If you told a younger Brett Cope, fresh out of engineering school and determined never to touch sales, that he’d one day lead thousands through a culture transformation, he probably would’ve laughed. But leadership rarely follows a straight line. From launching ABB’s global accounts strategy to stepping into the CEO seat at Powell Industries, Brett’s path is defined by one thing: comfort with change.
But leading through change isn't just about bold moves or strategy slides. It’s about culture, alignment, and owning your decisions, even the ones that don’t work out. In this episode of Rethink Change, Brett gets real about the challenges he faced taking over Powell, what it meant to rework the company’s internal DNA, and why his first step toward transformation started not with a customer or a product, but with the boardroom.
Listen to Brett’s full story on Spotify:
Meet Brett Cope, Chairman and CEO of Powell Industries
Brett is Chairman and CEO of Powell Industries: the Houston-based maker of high-reliability power-control gear for energy, utility, and data-center projects. Brett joined Powell in 2010 after two decades with ABB, rose from VP Sales to COO, and has run the company since 2016, steering it to record growth. Few leaders know the global switchgear game like Brett, and he’s here to talk electrification, leadership, innovation, and scaling a 75-year-old brand for the next energy cycle.
Why Board Buy-In Isn’t Optional; It’s Step One
When Brett Cope became CEO of Powell Industries, he realized lasting change couldn’t begin with a new strategy; it had to start with the board. While the existing board had supported the company’s legacy, Brett needed a team aligned with where Powell was headed, not just where it had been. With guidance from a trusted mentor, he initiated a conversation: How does your board become my board? That simple but powerful question led to the first step in Powell’s transformation.
Working alongside his mentor and chairman of Powell Industries, Tom Powell, Brett reshaped the board with members who could both challenge and support the leadership team. This wasn’t about control; it was about collaboration. The result was a group of engaged partners who brought clarity, accountability, and alignment to the table. For Brett, real organizational alignment started where many leaders forget to look, at the top.
Aligning Your Culture with Strategy
When Brett stepped into leadership at Powell, he quickly realized he wasn’t just managing operations; he was inheriting a deeply ingrained culture. Many employees had been there for years, some even decades. With that kind of tenure comes a sense of pride, but also resistance. You can’t just walk in with a bold new plan and expect people to follow.
Brett understood that if he wanted to move the business forward, he had to bring people with him, not drag them behind. That meant listening first, gaining trust, and showing people how the change could serve something bigger than just this quarter’s results.
Instead of treating culture and strategy as separate conversations, Brett worked to tie them together. Using Pennebaker’s Strategic Guardrails process, Powell’s leadership got in a room and got real about what was working, what wasn’t, and where they needed to grow.
Some of it was uncomfortable. But something shifted: people started engaging differently. Some team members who had been hesitant came back stronger. Others began leading in ways they hadn’t before.
The strategy hadn’t changed overnight, but the way people showed up for it did. That’s what real organizational alignment looks like: not just getting everyone on the same page, but helping them believe in the story being written.
Hard Truths, Real Growth: Listening with Purpose
One of Brett’s first moves as CEO wasn’t to talk but to listen. Powell had never conducted formal voice of customer research before, at least not in a way that went beyond product features or basic satisfaction. Brett wanted more than surface-level input. He wanted the hard truths.
What were Powell’s clients really thinking? Where were they falling short? And what was keeping those customers up at night?
Partnering with Pennebaker, the leadership team got honest answers, and they weren’t all easy to hear. But for Brett, that was the point. As he puts it, “You can’t spend enough time hearing about where you’re failing.”
What made the difference wasn’t just the feedback but what the company did with it. Instead of brushing it off or reacting defensively, Powell used the data to sharpen their strategy and realign their teams. Organizational alignment has to reflect what customers actually need and value.
The voice of customer research helped connect the dots between Powell’s aspirations and its execution. And while no one likes to hear where they’re missing the mark, Brett saw those gaps as the greatest opportunities for growth. Because sometimes the path to getting better starts with hearing what hurts.
Owning the Hard Calls
Leaders often talk about accountability, but few model it when it matters most. Brett Cope does. When a major decision within Powell’s services group failed to deliver, he didn’t deflect or pass the blame. He stepped up. Brett acknowledged the call had been his and that it wasn’t working.
Rather than wait for the fallout or let frustration fester, he initiated the reset. That level of ownership sent a clear message to his team: leadership isn’t about always being right. It’s about having the humility to course-correct when you’re wrong.
It wasn’t just about reversing direction; it was about how he did it. Brett approached the change with honesty, empathy, and a focus on what the team needed to move forward. He didn’t villainize the people involved or bury the mistake in silence. He opened the door for conversation, reflection, and growth.
That’s the kind of leadership that fosters real organizational alignment, not striving for perfection but gaining truth from both your customers and your team. Because when people see a leader take ownership at the top, they’re far more willing to do the same throughout the company.
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This show is hosted by CEO Ward Pennebaker and President Matt Pennebaker, who deliver sharp insights from battle-tested leaders who have navigated chaos and turned challenges into momentum.
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