Truly Human Leadership

Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman has said this about the importance of listening:

Time and again, I've written that listening is the most important thing a leader can do. But it transcends the leader role. Listening is the most important thing we, as humans, can do for one another. It shows empathy, it shows you care, and most importantly, it shows the person you are listening to that t...

A few months ago, we were honored that Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, named the week of October 13, 2025 "Chapman Leadership Week." That week, their School of Business Administration hosted the inaugural Chapman Lecture on Truly Human Leadership, named in honor of Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman.

It was the culmination of a partnership our outreach team has had with the university to bring the principles of Truly H...

Over the years, we've talked about the Harvard Case Study that was written about Barry-Wehmiller in 2016. It's a best seller, taught in over 200 universities to more than 30,000 students.

On an earlier podcast, we talked to the authors of the case study, one of which is our guest today, Harvard Professor Jan Rivkin.

The earlier episode kind of dealt with the how and why...

Aaron Witt started his career as a kid who loved construction. But over the years, he's built something bigger than he could have ever envisioned to support the industry he loves.

Aaron is the founder of Build Witt. You can find out more about them at buildwitt.com and Aaron has his own website at aaron-witt.com. Build Witt is a company that creates microlearning software for the critical i...

A few months ago, our friend Simon Sinek visited our BW Papersystems location in Phillips, WI to record an episode of his "A Bit of Optimism" podcast with Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman.

It wasn't the first time Simon had been to Phillips, WI, as you'll soon hear, and for his podcast, Simon not only wanted to talk to his good friend Bob, but other BW teammates in Phillips, some he had...

You may have heard Simon Sinek's recent "A Bit of Optimism" podcast that featured Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman and a number of BW team member from our BW Papersystems company in Phillips, WI. 

One particular team member that was interviewed was Randall Fleming, who was a welder when we aquired (or adopted) Marquip, the company that would become BW Papersystems. 

While presenting our message of Truly Human Leadership, our CE...

This week, we are celebrating the release of the new revised and expanded edition of Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia's book on Bob and Barry-Wehmiller's journey to Truly Human Leadership.

On today's podcast, we want to share a story of Bob and the book's impact on one particular leader. Jason Lippert is the President and CEO of Li...

This past week signaled a major milestone in the history of our company. We announced that Kyle Chapman is now CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, in addition to his existing role as President. His father, Bob Chapman, who has served as CEO since 1975, will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.

Barry-Wehmiller has been led by a Chapman since 1957, when William A. Chapman, Bob's dad, became Presid...

We told you in the last episode about the new revised and expanded edition of our CEO, Bob Chapman's book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, which will be out Oct 21. Learn more about it at everybodymattersbook.com.

If you read the original version, you know it's a story of transformation. It's about a leader who realized there was a better wa...

If you're a regular listener of this podcast, you've probably heard of Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia's book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Treating Your People Like Family.

Well, I'm pleased to be able to finally tell this audience that a revised and expanded version of this seminal book will be released Oct. 21. It has 75 extra pages, catching readers up to Bob and Barry-Wehm...

BW CEO Bob Chapman often tells a story about meeting Steve Jones, who was formerly a high school football coach at Kimberly High School in Kimberly, WI.

Steve led his teams to five consecutive state titles from 2013-2017 with an incredible run of 70 consecutive victories, a Wisconsin state record. With those impressive credentials, Bob asked Steve what he taught his players about winning an...

Our friend Jane Adshead-Grant says this is key in furthering our hope to build a better world:

"As we begin to share the message of what it means to be a Truly Human Leader, to take the responsibility of leadership and be this great steward of people who have been entrusted to us… What I see, time and time again is that there are few role models that enable our future generations to be this way. And so, for me, it's about how do we...

There is a hunger for a new kind of leadership.

Throughout business and organizations, people continue to be taught to be managers, not leaders. They make sure everyone is in their seat on time, they take headcount for the day, they check off the boxes of daily tasks.

But this is changing. As the evidence of the success of caring organizations becomes overwhelming, organizational leadership is reconnecting with their own humanity a...

One thing we have consistently believed at Barry-Wehmiller is that everyone can be a leader. Anese Cavanaugh's book, Contagious You advances the notion—for good or for bad—that leaders have tremendous power to influence those who follow their example.

As Anese says, "The quality of our leadership is based upon our intentions, energy, and presence. By emphasizing authorship, self-care, and response-ability (not responsibility) as le...

Almost ten years ago, our CEO, Bob Chapman's book, Everybody Matters was released. It is a documentation of the lessons Bob and Barry-Wehmiller have learned along our journey. Among the most important insights we gained: Everybody wants to know that who they are and what they do matters.

Mattering is a term that is getting more and more attention lately. A while back, you may remember episo...

Over the last few years, Bob Chapman has been honored to present the message of Truly Human Leadership to more and more audiences.

Whether to a group of manufacturing executives, city government leaders, business students, human resources professionals, and countless others, the goal remains the same. Bob wants people to understand that the way we lead impacts the way people live.

Bob has long been inspired by the work of The Aspen...

The term "influencer" has really become a marketing term. It's a job. People are paid on social media to influence behavior, usually toward certain products. But there are real influencers in our lives -- intentional or unintentional -- that have a much greater effect on our behaviors, in positive or negative ways.

We've long held at Barry-Wehmiller that your leader is one of the most powerful influencers in your life. Many years a...

Here's something our CEO Bob Chapman recently wrote in a post on our Truly Human Leadership blog: 

The people our leaders lead, they do not "report to" that leader, they are within that leader's span of care. Just that simple deviation from the normal way of phrasing things completely changes the dynamic of the relationship. Per a Google search, the literal definition of "report to" someone is "to work...

Barry-Wehmiller's Chief People Officer, Rhonda Spencer, was recently recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal in their 2025 HR Awards for Innovation in HR. This was a long overdue recognition of Rhonda's leadership, but also the work of the BW Global People Team and everthing they've done to help all of our people, all over the world, feel like they matter.

Rhonda has been with Barry-We...