From $25 in the Bank to Building a Global Company with Dan Berkon, CEO of Culmen International



Dan Berkon was 17 when his family lost their business and their home. A year later, he joined Mark Moses at Student Painters, determined to learn how to become an entrepreneur.

Years later, Dan left an eleven-year career with just $25 in savings and three young children at home to start Culmen International.

Today, Culmen has more than 450 employees, operates across six continents, and supports critical national security programs in more than 150 countries.

Mark and Dan reflect on their 37-year relationship, the leadership decisions that helped Culmen grow beyond $100 million in revenue, and what it takes to build a company that no longer depends on its founder to make every decision.

Dan shares why he waited too long to move a loyal executive into a different role, how he found a minority private equity partner without giving up control, and why surrounding himself with exceptional leaders has been essential to Culmen's growth.

What You'll Learn

• Why difficult people decisions can't wait: How Dan learned that keeping a good person in the wrong role can hurt the entire organization, including that individual.
• How to scale beyond the founder: Why Dan transitioned from personally leading everything to building an executive team that includes three former CEOs.
• What to look for in a private equity partner: How Dan selected Hale Capital Partners based on shared values, strategic support, and retaining control.
• How to integrate acquisitions successfully: Why Culmen begins planning integration before an acquisition closes and prioritizes cultural alignment.
• Why great CEOs never stop learning: How coaching, peer groups, and an experienced board helped Dan identify blind spots and become a stronger leader.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00 Introduction: Most leaders wait too long to move a loyal person out of the wrong seat.|

03:38 Losing the family business and home at 17.

11:07 Leaving an eleven-year career with $25 in the bank to build something his own way.

15:16 Stopping disease outbreaks in the Congo starts with catching them before they spread.

21:28 Growth stalls when only one or two leaders are carrying the whole company.

34:55 A talented, loyal leader in the wrong role cost the company far longer than it should have.

39:34 Most private equity firms want control. Dan went looking for a partner instead.

45:54 A board becomes a superpower the moment you stop treating it like a threat.

52:44 The strongest sign of a leadership team's success is when it stops needing you.

62:13 The world's best athletes all have one thing in common: they know they need a coach.

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RESOURCES MENTIONED

Culmen International: The global security and international development firm Dan Berkon built from $25 in savings into a 450-person company supporting US government programs in over 150 countries.

https://www.culmen.com/

Hale Capital Partners: The minority private equity firm Culmen International partnered with in 2019 — brought in for capital and board expertise without taking a control position.

https://www.halecapital.com/

YPO (Young Presidents' Organization): The global peer network of CEOs Dan credits with shaping how he thinks about leadership, board dynamics, and continuous learning.

https://www.ypo.org/

EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization): The peer organization Mark Moses first introduced Dan to early in his entrepreneurial journey.

https://eonetwork.org/?scLang=en

#MakeBIGHappen #CEOCoaching #Leadership

Most CEOs chase revenue. The best inspect it every single week. Tom Barrett, Partner and Coach at CEO Coaching International, unpacks sales, hiring, and knowing when to let someone go.



Discover the practical leadership habits and hard-earned lessons that separate consistently growing companies from those that plateau.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00 Inspecting the business weekly prevents problems that monthly reports catch too late

01:15 A struggling business is usually a people problem, not a numbers problem

04:09 Daily five-minute check-ins catch problems long before month-end reports do

08:25 Every CEO should inspect cash, revenue, and expenses every single week

12:07 Consistent daily sales activity beats sporadic bursts of prospecting

15:04 Prospecting slips first because it is the hardest, least comfortable sales activity

19:12 Discount every sales forecast, then trust your own inspected number instead

24:25 Recurring, mission-critical revenue commands the highest multiples at exit

30:20 Waiting to remove the wrong person always costs more than acting fast

31:21 Promoting your best salesperson into management rarely works out

Subscribe now and be ready when the conversations begin.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

CEO Coaching International

https://ceocoachinginternational.com/

YPO (Young Presidents' Organization)

https://www.ypo.org/

#MakeBIGHappen #CEOCoaching #Leadership

CEO Coaching International's coaching frameworks just won “Survivor 50.”

Aubry Bracco, Strategic Marketing Consultant at CEO Coaching International, put those frameworks to the test. She shares how four “Survivor” seasons taught her to lead through uncertainty.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00 Longevity in the game creates the conditions for a breakthrough

01:27 A perfect résumé was not enough to win “Survivor”

02:32 How you make people feel outweighs any strategic move

05:07 Control shifts from doing everything to shaping the environment

07:05 Decisions under uncertainty blend gut instinct, data, and reading people

10:23 Reframing uncertainty as opportunity creates a real advantage

14:18 Separating identity from performance takes deliberate practice, not willpower

17:38 Losing fast delivers the information needed to pivot faster

31:30 Persistence beats talent when nobody wants to do the reps

36:50 The next attempt could be the one that changes everything

Subscribe now and be ready when the conversations begin.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

CEO Coaching International

https://ceocoachinginternational.com/

"Built to Win BIG," Mark Moses’s book co-developed with Aubry Bracco, drawing on the leadership interviews referenced in this episode:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Built-to-Win-BIG/Mark-Moses/9798891884304

#MakeBIGHappen #CEOCoaching #Leadership

Omani Carson, Founder and Chairman at Carson Group, built one of the most recognized wealth management firms in the country, and then realized the biggest barrier to the next level of growth wasn't strategy. It was him.

Omani walks me through the inner work that unlocked exponential business growth: confronting self-limiting beliefs, moving from a success mindset to an abundance mindset, and learning to live by design rather than by default. He shares how coaching reshaped the way he thinks, leads, and defines what's possible.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00 Why the ceiling on your business is usually a ceiling on you

04:12 The difference between a success mindset and an abundance mindset

09:35 How blueprinting replaces default living with intentional design

14:22 What self-love has to do with scaling a wealth management firm

21:08 The coaching conversation that reframed a billion-dollar business as a lemonade stand

28:45 Why adding a zero requires exponential thinking, not incremental effort

35:17 How Carson Group went from $3B to $60B in AUM — and why $1T is next

Subscribe now and be ready when the conversations begin.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Carson Group:

https://www.carsongroup.com

#MakeBIGHappen #CEOCoaching #Leadership

Most CEOs think coaching means getting the right answers. Sheldon Harris built a twelve-year career proving the opposite.

Sheldon Harris, Partner and Coach at CEO Coaching International, talks about the operating principles that have guided hundreds of CEOs through growth, crisis, and reinvention.

From a warehouse manager job at Costco in Alaska to leading Cold Stone Creamery through explosive growth and a public food-safety crisis, Sheldon shares the moments that shaped how he leads and coaches today.

He talks about getting fired the same day as his close friend and CEO Coaching International founder Mark Moses, why he believes the best leaders are humble and hungry, and the coaching principle he calls “meeting people where they live.”

He also unpacks a few of his most repeated operating principles, the ones his clients call the Sheldons, and explains why real transformation with a coach is never a single moment but an ongoing process.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00 Character reveals itself most clearly under real adversity

01:22 Work ethic outweighs credentials when building a career

03:38 Great leadership adapts fast when familiar rules disappear

06:53 Guard your integrity like it defines everything you do

12:47 Owning a crisis builds more trust than hiding it

18:01 Behave today like the leader your future demands

24:32 Getting fired revealed exactly who he chose to be

32:35 The best performers share one trait: humble and hungry

39:01 Trust must be earned before real change happens

60:28 Meeting people where they live unlocks real coaching impact

Subscribe now and be ready when the conversations begin.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

“Great by Choice” by Jim Collins:

https://www.jimcollins.com/books/great-by-choice.html

CEO Coaching International website:

https://ceocoachinginternational.com/

#MakeBIGHappen #CEOCoaching #Leadership

Jonathan Sherrill, Founder of Waypoint, built Quicken Steel from a shuttered sawmill and sold it in 2022. He explains what buyers really test for before they buy.

He co-authored “The Extraordinary Exit” with Andy Harris; the book won the Gold Medal for Best Adult Non-Fiction Informational eBook at the 2026 IPPY Awards. Through Waypoint, Jonathan advises founders on the personal side of the exit.

Key Takeaways:

00:00 Introduction

03:31 What six years working for private equity taught him about what buyers really want

13:14 Why his daughter's diagnosis changed what he was building his company for

19:31 The test buyers quietly run before they'll ever make an offer

20:23 A flat tire question that reveals whether a business can run without its founder

24:33 The leadership team question most CEOs would rather not answer honestly

28:02 Why a coach who pushes back beats an advisor who just agrees

34:51 The charitable commitment that nearly delayed a multi-million dollar closing

37:17 What it actually felt like when the emails and calls just stopped

45:43 His advice for any founder still carrying self-doubt

Subscribe to Make BIG Happen for more conversations with the CEOs and coaches shaping what's next.

Resources Mentioned:

Waypoint website:

https://waypointfounders.com/

“The Extraordinary Exit” by Andy Harris and Jonathan Sherrill:

https://www.theextraordinaryexitbook.com/

#CEOCoaching #ExecutiveLeadership #BusinessGrowth

The most important decisions arrive before the answers do.

In this episode, Jaime Donnelly, CEO and President of Integrity Staffing Solutions, shares what leadership really looks like when the stakes are high and the industry is shifting — from navigating a devastating client loss to rebuilding an entire sales team against industry headwinds.

Key Takeaways:

00:00 Leadership is tested most when the industry turns and people’s livelihoods are on the line

02:02 Losing a major client forces fast, decisive action to protect the bottom line and the team

07:44 Integrity adopted AI voice recruiting tools years before competitors to handle candidate volume at scale

14:44 Rebuilding the entire sales team during an industry contraction led to over 60% revenue growth in 2025

17:39 A clear decision-making framework gives a CEO the autonomy to act without constant founder approval

26:21 Project Home empowers the team to identify and support associates facing housing instability

44:39 Shortening the time between clarity and action drives better outcomes for leaders and their teams

Subscribe now and be ready when the conversations begin.

Resources Mentioned:

Integrity Staffing Solutions:

https://www.integritystaffing.com

CEO Coaching International:

https://ceocoachinginternational.com

#MakeBIGHappen #CEOCoaching #Leadership