"Your job as a leader is now more complex than ever. The expectations are that you have the skills and expertise to serve your employees, partners, and vendors in an extremely wide range of skills: Strategist, Visionary, Technologist, Innovator, Change Agent, Relationship Manager, Conflict Resolver, Mentor, and Motivator. These expectations can become overwhelming and a hard road to travel alone."
Dan Cooper co-founded ej4, a video-based online training company, in 2003, and was its CEO until selling in 2012. During his time with ej4, he grew the company from a startup to a nationally-recognized firm, serving clients including Pepsi-Cola, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Honeywell, Monsanto, and Syngenta. Channel partners included SAP and Oracle. As of 2012, ej4 was serving 1,000+ customers, delivering millions of program views, and was highly profitable and debt-free.
Today, he is the President and partner of Acumen, a mastermind community platform built for CEOs and Owners of strong and growing companies.
He and his wife, Ali, have three children and attend Cure of Ars Church in Leawood, KS. Dan enjoys running, all things soccer — anything on a board - and burning all types of meat on the backyard barbecue grill.
"I wish Acumen existed when I was CEO. Coming alongside CEOs by creating a trusted unbiased team of advisors helps everyone see their blind spots, share best practices, walk through challenges, and take advantage of opportunities."
Tension.
"CEOs are challenged with the tyranny of the urgent while trying to maintain focus on the important. This tension is a struggle every day."
Change.
"Pair that with the speed of change in culture, technology, talent, and government and it's no surprise that there is a place for a community of like-minded leaders to come and help sharpen challenge, and inspire each other."
I'm a serial reader, enjoy a mean game of ping pong or pickleball with my kids, a Saturday morning coffee date with my wife, playing old man soccer, and running all help me unhook and reconnect with what matters most.
Strategic
Funny
Writer
Curious
Hanging out in our backyard with a fire to tend to and any activity with the fam that includes a ball.