Chase Koch on talent management
From Principles Over Politics: Chase Koch and Demario Davis on Building What Lasts · · John Hope Bryant
“Our talent model is very simple in terms of who we hire and who we don't hire. We want someone that wants to come in and make a contribution and has a very unique skill that we need. The opposite of that is someone that comes in more deficiency motivated. And so deficiency motivated, and we see, I'm sure many of you business leaders have seen this, where they've got a fancy resume, 40, Ivy League school, whatever. And they come in and they feel entitled to a certain role, certain title, a certain salary without coming in and actually earning it.”
On , Chase Koch, President at Koch Disruptive Technologies, spoke about talent management during Principles Over Politics: Chase Koch and Demario Davis on Building What Lasts on John Hope Bryant.
About Chase Koch
Chase Koch, president of Koch Disruptive, participated in several public conversations in mid-2025 and early 2026, discussing leadership, business philosophy, and social change. In a live podcast episode with John Hope Bryant and NFL player Demario Davis, Koch described Koch Industries as a family business and a meritocracy, saying the company hires based on "contribution motivated" individuals rather than those who are "deficiency motivated." He stated that the company made mistakes by letting the media define it and that it now aims to tell its own story. Koch also said his father, Charles Koch, avoided politics for 40 years before deciding to engage in order to support "principled leaders in government." In a separate interview on the All-In podcast, Koch discussed Koch Industries' scale and culture, describing the company as "an integrated set of capabilities" rather than a conglomerate. He said the company embraces failure as part of "creative destruction," adding that "if you're not failing at everything, you're not doing anything new." Koch also spoke about removing barriers to opportunity, stating that society should "work for a system where we remove the barriers that are holding people back from realizing their potential." He described self-actualization as the intersection of a person's gift, passion, and market opportunity.