Dr. Ken Druck has been a trusted advisor through the years, personally to Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman, and also to the leadership of BW during some of our tough times.

After the loss of his daughter, Ken decided to dedicate himself to helping others find their way through grief. He founded the Jenna Druck Center in his daughter’s honor and went on to be a source of hope to families affected by the tragedies of 9-11, Columbine, Katrina and Sandy Hook.

A few years ago, we invited Ken to Barry-Wehmiller corporate headquarters in St. Louis as part of our Leadership Speaker Series. We at Barry-Wehmiller often talk about how listening is key to helping people feel valued, but that must be accompanied by empathy and compassion.

In his talk, Ken spoke not only about how he processed his own grief, but he also talked about how to be a good friend and encourage those who are experiencing grief. But, the things that Ken discusses in this podcast can not only be guidelines to be compassionate to those experiencing grief, they're good things to think about when approaching people in everyday life. Especially during stressful or tense times. Our friends, family, teammates and acquaintances. In our workplaces, our neighborhoods and our homes.

Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is Barry-Wehmiller's consulting arm that specializes in helping other organizations unleash the extraordinary in their businesses and their people. They do this by helping those organizations identify, develop, and equip their leaders. You can learn more about Chapman & Co. at ccoleadership.com

One company that Chapman & Co. has a long relationship with is Meijer, a midwestern chain of grocery stores that currently has about 270 stores with 70,000 team members. On this podcast, Barry Kirk, one of Chapman & Co.’s partners, has an indepth conversation with Dave Lopez and Josh Barber of Meijer. They talk about why Meijer began working with Chapman & Co. and share some of the results, as well as how they are trying to sustain those results. They also talk about a fascinating aspect of training that incorporates gamification. But most importantly, they share how they were able to let their leaders be leaders.

Michael Bungay Stanier (or MBS) is the founder of Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that helps organizations move from advice-driven to curiosity-led. They’ve trained hundreds of thousands of managers to be more coach-like and their clients range from Microsoft to Gucci.

A few years ago, Barry-Wehmiller CEO, Bob Chapman, shared our leadership philosophy with MBS on the Great Work Podcast from Box of Crayons, which is where we were first introduced to his work.

One of MBS's books, The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More and Change The Way You Lead Forever, has sold more than a million copies and is the best-selling coaching book of the century. The Coaching Habit very much resonates with our core principles at Barry-Wehmiller, you can see it in the title: “Say less, ask more.” In other words, listen. Really, truly listen.

On this podcast, Michael talks about the difficulty leaders have in listening and why that may be, but he also gives practical suggestions on how leaders can be better coaches and help their people feel like they really matter