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 ago, I was told that the person you report to at work can be more important to your health than your family doctor. A few years ago, Forbes published a study that said 69% felt their leader had the greatest impact on their health, on par with the impact of their partner.

Bob Burg is the best selling author of the classic business parable, The Go-Giver. Another book in that series, The Go-Giver Influencer, is a book that describes the characteristics a leader should have to exert a positive influence on others. Key among them is listening. It’s written, as are his other books in the Go-Giver series, as a parable, and it has a powerful message.

When it was released, our CEO, Bob Chapman wrote a blurb — or recommendation. In it, he said, "If you do nothing more than read and follow the lesson in chapter seven, you will have given yourself a life-changing gift." Here’s a quote from the book about that chapter that explains what he meant:

“The next time you listen to someone speak, imagine you’re using the back of your neck to hear… It’s like listening not only to what a person says, but also to what they don’t say. What they mean. What they’re feeling, behind the words and facial expression.”

On this podcast, we talk to Bob Burg about what it truly means to be an influencer.

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 under the supervision of or take instructions from someone who is in a higher position. It implies a hierarchical relationship where the person reporting is accountable to the individual they report to.” But when you talk about being within a leader’s span of care, it helps to change the way leaders think. It suggests the sense of responsibility a leader should feel to those they lead. Our children do not “report to” us. Our spouses certainly don’t. When we invite someone to join our team, we are bestowed with the awesome responsibility to provide the care and inspiration and support that that precious human being needs to become everything he or she was meant to be.

As Bob says here, just a simple phrase like “span of care” can change our perspective as a leader. And this takes us to our conversation today.

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.

On this podcast, Ben Huebner, a Senior Consultant at Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is going to talk to a couple of leaders from Metlife, who I’m sure you’ve heard of. Since 1868, MetLife has been of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individuals and institutions around the world.

Ben’s conversation is with Anna Lavery, Vice President, Market Enablement and Andrea Douglas, Vice President, Regional Business Service & Implementation. The three talk about the work Chapman & Co has done with Metlife for a few years now, mainly with what Chapman & Co calls Truly Human Service and Truly Human Language. Notably, you’ll hear the impact using the phrase “span of care” has made in their organization.

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-Wehmiller since before the development of our Guiding Principles of Leadership and was one of the major voices in its creation. She was our first Chief People Officer and it’s her primary responsibility to be the steward of our values and make sure that light shines to the furthest reaches of our organization.

Recently, Rhonda took part in a webinar discussion with Mike Budden, one of the partners in our Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, 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 them at ccoleadership.com.

On this week’s podcast, we want to showcase an edited version of that discussion. It’s an interesting conversation as Mike and Rhonda discuss what it means to scale a Truly Human Leadership culture globally. They talk about the processes and systems we’ve developed to try to make that happen and there's a lot of insight to apply to your own organization.