--- title: "Episode 46: Evolving Organizational Culture Through Crisis and Growth — with Tom Ulbrich" description: Goodwill of Western New York CEO Tom Ulbrich explains how he evolved a culture of stability in a crisis and why accountability needs constant coaching. --- [![Velocity Advisory Group](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Velocity-Logo-2023-Wide-1.png)](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/) ☰ Menu - About - [Meet Our Team](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/about/) - [Meet Our Coaches](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/coaches/) - [Careers](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/careers/) - [Speaking Engagements](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/velocity-speakers/) - Solutions - [Culture & Engagement](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/culture-engagement/) - [DISC Assessments & Training](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/disc-assessments-training/) - [Employee Experience](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/employee-experience/) - [Executive Coaching](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/executive-coaching/) - [Family Business](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/family-business/) - [Leadership Development](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-development/) - [Sales Training](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/5cs-of-selling/) - [Strategy & Implementation](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/strategy-implementation/) - Resources - [Activating Greatness Podcast](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/podcast/) - [Blog](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/blog/) - [Case Studies](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/case-studies/) - [News and Announcements](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/news-and-events/) - [OrderDisc](https://orderdisc.com/) - [Upcoming Events](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/upcoming-events/) - Industries - [Construction](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/construction/) - [Financial Services](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/financial-services/) - [Life Sciences](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/lifesciences/) - [Contact](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/contact/) Activating Greatness Podcast Episodes September 8, 2026 | Episode 46 # Evolving Organizational Culture Through Crisis and Growth — with Tom Ulbrich ## Evolve, Don't Replace: Tom Ulbrich on Growing Goodwill From $6 Million to $25 Million **In this post:** *Goodwill of Western New York CEO Tom Ulbrich shares how evolving organizational culture, not replacing it, carried his team through COVID-19. He explains why accountability needs constant coaching and why the next stage of growth needs a builder.* Tom Ulbrich's lesson in evolving organizational culture started on May 1, 2020, when he took over as President and CEO of Goodwill of Western New York. The departing CEO handed him the keys with a pair of barbecue tongs. "I'm not joking," Ulbrich said on *Activating Greatness*, the leadership podcast from Velocity Advisory Group. "We have a picture of it." The tongs were the light part. Every store was closed. The organization had about 45 days of cash, and of roughly 225 employees, only four or five were working. On his fourth day, Goodwill lost historical funding that shut down the core of its workforce development work. He was also following a beloved, long-tenured leader whom the team and the community loved. Ulbrich, who calls himself Chief Energy Officer, has since helped grow the organization from about $6 million to $25 million. The more useful lesson is how he changed its culture without throwing it away, and why he now believes the next stage of growth needs a different leader than him. ## A Culture Built for a Different Moment Before Goodwill, Ulbrich spent more than a decade as Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University at Buffalo School of Management. He had no plans to leave until a recruiter challenged him to take his social innovation work out of the classroom and "into the lab." For an entrepreneur, he said, that was all it took. The culture he inherited was historical, long-standing, and slow to change. He called it a culture of stability and refused to call it bad. It fit the world it was built for. That world disappeared in the spring of 2020. "Stability inside a world of instability sometimes can be paralyzing," he said. > "Stability inside a world of instability sometimes can be paralyzing." > > *Tom Ulbrich, President and CEO, Goodwill of Western New York* Ulbrich did not panic. "One thing that entrepreneurs love to do is to manage chaos," he said. He leaned on a strong senior team and asked university colleagues what the community would need from workforce development after COVID-19, which led to a new initiative. ## Evolving Organizational Culture Starts With One Word His early mistake was a single word. Ulbrich talked constantly about change, and people who had worked at Goodwill for 20, 25, or 30 years heard an insult. Trusted colleagues told him, as he recalled it, that people were not hearing him the way he thought. "I had to back up the bus," he said. The fix was to stop talking about change and start talking about evolution. "We're not abandoning the culture," he said. The new version would be more entrepreneurial and more nimble, a place where it was OK to take a chance and sometimes fail. "We had to get comfortable with speed. We had to get comfortable with ambiguity." Host Alec McChesney called it the gap between intent and impact. The intent was survival. For longtime staff, the impact sounded like a newcomer saying they had done things wrong for a generation. Ulbrich also admits the crisis made his job easier. In an emergency, people expect a solution, so work that might take two or three years moved quickly. "I probably wouldn't have made it at Goodwill if not for COVID-19," he said. Without the crisis, he believes the old culture would have "eaten up" a disruptor like him. ## Accountability, With Constant Coaching Goodwill describes its goal as a culture of accountability, and the phrase always comes with a parenthetical: with constant coaching. Ulbrich believes accountability has a bad reputation because people link it to punishment and micromanagement. He sees it as clarity. Whether the job is on the front line or in the corner office, "you wanna know, you wanna have defined for you, what does success look like?" The leader's first duty is to define a good job. The second is to check whether it is happening. The third, when it is not, is to coach first. That takes what he calls managerial courage, and skipping it has a price. Your strongest performers, the people who fit the culture and produce, will not stay if the people beside them are not held to the same standard. "We're not trying to catch people failing," he said. Accountability can also collapse under its own paperwork. After realizing they had buried store managers in documents and data, retail leaders stripped it back to a four-page operating model. Other guests on *Activating Greatness* have explored the same ground. Jason Nickles of Modern Woodmen of America discussed [leading change inside a tradition-rich organization](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-16-tradition-meets-transformation-jason-nickles), and Jason Casarella of Cognitive Research Corporation explained [the difference between coaching and micromanaging](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-8-coaching-vs-micromanaging-jason-casarella). FREE ONE-PAGE CHECKLIST ### The Accountability With Coaching Checklist Define what a good job looks like, check whether it is happening, and coach before you correct, so accountability builds clarity instead of fear. [Get the free checklist](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/accountability-with-coaching-checklist) ## The Org Chart Starts With Functions, Not Names Rapid growth brings a hard truth. The people who ran a $6 million organization are not always the people who can run a retail business now above $20 million and growing another 15% this year. Some can be skilled up and coached up. Some cannot. "There's no such thing to me as bad people," Ulbrich said. "It makes it a bad fit." To plan the future, his team charts functions instead of people: what the organization needs at $30 million, $50 million, and $100 million. Because future boxes may not justify a full-time person, a team member might hold one main role and wear other hats until growth makes each hat its own job. The team drafts a chart, sets it aside for a few days, and returns with fresh eyes, because everyone wonders where they fit. He recommends the exercise every three years or so. The exercise produced a surprising answer. Asked what Goodwill needs to get from $30 million to $50 million, the team concluded the answer was not Ulbrich himself, and he expects a succession within the next couple of years. "We don't need the disruptor," he said. "We need the builder now." ## Climb Bigger Mountains His best advice came from an executive coach who said he was good at climbing small mountains, planting the flag, and looking around. "You need to get on a bigger mountain." It was a warning against chasing accomplishment for its own sake. He is learning a related lesson now. A family illness forced him to cancel eight weeks of national speaking engagements, and he says he is a better person for it. His advice: Be OK with putting down some of what you carry. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How do you change an organization's culture without alienating long-term employees? Tom Ulbrich, President and CEO of Goodwill of Western New York, learned that talking about "change" insulted employees with 20 or 30 years of service. He shifted to the language of evolution, making clear the organization was building on its culture rather than abandoning it. The new culture added speed, comfort with ambiguity, and tolerance for failure. ### Why should accountability be paired with coaching? Ulbrich argues accountability creates clarity when leaders first define what success looks like. If someone falls short, the leader's first move is coaching, not punishment. Goodwill of Western New York describes its goal as a culture of accountability with constant coaching. Without that courage, he said, the organization risks losing its best performers, who will not stay beside colleagues held to a lower standard. ### What is a functional org chart and why does it matter for growth? A functional org chart maps the work an organization needs before assigning any names. Ulbrich's team at Goodwill of Western New York charts the functions required at $30 million, $50 million, and $100 million. People may hold one main role and wear extra hats until growth justifies a new position. He recommends revisiting the chart about every three years. ### How do you know when a company needs a new leader? Ulbrich's team discovered through functional planning that Goodwill of Western New York's next growth stage needs a builder who adds structure rather than a disruptor like himself. He expects a succession within the next couple of years. His lesson for other executives: The leader who rescues or rebuilds an organization is not always the right leader to scale it. HOW VELOCITY HELPS ### Velocity Culture & Engagement Ulbrich did not replace Goodwill's culture. He studied it, kept what worked, and evolved the rest toward speed, ambiguity, and accountability with coaching. Velocity's Culture and Engagement work uses culture assessments, engagement surveys, and stakeholder interviews to show what employees value and where the culture limits growth. The High Performance Culture Workshop helps leadership teams turn those findings into daily behaviors. [Explore Culture and Engagement](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/culture-engagement/) ## The Takeaway: Keep Evolving Ulbrich closed with the word that ran through the entire conversation. "In this world today, you cannot sit still," he said. "Keep on learning, keep on pushing forward, and keep evolving." Evolution applies to leaders as much as to cultures. The culture that survived a crisis must change again to scale, and so might the person at the top. The best leaders build organizations that can outgrow them, and they have the humility to say so. ## Listen to the Full Episode Hear Tom Ulbrich's full conversation with host Alec McChesney on *Activating Greatness*. [Find it on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@VelocityAdvisoryGroup), or listen on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/4LcgAut0KyYiGyDhFvMjPD) and [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1868386871). FREE GUIDE ### Autopsy Without Blame When something goes wrong, skip the finger-pointing. 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Velocity Advisory Group helps leadership teams build the culture, strategy, and systems that let good people do their best work. [Book a discovery call](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/contact/) ## Related posts [HR & People Strategy](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/hr-people-strategy), [Financial Services & Insurance](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/financial-services-insurance) ## [Episode 49: Recruiting Financial Advisors: Hire Entrepreneurs First — with Chad Foster](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-49-recruiting-financial-advisors-chad-foster) [Alec McChesney](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/author/alec-mcchesney) Sep 21, 2026, 4:00:00 AM This Career Is Not for Most: Chad Foster on Recruiting Entrepreneurs in Financial Services In this... [Read more](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-49-recruiting-financial-advisors-chad-foster) [Construction](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/construction), [HR & People Strategy](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/hr-people-strategy) ## [Episode 32: Strategic HR Leadership: Scaling HR From 4 to 30-Plus — with Krista Robinson](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-32-strategic-hr-leadership-krista-robinson) [Alec McChesney](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/author/alec-mcchesney) Jun 8, 2026, 4:00:00 AM The Business Told Us So: Krista Robinson on Scaling HR From a Team of 4 In this post: Weitz Vice... [Read more](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-32-strategic-hr-leadership-krista-robinson) [Accountability & High Performance](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/accountability-high-performance), [Life Sciences & Healthcare](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/life-sciences-healthcare) ## [Episode 48: Competition as a Leadership Engine: Scoreboards That Work — with John Worden](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-48-competition-as-a-leadership-engine-john-worden) [Alec McChesney](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/author/alec-mcchesney) Sep 17, 2026, 4:00:00 AM Share the Why to Get the Buy: John Worden on Competition as a Leadership Engine In this post:... [Read more](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-48-competition-as-a-leadership-engine-john-worden) --- [![](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Velocity%20Logo%202023%20Wide-2.png?width=1025&height=267&name=Velocity%20Logo%202023%20Wide-2.png)](http://velocityadvisorygroup.com) Copyright © 2026, Velocity Advisory Group ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Alec McChesney", "url" : "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/author/alec-mcchesney" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-20T15:00:41.351Z", "datePublished" : "2026-09-08T08:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Episode 46: Evolving Organizational Culture Through Crisis and Growth — with Tom Ulbrich", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-46-evolving-organizational-culture-tom-ulbrich", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hubfs/Velocity%20Logo%202023%20Wide-2.png" }, "name" : "Velocity Advisory Group" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Tom Ulbrich, President and CEO of Goodwill of Western New York, learned that talking about \"change\" insulted employees with 20 or 30 years of service. 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