Kevin Stevick, CEO of RH Shepard, shares hard-won wisdom from 40 years in manufacturing: your people aren't a cost center—they're your competitive advantage.

In this conversation with Deborah Fell, Kevin breaks down why the most successful private equity leaders treat workforce investment exactly like capital equipment purchases. Clean up the shop floor. Improve benefits. Increase wages. These aren't feel-good initiatives—they're strategic moves that lower turnover, boost productivity, and create a pipeline of candidates eager to work for you.

The challenge? Most MBA programs don't teach this. Most leaders still view people through a purely financial lens. And the skilled labor shortage isn't going away.

Kevin's approach is refreshingly direct: listen first, provide guardrails not micromanagement, and give people room to succeed and fail. He challenges the myth that younger generations don't want to get their hands dirty and explains how AI and robotics don't replace workers—they transform their roles from manual labor to skilled technicians.

This episode is essential listening for CEOs wrestling with hiring challenges, retention issues, or leaders who've never been taught to view human resources as a strategic imperative. Kevin proves that being the employer of choice isn't just good ethics—it's good business.

About Deborah's guest, Kevin Stevick:

Currently the CEO of RH Sheppard, a steering gear manufacturer for commercial vehicles, Kevin has over 40 years of leadership in metals manufacturing, including 25 years as CEO of private equity-owned portfolio companies. He has successfully led turnarounds and growth strategies for various mid-market metals related companies for multiple private equity firms. This has been achieved by driving operational excellence, strategic acquisitions, and significant EBITDA improvements. Kevin holds a BS in Systems Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a MS Business Analytics.

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn

About RH Sheppard:

R.H. Sheppard is an 88-year-old, American-manufactured leader in heavy-duty commercial vehicle steering. Based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, it is the only US based manufacturer of power steering gears for the global trucking and transportation industry. What truly sets Sheppard apart is its fully integrated model—engineering, machining, heat treating, remanufacturing, and service—all under one roof. Sheppard partners closely with OEMs and fleets to solve complex challenges, reduce lifecycle cost, and deliver unmatched reliability, performance, and technical support. When steering performance and uptime matter, customers choose Sheppard. Visit rhsheppard.com/ to learn more.

Dan Hou didn't plan to become an AI consultant by accident. After getting "professionally bamboozled" by the iPhone launch while working at Motorola, he made himself a promise: catch the next technology wave, but this time, own the outcome.

That decision led to Eskridge, an AI consultancy built specifically for mid-market companies—the ones competing in the same arenas as enterprise but without McKinsey budgets or tolerance for bloat.

We dig into the shift from "what is AI?" conversations in 2023 to tactical implementation pilots today, and why most companies are still treating AI adoption as a checkbox exercise rather than a competitive positioning tool. Dan breaks down the three-part framework his team uses: strategy (identifying high-value use cases), implementation (standing up pilots with measurable outcomes), and change management (the piece most engineers initially overlook).

The change management conversation gets real. Job descriptions are being rewritten. Performance reviews are shifting from "how many times did you use ChatGPT this week?" to "what evidence shows you're experimenting and adapting?" Teams need budget autonomy within guardrails, not six layers of approval to try a $50/month tool.

Dan also tackles the hard question: is AI actually a competitive advantage? His answer—yes in the near term, no in the long term as it commoditizes, but the proprietary context and instruction sets you feed it can sustain differentiation.

We close with what's next: portable jet-turbine power generators for data centers and world models that could unlock physical robotics applications by training AI to understand three-dimensional space and physics.

About Dan Hou:

Dan is a founder and partner of Eskridge, an AI consultancy that deploys practical applications of AI for mid-market companies, and has worked closely with senior executives to unlock value from their AI initiatives. Previously, Dan led Amazon Ads Creative Studio, supporting advertisers through technology and scaled services. He has spent over a decade partnering with Fortune 100 clients on digital transformation initiatives at Huge, founded and successfully exited a SaaS startup and held product management roles at Microsoft and Motorola. Dan holds economics and computer science degrees from UPenn.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn

Michael Poisel left a successful venture capital career in the United States to become Executive Director of the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre. His mission is transforming Australia's economy through innovation and company creation.

After launching 285 companies at the University of Pennsylvania, Michael brought his venture studio model to Melbourne. He helps researchers commercialize their work without becoming entrepreneurs themselves. The approach builds companies for them, finds the management teams, and handles the complex business infrastructure that turns research into viable commercial enterprises.

Michael shares hard truths about global entrepreneurship—countries where business failure can land you in jail, disappearing R&D budgets at major corporations, and why universities must step into the innovation gap. He explains why 40% of Australian companies have fewer than 10 employees, how he's already started his first Melbourne company with 15 more in the pipeline, and why Australia actually has more accessible capital than the United States.

For mid-market CEOs facing growth challenges, Michael offers battle-tested wisdom on staying innovative, maintaining urgency, and remembering that if you see a problem, 12 people in China probably do too.

About Deborah's guest, Michael Poisel

Michael has spent almost 20 years becoming an expert in spinning out companies from universities. Currently, he's the Executive Director of the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre, leading efforts to scale its operations into an enterprise that meets the needs of everyone in the university ecosystem (students, staff, researchers, and alumni). Previously, Michael built entrepreneurial programs at the University of Pennsylvania for over 16 years and was responsible for creating Penn’s internal venture studio, PCI Ventures, which includes UPstart, UPadvisors, and Venture WarmUP. As part of these programs, he participated in the founding of over 280 companies that have raised over $950 million in funding.

Prior to Penn, Michael made investments in enterprise software and business services for NewSpring Capital, Apax Partners, and GE Capital, spanning more than ten years in private equity. He began his career in manufacturing operations at General Electric/Lockheed Martin and contributed to the successful completion of several commercial and government satellite programs.

Michael graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, holds an M.S. in Systems Engineering from The Moore School of Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania, and has an M.B.A. in finance and entrepreneurial management from The Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

About The Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre

The Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre is situated at the University of Melbourne, the number one ranked university in Australia. Right in the middle of the city of Melbourne, the Centre bridges the critical gap between world-class research and global impact for societal benefit.

The Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre cultivates a vibrant entrepreneurial culture by turning ideas and technologies into companies and providing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.

Its collaborative programs connect entrepreneurs with leading industry experts, researchers, investors, and mentors to accelerate venture creation and impact. From ideas to global expansion, the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre helps innovators bring transformative ideas to life.