Lead with Purpose
Claim This Podcastby Ron Boire
Podcast Overview
<p>Lead with Purpose is a long-form series featuring leaders who are building something that matters. Founders, CEOs, board members, and thinkers sit down with Ron Boire, former CEO of Barnes & Noble, Sears Canada, and Brookstone, for unscripted, unedited conversations about how leaders define their purpose, navigate crisis, and make the hard calls that shape their companies, their teams, and their lives: from strategic transformation and the future of work to the human side of leading through technological change. No soundbites. No scripts. Just real dialogue between people who have sat in the chair.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/21/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 28, 2026
From Lechmere to the Ranch: Paul Spitale on a Life of Leaving It Better [010]
<p><b>About Paul Spitale</b></p><p>Paul Spitale spent twenty-five years at Sony Electronics, rising through the ranks from regional sales associate to senior vice president. After Sony, he led a successful turnaround of a struggling paperboard company in New Jersey before joining Colt's Manufacturing in 2015, one of the oldest and most iconic firearms companies in America. At Colt, Paul served as Chief Commercial Officer and was instrumental in rebuilding the commercial business, modernizing the product line, revamping distribution, and reintroducing the legendary Python revolver to the market. Under his leadership, Colt went from heading into bankruptcy to generating over fifty-three million dollars in EBITDA before being acquired by CZ, a fellow firearms manufacturer. What made Paul uniquely suited for Colt was something very few executives in the industry could claim: he was an active shooter himself. Paul competes in IDPA, the International Defensive Pistol Association, where he has won local matches in New York and Connecticut and captured the IDPA State Championship in Pennsylvania twice. His hands-on experience as an active competitor gave him a credibility and product instinct that set him apart in an industry where most senior executives do not actually shoot. Today Paul lives on a ranch in Michigan where he creates content for his YouTube channel, Paul at the Ranch, which has grown to over sixty-two thousand subscribers. The channel covers shooting, hunting, outdoor skills, fitness, woodworking, and ranch life, all taught with the same values-driven approach Paul brought to every leadership role in his career. Ron Boire and Paul Spitale have known each other for thirty years, first meeting at Sony Electronics in Boston in the early 1990s.<br /><br /><b>What We Cover</b></p><p>Ron and Paul trace thirty years of friendship and professional overlap, from a tiny Sony sales office in Newton, Massachusetts to the boardrooms of Best Buy, Colt, and beyond. They tell the story of Mike London, the legendary merchant at Leechmere who mentored both of them in ways that shaped everything that followed. They dig into what it takes to turn around a company in bankruptcy, why values-driven leadership works in any industry, how Paul took Colt from near collapse to acquisition, and what made him walk away from the executive world to build something of his own on a ranch in Michigan. Along the way they talk about the 1911, the Python, servant leadership, AI in the workforce, win-win deal making, and the particular kind of authenticity that makes a YouTube channel worth watching.<br /><br /><i>Ron Boire and The Upland Group</i><br />Website: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com</a></p><p>YouTube: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/@RonBoire" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/@RonBoire</a><br />Executive Coaching: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.ronboire.com/executive-coaching" target="_blank">https://www.ronboire.com/executive-coaching</a><br />Keynote Speaking: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com/keynote-speaking" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com/keynote-speaking</a><br />LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronboire/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronboire/</a><br /><br />Paul Spitale<br />YouTube: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/@Paulattheranch" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/@Paulattheranch</a><br />LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulspitale/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulspitale/</a></p>
July 14, 2026
Troy Rice: It's More Important to Get It Right Than to Be Right [009]
<p><b>Guest:</b> Troy Rice, President and CEO of PGA Tour Superstore<br /><b>About Troy Rice</b></p><p>Troy Rice is the President and CEO of PGA Tour Superstore, the largest specialty golf retailer in the United States, owned by Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. Troy brings nearly four decades of retail leadership experience across some of America's most iconic brands, including Home Depot, Toys R Us, Office Depot, and Total Wine and More, where he served as CEO. He began his career working in his stepfather's grocery store in Beaman, Tennessee, a formative experience that shaped his lifelong belief in human connection, servant leadership, and the power of knowing your customer. Troy and Ron Boire first met at Toys R Us in 2006 and have remained close for twenty years.</p><p></p><p><b>What We Cover</b></p><p>Ron and Troy trace Troy's remarkable journey from a small-town Tennessee grocery store to the CEO chair of one of the most experiential retail concepts in America. Along the way they dig into the Toys R Us collapse and what it really teaches about leadership failure, the cultural breakdown that followed Bob Nardelli's arrival at Home Depot, why AI is accelerating rather than replacing the human connection in retail, and what it takes to build a team where trust flows in every direction. Troy also shares his philosophy on first-time CEOs, servant leadership, collective intelligence, and why getting it right matters more than being right.</p><p></p><p><b>Ron Boire and The Upland Group</b><br />Website: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com</a><br />Executive Coaching: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com/executive-coa" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com/executive-coa</a><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbHV0a29HVDJDOGVaY1h2YlVKaUd0Rk5Ya05nQXxBQ3Jtc0trNE5EX0ZoRTdWQ0hCbXNnVUJ3T0JuMUttSkNveXE2eHM4Y1dVQ3JVeWxSdzNMR3hWV2VkUTI2X285R3F1b0FmYTRHcHBBT1NJT3NNd01HdFdVWFhKcXhyX1hwLWhmQUo1RTkyak15UVpMZEV2MklNRQ&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ronboire.com%2Fexecutive-coahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fredirect%3Fevent%3Dvideo_description%26redir_token%3DQUFFLUhqbnJ5VDIzVnhaUVh3SUU0a1d1Mi1IR2pmaEZVQXxBQ3Jtc0ttZElsSVVQalZzT3F3emJvanBPZHp2aHFaRElWR1BRd2JaZS1YbDNad2lmclE3Qlpnb1VvX05lM2FvbFFaVllLYVJTS3M1VTk2MDlweTkwSGNmRUgxaUVXaDVKWXRHcHo3SW5YUnhYUER4c0FwVk13bw%26q%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ronboire.com%252Fexecutive-coaching%26v%3DzVYce1UJMuY&v=paC-brLgOWg" target="_blank">...</a><br />Keynote Speaking: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com/keynote-speaking" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com/keynote-speaking</a></p><p>LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronboire/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronboire/</a></p><p></p><p>Troy Rice Info:</p><p>LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-rice-b78aaa1/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-rice-b78aaa1/</a></p><p>PGA Tour Superstore: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.pgatoursuperstore.com" target="_blank">www.pgatoursuperstore.com</a></p>
July 7, 2026
The Board Is Not Your Audience: Bill Klepper on Governance That Works [008]
<p><b>Lead with Purpose | Episode Show Notes</b></p><p></p><p><b>Guest:</b> Bill Klepper, Leadership Scholar, Author, and Senior Faculty at Columbia Business School</p><p></p><p><b>About Bill Klepper</b></p><p>Bill Klepper is one of the most respected leadership scholars in the world and a defining presence at Columbia Business School for nearly four decades. He began his relationship with Columbia in 1986 when he was sent to Beijing to help launch the first MBA program in China. After a decade as an adjunct faculty member, he was brought in by executive education leadership to work directly with the faculty, a role that became a thirty-year commitment to the school. He is the author of The CEO's Boss, now in its second edition, a foundational text on board leadership and governance. He was a mentor to Ron Boire and played a direct role in Ron's decision to pursue the Columbia and London Business School joint EMBA program. Bill is Jesuit trained, which shapes his deep commitment to ethics, the social contract, and the question of what ought to be.</p><p></p><p><b>What We Cover</b></p><p>Recorded live at Columbia Business School, Ron sits down with the man who helped shape his leadership foundation. Bill and Ron trace the evolution of leadership over four decades, from the days when only two women held CEO positions in America to the current era of tech-driven authoritarianism. They dig into the ethics of leadership, the social contract, what business schools owe society, and what separates a great innovator from a great leader. The conversation covers Elon Musk, AI and the future of knowledge work, open source versus closed AI models, and what it means to lead with something greater than self-interest.</p><p></p><p><b>Ron Boire and The Upland Group</b><br /><br />Website: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com</a><br />Executive Coaching: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com/executive-coa" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com/executive-coa</a><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnBaVjQtcmswVUl6OFVnMW1waEw1YldCalMwd3xBQ3Jtc0tsbDFqd1YtZDhCZ2U0NGY1djgweXFxRHkzWkh5eUFadmg2T1U1dnBNMXVvRjNPY0NBVFpQSkgyRXJGMGNScXZUakxqYTcxN3lTd282Y0d0ZmtCOHo4VU1aRV9FZHJzNmp4T29vR0J0QUVOLU9MdjZtcw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ronboire.com%2Fexecutive-coaching&v=zVYce1UJMuY" target="_blank">...</a><br />Keynote Speaking: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.ronboire.com/keynote-speaking" target="_blank">http://www.ronboire.com/keynote-speaking</a></p><p>LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronboire/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronboire/</a></p><p></p><p>Bill Klepper Info:</p><p>Book: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/CEOs-Boss-Boardroom-Columbia-Publishing/dp/0231149883" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/CEOs-Boss-Boardroom-Columbia-Publishing/dp/0231149883</a></p><p>LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-klepper-39b3a2/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-klepper-39b3a2/</a></p><p></p>
10 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Lead with Purpose?
<p>Lead with Purpose is a long-form series featuring leaders who are building something that matters. Founders, CEOs, board members, and thinkers sit down with Ron Boire, former CEO of Barnes & Noble, Sears Canada, and Brookstone, for unscripted, unedited conversations about how leaders define their purpose, navigate crisis, and make the hard calls that shape their companies, their teams, and their lives: from strategic transformation and the future of work to the human side of leading through technological change. No soundbites. No scripts. Just real dialogue between people who have sat in the chair.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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