Phil Dirkse began his career designing products, but today he is more focused on designing environments where people can succeed.
As vice president of innovation at Disher Corp., Dirkse leads a team of 60 engineers, designers and project managers while helping shape the company’s leadership and strategy. A mechanical engineer by training, he has spent the past five years coaching emerging leaders, facilitating cross-functional strategy and building a more people-focused organization.
“I don’t want to be recognized as the smartest person in the room or the person that has all the answers. I want to be someone who brings people together.”
Dirkse said the transition from engineering to leadership happened gradually, with project management providing the bridge.
“It was really project management that provided a pathway for me to transition from engineering into leadership,” he said.
Dirkse’s interest in developing people started much earlier. Growing up, Boy Scouts and sports gave him his first opportunities to practice leadership, an interest that eventually extended beyond the workplace and into education.
A decade ago, Dirkse returned to West Michigan to launch Zipper Labs, an education startup inspired by his concern over the decline of hands-on programs such as shop class. He developed a K-12 STEM curriculum incorporating design thinking, rapid prototyping and digital storytelling in Kent and Ottawa county classrooms.
His approach to leadership has also been shaped internationally. Through One17 International, Dirkse has worked alongside educators and local leaders in Haiti and Cambodia, experiences that broadened his understanding of what success can mean.
“There’s sometimes a very American way to approach leadership that’s focused on results,” Dirkse said. Seeing other cultures showed him that having a positive effect does not have to be driven by competition or dominating an industry.
That philosophy aligns with the three values Dirkse says guide him: joy, service and gratitude. He credits his father, Dan, with modeling a positive, hope-filled approach to life and teaching him to measure success not only by results, but by how he treats others.
“I don’t want to be recognized as the smartest person in the room or the person that has all the answers,” Dirkse said. “I want to be someone who brings people together.”
Original article posted on Crains Grand Rapids (September 2026)
Written By:
DISHER
Communications Team
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