Motivated To Lead Podcast - Mark Klingsheim

This week, we revisit our conversation with Keith Grossman. Keith has been a leader in the medical technology industry for more than 35 years. He was the Chairman of the Board of Nevro Corporation (NVRO) until April 2025, having previously served as President and CEO from 2019 to April 2023.  Prior to Nevro, he was named President and CEO of Thoratec Corp. (THOR) for the second time in 2014. He led the company's return to growth, a 2.5x increase in company value, and its $3.4 billion acquisition by St. Jude Medical in 2015. He previously served as the CEO, President, and Director of Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS) from 2011 to 2013, where he took the company from negative sales growth to over 20% growth, tripled EBIDTA, and led the company's sale to Bayer Healthcare for over $1.1 billion, a 3x increase in the company's value before his arrival.  Prior to Conceptus, Keith served as managing director of TPG (Texas Pacific Group), a private equity firm, as a member of its healthcare investment team. Prior to TPG, Mr. Gro

In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Dr. Robert Quinn as he shares powerful insights on what it means to become a purpose-driven leader. Dr. Quinn has spent the past 40 years researching, publishing, teaching, consulting, and speaking to more than half of the Fortune 500. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and the author of 18 books, including Deep Change, a long term bestseller. He was named one of the "World's Top 30 Organizational Culture Professionals" in 2018 and holds one of the highest repeat invitation rates in the speaking industry. More than 15 million people have viewed his recent talk on purpose.

This week, we revisit our conversation with Molly Fletcher. Molly made her mark as one of the first female sports agents, and during her nearly two decades as President of CSE she negotiated more than $500 million in contracts. She represented over 300 of sports' biggest names, including Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, PGA Tour golfer Matt Kuchar, broadcaster Erin Andrews, and championship coaches Tom Izzo and Doc Rivers. Today, Molly is recognized as one of the world's top keynote speakers, and her TED Talk, "Secrets of a Champion Mindset," has surpassed one million views. She also hosts the popular podcast Game Changers with Molly Fletcher, where she interviews leaders, experts, and high performers across every field. Molly is the founder of Game Changer Performance Group and the author of five books, including her most recent, The Energy Clock.

This week on Motivated to Lead, we revisit a conversation with General Steven Kwast, CEO of SpaceBilt and one of the most forward thinking voices in national security and the future of space. General Kwast's story is remarkable. Raised in a remote African tribe, he went on to graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy in astronautical engineering and later earned a master's in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School. Over his distinguished career, he has recruited, educated, and developed the Air Force's workforce, served as President of Air University, and led at every level as a combat-seasoned fighter pilot. He is also the author of the influential "Fast Space" study, which outlines a bold vision for America's economic and national security leadership in space.

This week, we interviewed Dave Sparkman. Dave is the founder and managing director of SPARK Your Culture, a corporate culture advisory services firm, specializing in helping organizations transform and flourish through healthy, high-performance cultures. In his corporate career, Dave served as the SVP, Culture at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 5 public company based in Minnetonka, MN.  Over 9 years in that role, he led efforts to infuse an over 300,000 person organization with a corporate mission and values that would improve corporate results, including the customer and employee experience.   Prior to UnitedHealth Group, Dave lived in Los Angeles and served as the partner responsible for the West Region Human Resources function at Arthur Andersen, a worldwide audit, tax, and consulting firm.  He also currently serves as the volunteer Executive Director and Board Chair for Crossroads Career, a faith-based, job transition ministry dedicated to helping people who are unfulfilled or unemployed.  Dave and his wife

This week, we revisit our interview with Shellye Archambeau. Shellye is an experienced CEO and Board Director with a track record of accomplishments building brands, high-performance teams, and organizations. She shares lessons learned from her life that she has written about in her new book, Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms. A book that will inspire you, and provide the tools to enable you to fight the battles, make the tradeoffs and create the life you want. Shellye Archambeau currently serves on the boards of Verizon [NYSE:VZ], Roper Technologies [NYSE: ROP], and Okta [NASDAQ: OKTA]. She previously served on Nordstrom's [NYSE: JWN] board. She is also a strategic advisor to the Royal Bank of Canada, Capital Markets Group, and Forbes Ignite. Shellye has over 30 years of experience in technology. She is the former CEO of MetricStream, a Silicon Valley-based, governance, risk, and compliance software company. During her tenure, MetricStream grew fro

This week, we revisit our interview with Wayne Baker. Wayne is the author of the book All You Have to Do Is Ask, and the Robert P. Thome Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He is also a Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan and Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research. He currently serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Positive Organizations. His teaching and research focus on social capital, social networks, generosity, positive organizational scholarship, and values.  He has published numerous scholarly articles and four books.  His management and leadership articles appear in venues such as Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, and Sloan Management Review. Prior to joining the Michigan faculty, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago business school. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University and was a post-doctoral research f

This week, we revisit our interview with Susan (Sue) Ashford, who is an award-winning scholar and Professor at the University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business. She is the author of "The Power of Flexing: How to Use Small Daily Experiments to Create Big Life-Changing Growth". Sue's passion for helping people to be maximally effective in their work lives has driven her teaching and research work on self-management, proactivity, change from below, and leadership and its development. Her research has been summarized as advice for managers in the Harvard Business Review, the Harvard Business Review blog, New York Magazine, and The Conversation. Sue is a Fellow of the Academy of Management. She was awarded the prestigious Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Management by that Association in 2017 and the OB Division Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.  Sue is a native Californian and the daughter of two native Californians. Sue lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her h

This week, we revisit our interview with Andy Bass. Andy is a consultant, author, and speaker who works with businesses to find and exploit their hidden assets. He has worked with organizations in the UK, US and Far East including International Automotive Component Group, Rolls Royce, L'Oreal, Trimas, Deutsche Bank and The Advanced Propulsion Centre. Prior to his consulting career, Andy was a lecturer at Aston Business School and has also taught at Oxford Saïd, Warwick and Strathclyde Business Schools. Andy has a PhD in Software Engineering and describes himself as a geek who learned to wear a suit (to the point where he can pass undetected in the C-suite - usually). He is author of Start With What Works: a faster way to grow your business, Committed Action: The three-step method to inspire your people to take action, and The Performance Papers: Incisive Briefings for Busy Leaders.  Outside work, he played lead guitar in a Rush tribute band, and is a failed standup comedian. For free book chapters and present

This week, we interviewed Ken Sher, who is an Executive Coach, Career Coach, Keynote Speaker, and, most recently, an author. Ken spent more than 25 years at Johnson & Johnson in leadership roles across Sales, Marketing, Recruiting, Training, and Leadership Development. Through his experience, Ken has seen that technical skills alone don't make leaders successful. The best leaders are compassionate, authentic, and know how to build strong, trusting relationships that help teams thrive. He brings these lessons to life in his book, What's TRUST Got to Do with It? Transforming Leadership, Culture, and the Job Search, where he shows how trust becomes the foundation for meaningful relationships and how those relationships drive results.  

 This week, we interviewed Dr. Andrew C. Denton, President of Crown College. Andrew is the 17th president of Crown College. His vision, directed by the Lord, is for Crown to be the boldly Christian college of the Midwest. He provides a high level of vision, strategy, and execution to Crown while remaining deeply committed to leading Crown to be a boldly Christian, academically excellent college that fosters a lifelong, authentic community.  Since beginning his presidency, Dr. Denton has led Crown through nearly $ 20 million in capital investments across campus, including the construction of SPBI Hall, the first new building in nearly two decades. Crown's commitment to the Lord's vision and investment in campus initiatives resulted in over 20 percent enrollment growth since Fall 2021.  Dr. Denton holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from St. Louis University and an M.B.A. from Missouri State University. He and his wife, Linda, have been married for 26 years and are the proud parents of three children:

This week, we interview Amir Abolfathi. Amir is an experienced innovator and medical device executive with a proven record of building and scaling successful enterprises.  He was a founding team member of uLab Systems, Tusker Medical (acquired by Smith and Nephew), and Sonitus Medical. Amir also served for 6 years as an Officer and Vice President of R&D at Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), the creator of a unique, invisible orthodontic product. Previously, Amir was the first member of the senior management team at Embolic Protection Inc. (acquired by Boston Scientific), where he was a consulting VP of Operations. In early 1995, Amir co-founded EndoTex Interventional Systems (acquired by Boston Scientific), developers of minimally invasive solutions for the treatment of carotid artery disease. Demonstrated strength in capital strategy and fundraising, with over $280M raised since 2006 and prior contributions to securing $300M from 1995 to 2006, supported by deep venture capital, banking, and strategi

This week, we revisit our interview with Pam Fox Rollin. Pam coaches executives and top teams in Silicon Valley and globally. Pam also facilitates technology and healthcare organizations to succeed in strategic transformation, executive development, and culture change. Her bestselling books -- Growing Groups into Teams and 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role -- are described as indispensable for leaders at all levels. Pam and her team at Altus Growth Partners work with highly capable people to take on their next round of leadership and strategic growth. Pam’s MBA is from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), where she later served as Guest Fellow in leadership and Master Coach for executive education.

This week we revisit our interview Joe Mandato. Joe holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance.  He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Managing Director at DeNovo Ventures, Senior Advisor at Apercen Partners, Advisor to Sonder Capital, and 15-year Lecturer at Stanford University.   He has served on more than 20 public and private boards focused on technology and the life sciences, including Align Technology (NASDAQ), Avedro, Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ), Hansen Medical (NASDAQ), Insound Medical & Vynca Health.  He also serves on the boards of Case Western Reserve University, Headstart, and Save the Children.   He was a seed investor, board member and advisor to the founders of Align Technologies and has served as CEO of five life sciences companies, whic

This week, we revisit our interview with Fouad Al Noor. Fouad is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkSono. Prior to ThinkSono, Fouad was an entrepreneur with Entrepreneur First, where they created a medical software startup.  Fouad has also worked as a Research Assistant at Imperial College London, where they worked on the design of data logging and battery optimization circuit for a portable EEG sensor. This device is used to help with sleep monitoring using brain signals.  Before that, Fouad worked as a Software Engineer at SAP, where they worked on front-end UI for a large manufacturing project. Fouad has also worked as an Events Manager at Cafe Parfait, where they helped design a night out for the club. Fouad has also interned at SPI Lasers as an Electronic Engineering Intern and was the Opinions Editor at Wessex Scene. Fouad Al Noor has a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology from the University of Southampton.

In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Shawn McCormick. Shawn has 30 years of financial expertise and operational experience in the medical device and life sciences industry. Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Aldevron, a private equity-backed CDMO. Shawn joined Aldevron in 2020 and remained until February 2022, following the sale of the company to Danaher, Inc. in 2021. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tornier N.V. and Tornier, Inc. from September 2012 until the completion of the merger with Wright Medical in October 2015. He also served as Tornier’s Principal Accounting Officer. Mr. McCormick served as Chief Operating Officer of Lutonix Inc. from April 2011 to February 2012, when Lutonix was sold to C.R.Bard.  He served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of ev3, Inc. from January 2009 to July 2010 and as its Principal Accounting Officer. ev3 was sold to Covidien in July 2010. Mr. McCormick held various positions of increasing responsibility at M

This week, we revisit our conversation with Keith Grossman. Keith has been a leader in the medical technology industry for more than 35 years. He was the Chairman of the Board of Nevro Corporation (NVRO) until April 2025, having previously served as President and CEO from 2019 to April 2023. Prior to Nevro, he was named President and CEO of Thoratec Corp. (THOR) for the second time in 2014. He led the company’s return to growth, a 2.5x increase in company value, and its $3.4 billion acquisition by St. Jude Medical in 2015. He previously served as the CEO, President, and Director of Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS) from 2011 to 2013, where he took the company from negative sales growth to over 20% growth, tripled EBIDTA, and led the company’s sale to Bayer Healthcare for over $1.1 billion, a 3x increase in the company’s value before his arrival. Prior to Conceptus, Keith served as managing director of TPG (Texas Pacific Group), a private equity firm, as a member of its healthcare investment team. Prior to TPG, Mr. Gros

In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Karen Long, a Managing Director at KCK (Med Tech) Group. KCK focuses on capital investment in commercial and growth-stage medical device companies. Karen has been with KCK since January 2018, when she joined as Executive-in-Residence. Karen serves as Board Director in many KCK portfolio companies as well as Independently. Prior to KCK, Karen was President and CEO of Nuelle, a women’s consumer health company incubated at ExploraMed, a Silicon Valley medical device incubator. Nuelle was acquired in 2017. Karen has spent over 20 years in medical devices and diagnostics developing and marketing novel and market leading products focused on improving quality of life. She has held a series of key operating roles in consumer diagnostic companies, ChemTrak and Inverness Medical and eventually management positions at LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company, after the acquisition of Inverness Medical. In early 2007, Karen joined Acclarent as Worldwide Vice Presiden

This week, we revisit our conversation with Todd Henry regarding his book, The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work.  Todd Henry is an author, speaker, and consultant who equips leaders and teams to unleash creativity and perform at their best. He is the founder of Accidental Creative and host of the long-running Daily Creative Podcast, with millions of downloads worldwide. Todd has written seven acclaimed books, including The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Herding Tigers, The Brave Habit, Daily Creative, Louder Than Words, and The Motivation Code. Through his writing, speaking, and workshops, he helps individuals and organizations generate ideas consistently, build authentic influence, and lead with impact.  

This week, we interviewed Retired Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCulloch. Oak is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the author of the 2021 release, “Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be”. Both his leadership talks, and his book are based on his 40+ years of leadership experience in combat, peacekeeping operations, disaster relief operations and in the board room. Oak highlights principles that will benefit today’s leaders and inspire the leaders of tomorrow, in any profession and at any level of leadership. LTC McCulloch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Military Arts and Science in Leadership and History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 2002. He received thirty-one military service awards, including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals and the Humanitarian Service Medal.