Episode 32 | Part One: Richard Kopelman

In this episode, David and Geneviève Retzlaff continue to explore connections between authentic leadership and high-performing teams — and weigh in on different approaches to the culture-building process.

In this first of a two-part conversation, transformational career coach Geneviève Retzlaff talks about getting her start in human resources with Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. After a decade in HR and over 40 countries later, at her own company Grow Better Together, Geneviève helps organizations create cultures that encourage authentic leaders and human connections.

David and Dr. Roger Gerard build on the question, “What do employees really need from their leaders?” Roger shares the 5 golden promises leaders need to make and keep as if their life depended on it, and the advice he would give his younger self. Roger’s website: https://www.rogergerard.com/

Dr. Roger Gerard brings to the show 5 decades of experience as a leadership consultant and a healthcare executive for ThedaCare and Northern Michigan Hospitals. In this first of a two-part conversation, he and David discuss the profound difference that leadership makes upon various working environments. Roger also shares insights from his latest book, Lead with Purpose: Reignite Passion and Engagement for Professionals in Crisis.

David and Yael Averbuch discuss her evolving perspectives on team dynamics and culture-building, as she moves up from player to team captain to general manager. Yael reflects on the challenges of setting up a young team to be ‘sustainably successful,’ and the two things she wished she had known as a younger athlete.

David welcomes to the show Yael Averbuch, owner of the training app Techne Futbol and general manager for NJ/NY Gotham FC. Yael has been in soccer teams since the age of seven — most notably, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the US Women’s National Team. In this episode, Yael shares her experiences of good and bad team cultures, and weighs in on the value of rituals and predictability in the humanly unpredictable world of sports.

In this second part of their conversation, David and Richard Kopelman discuss the value of the Aprio Way during recent mergers, acquisitions, and overseas expansion. Richard reflects on how having a structured company culture has helped to overcome mistakes made along the way.

David welcomes Richard Kopelman — CEO and managing partner of the business advisory and accounting firm Aprio. In this first of a two-part conversation, Richard recounts the pivotal moments that introduced him to leadership, the formalization of their company culture through the creation of the Aprio Way, and the story behind his company’s focus on kindness.

With Festival Foods coming up on its first decade of practicing the Boomerang Basics, David and Mark Skogen talk about the role that culture has played in the company’s recent history. Mark shares the advice he would give to his 25-year-old self.

In this episode, David sits down with Mark Skogen — CEO and president of the Festival Foods supermarket chain in Wisconsin. Mark is a third-generation grocer, his family having been in the grocery business since 1946. With him at the reins and their Boomerang Basics as their guide, the company has come to be recognized as a leader in innovation, growth, ethics, and of course, culture.