun Lee, CEO of Allego.Yuchun Lee is CEO and co-founder of Allego, a software company focusing on transforming corporate learning and development. Mr. Lee is also the executive chairman of Clarabridge, a customer-experience management software company. Prior to Allego and Clarabridge, Lee served as vice president and general manager at IBM, with global responsibility for software for chief marketing officers. He joined IBM in 2010 as part of its acquisition of Unica, which Lee co-founded and led from its inception to a successful IPO and subsequent sale to IBM. Prior to Unica, he worked at Digital Equipment Corporation and MIT Lincoln and Media Lab. He holds bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and a master’s in business administration from Babson College. www.allego.com

The week on The Indispensables, I am joined by Chief Evangelist at 3Pillar Global, Scott Varho! We talk about how Varho built a career around building cultures that sustain high-performing teams.Scott is the Chief Evangelist and SVP, Global Head of Craft and Communities at 3Pillar. His passion lies in building cultures that sustain high-performing teams optimized for return on investment for clients through a product mindset, craftsmanship, collaboration and technology. He has spent close to 20 years working in or leading fast-paced delivery teams accountable for building products that support core business objectives. Scott is a 2nd generation native of Southern California. He holds a BA from Amherst College and a Master’s in Political Economics from Palacký University in the Czech Republic. He used to speak Czech and German fluently, but now mostly struggles to keep up with his 2 children.

The Indispensables are back! This week on The Indispensables, I am joined by President of MGK, Steve Gullickson. Gullickson is continuing the family legacy at MGK and we discuss that and more on episode 96. Born and raised in Minnesota.  University in Vermont.  Started with A.C. Nielsen in Marketing Research (Chicago, Cleveland, Sacramento, San Diego in 2 ½ years).  Exposure to consumer goods lead to Bristol Myers Products in Sales.  Moved to NYC in Trace Marketing.  Started Trace Marketing at Ciba Geigy Consumer which became Novartis Consumer Health.  Joined my family business, MGK, at the end of 1998.  Initially focused on sales and marketing then became President in ’06.  Sold a majority of the business to Sumitomo Chemical in ’12 and remained President.  Today, I also serve on the board of three companies as well as industry trade associations.  Two kids, one in Seattle in graphic design and one in Los Angeles in private air sales.  My wife runs her own counseling business.  www.mgk.comwww.rainmakerthinking.com

This week on The Indispensables, I am joined by my friend Mark Rennella!Mark Rennella has given students and professionals helpful advice about writing throughout his career, most recently as a writing coach for MBA candidates at Harvard Business School. Mark earned a PhD in American history from Brandeis University and has taught literature and American history at Harvard University, the University of Miami, and the University of Tours (France). His publications include Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders: What the Airline Industry Can Teach Us About Leadership, co-authored with Nitin Nohria, former dean of Harvard Business School. Mark's books, articles, business case studies, and collaborative writing endeavors have garnered him critical praise from historians, academicians, and business leaders alike. His concept of the “one-idea rule” was included among HBR.org’s ten favorite management tips for 2022. He currently works as an editor for Harvard Business Publishing. One-Idea Rule: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/731278/the-one-idea-rule-by-mark-rennella-phd/How I Teach Podcast: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/categories/how-i-teachSelected as one of HBR.org’s favorite management tips of 2022: https://hbr.org/2022/12/our-favorite-management-tips-of-2022?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=ReadyForSocial-InsperityCoreCentral.com

This week on the Indispensables, I am joined by the great Debra Plousha-Moore, founder of Plousha Moore Group. We discuss how she got her start in consulting c-level executives and her advice for women who are looking to become c-level executives.For over thirty-five years Moore has led teams in healthcare, academia and banking. From the Board Room to the back room, it has been her honor to build a lasting legacy for others to follow.

This week on The Indispensables, I am joined by Art Harding, Chief Operating Officer at People.ai. We discuss Harding's values based leadership and the leadership challenges he faces in sales.Art Harding brings over 20 years of hands-on experience at Enterprise B2B Technology companies, most recently served as SVP, GTM Strategy & Operations at New Relic, Inc. Before that, he held a variety of roles across services, sales, and operations driving growth to and through $1B in annual revenue at enterprise companies such as VERITAS / Symantec, VMware, and Riverbed. Harding currently leads GTM and Business operations at People.ai.

This week on The Indispensables, I am joined by the Chief Marketing Officer of SOCi, Inc., Monica Ho. She was ranked as one of the Most Powerful Women in Mobile Advertising by Business Insider 3 years in a row! We discuss women in leadership positions, how marketing has changed through the pandemic, and so much more. Tune in to listen to Monica's story.

On this week's episode of The Indispensables, I am joined by Ken Lineberger, President of Waters Edge Wineries. We talk about Lineberger's path from working the corporate lifestyle to beginning his own company based on his family's passion for wine.

On this week's episode of The Indispensables, I am joined by my good friend Jay Jeanne. We dive into Jeanne's expansive career path and the rewards that are important to Gen Z.

This week on The Indispensables, Bruce is joined by the Vice President of Logistics at Bosch, George Berg. They will discuss Berg's transformational leadership style and how he managed his team through the Pandemic.

This week on The Indispensables, Bruce is joined by best selling author, Brian Christian. They will discuss The Alignment Problem and the use of AI in today’s industries.

This week on The Indispensables, Bruce is joined by author and host of the Why Lead Others podcast, Ben Owden. They discussed the value of viewing your life and career as a process vs having a binary finite approach of wins and losses and how you can regain control of your career.

In this week's episode, Bruce talks with Anna Mittag, Chief Product Officer at LifeSpeak. She joined the premier mental health and wellbeing education platform company in 2005 and is responsible for all product and client operations. She and Bruce discussed the importance of mental health awareness in the workplace and how companies can be more mindful of it.