Connecting With Purpose

Mark Griffin
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Connecting With Purpose is a place for consequential conversations about doing what matters most in times when our families, workplaces, and communities need us. On the PurposeFused podcast, our partners host conversations with leaders from multiple sectors about what's possible when we invest in leading and living with purpose, for ourselves and our teams. By learning from guests' experiences in the purpose journey, as business leaders and humans beyond the workplace, the show serves as a catalyst for action. Connecting With Purpose inspires and guides discovery to embed purpose into people's work and lives, improving wellbeing and performance for themselves, their organizations, and their worlds. We help leaders create the impact they seek and inspire a ripple effect of purpose activation.

  1. 3d ago

    What's Next After Leadership? Finding Purpose & Designing Your Next Chapter

    What happens when the role you've built your identity around comes to an end? Whether you're navigating a leadership transition, preparing for retirement, stepping away from a business, or simply wondering what's next, designing a meaningful next chapter takes more than a plan. In this solo episode of Connecting With Purpose, host Mark Griffin shares his personal experience of transitioning out of the organization he founded and discovering that preparing a business for his departure was very different from preparing himself. Through personal reflection and practical insights, Mark explores why major life and career transitions can feel so complex, how to separate your identity from your professional role, and how to intentionally design a future rooted in purpose, fulfillment, and meaningful impact. In this episode, you'll discover: - Why leadership transitions often bring unexpected questions about identity, purpose, and self-worth. - How to recognize what mattered most in your previous chapter and what deserves to move forward with you. - Why your purpose is bigger than your job title, career, or organization. - The PurposeFused framework: Purpose = Passion + Impact + Application. - How to explore new possibilities without putting pressure on yourself to have all the answers. - Why intentional experimentation and meaningful pursuits can help shape your ideal life. - How the six spheres of life can create greater harmony, fulfillment, and direction during times of change. Whether you're a founder, executive, senior leader, or professional approaching a significant life transition, this conversation offers a thoughtful approach to moving forward with clarity, confidence, and intention. Your next chapter doesn't have to be a continuation of your last. It can be an opportunity to create a life that reflects who you are and what matters most. Ready to explore what's next? Through PurposeFused, Mark supports individuals navigating major transitions through one-on-one coaching, group experiences, and opportunities for deeper reflection and personal growth. Connect with Mark to learn more about designing your next chapter. mark@purposefused.com  https://purposefused.com Subscribe to Connecting With Purpose for more conversations on purposeful leadership, personal growth, meaningful impact, and creating a life aligned with what matters most. #LeadershipTransition #FindingPurpose #LifeTransitions #ConnectingWithPurpose #PurposeFused #Founders

  2. Oct 20

    Tell the Truth: How Radical Transparency Drives Performance in an ESOP | Mike Cordova

    What happens when every employee is an owner?   In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, host Mark Griffin sits down with Mike Cordova, CFO and independent board director of Anvil Corporation, a 100% employee-owned (ESOP) engineering and design firm. Together, they explore what it takes to lead through uncertainty, build high-performing teams, and create a workplace culture where transparency, accountability, and employee ownership drive meaningful results.   With more than 25 years of executive leadership experience, Mike shares lessons from navigating organizational challenges, developing talent, and building teams that understand how their individual contributions impact the bigger picture.   In this episode, you'll learn about:  Leading Through Uncertainty: What Mike learned from joining a company that went bankrupt just nine months later, and why effective leadership requires clear communication during difficult times. Building High-Performing Teams: How Mike uses his "whiteboard exercise" to encourage employees to develop solutions, take ownership, and strengthen accountability. Financial Transparency & Employee Ownership: Why teaching employees to understand financial statements can build trust, improve decision-making, and strengthen organizational performance. The Business Impact of Small Improvements: How a 1% improvement in utilization can translate into $1 million in company valuation. Leadership Lessons That Last: Why Mike believes three simple words are essential to building trust and leading effectively: "Tell the truth." From building a finance function in just 90 days to navigating critical inflection points, Mike offers practical insights for leaders who want to develop their people, strengthen their organizations, and create a culture of shared success.   ABOUT OUR GUEST Mike Cordova is an independent board director and CFO of Anvil Corporation, a 100% employee-owned engineering and design firm providing engineering, procurement, and project management services nationwide. With more than 25 years of experience as a CFO and CEO across industrial manufacturing and service organizations, Mike is passionate about leadership development, succession planning, financial transparency, and employee ownership. He is also a longtime soccer referee and a frequent speaker at the National Center for Employee Ownership. Connect with Mike here:   / mikecordovacfo     CONNECT WITH PURPOSE Connecting with Purpose, hosted by Mark Griffin, explores leadership, performance, and the people and experiences that shape how we lead. Subscribe for more conversations with leaders sharing practical lessons, personal experiences, and insights that make a difference in business and beyond.   If this conversation resonates with you, give the episode a like and share your thoughts in the comments.   What role does transparency play in building trust within your organization?   #EmployeeOwnership #ESOP #Leadership #ConnectingWithPurpose #FinancialTransparency

  3. Oct 14

    Playing in Position: Are We Getting The Best of Our People?

    What if your biggest leadership problem is not effort, but misalignment?   Mark Griffin argues that high-performing people often get pulled out of position, doing more than they should, diluting their impact, and draining the very energy their team needs most. Drawing on founder experience and lessons from rugby, Mark unpacks the idea of "playing in position" as a practical leadership framework for individuals, teams, and organizations. He shows why capable people can still underperform when they're using the wrong strengths, why some leaders become trapped as the "doer" instead of the enabler, and how teams lose momentum when specialists, decision-makers, and support roles are not working in sync.   You'll discover: —The three self-level elements of playing in position: what you contribute, what energizes you, and the leadership maturity to adapt under pressure —Why moving from "me" to "we" changes everything about how strong teams create value —How complementary strengths like challenging thinking, making sense of complexity, driving decisions, and filling blind spots build real resilience —Why systems, rewards, and promotion paths often sabotage performance even when the people are talented —What changes when founders step back, leaders shift from delivering to enabling, and employees start behaving like owners   Mark also breaks down the hidden cost of asking people to collaborate while rewarding individual output, or promoting top performers without preparing them for the identity shift that leadership requires. If your team is full of talent but not getting the results you expect, this episode will help you see the problem differently.   Essential listening for founders, executives, team leaders, and anyone asking how to get the best out of good people without burning them out in the process.

  4. Oct 7

    What Founders Get Wrong About Succession & Employee Ownership | Jason Wiener

    In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin is joined by Jason Wiener, founder of CurrentShift Legal, a legal and business consulting firm serving mission-driven companies, social impact organizations, and environmentally focused enterprises. Jason specializes in employee ownership, worker-owned and stakeholder-owned business models, business formation, capital raising, restructures, and complex transactions. He is deeply passionate about using better-designed ownership models to redistribute wealth, increase employee agency, and build organizations that are both commercially strong and socially responsible. But this conversation goes far beyond legal structure. Mark and Jason explore the human side of founder transition, including identity, purpose, succession planning, leadership readiness, culture, decision-making, and the risk of founders becoming bottlenecks inside the businesses they built. Jason has lived this personally. He has stepped away from his own business, re-engaged with it, and written extensively about the complexities of founder transition. He shares why succession is not simply about transferring ownership or authority, why culture and psychological safety must come before legal mechanics, and why employees need more than compensation to feel truly invested in the future of a company. They also discuss how employee ownership can create greater agency, dignity, voice, and accountability, especially during a period of economic disruption, AI-driven change, and major generational wealth transfer. If you are a founder, business owner, senior leader, employee ownership advisor, or anyone thinking about succession, purpose, organizational culture, or the future of work, this conversation offers a thoughtful look at what sustainable transition really requires. In this episode, you'll hear about: • Founder transition and succession planning • Employee ownership and wealth redistribution • Leadership readiness and reducing founder dependence • Purpose, values, and identity • Culture, communication, and psychological safety • Decision-making and employee agency • Preparing employees to become future owners • Why legal structure alone cannot fix a broken organization • The role of ownership in building more resilient businesses • Jason's perspective on legacy, family, and long-term impact Connect with Jason Wiener: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jwpcpbc/ CurrentShift Legal on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/currentshift-legal Jason's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrwiener/ Website https://currentshift.legal/ If this conversation resonates, subscribe to Connecting with Purpose for more conversations on leadership, purpose, performance, founder transition, employee ownership, and what it really takes to build organizations that can thrive beyond the founder.

  5. Mar 11

    Founder Transition: The Hidden Pressure Founders Carry Before an Exit

    Founder transitions are often framed as financial or structural events. But long before a succession plan, ownership evolution, or exit is announced, founders carry a hidden layer of pressure that few people see. In this solo episode of Connecting With Purpose, I continue the conversation from last week's episode, Founder Transition: Identity Before the Deal. While that episode explored the identity shift from operator → owner → steward, this episode focuses on another critical dimension of founder transition: The weight founders carry while navigating the future of their business. Even when a company is growing and performing well, founders entering a 24–60 month transition window often find themselves holding complex questions about the future of the organization and their own next chapter. They are simultaneously responsible for:  • Maintaining operational performance and commercial rhythm • Exploring succession or ownership evolution options • Protecting the long-term sustainability of the company • Considering the impact on employees, investors, and stakeholders • Designing what life and leadership look like beyond the business When this pressure is not processed intentionally, founders often experience: • Decision fatigue • Reduced clarity • Reactive leadership • Becoming the unintended bottleneck during transition In this episode, I explore three practical areas founders must focus on to navigate transition successfully. 1. Creating protected space to process the transition Transition decisions require strategic reflection, not just operational speed.  2. Separating transition work from the operational rhythm of the business Maintaining execution cadence protects performance while transition planning moves forward.  3. Designing the founder's next chapter intentionally Transitions are strongest when founders are stepping toward something meaningful rather than simply stepping away. Founder transitions are not just about transactions. They are about protecting founder capacity, leadership clarity, and decision quality so the business and the founder can both thrive in the chapter that follows. If you are 24–60 months from succession, employee ownership, partial liquidity, or a potential exit, the structural and financial work will come. But the human work starts now. Traditional advisors guide the deal. I partner with founders through the leadership evolution that determines whether transition strengthens or destabilizes the system. Subscribe for more conversations about founder performance, ownership transition, and building businesses that thrive beyond you. And as we say in rugby: I've got your back. #FounderTransition #SuccessionPlanning #FounderExit #OwnershipTransition #EntrepreneurLeadership #BusinessSuccession #LeadershipTransition #PurposeDrivenLeadership

  6. Mar 3

    Founder Transition: Identity Before the Deal

    Ownership transition isn't just a financial event. It's an identity shift. In this episode, I explore the part of founder transition that rarely gets discussed — the internal evolution required before structure changes. Whether you're considering succession, employee ownership, partial liquidity, or long-term exit planning, the most important work doesn't begin with valuation models or legal structures. It begins with identity. In this episode, we cover: - Why ownership transition is primarily an identity event - The evolution from operator → owner → steward - How unexamined identity shifts create misalignment and execution drift   Three practical areas founders must address to align execution with their evolving role - Redefining decision rights - Aligning leadership before structural change - Protecting commercial rhythm during transition   When identity expands first: - Alignment strengthens - Leadership deepens - Performance stabilizes - Long-term value increases   If you're 24–60 months from succession, employee ownership, or partial liquidity, the structural work will come. But the human work starts now. Traditional advisors guide the transaction. I partner with founders through the identity shift and the other human elements that determine whether transition strengthens — or destabilizes — the system.  In the next episode, we'll explore the hidden weight founders carry during transition and how to design your next chapter intentionally rather than drift into it.  Learn more: https://www.purposefused.com/ Connect with Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markgriffinpurposefused/ If this resonates, subscribe for more conversations on founder performance, ownership transition, and building businesses that thrive beyond you. And as we say in rugby: I've got your back.

  7. Feb 24

    Impact, Trust, & Ownership: A Founder's Bold Succession Strategy with Miren Oca

    In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin sits down with Miren Oca, founder of Ocaquatics Swim School and founder of Ripples of Impact — a nonprofit expanding access to life-saving swim education in Miami-Dade County. Since 1994, Miren has grown Ocaquatics into a multi-location swim school built on culture, ownership, and purpose.   In 2024, she made a bold move: transitioning 100% of the company to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), protecting its mission while creating long-term wealth-building opportunities for her team. But this conversation goes deeper than ownership structure.   Miren shares three defining leadership chapters — Different, Survival, and Evolve — and how each shaped her approach to growth, culture, and impact. We also explore Ripples of Impact, which provides swim scholarships that remove financial barriers so children in underserved communities can learn to swim, build confidence, and stay safer around water. In Miami-Dade, where drowning remains a leading cause of accidental death for children, access to swim education is life-saving.   In this conversation, we discuss:   • Why Miren chose an Employee Ownership Trust over private equity   • How to protect purpose during succession   • The difference between traditional ROI and Ripples of Impact   • What it takes to build a true ownership culture   • Why every leadership decision is a "pebble" that creates long-term ripples   This episode is for founders and growth-stage leaders who want to scale responsibly — proving that profit and impact are not opposing forces, but aligned drivers of long-term success.   Subscribe for more conversations with purpose-driven founders and leadership insights from PurposeFused.   Connect with Miren here:  / miren-oca-80561261   #PurposeDrivenBusiness #EmployeeOwnership #EOT #Leadership #FounderJourney #SuccessionPlanning #Bcorp #SocialImpact #ImpactLeadership #Entrepreneurship #CultureMatters #HighPerformanceLeadership

  8. Feb 17

    Sustainability as a Performance Strategy

    You can be aligned. You can be executing. And still be quietly running out of gas.   In this solo episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark explores one of the most overlooked drivers of sustainable performance: capacity. Most leaders focus on strategy and execution. Few pay attention to the nervous system behind their leadership.    Capacity isn't just about time. It's about energy. When capacity erodes, leaders narrow their perspective, default to hero mode, become the bottleneck, and slowly drift toward burnout — even while appearing successful on the outside. In this episode, you'll learn: ✔ Why sustainability is a performance strategy — not a wellness perk ✔ How exceeding capacity leads to anxiety, overwhelm, and "playing out of position" ✔ The connection between energy, perspective, and decision quality ✔ Four practical strategies you can apply immediately to increase your capacity   Mark breaks down four actionable frameworks: 1️⃣ Boundaries – Protect deep work, recovery, and strategic thinking 2️⃣ Align to Your Position – Play to strengths and stop operating out of alignment 3️⃣ Fuel the Tank – Optimize sleep, movement, and recovery fundamentals 4️⃣ Expand the Tank – Clarify purpose and zoom in/out to increase resilience   If you're a founder, executive, or high-performing leader who wants to avoid the Performance Precipice and build long-term impact, this episode will give you both clarity and tools. Reflective Question: Where are you or your team operating beyond sustainable capacity right now — and which strategy would make the biggest difference this week? 🔔 Subscribe for weekly insights on purpose-driven leadership, sustainable high performance, and building ultimate leaders & teams. 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube 🌐 Learn more about PurposeFused: https://www.purposefused.com/

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About

Connecting With Purpose is a place for consequential conversations about doing what matters most in times when our families, workplaces, and communities need us. On the PurposeFused podcast, our partners host conversations with leaders from multiple sectors about what's possible when we invest in leading and living with purpose, for ourselves and our teams. By learning from guests' experiences in the purpose journey, as business leaders and humans beyond the workplace, the show serves as a catalyst for action. Connecting With Purpose inspires and guides discovery to embed purpose into people's work and lives, improving wellbeing and performance for themselves, their organizations, and their worlds. We help leaders create the impact they seek and inspire a ripple effect of purpose activation.

Information

  • Creator
    Mark Griffin
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2023
  • Show Website
    Connecting With Purpose