Real Leadership

What does it take to turn a layoff into a company? Nathan Fulton had $5,000 and the willingness to see opportunity where others saw scrap metal. 

In 1999, he and his wife Jane founded Fulton Technology Corporation as a machine shop serving the textile industry. When that industry collapsed under NAFTA, he pivoted. When hyperscale data centers were built nearby, he pivoted again. Today, Fulton operates precision machining, metal fa...

How does a lifelong conservationist and fly fisher end up leading sustainability for a global plastics manufacturing company?

Katie Distler didn’t stumble into the role. She swam upstream to get there.

Katie is Chief Sustainability Officer at Technimark, a global leader in injection molded plastics for healthcare, consumer, and industrial markets with close to 5,000 employees across the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and China. 

For 25 year...

Most leaders spend the early years of their career trying to accelerate forward.

Carles Farré stepped away.

Just a few years into his career at HP, he and his wife made an unconventional decision: they left the corporate world to spend several years in Latin America working with microfinance nonprofits—helping entrepreneurs in remote villages access small loans to start businesses.

S03 E04 Carles Farre

Some communities had no elect...

Shawn Khan’s entrepreneurial journey started from the ground up in a way most founders never experience. 

He didn’t inherit a company, raise venture capital, or even understand the industry he was stepping into.

Shawn bought a one-truck furniture delivery operation in New York City, rented the truck every morning, and learned the business by riding in the back making deliveries himself.

Two years later, he was ready to shut it down...

Zac Elkins didn’t wait for the supply chain to fix itself. He built his own.

As COO of LFG Manufacturing, Power Design’s specialty manufacturing division, Zac is leading one of the boldest vertical integration bets in the electrical industry. When COVID-era backlogs pushed switchgear lead times from 12 weeks to nearly two years, most contractors adjusted. Zac and the LFG team invested millions, bought the equipment, stocked two yea...

Tom Shoupe never planned on a career in manufacturing. He started in public service, working in Washington, D.C., far from factory floors and production lines.

Then Honda called.

At the time, the company was still a young experiment in American manufacturing — betting that people, not just product, would determine its future. Tom said yes to the opportunity. 

That decision shaped the next 33 years of his life.

Over three decades, T...

What happens when a CHRO with an actuary’s mind, a leader’s heart, and a survivor’s grit steps into one of the world’s most complex global marine companies? You get Jill Wrobel — Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at Brunswick Corporation — and one of the most refreshing voices in modern leadership.

Jill oversees culture, talent, and operating strategy for 15,000 employees across 25 countries and 60 househ...

Before Teddy Bekele ever thought about AI or agricultural transformation, he watched his father lose the family farm overnight—a moment that stayed with him from Ethiopia to Italy to an engineering career in the U.S.

That moment didn’t just change his life. It hardwired his obsession with resilience, ownership, and making sure the people who grow our food don’t get left behind in the next wave of “innovation.”

Today, Teddy is Chief...

What separates a project from a company? And what makes some organizations scale effortlessly—while others stall out under their own ambition?

Few people have lived that question more deeply than Mike Oakman. With three decades of experience spanning startups, private equity-backed growth, and billion-dollar enterprises, Mike has led everything from scrappy engineering teams to 400-person global operations. Most recently, as CTO of...

What happens when a CEO trades the corporate script for a hard hat…and wins?

Greg Ramfos, CEO of DURA Shiloh, is leading one of the boldest turnarounds in the automotive world. With 16 plants, 4,000 employees, and a mission to bring manufacturing back to its roots, Greg’s not following the playbook. He’s rewriting it.

Raised in poverty and foster care, Greg learned early that resilience beats pedigree. By 28, he was a millionaire. ...

What does it take to lead real digital transformation—while keeping food on shelves across the globe?

At Schreiber Foods, that question isn’t theoretical. It’s the work of SriRaj Kantamneni, EVP & Chief Information and Digital Officer at Schreiber and the architect behind an ambitious digital overhaul in one of the most critical global industries — food and ag.

But Sri didn’t come up through Silicon Valley. He grew up under the...

What if the future of logistics isn’t about bigger fleets—but about smarter connections?

Chris Condon grew up with the grit of farm country and the drive to fix what’s broken. After decades in the freight industry, he realized the real opportunity wasn’t in moving more freight. It was in empowering the small and mid-sized freight forwarders who move 80% of the world’s cargo.

In this episode of Real Leadership, Chris shares the jour...

Chris Cochran didn’t set out to disrupt one of the most entrenched industries in the U.S. — he just knew there had to be a better way. Now, as founder and CEO of FreightWise, he’s led one of the fastest-growing logistics tech companies in the country—proving that innovation doesn’t have to come from Silicon Valley to change everything.

In this episode of Real Leadership, Chris shares the story behind FreightWise’s rise, the lessons...

Chad Wiegand didn’t follow a corporate blueprint. He built a leadership model designed for complexity.

From pharmacy school to law, from boardroom legal counsel to global strategy, Chad built his career by stepping into uncertainty—and bringing clarity.

Today, he’s EVP and Chief Risk Officer at Schreiber Foods, an $8 billion, employee-owned food giant. He oversees everything from legal and audit to food safety, regulatory, complian...

You don’t have to choose between legacy and innovation. Jessica Warnke is proof — she’s doing both—and doing it exceptionally well.

Jessica grew up in the logistics world—her grandfather started a truck dealership with poker winnings, her father scaled Carter Express from 13 trucks to a national logistics force. 

Today, Jessica is the President & CEO of Carter Logistics, leading a 900-truck operation with global ties and deep f...

Andrew Tidwell has never followed the traditional HR playbook.

With a background in labor negotiations, international chaos, and what he calls “solving difficult people problems,” Andrew built a career by saying yes to the messy stuff—and figuring it out mid-flight.

Today, he’s CHRO at WineShipping, where he’s helped transform a fast-scaling logistics company into a culture-first, award-winning workplace. 

But ask him how he got th...

What if everything you thought about leadership was wrong?

Rudy Alanis grew up in a family where leadership meant service, purpose, and people. But after 25 years in global HR leadership—working at GE, TE Connectivity, Helix Electric, and now as Chief People Officer at Facility Solutions Group (FSG)—he’s learned that success isn’t just about working hard or getting results. It’s about how you lead people along the way.

In this ...

What keeps a logistics company thriving for nearly six decades?

Plenty of companies throw around words like trust and transparency, but few actually walk the talk. Even fewer know how to turn these values into a competitive edge.

In this episode, Paul shares what most leaders overlook when it comes to building a resilient, high-performing organization—whether you're leading a logistics team, navigating an acquisition, or thinking a...

The Psychologist Who Built a Life-Saving Logistics Empire

Most people don’t wake up thinking they’ll run a high-stakes logistics company. Matt Silverberg didn’t either.

Armed with a master’s in clinical psychology, he was working in the nonprofit sector—until a phone call changed everything. His father-in-law needed help in a niche logistics business. What started as a favor turned into a full-scale leadership pivot.

Today, Matt is...