For 50 years, Bob Chapman was CEO of Barry-Wehmiller until his retirement in 2025. Bob’s approach to organizational culture is unique and inspiring. He believes the workplace should be a source of dignity that enables every team member to flourish. This approach is the subject of Bob’s book “Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Treating Your People Like Family” and the ethos behind Barry-Wehmiller’s success.
In this interview, Bob and host Don MacPherson discuss what it looks like to have leaders throughout an organization care for their people like members of their own family. They discuss the advantages of creating a culture where people are willing to sacrifice for one another and how to create that culture throughout a multinational organization with thousands of team members.
The interview continues with a conversation about managing poor performance, surviving economic downturns, and Bob shares his thoughts on the ways he believes artificial intelligence will change and enhance organizations around the world.
Recently recognized as a 2025 Top 50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc., Bob Chapman became the senior executive of Barry-Wehmiller in 1975 at age 30 - a position he held until 2025. In 2022, Chapman was named the Tharseō CEO of the Year by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). He’s been ranked as the #3 CEO in the world in an Inc. article, and a Top 10 Social Capital CEO by International Business Times.
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For 50 years, Bob Chapman was CEO of Barry-Wehmiller until his retirement in 2025. Bob’s approach to organizational culture is unique and inspiring. He believes the workplace should be a source of dignity that enables every team member to flourish. This approach is the subject of Bob’s book “Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Treating Your People Like Family” and the ethos behind Barry-Wehmiller’s success.
In this interview, Bob and host Don MacPherson discuss what it looks like to have leaders throughout an organization care for their people like members of their own family. They discuss the advantages of creating a culture where people are willing to sacrifice for one another and how to create that culture throughout a multinational organization with thousands of team members.
The interview continues with a conversation about managing poor performance, surviving economic downturns, and Bob shares his thoughts on the ways he believes artificial intelligence will change and enhance organizations around the world.
Recently recognized as a 2025 Top 50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc., Bob Chapman became the senior executive of Barry-Wehmiller in 1975 at age 30 - a position he held until 2025. In 2022, Chapman was named the Tharseō CEO of the Year by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). He’s been ranked as the #3 CEO in the world in an Inc. article, and a Top 10 Social Capital CEO by International Business Times.
It’s clear that artificial intelligence is going to be one of the most powerful forces shaping the future of humanity and the planet today and over the next two decades. Much of the AI discourse is negative or dystopian themed. Far too little AI news is highlighting how the planet’s problems and the challenges humans face can be solved.
In this conversation, futurist Jack Uldrich paints a picture of how we can collectively benefit from the advancements in artificial intelligence. Given the moving target of forecasting the future, Jack provides AI scenarios that he is 99% certain will occur, 75% certain, and 50% certain. He even provides a few scenarios that have a 25% — and even a 1% — chance of happening.
Jack says that we will see great leaps in diagnosing cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease sooner. He is optimistic that AI can be used to address the effects of climate change and greatly assist in the pursuit of nuclear fusion. In what is becoming known as the “compressed century” - where there will be a century’s worth of change in just a decade, Jack points out that “AI is doubling in capacity and capability every seven months” which means that the capabilities of AI in six years could be a thousand times more powerful than they are today.
Jack doesn’t see AI as a panacea. He points out that there will be job losses because of AI. He says that trust could be further eroded as a result of AI-generated deep fakes and fake news. He also points out that the “internet is broken” as we move from “social media to social production.” The conversation ends with Jack sharing his ideas around how purpose, faith, and trust will grow in importance to cope with the disruption AI is certain to bring.
Jack Uldrich is a well-recognized global futurist, speaker, and the author of thirteen books, including a number of award-winning best sellers. He is a frequent speaker on technology, change management and leadership and has addressed hundreds of corporations, associations and not-for-profit organizations on five continents. He regularly makes television appearances on PBS’s Frontline, the Science Channel, and the Discovery Channel, and is a frequent guest on major media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, Fox and National Public Radio.
12 Geniuses Podcast
For 50 years, Bob Chapman was CEO of Barry-Wehmiller until his retirement in 2025. Bob’s approach to organizational culture is unique and inspiring. He believes the workplace should be a source of dignity that enables every team member to flourish. This approach is the subject of Bob’s book “Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Treating Your People Like Family” and the ethos behind Barry-Wehmiller’s success.
In this interview, Bob and host Don MacPherson discuss what it looks like to have leaders throughout an organization care for their people like members of their own family. They discuss the advantages of creating a culture where people are willing to sacrifice for one another and how to create that culture throughout a multinational organization with thousands of team members.
The interview continues with a conversation about managing poor performance, surviving economic downturns, and Bob shares his thoughts on the ways he believes artificial intelligence will change and enhance organizations around the world.
Recently recognized as a 2025 Top 50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc., Bob Chapman became the senior executive of Barry-Wehmiller in 1975 at age 30 - a position he held until 2025. In 2022, Chapman was named the Tharseō CEO of the Year by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). He’s been ranked as the #3 CEO in the world in an Inc. article, and a Top 10 Social Capital CEO by International Business Times.
