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Why We Need to Address Post-Covid-19 Today (and How) According to Reviva Corp.’s Dave Goodwin

During this week’s One Take CEO Interview podcast and video segment sponsored by Platinum Group, Reviva Corp. Chairman Dave Goodwin shares how his company remained operating at full-speed despite Covid-19, and the importance of addressing today what the world will be like post-Covid. Reviva remanufactures gas and diesel engines for commercial-grade trucks smaller than 18-wheelers, such as those used by UPS.

Screenshot 2020-08-12 13.47.37“It’s going to be a different environment. We have to be talking about the kind of people and leadership that our companies need to develop to be successful in transforming their businesses through innovation and the different ways they’re going to have to change their businesses to go forward,” he says. “That’s the essence of capitalism and we better be very capitalistic in our thinking that we can do this; we can innovate; we can change. That’s how our nation became great. That’s how our companies will become great after Covid.”

And it’s essential, Goodwin says, that colleges and universities up their game in addressing what’s really needed in 21st Century American capitalism. For example, serving customers well requires “tremendous people who learn to listen and don’t learn to talk,” he says. “We just need to really update our listening skills so we can hear from our employees who have ideas to share, and from our customers who would like us to maybe change this or that or get into something new. If we have leadership that really values listening rather than telling people things, we will have successful companies”

Tune into this short conversation with Goodwin by clicking on either this audio link or this video link.

One Take CEO Interviews are produced by executive consultant and award-winning writer Dale Kurschner to provide viewers and listeners with unscripted, unedited discussions on how Minnesota CEOs are leading during the Covid-19 pandemic and its unprecedented impact on their operations, and the economy. The first episodes are recorded home-to-home via Zoom, due to then-required “work from home” rules.

The series of frank-talk conversations with CEOs is sponsored by Platinum Group, Minnesota’s most experienced advisory group helping business owners and leaders with extreme challenges including financial setbacks, lender and landlord re-negotiations, turnarounds and bankruptcies. Kurschner is one of its consultants and specializes in business analysis, strategy improvement, reputation management and crisis management.

Complementing the CEO series are interviews with key members of Platinum Group. This week’s is with Founder and Chairman Dean Bacehlor, who talks about “meaningful capitalism.”

Everyone in business is part of the capitalism system, he says. And collectively, they’re part of something greater than anywhere else in the world. “There’s been an enormous wealth built through capitalism over the years and people have in this country donated more money, given away more and done more good for not only others within this country but others all over the world with various mission work and non-profits that are doing really good things sponsored by and paid for by people who have a business or by employees who are working in that business.”

And when times are tough, he says, that positive side of capitalism shines even more brightly, as evidenced by the hundreds of businesses around the country are helping their communities survive the Covid-19 pandemic and recession however they can. “Hopefully what we’re doing here at Platinum Group  is doing some good as well by stepping in to help companies that are going through difficult times.”

So why pen a mission statement around “Meaningful Capitalism”— and have it trademarked?

“We just came off an engagement where we literally saved a company that was going to close its door. The bank was foreclosing. We stepped in, turned the company around and saved all the jobs. And we grew the company over the next year and a half,” Bachelor Screenshot 2020-08-12 13.55.02says. “When you’re in a small town in western Minnesota and there are 250 employees on the brink of losing their jobs, and no other large-scale employer in the county, the impact a closed plant can have on a small community is considerable and it has a heavy impact. [Platinum Group’s saving those jobs] is meaningful work. It’s meaningful when you can get up in the morning and know that you’re doing the kind of work that is saving jobs, and companies. That brings purpose and it answers the questions, “what am I doing and why?”

Bachelor’s interview can be listened to/downloaded from Spotify or watched on YouTube.

 

One Take Logo Video ColorCatch up on All One Take CEO Interviews, which can be found on You Tube, and also on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts. Recent episodes include:

 

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