Jeff Newell is the President of Mouser Electronics, a global distributor with more than 4,000 employees, 1,200 manufacturer partners, and customers in 223 countries and territories. In this episode, Jeff sits down with Sannah Vinding to talk about what leadership actually looks like at the top of a multi-billion dollar global business.

Jeff is direct, practical, and refuses to put himself on a pedestal. He is a servant leader. He does not ask his team to do anything he would not do himself. He believes the readiness of your successor is the most accurate signal of whether you are ready for your next role. He shares his own mistakes openly because he believes that is how trust is built. This is a conversation for senior leaders who are quietly asking themselves whether they are doing the work that actually moves people forward.

In this episode, you will learn:

Why building your successor is the real test of leadership readiness
How to give feedback without making it personal
Why a servant leader at the top of a global business gets more done
How to step into a long-tenured leader's role without changing too much too fast
Why being open about your own mistakes builds more trust than hiding them
How to read industry cycles before they roll over *
Why staying open is the career move most senior leaders stop making

About the Guest: Jeff Newell is President of Mouser Electronics. Before stepping into the President role in 2025, he served as Senior Vice President of Products for over a decade. He spent more than 20 years at Texas Instruments earlier in his career.

Hosted By: Sannah Vinding hosts the Leadership in Manufacturing Podcast. She is an engineer and go-to-market leader focused on how leaders operate when complexity is high and answers are not always obvious.

Stay curious. Keep learning.

Why Building Your Successor Is the Real Leadership Test