In this thoughtful and grounding episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Angelo D’Amico, President and CEO of a global manufacturing company based in Ontario, Canada, generating more than $25 million in annual sales.

Angelo brings a rare blend of economics, management consulting, and philosophy into the conversation, offering a deeply human perspective on what leadership actually looks like in practice. He shares how stepping into an established organization required restraint rather than force, choosing observation, listening, and humility before making change.

Together, Carly and Angelo explore why values alignment matters more than technical skill, how trust is earned through service rather than authority, and why burnout is often a symptom of misalignment, not workload. They unpack generational differences in motivation, the hidden costs of ego-driven leadership, and the responsibility leaders carry in shaping cultures where people feel seen as humans, not treated as resources. This conversation reframes leadership as stewardship and challenges listeners to consider a powerful question: can the culture inside your company be better than the world outside it?

Key Themes:

• Leadership Is Granted, Not Assigned: Why real influence comes from trust, consistency, and acting in the collective’s best interest.

• Values Alignment Prevents Burnout: How meaning, not effort, determines whether work feels energizing or exhausting.

• Culture Mirrors the Leader: Why the behaviors leaders model and tolerate define the entire organization.

Memorable Quotes:

“A leader is someone people trust to make decisions with everyone’s best interests at heart.” “Burnout isn’t about effort. It’s about misalignment.” “My challenge is to build a place where the society inside the walls is better than the society outside.”

About Angelo D’Amico: Angelo D’Amico is the President and CEO of a global manufacturing company based in Ontario, Canada with more than $25 million in annual sales. With a background in economics, management consulting, and philosophy, he is known for applying rigorous strategy and timeless ideas to modern leadership, culture, and community challenges. Angelo serves on multiple non-profit boards, supports initiatives across the arts and healthcare sectors, and is passionate about bridging business success with philosophical insight.

Connect with Angelo D’Amico:

Website: https://www.angelodamicocanada.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/angelodamicocanada

In this powerful episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Don “The Dragon” Wilson, one of the most accomplished kickboxers in history and a prolific action film star whose career spans more than four decades.

Don shares how the same principles that made him an eleven-time world champion also allowed him to build a successful second career in Hollywood. From setting clear goals and ignoring naysayers, to mastering fundamentals and refusing to let ego sabotage preparation, Don breaks down the repeatable formula behind sustained excellence.

The conversation moves seamlessly between elite athletics, filmmaking, leadership, and personal growth. Don explains why ego can be useful in controlled doses but destructive when left unchecked. He reveals why humility, preparation, and respect for every role on the team were non-negotiable in both the ring and on set, and why longevity depends on never believing your own hype. This episode is a masterclass in discipline, mastery, and staying grounded while performing at the highest levels.

Key Themes:

• Success Follows a Formula, Not Luck: Why preparation, research, and learning from experts determine whether opportunity becomes achievement.

• Ego as a Tool, Not an Identity: How confidence fuels performance, but unchecked ego leads to complacency and decline.

• Longevity Through Mastery and Humility: Why fundamentals, continuous improvement, and respect for the team create careers that last decades.

Memorable Quotes:

“Don’t believe your own press.” “Ego becomes a problem when it makes you work less hard.” “The same principles that made me a champion worked in every other part of my life.”

About Don “The Dragon” Wilson: Don “The Dragon” Wilson is an eleven-time world kickboxing champion with a four-decade career that includes seventy-two wins and forty-seven knockouts. He was named “the greatest kickboxer in American history” by STAR System Ratings and inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. After dominating the ring, Don built a second career in film, starring in Bloodfist, Ring of Fire, and dozens of action movies worldwide. He also served as a commentator during the early UFC era, helping introduce martial arts to mainstream audiences. Today, Don is known not only for his titles, but for the discipline, mastery, and humility that defined both of his legendary careers.

Image Credit: Leo Medvedev (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In this thoughtful and nostalgic episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Claudio Ulrich, a veteran film licensing and distribution expert with more than 30 years in the industry and the founder of Focus Media.

Claudio pulls back the curtain on the world of film distribution, revealing the immense amount of unseen work required to bring a movie from original film reels to a finished home release. From licensing rights and restoring 35mm film to creating artwork, subtitles, packaging, and bonus content, he explains why a finished disc represents craftsmanship, history, and care far beyond what most people ever see.

After experiencing burnout during the peak of the VHS and DVD boom, Claudio made a defining decision. Instead of chasing scale and volume, he chose collectors, quality, and meaning. That shift led to the creation of premium “media books” that transform restored films into collectible experiences. At its heart, this conversation is about choosing passion over pressure, redefining success, and building a life where work becomes a mission rather than a grind.

Key Themes:

• Passion Outlasts Markets: Why industries do not truly disappear, and how following what you love can create sustainable niches even as markets change.

• The Invisible Work Matters: A behind-the-scenes look at the complexity, cost, and care involved in preserving and distributing films properly.

• Freedom Is Real Success: How Claudio designed a life centered on joy, creativity, and choice instead of constant scale and stress.

Memorable Quotes:

“I don’t see myself as a distributor. I see myself as a film lover who wants to share movies with other people.” “When you do what you love, it doesn’t feel like work. It becomes a mission.” “People don’t see what’s behind a movie. They only see the end product.”

Connect with Claudio Ulrich:

Website: https://www.mm-u.ch

Website: https://fokus-media.ch/