Dan Dehrkoop is a strategic operations and manufacturing leader with extensive experience in production management, engineering, and global innovation. In the course of his career, Dan Dehrkoop has held various leadership roles in high-volume manufacturing environments and pushed for improvements in safety, efficiency, and operational performance.
Mr. Dehrkoop began his career with Pella Corporation in process engineering where he led continuous improvement (CI) and lean initiatives. He also helped improve maintenance practices, equipment reliability, uptime, and workflow efficiency. Further, Mr. Dehrkoop collaborated with operations and technical teams, helping them understand lean tools and performance metrics.
In two brief roles with DuPont Pioneer, Mr. Dehrkoop transitioned into production and operations management. He focused on production planning, performance management, and labor alignment, ensuring resources matched customer demand and operational constraints. His ability to integrate planning, execution, and continuous improvement positioned him as a trusted leader within complex production organizations.
Dan Dehrkoop joined Corteva Agriscience as a production location manager in 2015, overseeing an entire seed production site and warehouse, plant, and field operations for the following eight years. In this position he was tasked with ensuring safety, regulatory compliance, quality, cost management, and workforce leadership. He managed significant operating and capital budgets and also executed long-term investment and maintenance strategies to strengthen site performance and resilience.
Most recently, Dan Dehrkoop led Corteva Agrisciences’ global innovation efforts across its seed production network. In this role he guided innovation engineering teams, aligned new technologies with long-term operational needs, and collaborated with global stakeholders to scale production-ready solutions.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I like to start my day off with a quick recap on the prior day using metrics and other team update tools and setting the slate for the day. This helps me to ground on any course correction while remaining focused on what is important and not just what feels urgent. I like to maintain a structured and prioritized day to stay productive, refocusing as needed. I really feel like much of my success has been by using the end of my day to set up for the next day to get started at the jump.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I use a dynamic set of steps to brainstorm the framework of an idea and solutions. I like to quickly pull in experts, end users, or those that think differently to collaborate ideas. This helps to strengthen the idea and gauge gaps or challenges to success. Once I have a firm idea, I will then review with key stakeholders through clear and compelling communication. The communication will cover expected outcomes, cost, and address any potential risk. From there, execution is important, setting clear roles, responsibilities, milestones, and check-ins to maintain lines of communication for feedback. During the execution, follow through is critical; this is needed to ensure any adjustments or adaptations are made. These last 10% of details often will allow an idea to succeed to the desired outcome.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I am excited to see where artificial intelligence is going and how it can be used to simplify and speed up solutions. I have found these tools to be extremely insightful in helping to solve complex analytical data and enhance or even be the decision-making. Certainly, there are important ethical and moral standards that need to be defined for the infinite applications that are out there. I am really excited to see how this can help us to solve challenges we have struggled to address in the past.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I find that taking time at the end of my day to recap, recenter on the goals, and set the framework for the next day has been Impactful. This really allows me to maintain focus and grounding on what is important, versus getting consumed on any urgent but not important issue that may come up at the beginning of the day. I wake up with purpose, focus, and a plan and, while adaptations are always needed, I already have the priorities to adjust. I filled up my jar with the boulders first, so the pebbles and sand can work around it.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell myself to focus more on self-leadership development and networking. Early in my career, I was focused on getting the task or work completed more transactional. I missed some opportunities to learn from other leaders, foster better relationships, and work to apply those skills. I had a coach once say to me, “It’s not what you do, it’s who you do it with.”
Tell us something you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I believe that having failure or struggles in life are necessary, especially at a young age. I don’t believe in rewarding struggles—instead rewarding back getting up. I think those that are really successful at the highest level in sports, life, education, or profession have failed and failed a lot. Those struggles build character, resilience, perseverance, and humility. Learning how to fail and adjust quickly is the difference between those that are at the highest level of success and those that stumble over setbacks.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
I recommend everyone get outside and do something physical, preferably in nature, no matter the weather. Go for a walk, go canoeing, build a deck, climb a hill, paint a fence, play a sport. Especially those peaceful moments in nature, I think it is a simple way to melt stress, regain focus, and get some vitamin D and fresh air.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Generally speaking, I always look at challenges positively and as opportunities to find a way. However, if I do feel overwhelmed or unfocused, I like to step away from that situation for, normally, just a few minutes and intentionally direct my focus on something else. I find something simple, such as a walk to the production floor to make simple observations or even look at another problem. This allows me to refocus and approach whatever challenge is there with a fresh mind and perspective. I also have found it important to surround myself with positive and diverse thinkers to be sounding boards or provide perspectives.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
One thing that has helped me to advance my career is to focus on excelling where my feet are while building relationships towards that next career. I have never been one to focus on my next opportunity or advancement. I am not sure why anyone would want to hire you for that next opportunity if you cannot focus on the current one. I have seen times where people are so focused on a promotion, and they lose sight of the fact that they are increasing the gap, not closing it, due to current performance. Be where your feet are.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Early in my career as a young leader, I undervalued the power of learning through experience. I put much focus into ensuring the work of my team was near perfect. I put this on me to deliver that perfection, without allowing others the opportunity to learn through what had been delegated. This also meant I did not provide the responsibilities or opportunities for my team to grow. Really, this was a mindset shift, realizing the disservice I was to the team I was leading. I leaned on some senior leaders for guidance as to how they approached workloads. I ended up taking the strengths, weaknesses, needs, and desires of the team to reshape how I delegated and viewed workloads to provide experience and strengthen and develop the team. I have used this thought process ever sense to approach delegated workloads.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
One business idea I think has a lot of potential is a service that helps small and mid-sized companies better integrate and actually use the data they already have. A lot of organizations collect huge amounts of data but don’t have a simple, practical way to turn it into decisions. This business would focus on building simple dashboards, workflows, and training tailored to each company so their teams can easily understand and act on insights. It’s not just about the technology; it’s about making the data usable for everyday decision-making. I think there’s a big gap here, especially for companies that can’t afford large consulting firms but still want to operate smarter.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Most recently, it has been the Monday.com Work Management software. I have used this to keep projects organized, manage workloads, and keep project lists balanced. Also, it has allowed for some quick analytics to be used to track progress and risks.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 I recently spent was on upgrading some basic home workout and outdoor gear. Nothing fancy, just a few items that make it easier to get outside or stay active without overthinking it. It’s been worth it because it removes excuses and makes it easier to reset mentally after a long day. That time to step away, get some fresh air, and clear my head has a big impact on how I show up the next day, both personally and professionally. It’s a small investment that pays off every day.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
I like to listen to a few podcasts mostly for entertainment value. However, a series of podcasts put out by the Des Moines Business Record have been great to listen to. Several shows are produced; I specifically like the “Made in Iowa” and “Iowa Economy” segments. Both of these podcasts shed light on local business dynamics and how industries are adjusting and handling those dynamics. It helps me to broaden solutions and just keep a pulse on broader industry challenges and successes. Overall, I find this helps me keep an open mind to business challenges.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I don’t tend to watch a lot of movies, but, in general, I enjoy watching action movies. Most recently, I watched the “F1” movie in IMAX. I like the thrill, the pressure of the moments, and how people handle and thrive in those environments. “F1” had some great scenes around building teamwork through adversity and searching for a way to improve zigging when others are zagging. I enjoyed the symphony between man and machine to compete at the highest level.
Key learnings
- Establishing a routine is important to maintain a productive focus on what is important and not just urgent.
- Build quality relationships to further support career growth.
- Use failures to learn, as well as develop and strengthen the ability to adapt and overcome business challenges.
- Incorporate physical activity, ideally outside, to relieve stress and reset the mind.