On this episode of Big Blend Radio’s Success Express Podcast, author and clean energy executive Jared Schoch, founder and chairman of TurningPoint Energy, returns to talk about the leadership lessons in his book, Solar Coaster: The Untold Story of the Solar Industry and One Man’s Journey Leading with Soul (Regalo Press, out now). It’s a conversation for anyone who leads people, in any industry: how to know when to hang on and when to take a break, how to keep your team balanced and your company’s purpose intact, and what it takes to build a career in solar.
This is part 2 of our conversation with Jared. Listen to part 1 here: Author Jared Schoch – Riding the Solar Coaster.
Watch the episode below or listen to / download the audio version on Podbean:
Conversation Highlights
Why the solar industry is a “solar coaster,” and how to know when to get on, when to hang on, and when to take a break.
The question Jared asked his wife every Christmas, “is the juice worth the squeeze?”, and the four-month sabbatical that followed when she finally said it was time to stop.
What “soul-based leadership” means (soul, not solar), and why Jared compares the soul to a muscle that has to be exercised, starting with healthy eating, exercise, and sleep.
Why the best companies treat their teams like families, from asking personal questions to requiring that people take vacations.
Why a good company culture is a collective soul, and how TurningPoint Energy has kept nearly everyone on its team.
His answer to “is capitalism broken?”: purpose first, profit second, and people (including the communities you work in) third.
How his company handled COVID, from promising employees two years of cash to giving to food pantries in the communities where they work.
What to do when you see burnout or slipping performance: take work away, cut the bottom three of ten priorities, and focus on the top seven.
Why “stair-step” growth, with growth spurts followed by time to level out, helps a company keep its culture, and what can happen to culture when companies are told to hypergrow.
Why AI is a great tool but can never have a soul, how it can take on mundane tasks, and one company’s rule of two meeting-free days a week.
Physician burnout, concierge medicine, and how solar and battery storage can power hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
Why policy is the driving force behind the solar coaster, and what Jared expects from solar and storage over the next several years.
How to get into the solar industry: RE+, the largest renewable energy conference in North America, your state’s solar industry association chapter, and the engineering, finance, and development jobs that are open to many backgrounds. Nearly 300,000 Americans now work in solar, and Jared says that’s more than coal.
Capitalism is supposed to work for the people. People are not supposed to work for capitalism.
About Solar Coaster
Solar Coaster is an insider’s account of the U.S. solar industry and the constant cycles of risk, policy shifts, and reinvention that Jared calls the “Solar Coaster.” Tracing his path from the high-tech boom of the 1990s through the rise of companies like SunEdison and the creation of TurningPoint Energy, it pairs practical business lessons with a call to lead with purpose, what Jared describes as a “soul-based” approach.
Publisher: Regalo Press | Published: November 10, 2026 | Format: Hardcover, 272 pages | ISBN: 979-8895657256
About Jared Schoch
Jared Schoch is the founder and chairman of TurningPoint Energy, a national solar development company building community and utility-scale solar power plants across the United States. He served as its president from 2014 to 2023. Before founding TurningPoint, he was vice president and general manager of the U.S. power plants business at SOLON Corporation, spent nearly five years building SunEdison’s U.S. utility-scale solar development platform, and held energy efficiency business development roles at Johnson Controls. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University New Orleans and an MBA from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.
📚 Learn more about the book: SolarCoasterProject.com
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