Episode 06 - Using Community Leadership to Grow Business: How Sachin Shivaram Invests His Time Beyond the Office
In this episode of The Lift, Ben is joined by Sachin Shivaram, the first non-family CEO of the nearly 110-year-old Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry. Sachin is also an adjunct faculty member at the Schneider School of Business at St. Norbert College and serves on the boards of half a dozen companies and organizations, including the Green Bay Packers.
Key takeaways:
Community leadership isn’t a distraction, it’s a growth strategy – serving on boards and civic committees provides strategic insight, policy influence, and access to funding
Board service can directly benefit your company
Democratizing engagement builds trust with employees. Think: Facebook groups instead of forcing them into “corporate” channels
Technology + relationships = real-time leadership. Use calendars, communication tools, and short, focused check-ins aggressively
Childcare is both a business and a moral issue; employers must play a role in better childcare access
Old-school rituals – weekly family dinners, long conversations, small-town community life – still matter
What happens when a manufacturing CEO decides that his job doesn’t end at the factory gates? In today’s episode, Sachin and Ben dig into community leadership, board service, and childcare advocacy as tools to actively grow a business (rather than distract from it).
Sachin runs a 100+ year-old, family-founded aluminum foundry in Wisconsin that pours molten metal into sand molds to create mission-critical parts for medical equipment, trucks, cookware, and more. It’s classic American manufacturing in a sector that’s been under pressure for decades, from globalization to talent shortages to policy whiplash.
Yet instead of hunkering down and only focusing on on-time delivery and scrap rates, Sachin’s calendar is full of board meetings, economic development councils, university trustee roles, and even a directorship with the Green Bay Packers.
So…why would a CEO in a turbulent industry say yes to more responsibility?
According to Sachin, strategic board work actually makes him a better, more effective CEO. Sitting on the board of companies like Lodge Cast Iron, he sees different markets, capital structures, and approaches to strategy and risk. Those patterns feed directly back into his decision-making at Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry. In one example, he describes how seeing another company use the U.S. New Markets Tax Credit program helped him recognize that WAF was eligible, too, resulting in roughly 25% of a major capital project being offset through the program. That’s real money, and a powerful argument for why board service can be ROI-positive for your day job.
We also get a behind-the-scenes look at how Sachin manages optics and bandwidth. He knows that to his board, his employees, and his customers, the perception of a distracted CEO could be a risk. His antidote? Radical transparency and relentless follow-through:
Every morning at 8:05 am, he and his leadership team run a detailed standup
Employees can reach him directly via text or on plant-specific Facebook pages
He continually shows up with specifics about defects, staffing, and shipments that prove he’s deep in the details
That same “meet people where they are” philosophy drives how he communicates with a politically diverse workforce. In a rare move for a CEO, Sachin openly shares who he votes for, writes politically biased opinion pieces, and posts them in employee Facebook groups where people comment freely, including the occasional “Sachin, don’t play ignorant.” Instead of hiding his beliefs or banning politics from the workplace, he leans on a simple principle: if you’re going to say something, say something. That candor helps build trust across very different political views while keeping the focus on how national policy actually hits the shop floor.
Outside the plant, Sachin’s home life is intense but intentional. He and his wife (a McKinsey partner) are raising two boys while navigating demanding careers, and a very full calendar. The infrastructure that makes it possible includes aggressive use of shared calendars and old-school rituals like Friday night family dinners at their favorite Wisconsin supper club.
One of the most powerful moments of the episode comes when Sachin talks about childcare and early childhood brain development; he is often invited to share his POV that childcare is a workforce issue – how employers need it so parents (especially mothers) can work. What really moves him here is the neuroscience behind this framing: the permanent impact of what happens from ages 0–5 on a child’s brain, and how inconsistent, low-quality care can shape their entire life. After hearing stories from his own employees about patchwork childcare arrangements, he became a vocal advocate for better systems and started offering stipends and structural support through the company.
Throughout the episode, Ben and Sachin return to one big theme: being a great leader in your company often requires stepping outside it. Whether it’s lobbying for policy that impacts your industry, serving on boards that sharpen your strategic thinking, or investing in childcare that shapes the next generation, leadership that’s confined to your org chart is too small for the challenges of today’s economy.
If you’re a CEO, executive, or rising leader wondering how to juggle your core job with board ambitions, community service, and family life – without burning out – this conversation is a masterclass in purposeful over-commitment and community-driven leadership.
