In this episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Dan Hesse talks with Greg Graves, retired Chairman and CEO of Burns & McDonnell. Greg led one of the fastest-growing and most successful engineering, architecture, construction and environmental consulting firms in North America.  In his 13 years as CEO, employment (and therefore the number of employee-owners) quadrupled, revenues grew 10-fold to $3 Billion, and the company produced an average ROI in excess of 25% each year – all organically. Fortune Magazine listed Burns & McDonnell among it’s Top 100 Best Places to Work list six times, reaching #14 in 2014. His best-selling book Create Amazing about employee ownership has held the #1 positions in the Business, Human Resources and Democracy categories at Amazon.

Listen to this episode below, or on ANY PODCAST PLATFORM here. BE SURE TO LEAVE US A GREAT REVIEW on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share with friends and colleagues!

GREG GRAVES:

• BIO: Greg Graves Bio
  
• BOOK:
  
  • Create Amazing: Turn Your Employees into Owners for Explosive Growth, by Greg Graves
    
  
  
• ARTICLES & VIDEO CLIPS:
  
  • CEO Greg Graves Announces Retirement
    
  • Retired Burns & McDonnell CEO Greg Graves on Improving Business and Empowering Workers
    
  • Video Clip: Greg Graves retirement and plans
    
  • Graves May Be Leaving Burns & McDonnell, but He’ll Remain a Civic Force in KC — Ingram’s
    
  • These Kansas City philanthropists built a private lake for family, friends and charity — Kansas City Spaces, The Kansas City Star
    
  
  
• HIGH PRAISE for Greg Graves’ Create Amazing book:
  
  • Create Amazing reached #1 for Business, #1 for Human Resources and #1 for Democracy categories at Amazon over different times.
    
  • In 2023, the United States Senate reached out to Greg and asked for 100 copies, one for each member.
    
  • Rutgers University School of Business Annual Book Award is called the Joyce Rothschild Prize for Economic Democracy. Semi-Finalist, then Finalist, finally 2nd prize…2023.
    
  • The London Book Awards (Cambridge) Semi-Finalist, then Finalist for the International Business Book of the Year….2022.
    
  • Good to Great Author Jim Collins: “In Create Amazing, Greg Graves argues persuasively that employee ownership—-done the right way and for the right reasons——can be a catalytic force for economic prosperity and corporate endurance.”
    
  • University of Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod: “Greg Graves’ dynamic leadership of a highly successful large multinational employee-owned company provides him with a unique perspective of wealth building in America.”
    
  • United States Senator Jerry Moran: “As Create Amazing makes clear, employee ownership has a rich history in our country—-and a strong future. Greg Graves has given us a How-To Manuel for combining good politics and economic policy to reduce economic disparity and improve the financial well-being of our nation.