In this interview‑style presentation hosted by Joe Polish, Dana Bonin (also referred to as Dana Bonader) shares a leadership framework built around the art of glassblowing. She argues that people and organizations are not "broken" but "transformed" through a process analogous to shaping molten glass. Bonin outlines four essential elements—heat, time, strength, and perseverance—that correspond to work, reflection, patience, effort, and resilience. Throughout the talk she illustrates each element with concrete workplace examples: Kyle’s transition from sales manager to leader under intense "heat"; Alex’s confidence restored through patient "time" and honest communication; the difficult decision to let go of a long‑tenured foreman Tom, demonstrating "strength"; and her own battle with addiction, rehab, and repeated injuries, embodying "perseverance." Bonin weaves personal anecdotes, metaphorical language, and a call to action that encourages the audience to view themselves as beautiful, resilient flowers forged by fire. The video also contains promotional interludes from Joe Polish offering a free book and additional videos. The overall message is that by recognizing and embracing the transformative process, individuals and teams can achieve growth and lasting success.
Chapters
When looking at a piece of glass art, the finished result is easy to admire, but the restarts, discipline, heat, and the intentional choices that made that piece of glass art possible are never seen. Businesses and people are built the same way. By looking at glassblowing and leadership from a different perspective, powerful ideas become visible that can dramatically change the results created with the people you lead and manage. Uh, Dana, uh, Bonander is a multi-business owner and the operator of several companies, including Intermountain Pipe and Threading, where he serves as CEO. His focus is deeply rooted in culture, individual ownership, and strategy, including a decisive shift in mining pipe sales that has driven meaningful growth and success. With more than 50 employees on his team, Dana understands how to create the right environment where precision, failure, and intention are all part of the process. When the process of glassblowing is truly understood, leadership and team building become clear and even more powerful. Dana's presentation is titled You're Not Broken, You're Transformed: How to See Yourself as you really are. Please help me welcome Dana Bonin. What's up?
Alright, thank you, Joe.
Thank you.
Well, good afternoon, my fellow geniuses. I want you to take a moment and I want you to look around this room. What do you see? Friends, strangers that look familiar, future collaborators, fellow dreamers? Well, I see something else. I see a room full of resilient, creative, relentless human beings who've poured late nights, sacrificed comfort, opened up their hearts for their businesses, for their families, for yourselves. You're like this flower. As a glassblower, I don't see just something beautiful. But I see what it survived. It's beautiful. It's unique. It's carefully clout— carefully crafted. And like this flower, you've been tested by fire. It's kind of our life. Look at it now. Sharp ends. Broken pieces, once beautiful, now shattered. Sometimes we feel like this in life. You know, is our broken a relationship that cuts so deep that we still bleed? Is your broken abuse? Emotional? Physical? Sexual? Is your broken addiction drugs, alcohol, food, work? Me, I've survived all these. I was told I wasn't good enough. I've battled addiction. I've carried it all. But what if I told you, you aren't broken? Would you believe me? Jimmy, you're not broken. Darryl, you're not broken. Nicole, you're not broken. I don't know your story yet, but I look forward to hearing it. And I'm sure that I'll be amazed with just the strength that you took to sit here today. Now look at this. It's a flower. Still a flower. It's still beautiful. But now, see the scars? The places where it was shattered and it was fused back together. It's been mended. This isn't broken. It's been transformed. So you see, as a glassblower, there are 4 elements that are required to mend something like this back together. We have heat, we have time, we have strength, and we have perseverance. So let me tell you what that means. So, one, heat. The torch that I use burns over 4,000 degrees. For reference, the stove at your house burns around 3,500 degrees. That's a different type of heat. So at that temperature, glass becomes malleable. It's willing to be shaped. Your heat, well, that's your work, your therapy, your reflection. Your willingness to look at what's hard. So I hired Kyle, one of our top sales managers— salesmen to become our sales manager. He hadn't managed before and honestly he wasn't sure if he even wanted it. But we saw something in him. And so we didn't just give him the title. We gave him support. We gave him coaching. We gave him structure. We gave him accountability. And when the heat turned up, he struggled. But there were moments he questioned whether he really wanted to be in that job, that he was cut out for it. And he wanted to kind of turn back to what was comfortable. But instead of pulling him out of the fire, We helped him stay in it. And by doing that, that heat that was overwhelming began to shape him. He wasn't just a manager. He became a leader. And you can't mend something that's cold. You have to be in the fire, the heat. Two, time. You can't rush glass. If you put the glass in the heat, And the hardest part of the flame, it'll shatter. Some glass warms up quickly. Others takes patience, or it'll bubble and crack. Every piece of glass is different, just like every part of you. We ended up shifting a role of Alex, and he— It was the right thing to do, but he took it as a demotion. And so it took a really hit to his confidence and also his self-worth. And I sat him down and I told him the truth. I said, Alex, this isn't a reflection of your worth. This is a reflection of our responsibility to you. And we did not put you in a position for your strength. And I told him, I said, this role matters. You matter. And the team needs you. And over the next couple of weeks, something happened. His confidence came back. His team needed him more than ever and started leaning on him more. That was his time. It was also our time.
Hey, I hope you're enjoying this video, and I want to let you know that I have a new book that's come out, and if you'd like to get it absolutely free, there's a link below in the description, or you can wait till the end of this video, or you can simply go to JoePolishFreeBook.com and you can get a copy there.
Number 3 is strength. So glassblowers require strength. And so I'm just not holding up the rods, but I've got to keep them spinning steadily in the flame. A pendant can take 20 minutes. A glass flower, around 4 hours. So mending anything—glass or your life—takes effort. You know, your strength might— seem not that flashy. But at times, just getting out of bed in the morning is a strength that we need. So when I first stepped into the role of executive VP, one of my first decisions was one of my hardest. Along with my VP Zach, now my CEO— I mean, COO— we let go of Tom, our shop foreman. 15 years with the business, extremely knowledgeable, but he was hurting the team. He was keeping the team back. And so knowledge wasn't being shared, effort wasn't consistent, and the culture was slipping. And so I realized something. Experience doesn't automatically equal leadership. And I, uh, after looking back, I knew it was the right call. Other employees stepped up. The culture strengthened. It was a— it— the decision wasn't easy, but it was strength. Number 4, perseverance. I burned myself and I kept working. I've cut my hand open and I've kept working. I've bled all over my workstation and I've kept working. I ended up dropping a flower and it broke all over after hours of work. And I pick up the pieces and I moved on because that's what glassblowers do. And that's what you do. I wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for perseverance. In high school and in college, I lost my way. Drugs— if you name it, I've done it, except heroin. Um, I've gone to rehab twice, 19 years old and 21 years old. The second time, I really needed support. I had 7 counselors. I had 2 addiction specialists, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a pastor, a school counselor, and an eating disorders counselor. I mean, I kind of hit rock bottom. And that's how far I fell. But here's what perseverance really looks like. It's not pretending I was strong. It's not hiding. Not powering through it alone. I admitted that I couldn't fix myself. I was sitting in my own discomfort and owning my decisions and choosing again and again not to quit myself. I picked up the pieces and I kept going, and that perseverance has made me who I am in my leadership, in my business, and who I am standing here before you today. So how many times have you had to pick up yourself, your pieces, and kept going? Heat, time, strength, and perseverance. These are the tools I use to mend glass, and they're also the same tools you use to build up yourself. You've lived through pain and pressure, fire and failure, loneliness and loss, and you're still here. So now I want you to say this with me: I am not broken. I am transformed. Now with more conviction, please. I am not broken. I am not transformed. Thank you, guys. Now I want you to look around this room. These aren't broken people. These are people who survived the fire, who've mended, who've grown. Now, I want you to do something for me today. When you go out and you see a flower in a field, on a table, in a crack of the concrete, I don't want you to just think, "That's pretty." I want you to see yourselves. You've made these steps in life. You're not broken. You've taken the strength that's required, the time it took, the perseverance it demanded to still be here today. So you are a wonderful work of art. You are a beautiful flower. Thank you.
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