About Bob Chapman
As Chairman and CEO of $3.6+ billion capital equipment and engineering solutions firm Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman has led the company’s transformation from traditional management practices to Truly Human Leadership® — a people-centric approach where Barry-Wehmiller team members feel valued, cared for, and an integral part of the company’s purpose. His book, Everybody Matters, which chronicles his journey and leadership philosophy, is a Wall Street Journal bestseller and has recently been released in a revised and expanded 10th anniversary edition.
“His basic notion is that business leaders must recognize that work life is the single biggest determinant of how a person performs not just vocationally but also personally, and that the way to ensure a happy, productive workplace is to treat every employee like family. Not only does this approach transform what happens on the job, but it can have profound effects outside work and on an employee’s overall satisfaction with life.”
— Chief Executive
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Business leader, author, speaker, optimist
Bob Chapman became the senior executive of Barry-Wehmiller in 1975 at age 30 when the 90-year-old business had $20 million in revenue, outdated technology and a very weak financial position. Despite the obstacles, Chapman applied a unique blend of strategy to grow the company through acquisition, creating a sustainable business model not susceptible to the whims of any one industry.
Alongside tremendous growth in his business, a series of realizations led Chapman away from traditional management practices to Truly Human Leadership® —a people-centric approach where his team members feel valued, cared for and integral to the company’s purpose. At Barry-Wehmiller, they have a unique measure of success: by the way they touch the lives of people.
Chapman’s experiences and the transformation he championed were the inspiration behind his 2015 WSJ bestseller Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family. The book is coauthored by Raj Sisodia, founder and co-author of Conscious Capitalism. The book has been translated into eight languages and in 2025 was re-released in a revised and expanded edition with 90 additional pages of insights. In 2016, Barry-Wehmiller’s unique approach to business was featured in a case study by Harvard Business School, which is now taught at 70+ business schools around the world. Meanwhile, the company has evolved and grown from $1.7 billion in annual revenue with 100 acquisitions when the original book was published to $3.6+ billion with more than 145 acquisitions in 2025.
In 2013, Bob and his wife Cynthia launched a nonprofit, Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities, to bring the Barry-Wehmiller’s groundbreaking Listen Like a Leader training to communities. And, in 2015, the Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute was founded to bring the principles of Truly Human Leadership® to for-profit organizations through culture transformation and leadership training. In recent years, Bob has prioritized teaching caring leadership to tomorrow’s leaders through programs in a growing number of universities and is now targeting K-12 schools.
In 2022, Chapman was named the Tharseō CEO of the Year by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). He’s been ranked as the #3 CEO in the world in an Inc. article, and a Top 10 Social Capital CEO by International Business Times.
Chapman shares his story whenever he can, as it is an example of what’s possible at the intersection of great business strategy and profound care for people. He wants everyone to see that caring for people and giving them meaning, purpose and fulfillment through their work is not in disharmony with creating value.
“Everyone wants to do better. Trust them. Leaders are everywhere. Find them. People achieve good things, big and small, every day. Celebrate them. Some people wish things were different. Listen to them. Everybody matters. Show them.”
— Barry-Wehmiller Manifesto
“For too long, the primary value exchange between employees and their employers has been time for money, and not much more. Bob Chapman is suggesting a deeper, richer value exchange”
—The New York Times
Enhance your leadership
Learn how to be a caring leader from hundreds of articles, videos and podcasts on Bob’s Truly Human Leadership® blog.
Check out more of Bob's influence
Bob is Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, a diversified global supplier of manufacturing and professional services for a wide variety of industries. By blending people-centric leadership with disciplined operational strategies and purpose-driven growth, BW has become a $3.6+ billion organization with more than 12,000 team members united by a common belief: to use the power of business to build a better world.
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Founded by Bob Chapman, Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is a human-centered consultancy that helps organizations and their leaders align people, culture, and strategy to drive results. They build agile, purpose-driven workplaces where individuals thrive, teams perform, and impact endures.
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Bob and Cynthia Chapman’s non-profit, Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities partners with community-based and non-profit organizations to offer distinctive learning experiences that transform individuals and the communities in which they work and live. Their programs offer individuals the opportunity to improve their skills to listen, relate, discern, resolve conflict, serve and communicate.
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