Return on Character
Dan Cooper
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Since childhood, we’ve all been taught the importance of character, but lately, the world seems to have forgotten just how valuable it truly is. We want to help change that.
Return on Character Podcast tells character-shaping stories with famous and should-be famous leaders. Our hope is these stories will show the next generation, our country, and the world, that not only does character matter, but it’s the best way to live and INVEST.
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Available episodes
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Jul 27, 2023
Diversity & Inclusion: A Heart-to-Heart with KRW International, Executive Development Consultant, Chitupa Mung’omba.
The Return On Character Podcast with host Dan Cooper and special guest, Chitupa Mung’omba, Executive Development Consultant at KRW International. Explore Mung’omba's journey from being referred to as 'C' to reclaiming her Zambian name and its significance. Experience a deeply personal poem she co-wrote and discover how the 'return on character' concept transformed leadership teams during the COVID-19 pandemic. Get ready to be inspired as they discuss the importance of compassion, responsibility, integrity, and forgiveness in fostering inclusivity. Connect with us and contribute to a more inclusive world. #ReturnOnCharacter #Diversity #Inclusion #LeadershipTransformation
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Jun 27, 2023
Breaking Barriers: Female Entrepreneur Cydni Tetro Talks Brandless and Raising Capital
🎙️ Discover the Journey of a Female Entrepreneur in Tech & Consumer Products! 💡 Join Dan Cooper as he interviews Cydni Tetro, CEO of Brandless, on the ROC podcast. Learn about her experiences in raising capital, overcoming gender disparities, and her unique leadership style. Dive into the world of AI, 3D printing, and robotics, and get inspired by Cydni's advice for pursuing your ideas and making a difference.
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Jun 12, 2023
From Biodegradable Surfboards to Sendy: Ian De Queiroz's Entrepreneurial Journey
Dive into the thrilling entrepreneurial journey of Ian De Queiroz on the latest episode of Return on Character podcast! 🎧 Discover how he co-founded Sandy, the go-to online marketplace for outdoor sports equipment, while working with a dedicated team in Ukraine during the ongoing conflict. 🏄♂️ Learn about Ian's beginnings with biodegradable surfboards and his success in the hemp CBD industry, all while keeping character and company culture at the forefront. 💡 Don't miss his invaluable advice for young entrepreneurs on embracing their talents and maintaining balance in life!
👉 Watch now and get inspired! #ReturnOnCharacter #IanDeQueiroz #Sandy #OutdoorSports #Entrepreneurship #CompanyCulture
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Jun 5, 2023
The Human Trafficking Crisis Addressed by Ashlie Bryant, CEO at 3Strands Global Foundation
Take a journey with Ashlie Bryant, a compassionate leader, visionary & strategic CEO and Co-Founder of 3Strands Global Foundation, as she shares her knowledge on the implementation of successful programs to combat human trafficking. Discover the impact of her accomplishments in the corporate world, from leading corporate trainings to securing venture capital funding and prevneting youth from being trafficked through the power of education!
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Jun 2, 2023
From Prison to Redemption: The Remarkable Journey of Dave Durocher
David Durocher discusses the success of The Other Side Academy, a nonprofit organization in Salt Lake City run by ex-felons and recovering addicts. The organization includes a moving company, thrift boutiques, a construction company, and a storage warehouse, generating about $8.5 million per year. The Academy provides a structured environment for long-term recovery and job training, with graduates hired by companies such as True Religion and Larry H. Miller Lexus. The key to success, according to Durocher, is building character and integrity. The Academy is willing to help individuals from all over the country and aims to have a national presence.
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May 22, 2023
Resolving Conflicts with Character | Jim Copple
Join Dan Cooper as he interviews Jim Copple, experienced business owner and Ph.D Candidate with a history in the design industry. Learn how Jim has used his skills in Nonprofit Organizations, Coaching, Government, Program Evaluation, and Conflict Resolution to build an impressive business and lead a meaningful life.
Don't miss this amazing opportunity on return on character!
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May 15, 2023
Finding your true strength and character
Listen to this new episode with former professional cyclist Scott Nydam to understand how an unexpected change of events can also lead to leadership and greatness. Now heading the nonprofit Silver Stallion Bicycle & Coffee in the Navajo Nation border town of Gallup, New Mexico. Scott has found a way to help the Navajo youth accelerate their success in the current American society.
Learn more about Scott as Dan delves into his professional and personal journey, from his rise as a professional cyclist, to his commitment and dedication to helping others.
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May 8, 2023
Why Christians Must Prioritize Leaders with Character Over Policies and Power | Rick Warren
Rick shares his insight on how the Bible views character and leadership, how you can develop your own character, and why sometimes it's OK not to win. Listen to an exclusive interview with Rick Warren talking about how the American Church traded the biblical values of personal character for political influence and power.
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May 2, 2023
Understating the Power of Birth, Infancy, and Youth in Business with Brian Smith
Get inspired by Brian Smith, an Australian born chartered accountant and founder of UGG Imports who developed his love of surfing and created a successful business venture with just $500. Hear his insightful stories of highs and lows as he talks about how to dig deep and overcome obstacles on the Return on Character Podcast.
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Apr 25, 2023
Helping companies succeed by building character within their organization | The late Fred Kiel
On this episode, Dan Cooper and Jess Larsen discuss Fred Kiel's book “Return on Character” and his vast research on the impact of leaders with character. His work helped companies develop character within their organization to produce quantifiably business returns.
A leader and an inspiration all-around, tune in to witness the tribute to the life and work of the late Fred Kiel.
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Apr 18, 2023
Transforming Medicine Through Compassion | Renee Dua
On this episode of Dan Cooper, we meet Dr. Renee Dua, innovator and founder of Heal and the Renee app, that delivers generic medications as well as acting as a personal health assistant. Tune in to learn about her journey of entrepreneurship and growth, and how she is empowering patients to take control of their medical needs. Get inspired by Rene’s story and gain invaluable insight into leadership and character.
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Apr 10, 2023
Gaining Success Through Character: An Interview with Tom Darden
Learn from business leader Tom Darden as he shares his experiences on leadership and character. What advice does he have for overcoming challenges, and how has he shaped his own character? Get the scoop on becoming a successful leader with Dan Cooper's interview with Tom Darden. Don't miss out, tune into the Return on Character Podcast with Dan Cooper now!
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Apr 3, 2023
The Joy of Leading with Shannon Sedgwick Davis
Discover how Shannon Sedgwick Davis, the CEO and Founder of Global impact firm Bridgeway foundation, leveraged her own leadership and character to create long-lasting positive change in the world. Join Dan Cooper as he interviews Shannon to uncover her secrets for success and how showing up matters.
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Mar 27, 2023
Unlocking the Possibilities of Clean Energy, Mindful Tech and Social Wellness | Laura Walker Lee
Learn about leadership and character with host Dan Cooper and guest Laura Walker Lee, Founding Partner of MADRE VENTURES and co-founder of AG Capital. Laura has a globally-minded perspective and has worked in the intersection of culture and finance for over 15 years. Listen in as Laura talks about her work to help one billion people through clean energy, mindful technology and social wellness and hear her story of success in raising over $100M for founders and negotiating on behalf of top talent in the film industry.
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Mar 21, 2023
Discover the Secrets of Effective Leadership with Kaz Ohta
Join Dan Cooper in this inspiring interview with Kaz Ohta, Leadership Coach and Elite Performance Specialist. Kaz has built a career helping people become their best selves through leadership and character. Tune in to get tips and advice on how to effectively lead and become a confident, authentic leader.
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Mar 13, 2023
Investment Banking and Billion Dollars Secrets | Ismael Wrixen
Join us on Return on Character as we explore the importance of character and leadership with guest Ismael Wrixen. Ismael is the Executive Chairman of FE International and has overseen the successful acquisition of over 1000 businesses totaling $1bn in value. With a background in large-cap M&A investment banking, Ismael has focused on executing high profile public deals within the technology sector. Don't miss this inspiring episode as we explore Ismael's leadership and character!
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Mar 7, 2023
Revolutionizing Precision Medicine | Adam Hansen
Return on Character discusses how real-world problem solver Adam Hansen uses a diverse skillset, including computational biology, genomics, digital health, clinical informatics, data science, web development, business management to help relieve human suffering through the realization of precision medicine. Hear how Adam's team building and organizational skills have allowed him to create innovative solutions that help countless people around the world. Tune in to learn how you, too, can use your skillset to make a difference.
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Feb 28, 2023
Power of Leading by Character, Values, and Behaviors Challenges and Rewards of Innovation in Tech | Chet Kapoor
In this interview, Dan talks with Chet Kapoor, the Chairman and CEO of DataStax, a cloud database management software company. Kapoor is a seasoned leader and innovator in the tech industry, with over 20 years of experience working for companies such as Google, IBM, BEA Systems, WebMethods, and NeXT.
They discuss Kapoor's success in taking Apigee, a leading technology provider for digital business, public before it was acquired by Google in 2016. Kapoor also shares insights about his engineering education at Arizona State University and his vision for the future of cloud computing. Join us for an engaging conversation with one of the industry's most successful and forward-thinking leaders.
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Feb 21, 2023
Key Elements of a Purpose-Driven Organization | Walt Rakowich
In this episode, Dan sits down with Walt Rakowich, a leadership speaker, author, and former CEO of Prologis, a real estate company that had almost collapsed when he took over in 2008 during the Great Recession.
Despite facing a major challenge, Rakowich managed to turn the company's fortunes around by implementing his philosophy of "transformative influence." He believes that the best leaders are those who focus on serving others and promoting transparency, which ultimately leads to higher trust, performance, and better workplaces and communities.
Rakowich is a strong advocate for ethics and purpose in leadership and aims to transform organizational cultures. He is also engaged with several nonprofits and serves on the board of directors of Host Hotels and Resorts, Iron Mountain, Inc., and Ventas Inc. Additionally, he is on the board of trustees of Pennsylvania State University. He earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State and his MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Feb 14, 2023
6 Universal Truths to Improving Organizations and Communities | Mike Glauser
Mike Glauser is the author of the book "One People One Planet: Six Universal Truths for Being Happy Together", which merges ancient wisdom with modern day science to reveal a path for increasing our happiness, improving our relationships, and building more civil organizations and communities. He is also the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, business consultant and university professor. He has consulted with numerous corporations, published numerous articles and three books on entrepreneurship and held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina, Westminster College and Utah State University.
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Feb 7, 2023
Former CEO of Sonic Drive-in
Cliff Hudson spent 35 years of his career at Sonic Corp, a public company that operates drive-in restaurants. He served as Chairman of the Board and CEO, overseeing the company's operations with over 3,500 franchises and company-owned locations. He left Sonic upon its sale in 2018 and joined the law firm Crowe & Dunlevy as Of Counsel in Oklahoma City. During his time at Sonic, Hudson played a key role in the growth and success of the company.
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Jan 31, 2023
Humility and Resilience: The Keys to Overcoming Difficulties and Building a Successful Company
Mel Torrie is an engineer who began his career working on research payloads for NASA Space Shuttle Missions STS 77 and STS 91. He then founded Autonomous Solutions Inc (ASI) 22 years ago at the request of John Deere to start their robotic equipment program. ASI partners with major industrial companies to deploy autonomous vehicles in industries such as agriculture, mining, construction, logistics, and automotive autonomy testing. Recently, ASI partnered with SoftBank to promote the adoption of robotics in landscaping and logistics through the Mobius multi-vehicle fleet orchestration platform.
Mel grew up on a farm in Canada and received a Master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Utah State University. He and his wife Raeghn have also started a restaurant, a school of rock, and a non-profit foundation to help people lift themselves out of poverty in countries like Guatemala.
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Jan 25, 2023
Creating Change Through Investment | David Alvo
David Alvo is an entrepreneur and impact investor with an industrial engineering background and a master's degree in business engineering. He has founded, invested in, and worked with over 10 startups, participated in over 5 global incubators/accelerators, invested as a venture capitalist or angel investor in over 30 companies, and helped accelerate over 130 early-stage startups in Latin America. He has also co-founded 2 venture capital institutions, the ACVC and Latam Ventures Club, which has given him experience and knowledge in technology, product development, marketing, sales, fundraising, scaling, legal and finance.
He shares with Dan how changing the way he was looking at life allowed him to focus on giving instead of receiving.
They also talk about the establishment of the first social unicorn in Latin America, the most character-developing moments as an entrepreneur and the concept of business karma.
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Jan 10, 2023
Character and integrity in leadership is crucial for successful ventures
Get to know Jay, the founder and CEO of Pillow Cube and Creatably, in this exclusive interview.
With a track record of nearly 20 billion impressions and over 3 billion views, Jay is a leading expert in viral marketing. In this video, he shares his journey as an entrepreneur, investor, and father of four. Plus, learn how his marketing agency, Creatably, has helped clients like Kizik, Gabb Wireless, Owlet, and Thread Wallets achieve explosive growth.
And don't miss the story of Pillow Cube, Jay's product company that has quickly become one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, reaching a worth of over $100,000,000 in just two years. Tune in now to get inspired by Jay's success and insights.
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Dec 27, 2022
Social capital, trust and honesty with Neighbor’s Co-Founder, Joseph Woodbury
Joseph shares with Dan how Neighbor started and what makes them different from other businesses in terms of social capital, trust and honesty.
Joseph reflects on how their main asset is connecting neighbors, not just storage, wondering what else can those neighbors be doing for each other.
In the same way Amazon started with books and then expanded, Neighbor started with storage and aims to bring back the community of knowing your neighbors so their next steps involve a logical progression in terms of spaces.
Dan and Joseph also discuss character defining moments and how to manage a family while being an entrepreneur.
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Dec 20, 2022
Ryan Hall - Fastest US Marathoner & 2X Olympian on overcoming failure
Ryan, who holds the U.S. record in the half marathon, joins Dan in this conversation about life lessons, his accomplishments, learning from failures and training your mind and not just your body.
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Dec 11, 2022
One man’s free market solution to exploited laborers
Scott Stiles shares with Dan Cooper what inspired him for the current path he’s in, related to fair hiring for Seek Asia and also what motivated him to co-found Fair Employment Agency.
They both discuss how important it is to focus on doing the right thing all the time and not being afraid to fight for what's right and how this applies to the issues migrant domestic workers face in a market that’s already broken.
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Dec 7, 2022
How to use popular culture for good with the Philadelphia Eagles, MTV and more: Tim Sexton
Tim Sexton joins Dan to talk about what inspired him to be who he is today and how to make good and change the world through music and pop culture.
The Make Good Group repositions organizations through innovative social impact programs, pop-culture infused content, and global marketing platforms that enable brands to make good on their promises, make good in the world, and make good stuff.
The Los Angeles based collaborative group offers a unique team with wide and deep experience in brand strategy, social change, entertainment and content creation, sports, talent representation, energy, healthcare, non-profits, public policy, design, and technology. Make Good has created and produced Emmy, Grammy, and Webby award-winning work in television, film, music, live events, social impact, and technology.
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Nov 29, 2022
The story of 150 Afghan girls escaping the Taliban
Asma Paigeer joins Dan Cooper on this episode to talk about escaping the Taliban, and helping 150 of her classmates as well. Plus survivor guilt and what she has been up to since making it into the U.S and how she copes with the culture.
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Nov 22, 2022
Tom Campbell - Former five-term Republican United States Congressman
Tom Campbell and Dan talk about character in politics, the decisions one makes when no-one's looking and how people deal with the mistakes they might make.
Tom Campbell is an educator, economist, and public servant.
In addition to many other accomplishments, Tom is a former five-term Republican United States Congressman from California's 12th and 15th districts, a former member of the California State Senate, a former professor at Stanford Law School, former dean of the Haas School of Business, and former professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Nov 15, 2022
Shane Snow - Eclectic experience from award-winning entrepreneur, to explorer, to journalist
Shane Snow joins Dan Cooper going over the eclectic array of business and life experiences and how character has played a critical role in his journey.
Shane has performed comedy on Broadway, produced award-winning films, and founded various successful companies at the intersection of media and technology, including the business skills training company Snow Academy (snow.academy), the content marketing platform @Contently, and the film technology company @showrunner.tech
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Nov 8, 2022
Al Buford - Army Ranger Hall of Famer, now the President Patriot Group, a successful multi million dollar business.
Al Buford sits down with Dan to talk about his extensive experience in the military and later in the private sector and how the character of leaders in either situation, determines outcomes.
Al’s twenty years of military experience include service in the 75th Ranger Regiment’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions and seven years of operational service in a special mission unit. Al was recently selected for induction into the Ranger Hall Of Fame, class of 2020.
Currently, Al is President and co-owner of Patriot Group International, Inc. He has been an integral part of the company’s growth from $0 to $60M annually with likely revenue over $100M in the near future.
To learn more about Patriot Group International go to patgroupi.com or find them on social media @patriotgroupinternational
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Nov 1, 2022
Research supports, high character CEOs outperform low character CEOs over the long-term.
Knowing the character of CEOs and other corporate leaders in the marketplace gives an insight to their performance that is often overlooked by the typical investment analysts.
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Oct 24, 2022
Discovering what you love, are good at and raise millions of dollars to help charities do good in the world with Lindsay Hadley
Lindsay Hadley shares how she discovered what she loves, is great at and never thought of having as a career, including the impact her first humanitarian trip to Kenya had on her desire to help others, the End of Polio Concert in Australia and being a Founder Member, Chief Development Officer and Executive Producer of Global Citizen.
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Oct 18, 2022
Compassion and character defining moments living and working in a war zone
Emmanuel has been National Park Director at Virunga National Park, between Congo and Nile rivers, since 2008.
He is familiar with living in persistent difficulty, putting their lives on the line to push back the darkness.
Emmanuel talks about how values have provided guidance in everyday decisions and compassion is most needed when each day has its surprises and you must learn to adapt.
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Oct 11, 2022
Connecting with clients: from intern to managing billions.
Christine Leong Connors, President of EPIQ Capital Group, a San Francisco based financial advisor, talks with Dan Cooper and Jess Larsen about the importance of connecting with mentors, clients and co-workers to be successful.
See more about EPIQ Capital Group at epiqcg.com
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Oct 3, 2022
Rachel Gerrol on starting NEXUS and being a philanthropist
Join us in this interview with NEXUS CEO & Co-Founder Rachel Gerrol and learn more about how the idea of NEXUS started, what Impact Investing entails and how this generation is changing their choices and the future.
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Sep 26, 2022
Gives away 50% of the company’s profits and has for 30 years
John Montgomery of Bridgeway sat down with Dan Cooper and Jess Larsen to discuss how he builds character within his investment firm. Their discussion is an illuminating look at this often overlooked part of investing.
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