Defining Yourself as a Leader w/ Ramzi Hermiz

Today’s guest is Ramzi Hermiz, who recently retired from a long career in the automotive industry, including the last 8 years as the CEO of Shiloh Industries.

Throughout this impressive career, Ramzi gained insight not just about cars and the industry, but about leadership and innovation.  He developed that philosophy that “Where there is risk of failure, that means there is a problem to be solved. If you embrace that risk, you are embracing the opportunity to change.”

During his time as CEO, he had to manage the tension between hitting quarterly targets and taking innovation risks, find ways to inspire teams on multiple continents to challenge the status quo, and lead the company’s efforts to make sustainability a priority across the entire business.

In this episode, we discuss Ramzi’s belief that he’s never had a bad boss or a bad day — and how he tries to teach this mindset to others. We discuss why he believes sustainability and diversity are key to any organization that wants to thrive, and what he has planned for his “second career” post-retirement — including being the Chairman of the Board of the Automotive Hall of Fame.

You can follow the podcast and host Chuck Swoboda on Twitter for further exploration and discussion on innovation.

The episode is also available wherever else you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!