Podcast
Purpose Driven Leadership: Rich D’Amato on Emotional Intelligence and High-Trust Culture
- Hear Rich D'Amato discuss purpose driven leadership, emotional intelligence, and building high-trust culture.
About the episode
How does purpose driven leadership hold up when a company grows to thousands of people?Â
On this episode of the Doing Good by Doing Better podcast, host Margaret Rogers sits down with Rich D’Amato, CEO of Brown and Caldwell, to explore how emotional intelligence and authentic purpose driven leadership shape team performance, organizational agility, and long-term business success. Leading an employee-owned environmental engineering firm of over 2,400 people, Rich shares why he considers self-awareness one of the most critical traits for leaders taking on greater responsibility and how investing in people can strengthen both organizational performance and positive community impact.Â
Rich breaks down the practical leadership decision making frameworks that help a large technical workforce move faster, build trust, and learn from mistakes. From navigating one-way versus two-way doors to implementing a three-stage conflict model, he explains how clear frameworks reduce bureaucratic slowdown and empower teams to make decisions with confidence. He also details how Brown and Caldwell’s hybrid ESOP supports the company’s long-term business strategy, allowing it to reinvest in employees, clients, and technical innovation while creating opportunities for shared success.
Margaret and Rich also discuss:Â
- The Core of Leadership:Â Why emotional intelligence can be developed over time, and how self-awareness, humility, and openness to feedback help leaders become more effective.Â
- One-Way vs. Two-Way Doors:Â How recognizing that most business decisions are reversible and adopting flexible leadership decision making frameworks can help teams move faster, reduce bureaucracy, and learn from mistakes.Â
- Purpose Driven Leadership and Employee Ownership:Â How combining broad-based ESOP shares with direct stock ownership supports company independence, helps employees build long-term wealth, and enables continued investment in the people and communities Brown and Caldwell serves.Â
- Leading Change With People, Not To Them: How structured change management, transparent communication, and explaining the “why” behind decisions help employees navigate change and maintain trust.
For leaders navigating growth, this conversation offers practical leadership decision making frameworks for building trust, empowering teams, and connecting purpose to business performance. Rich demonstrates how purpose driven leadership can help organizations strengthen their culture, invest in their people, and create lasting positive impact through the work they do.
Episode links
About the guest
Rich D’Amato is Chairman and CEO of Brown and Caldwell, a leading environmental engineering and consulting firm specializing in water and environmental solutions. With eight years as CEO, Rich has focused on building high-performing teams, driving innovation, and fostering a purpose-driven culture that creates lasting value for clients and communities.Â
Beyond his leadership at Brown and Caldwell, Rich has served for six years on the board of Water For People, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding access to safe water and sanitation worldwide. His commitment to both business excellence and community impact reflects his belief in the power of leadership to drive meaningful, lasting change.Â
About the host
Margaret Rogers, the Host of the Doing Good by Doing Better Podcast, serves as the CEO of Pariveda Solutions, a strategy and technology services firm with a mission to help people develop, catalyze, and discover their potential. She found her way into consulting right out of school, back when dial-up, blinking text, and wallpaper backgrounds defined the web. As User Experience began to emerge, she transitioned from technologist to roles where she was able to explore human-centered design. Margaret is fascinated by the uniqueness of human dynamics in business and is deeply invested in advising leaders on how to design organizations that nurture a strong culture and operational excellence. Her love of learning also extends well beyond the workplace, most recently into the curious behaviors of sourdough starters and backyard hens, who, much like people, have a surprising amount to teach about rhythms, relationships, and the environments they need to thrive.Â
About the Doing Good by Doing Better podcast
The Doing Good by Doing Better podcast highlights founders, executives, and innovators who share hard lessons, bold ideas, and real strategies for purpose-driven growth.
Every conversation offers practical insights you can use to solve forward. In each episode you’ll meet leaders who prove that being impact-driven and achieving meaningful success are not mutually exclusive.
Follow Doing Good by Doing Better on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join us every other week as we keep learning how to do good by doing better.
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