Christopher Filipiak works with CEOs on sales, and this conversation looks at why revenue rarely comes down to tactics alone. Jens and Christopher discuss the mindset behind CEO-level selling, the idea of a best-fit client, and what it takes to bring revenue under control in a large organization.

00:03 Should CEOs Be Involved in Sales?

01:38 Mindset vs. Skillset

06:20 From Engineer to Sales

15:36 Why CEOs Should Sell

20:13 Strategy: Money Map & Best Fit Clients

34:58 Knowing Yourself

Connect with Christopher Filipiak:

Website: christopherfilipiak.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherfilipiak/

Connect with Jens:

https://www.jensheitland.com/links

In this episode of Human Innovation, I sit down with Neil Pendle, founder of Waterscan, in Belgium.

Neil built Waterscan from a single contract into one of the UK's leading water consulting firms, working with organizations like British Telecom, Tesco, and Whitbread across nearly three decades, before stepping down as CEO earlier this year and handing leadership to his successor, Barry.

We talk about the moment water stopped being a sustainability line item and became a business continuity risk. Neil describes a call one of his clients, a major brewer, received this year, informing them the water supply would be shut off within the hour. We look at why that kind of call is becoming more common across the UK and southern Europe, what businesses like Gatwick Airport have learned the hard way, and what practical steps organizations can take now, from operating boreholes more effectively to sharing non-potable water between neighboring businesses.

Neil also reflects on leadership itself, drawing a parallel between his life playing international hockey and building a company from the ground up, and how his own leadership style changed over thirty years of growth.

Timecode:

00:00 Hockey World Cups

00:46 Why Number 13

02:39 Sport as Balance

04:38 Coaching and Leadership

05:40 Leading a Growing Company

08:23 Hiring for Attitude

09:58 Stepping Down as CEO

11:41 No Water No Business

13:16 Water Shutdown Reality

17:17 Building Water Resilience

19:50 Gatwick Airport Case

23:21 Droughts and Demand Gap

23:53 Water Needs All Levels

24:28 Policy And Behavior Shift

26:56 Water Pricing Reality

29:46 Talent And Reputation

32:09 Careers In WaterScan

36:16 Origin Story Waterscan

38:04 Scaling And Customer Focus

40:36 Handling Setbacks Together

42:32 Future Data And AI

44:28 Resilience And Risk Mindset

47:33 Closing Thanks

Guest links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-pendle-26332227/

Jens Links:

https://www.jensheitland.com/links

Kambiz Shekdar owns the platform technology behind Chromovert, a method for engineering cells that model human disease inside a lab dish. He built the company on customer funding alone, without venture capital, and is now scaling a second company across the US, UAE, and China.

In this episode, he talks with Jens about the science behind the platform, the path to becoming the first recipient of the UAE's inventor Golden Visa, and what drives him beyond the technology itself.

Highlights:

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:17 Music Meets Science

02:59 Creativity and Genetics

04:59 Growing Up Worldwide

05:55 UAE Energy and Opportunity

07:30 Golden Visa Origin Story

10:58 Chromovert Breakthrough

13:25 How Chromovert Works

15:24 From Patent to Company

16:46 Customer-Funded Growth

19:33 Scaling the Platform

21:13 GPCR Drug Discovery Funnel

24:47 AI and Better Data

29:18 UAE vs Boston vs China

31:39 Funding Paths and Defense

36:46 COVID and Biodefense Use

43:02 LinkedIn Live Interviews

46:46 Building Great Teams

50:20 Closing Thanks and Wrap

Guest links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kambiz-shekdar-51a52a34/

Business: https://www.secondcellbio.com/

Jens Links:

https://www.jensheitland.com/links