E125 – Does Your Career Need to Be a Ladder?

Welcome back! I am excited to bring you my conversation with Cameron-Brooks alumnus, author, business leader and all-around good guy, CORY BOUCK! Our conversation weaves in and out of how Cory’s military experience has impacted his business career, how he’s propeled himself into greater levels of success, leadership, and career progression advice/observations (i.e. does your career need to be a ladder?). Cory shares his career journey during the podcast, so we will hit the highlights, here. Cory is the Asia/Pacific Regional Business Director at Johnsonville Sausage, and is the author of The Lens of Leadership: Being the Leader Others Want to Follow. He is maniacally committed to profitable volume growth through a “Serve-Build-Inspire!” leadership philosophy. Cory is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and also served there as a leadership instructor.  Cory graduated in the top one percent of student leadership ranks.  As an instructor, he led a team of civilian PhDs and military instructors in managing the content and delivery of the advanced core leadership course. He is a former Naval Flight Officer.  Cory led a P-3 Orion combat aircrew across the world, including missions over Bosnia-Herzegovina.  His crew was twice named #1 of 48 crews in the Atlantic Fleet.              He led award-winning brand and event marketing teams at General Mills, Newell-Rubbermaid, and Johnsonville Sausage.  Cory led the team that developed a NASCAR strategy for the Chex cereal portfolio with Richard Petty Enterprises.  At Newell-Rubbermaid’s Little Tikes toy division, the product development team he led earned a Parent’s Magazine “Best Toys of the Year” award.  The Johnsonville brand team he led more than doubled net-margin dollar growth in two years and grew household penetration by 10%.  His team also earned an “EFFIE” from the North American Marketing Association for effective advertising. He joined Johnsonville’s OD&L team to create a leader-development system.  In three years, the internal promotion rate for leadership positions increased from 40% to 70%.  He was responsible for employee development, technical training, and executive coaching. In 2016, his team was awarded a global “Excellence in Practice” award from the international Association for Training & Development (ATD). Johnsonville was one of only five American companies awarded in a field of 25 awards from 125 global submissions. He is a truly global business leader. Having worked in 20+ countries on five continents over thirty years, Cory leverages his cultural fluency and business acumen to help grow America’s #1 sausage brand in Asian markets. He leads teams in Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that manage sales, distributor partnerships, consumer marketing, finance, importing, and local production (China). He is active in leadership outside of work.  He served two terms as an elected city councilman, chairing several committees while working with state and federal legislators.  Cory is a pilot and youth mentor in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol.  His personal purpose is, “To help coach the people whose lives I connect with to high achievement in whatever drives their purpose.” I think you will get A TON out of the episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast. To stay connected, you can sign up for our Career Tip and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. ENJOY!