In this episode of Listening with Leaders, host Doug Noll interviews Richard Halsall, the former airline and military pilot who founded Exhale Fans. Halsall recounts his lifelong passion for aviation, from Army Warrant Officer training and Vietnam helicopter missions to commercial airline work, and explains how his curiosity about Nikola Tesla’s turbine inspired a bladeless, high‑bypass ceiling fan that destratifies indoor air. He describes the technical breakthrough—spinning a turbine at lower RPM by redesigning the inlet aperture— and the product’s benefits: uniform room temperature, up to 20 % HVAC energy savings, and safety advantages (no blades). The conversation covers the company’s timeline (prototyping, 2016 production), market challenges (over‑investment in perfection, limited B2C reach, reliance on word‑of‑mouth and a European B2B distributor that equipped Lyon’s schools), and future growth ideas (hotels, office buildings, fluid‑dynamics extensions, wind‑turbine concepts). Halsall shares personal motivations—“neurosis” to stay active, desire to reduce fuel burn, and a legacy of perseverance inherited from his immigrant father. The interview ends with reflections on values, the importance of non‑judgmental attitudes, and a light‑hearted invitation to collaborate.
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Welcome to Listening with Leaders. I'm Doug Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker. I teach executive leaders how to listen to emotions rather than words so that they can become the leaders everyone wants to follow. And I teach those same leaders how to be authentically present, available, and connected to their families despite being insanely busy. I have learned that we are 98% emotional and only 2% rational. Learning how to listen to emotions is, in my experience, the foundational skill of life. Stick around to the end of the show, and I'll reveal how you can be on our next guest in 15 to 20 minutes. So let's get started.
Richard Halsall, welcome to Listening with Leaders. You are the CEO and founder of a company called Exhale, like breathing out, Exhale Fans, and the website is exhalefans.com. Tell us a little bit about— let me just say, we, before the, before we came on, we were talking, and of course you have an amazing background in aviation, and I being a pilot too, we immediately resonated with that. Tell us a little bit about your backstory.
I was born in New York City and on a cold, wintry day. I remember it well. But ever since I can recall, I've just had a love affair with aircraft and grew up in a household where that was encouraged. And that, that really, your dreams were absolutely part of what my parents pushed my brother and I forward with. So I was never afraid to go tackle what I really enjoyed, and that was aviation. At the age of 19, I enlisted in the U.S. Army and the— what they had back then called the Warrant Officer Candidate Program, which dealt with a bunch of young guys, most of us loving to fly. And as one of my copilots in Vietnam said, when we were going into Laos, he looked down and he goes, don't you wish you were down there wishing you were up here? That was what we were, a group of young people that, uh, loved flying and loved our country as well. And when I got out, I flew for Petroleum Helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico for a while doing offshore oil exploration. And I started off being a fixed-wing pilot. My My father was born in the West Indies and during the summer I would go to Jamaica and stay with my uncle and living next door to him was a crop duster. The guy who did, sprayed the bananas for bugs. And he was an ex-World War II Spitfire pilot. And he's the one who was the first one to let me fly an airplane. And he was a wild man too. I had a lot of fun even as a youngster doing that. So I always had fixed wing in my background, but the needs of the service are the needs of the service. They said, no, you're gonna fly helos. Okay. And I'm glad I did. I love helicopters. Flying helos in civilian life, you don't make a whole lot, or back then you didn't make a whole lot of money. So transitioning back to fixed wing was the logical path and got into the airlines, flew for a package carrier, flew around the world, even got to fly in into the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong where you do that beautiful 120-degree turn over the apartment buildings, which is interesting because you can actually look at somebody's television while you're in that turn. But great time again, and where I was, great group of aviators wound up there.
So, and you, you were, you retired in what, 2015?
That is correct. Yes, sir. 65, they kick you out.
There you go. So how do you, how'd you get into the fan business?
My former partner who decided he didn't wanna stick with it, he wanted to go do something else. Like anything, somebody has to ask the critical question. Can a ceiling fan be made out of Tesla's turbin. And again, growing up in a scientific household, you could look at certain things and see how it should work. And the reason it was never functional before is because nobody actually took the time to realize that if you build it just the way Tesla built his, the input aperture of it was so small that you had to spin it at 20,000 RPM to get it to do anything. Because you, and that's not functional for a ceiling fan. So we worked on that for a couple of years, built prototypes, and started production in 2016 and selling fans in 2016. Uh, people who buy it absolutely love it. Uh, I gotta admit, granted, we get some people who don't, but it's less than 1%. And the reason being is it stabilizes the temperature in the room completely. So from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, you have one temperature and a gentle breeze in the room at all times.
You would think they'd be flying off the shelves in this heat wave that we're going through right now.
It should be, but our biggest problem is we invested all our money into making it perfect and not letting people know we're alive. The market. We're changing.
Bootstrap the market. What got you interested in Tesla's design and the whole concept of a fan in the first place?
It came about from just teaching this young man or attempting to indicate you have this wide world of forebears in science that have been our predecessors and have done some pretty remarkable things with equipment and technology that is antiquated compared to what we have today and a better understanding of science today. So when Nick, my former partner, went after it, he did ask the critical question. Can you make a ceiling fan? Let's go. Let's give it a shot.
And I'm curious, you're my age, I'm 70, obviously I'll just, I'll be 74 this year. Sounds like you've been there somewhere.
Right there, 1950.
1950. I was born in October of 1950. You've had this amazing career in aviation. You survived the Vietnam War. You did commercial aviation for 20 or 30 years. What gets you motivated to build a radical new ceiling fan and start a whole new business at 65, 66 years old?
Good question. Neurosis. It's not just I have trouble sitting still, but to be succinct, it's this. You can save energy and remain comfortable using this product, got to quit burning a lot of fuel.
Right.
And if you look on scale, this concept of destratification allows— and Purdue University just finished the study for us in October of '23 that showed that, yes, this actually works to save energy, considerable amount of energy by destratifying the vertical column. Hot air's on the ceiling, cold air's on the floor. The thermostat is midway.
Right. So you're trying to find an average, but not doing a good job at it.
Exactly. Exactly. So the fact that there was a possibility of having an impact on the world it was definitely more a driving motivator in this and kept, kept me going after it because it can significantly help doing it by employing this system and looking at it as a system, as a part of the HVAC system. If you look at it that way, it's a very inexpensive way to get 10, 15, 20% decrease in, in your HVAC costs.
I think that you're, you've got a product whose time has come with global warming. And I'm, we're just seeing here in the early summer of 2024, the massive heat dome over the Midwest and Northeast and now moving down to the Mid-Atlantic. Here in California, it's beautiful weather. Although it's supposed to warm up this weekend, but for us, Warm is 100, hot is 110. A normal summer day for us is in the hundreds. So what people experience in the Midwest and East Coast is normal for us, but we're very dry. So it's a desert climate, Mediterranean climate. But it seems to me that the idea of being able to make your HVAC system more efficient, drop your overall costs of cooling and probably heating in the winter too, because it has the same effect, makes a lot of sense. And I know I went to the website, it's, uh, exhalafan.com and the, it's a beautiful looking device. Who did the industrial design on it? It looks really nice.
But it was Nick and I.
Okay.
Well, we got together. I wanted to more to fashion the input of the fan, the appearance, but the physics behind a turbofan engine. Uh, a high bypass turbofan engine where you can have more of a direction of flow going. So that was the driving factor for that. But look at what the HVAC industry has done to solve the problem of propagation of cool air in a building. You have blower fan speeds that are very high. And what does that lead to? Someone who's in front of the register is freezing to death. Yeah. And the other guy is sweating, you know, really. So, so this is a deli. This can also be looked at as a delivery system of cool or warm air, as you have stated.
How are you marketing the product now?
Badly. Basically, it's most of it is our customers will find us on the website. We tried all that pay-per-click and advertisements on Facebook and whatnot, and it just didn't do the job.
You're trying to be B2C, direct-to-consumer?
I would really, yes. We're, we have foot to mouth lived off of B2C basically. From the concept. In Europe, the distributor we have in Europe, he has really done a good job on B2B. So he's in municipal buildings and schools. The whole city of Lyon is using our product in all their schools because papers don't blow around, kids are comfortable with the fan, and there's no blades, obviously, to cause any impact injury. To anyone. And it's non-obtrusive when it's running. You don't— there's no flicker off of it. It's a matte finish. So there's no flickering or disturbance to draw your eye to it.
Yeah, if I turn my fan on here, you're going to see it turning here and it's going to distract you in the video. Absolutely.
Yeah. So that is— that's a little bit of the evolution of the thought process that kept me going with this.
Good for you. So what is it you think that's unique about you that you've been able to bring to the table to make all of this happen?
Thick skull. I just don't want to give up.
Obviously you're a creative guy and love doing stuff and making things happen.
That is true. That's, and this is, I do find enjoyment, fulfillment off of it.
And this is not that I was gonna, this is a product that can change the world for a, and make it a better place.
Yes, it can. Yes, it truly can. It can have a wonderful impact and you don't have to sacrifice comfort by employing this device. Everything else, I recall Jimmy Carter saying, put a sweater on. You don't have to go around with cold feet and being cold and still have a significant impact on reducing energy use.
Absolutely. Where do you, in your youthful age, where you are right now, your youthful maturity, where do you see this all going?
Two places. Number one, I'd like to see hotels. Look, I spent half my life in hotel rooms. You freeze in one end of it. And you bake in the other end of it, you're never quite comfortable. So I'd love to see hotels, schools, office buildings start using this product because for the investment in this product, at least you're gonna get money back on it. So that would be it. I'd also like to exploit the Basis technology. Air is a fluid. Okay. In the world of fluid dynamics, Obviously what works for air will work with other fluids and do, do the same that it's doing in this environment. Yeah.
Can you take, I'm just curious, can you take this and engineer it so that it becomes a prime mover? Takes wind, kinetic wind energy and spin a, spin an axle?
That was Tesla's first, and he built it as a motor. Okay, I tell you, the— that is a wonderful thought, and I'm running—
we have to process that.
I'm running a calculation in my mind because Tesla used high-pressure steam to go across the discs, right, and then cause them to spin. Wind, if it's designed correctly, yeah, I can see it.
Be interesting because wind turbine technology is a big deal, but you got these gigantic, difficult to install, difficult to maintain wind turbines, and somebody who can build a smaller turbine that can develop the torque to turn a generator, it could be an interesting—
That's a great idea. It really is.
You got it from me here.
Yes, I owe you.
Well, good for you. I got one more question, I'll let you go. You have had such an interesting career. I'm wondering, what's one thing about yourself, Richard, that we would never know about unless you revealed it to us?
Um, one thing that I, I guess This is a lesson I learned from my father because he came to this country with a shilling in his pocket and graduated from NYU with electrical engineering degree and then went on to Columbia to get his master's. And he was probably one of the smartest guys. He was the most unjudgmental human being. And I carry that from him.
Good for you. Good for you. We, that's sorely needed in our world right now.
Boy, is it ever. Boy.
Yeah. That's what I do. I, my, what I do now, formerly a trial lawyer, now I'm a peacemaker. And that's what I do. I try to teach people, I teach people how to stop fights and arguments in their lives forever. And there's a skill set that you can learn and master that allows you to do that. But part of it is being non-critical, nonjudgmental, and non-reactive.
Absolutely. A true barrister.
Yes. And I'm really glad that I don't practice law anymore.
But the British, the British system is different. Yeah. Richard, good for you.
Well, thank you.
Good for you.
This has been a great conversation. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to speak with me.
Roger that. And I appreciate— thanks for the invitation. And I gotta— you gotta give me a ride when I get out to California.
All right, go fly in that little RV and haul around at 200 miles an hour.
Roger that.
Doug Noll here. Thank you so much for listening to Listening with Leaders. If you are a successful executive leader who would like to be on this program, please visit podcast.dougnull.com/podcast. If you got something out of this interview, would you please share this episode on social media? Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on the social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag #ListeningWithLeaders. I love seeing your posts and guest suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content. To make sure you don't miss any episodes, go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team. Want to know more? Go to my website, DougNoll.com, or follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. That's @DouglasEnoll. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next show.
