Live from the Next Chapter with Dan Loepp

Hank Meijer, executive chairman of Meijer, talks with Dan Loepp about humility, trust and leading a family business through change. He found his own path in newspapers before joining the company his grandfather, a Dutch immigrant barber, started with one small grocery store in 1934.Hank talks about Mrs. Johnson, the first customer, and why trusting someone else with the keys made a second store possible. He covers the 1962 decision to put groceries and general merchandise under one roof, the editor who tossed out his first story, and the mentors who shaped him. He explains what an executive chairman does in a family company led by a non-family CEO, and why he believes the more ego gets in the way, the weaker a leader becomes. He also talks about the twenty years he spent writing the first full biography of Senator Arthur Vandenberg.Dan opens with Michael Patrick Shiels on transparency with the media, and why the best interviewers ask one good question and then listen.Hosted by Dan Loepp. With Michael Patrick Shiels, host of Michigan’s Big Show. Created and executive produced by Elizabeth Utton and Todd Manley. Produced at EarSight Studios.Live from the Next Chapter with Dan Loepp. Learned Insight, Shared Generously.Subscribe at danloepp.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Cindy Pasky built Strategic Staffing Solutions from two people in Detroit into a global enterprise with more than 4,000 people on four continents. Detroit is still home.She tells Dan why S3 exists to make a difference every single day for its customers, consultants and communities, and how the company opens in every new country the same way. She also shares the two questions she asks her whole team every year to keep a growing company feeling like one company, and the worst-case test she used to start S3.The episode opens with Dan and Michael Patrick Shiels on doing the hard things, starting with a rookie Matthew Stafford. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

In 1979 a Treasury official pulled Congressman Jim Blanchard aside and told him Chrysler was going broke. Chrysler did not yet know how bad it was. The public would not know for another month. He could not repeat a word of it, and the rescue was going to land in his lap whether he wanted it or not.The reason that call went to him traces back four years, to something he did as a freshman that was unpopular in his own district.By the time the news broke he was ready. He had already called every Democrat on his committee from a cottage in Ontario with one request. Hold your position until we talk. That fall he talked to Lee Iacocca almost every other night. He explains what was actually at stake, and why passing the bill was only half the job.He also walks through the Michigan Education Trust, which he built with treasurer Bob Bowman and which twenty-nine states went on to copy, and what still separates it from the 529 plans it inspired.As President Clinton’s ambassador to Canada he rode a train from Newfoundland to British Columbia before he unpacked his bags in Ottawa. He wrote about those years in Behind the Embassy Door. He describes what Canadians said about him afterward, and how much of the American economy runs through a border most people never think about.Underneath all of it is a question about who helped him. His mother, who raised him alone. A Ferndale basketball coach who kept him off the court and pointed him somewhere else entirely. Decades later Governor Blanchard picked up the phone to tell that coach what it had meant.Governor Blanchard served four terms in Congress and two terms as governor of Michigan, was appointed United States ambassador to Canada by President Clinton, and serves on the board of the National Archives Foundation, where he is Immediate Past Chair.Dan and Governor Blanchard have known each other about forty-five years. They both came up through Attorney General Frank Kelley’s office. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Richard Bierschbach grew up in Wyoming, Michigan. His dad worked at Steelcase. His mom was a preschool teacher. Today he is the 14th president of Wayne State University.In this episode, Dan talks with President Bierschbach about a career he says he never planned. An engineering student who fell for history. A law student who nearly took a year off. A clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. A law school dean who was asked to step in as interim president and was then chosen to lead the university.They talk about the weight of a job that turns out heavier than you expected, why Rick stays focused on what only the president can do, and why Wayne State’s commitment to social mobility is personal for him. Dan, who holds three degrees from Wayne State, shares a piece of his own story along the way.The episode opens with Dan and Michael Patrick Shiels on this week’s lesson learned: when you’re looking for great leaders, look outside your lane.In this episode• The family and West Michigan upbringing that shaped his work ethic• Finding his way at Michigan, from the engineering degree to a history degree• What Justice O’Connor taught him about relationships and seeing past divides• Leading as an interim: keeping the university’s priorities moving forward• His advice for a next chapter: don’t worry if you don’t feel readyLive from the Next Chapter is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Learned Insight, Shared Generously. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Tricia Keith is the third CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in forty years. She joined the team on Dan Loepp's first day as CEO in 2006, spent eighteen years helping lead nearly every part of the company, and stepped into the role when he retired.In this conversation she tells him about the family farm where showing up wasn't optional, the job she turned down in 2012, the more than 180 one-on-one conversations she held before her first day, and the letter he left on the desk for her.The episode opens with Dan and Michael Patrick Shiels on the note Dick Whitmer left for Dan in 2006. Two words.Live from the Next Chapter. Learned Insight, Shared Generously. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Rick Snyder had never run for office. He was a CPA with three degrees by twenty-three, six years spent scaling Gateway from 600 employees to 13,000, and a venture capital career behind him. Then a dinner conversation with his wife in early 2009 ended somewhere neither of them expected.He entered the race polling low enough that his early supporters joked he could be a negative number. He still calls them the Margin of Error Club.In this conversation with Dan Loepp, Michigan's 48th governor walks through what followed. Why he spent his first campaign's Super Bowl money on an ad his own supporters hated. What he kept on his corkboard for all eight years in office. Why he published state performance metrics on day one, and what the Lansing establishment warned him he had just done to himself. The standard he set for his team that sounded, on its face, like permission to fail.Snyder also names the accomplishment he is proudest of, which is something he says he will never actually see. He reflects on knowing from the start that he was on an eight-year clock, why he stayed quiet after leaving office, and the advice he gives every leader approaching the end of a defining role.Live from the Next Chapter is hosted by Dan Loepp, former President and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Learned Insight, Shared Generously. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Executive coach Anne Ferrier has spent more than thirty years working with CEOs and senior leaders. The pattern she sees most often is also the one leaders are slowest to recognize: the relationship you have with yourself shapes every other relationship in your leadership.Anne calls it the “inner leader,” the internal awareness that grounds a leader, opens them to the people around them, and creates room for good judgment under pressure. When that connection is strong, leaders bring more clarity, more calm, and more space for the work that matters. When it erodes, the effects show up everywhere: in decision-making, in how teams experience the leader, and in the leader’s own sense of purpose.In this conversation with Dan Loepp, Anne explains why self-knowledge is a leadership discipline, not a personal luxury. She walks through what it looks like when leaders lose that connection and how they find it again. Dan reflects on what his own leadership transition revealed about the link between knowing yourself and leading well.Whether you are early in a leadership role, deep into one, or navigating what comes after, this conversation explores why the most strategic investment a leader can make is understanding what is happening inside themselves. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Bankole Thompson has learned from some remarkable mentors. Ambassador George Haley, Sam Logan, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu all shaped how he understands what leadership requires. In this episode, Dan sits down with the Detroit journalist, author, and founding dean and editor-in-chief of the PuLSE Institute to talk about what those relationships taught him: that leadership rests on humility, grace, and the willingness to listen.Bankole shares stories from a journey that took him from Gambia to Detroit, including encounters with figures like Barack Obama, and what those moments revealed about the qualities that separate good leaders from great ones. He and Dan explore how adversity becomes strength, why mentorship shapes leaders more than titles do, and what it means to measure a career by service rather than recognition.The episode opens with Dan and Michael Patrick Shiels on a lesson every leader eventually learns: never be the smartest person in the room. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Too many leaders get trapped in black-and-white decision-making, but the real skill, lies in mastering the gray.In this episode, Dan Loepp talks with Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Spectacor and the Governor of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dan Hilferty about his journey across politics, healthcare, and professional sports. Hilferty shares his passion for building community and culture where varied perspectives thrive.Plus, Loepp talks about the importance of the gray in business with Michael Patrick Shiels.We break down how great leaders treat people fairly yet recognize their unique triggers, and why compromise often produces better results than rigid stance. Dan shares powerful insights from his time working with multiple U.S. presidents on healthcare policy.Whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder or working in public service, this episode offers timeless lessons for refining your decision-making radar and becoming a more impactful leader. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com

Most leaders spend decades building a career at high speed. The question of what comes after rarely gets serious attention until the transition is already underway.In this episode, Dan sits down with Anne Ferrier, an executive coach with more than 30 years of experience working with senior leaders navigating some of the most consequential shifts of their careers. Anne explains how the process of rethinking purpose and identity often begins much earlier than leaders recognize: in her experience, women around 38, men closer to 45. She talks about what it takes to build trust with executives who are used to having the answers, why empathy and boundaries can coexist in strong leadership, and how the brain works against us when we try to see clearly.Dan also shares his own experience working with Anne through his transition from leading Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, including what surprised him about the process and what he wishes he had understood sooner.Plus, Michael Patrick Shiels joins Dan Loepp for a dialogue on the responsibility of leadership. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit danloepp.substack.com