An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Spend time, money and attention to the purpose, vision, values and strategic intent of your company. We ignored that in our transition to a “corporate culture” and financial goals (even though some of those goals were necessary for our continued success) and it resulted in the very painful experience of firing 240 employees and closing 15 offices.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Robert White.
Founder and CEO of three executive training companies with over 1.3 million graduates, Robert White today mentors entrepreneurs, owners and executives committed to extraordinary results. He’s also the author of the best-seller “Living an Extraordinary Life,” a keynote speaker and an expert partner in organizational transformation.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
My first entrepreneurial effort was a sales company selling skin care via a party plan. I was in my late twenties divorced with attendant guilt; was experiencing daily chest pain from a heart condition; and used my introvert personality trait as an excuse for struggling financially. The summary: my life and business were a mess. A friend in a similar business traveled to California to attend one of the early human potential movement seminars, Mind Dynamics (MDI). He returned raving about the experience and urging me to attend — which I “made wrong” and refused repeatedly for six months. Then I couldn’t help but notice positive changes: his business grew exponentially, his failing marriage was turned around and his long struggle with adult-onset acne “cleared up.”
So with arms-crossed and my cynical, negative attitude I showed up as an MDI student and expressed those habitual behaviors for the first three days of a four day program. A miracle happened on day four and, though it seems like a cliché all these years later, I “woke up” and my life changed for the better. In the following year my business doubled in size and profit; relationships improved and chest pain stopped. The next year my business results multiplied by ten, I sold it and became a contract sales manager in New York City. A key to my success was doing weekend sales and motivation seminars where I brought in a Mind Dynamics Instructor to speak which I followed with an enrollment pitch. I learned that attendees, just like me, became better salespersons and managers. Even though I was not paid a commission by MDI, enrolling over 400 MDI students from those sessions was one of the best sales efforts ever because those graduates increased their sales results which is how I got paid.
I didn’t even know the name of the founder and Chairman of MDI so was surprised when he phoned and offered a trip to California to meet. I was curious and accepted. Ten days later I took a 70% pay cut to become President of Mind Dynamics responsible for the business side of that business. The founder, Alexander Everett, remained responsible for the course content and Instructor Training. I’m forever grateful to Alexander for the opportunity to learn the business of training, setting up five foreign operations and eventually attending his Instructor Training. Then disaster struck: Alexander’s business partner died in a plane crash and Alexander sold his shares to the estate of his late partner. I ended up working for a Probate Judge — absolutely no fun — so I resigned and launched Lifespring Inc.
This entrepreneurial effort included about a thousand mistakes (which allowed me to learn lessons I teach today). I became very unhappy so I sold my shares to my team and resigned as CEO. Moved to Tokyo on an agreement to spend 90 days setting up a company there and in return, being paid for one year. That stretched to 11 years resident in Japan. It included launching ARC International which, within our 22 year history, developed 15 training centers in 7 countries with 240 staff and 70 full-time Trainers. We became the second largest personal growth training company in the world.
Then I quit. Semi-retired at 46 to a 14,500 sf home on 76 acres in Aspen, Colorado. Remarried, had two birth children and adopted two special needs children, traveled for six months with the late John Denver, skied 65–80 days per year and joined six non-profit boards. Life was very, very good. Then my semi-retired absence led to losing the company and, even more painfully, my wife left me for an attorney. Life became very, very bad for a while. That led to company Number Three: Extraordinary People LLC.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I am blessed to work with very talented executives who tend to fall into one of two realities. They are either in some kind of trouble: declining profits, losing key people, dysfunctional organizations, lack of innovation — in a word, trouble. Or, they are generally doing well and clearly see future opportunities; yet sense that the way that they or their team perform is inadequate to successfully seizing those opportunities.
In both situations the commonality is that otherwise very capable people are held back by their conscious and mostly unconscious beliefs, attitudes, habits, patterns and behaviors. This is often voiced as “the ways we do things around here” and becomes a cultural block to progress. My job is to disrupt any aspect of a personal or organizational culture that is getting in the way of excellence — to be a truth teller — and help them install positive, result-oriented attitudes, habits and behaviors along with producing personal joy and satisfaction.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When pioneering the introduction of experiential learning in Japan we used public guest events to enroll students. Personally (as a graduate myself), my staff and our recent grads brought guests to a 7 PM event. On one of those evenings we did all the preparatory work: phone calls to urge attendance; design the content; rehearse the speaker; set up the chairs and welcome refreshments; and train the support team of five. At 6 PM we gathered to share our vision for the evening and check everyone’s appearance and positive attitude. We expected about 25 guests and we were READY!
At 6:45 I notice there were no early arrivals. Unusual but OK. Perhaps there was a problem with the subway system? At 6:55 still an empty room so the staff scattered to make some reminder phone calls. At 7:15 …. Time for that “you could have rolled a bowling ball through the middle of the room” saying and yes, someone did say it.
At 7:30 we collectively surrendered to reality. No one was coming. We felt like terrible failures and fearful about what the episode meant to our fledging business. After a long moment of silence a staff member quietly said “there must be a lesson here and our job is to learn it.” Another long silence and then raucous laughter that broke the tension. We were teaching that approach to life’s problems and needed that reminder to process our own failure in a positive way.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
My self-awareness and several psychological tests combine to know I’m an introvert with a “lone wolf” personality. My pattern is to think I must figure out everything on my own — a pattern shared by many of my current clients so I can easily identify and connect with them.
An early mentor was the late Dr. John Jones, a Professor at the University of Iowa and co-founder of Pfeiffer-Jones Publishing, the pioneers in promoting experiential learning. I was just another audience member when Dr. Jones presented to over 400 HR executives at a national conference. The Q. & A. session was brutal. Experiential learning was a new methodology threatening the orthodoxy of many attendees and they challenged everything except his brand of underwear. I was impressed by how he handled the aggressive negativity and arranged a private meeting later that day which led to years of his mentorship and consulting services.
The lesson then and now is, everyone needs to be fully, respectfully and generously heard … especially when they disagree and especially when it “pushes your buttons.” I’ll never forget Dr. John’s hearty laugh as he referred to that Q & A session as “the Olympics of Spear Catching.”
Dr. Jones, Alexander Everett, Werner Erhard, Dr. John Enright and Dr. Robert “Bob” Wright have all made incredible mentoring contributions to my business and personal growth for which I am so very grateful.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
After twelve years of intense entrepreneurial effort in Asia which included long hours and limited vacations, I semi-retired, remarried and moved to Aspen, Colorado.
My companies continued to grow including our USA corporate culture change training organization headquartered in Denver. We lost our USA President to retirement and I hired a replacement to run that company and all of our Asian operations. “Larry” was a graduate, a retired division head with our client AT&T and a high integrity, really good man. After 90 days on the job, he arranged a worldwide meeting and, of course, invited the owner (Me!) to attend so I left my hide-out in the mountains and went down the hill to Denver.
We were approaching our twentieth anniversary, were internationally recognized for the quality of our trainings and were experiencing solid growth and profits. We did all of that without ever having financial goals beyond an adequate cash flow to fund operations, growth and my semi-retirement in Aspen. (the big house, the jet, the travel, etc. Life was very good for Robert!)
Larry facilitated the meeting to declare our first ever financial goal — to grow revenue 150% within three years. I participated in the discussions, got excited and “bought in” to the commitment along with my entire top team. To accomplish that goal we would transition from a full-time trainer body to independent contractors; go virtual instead of expanding our 15 offices; and install a rigorous financial management system — dashboards and all that. Said another way …. we would abandon training industry best-practices and become “more corporate.”
And said directly, that decision began the process of killing our culture and then our company. Our culture was one of pride in putting quality and service to our individual and corporate clients first. We became very profitable by focusing on the transformational effect of our trainings and mostly ignoring money. We were “cause motivated” and our team was motivated by the positive difference we were making for people and for client organization’s growth and aliveness.
Almost immediately, our disruptive act resulted in key people resigning or, worse, staying but with little commitment. A painful lesson was learned that disruption needs to be better planned; more forethought given to unintended side-effects; and hyper attention to culture must be practiced daily.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
My leadership journey includes significant success and embarrassing failure. The lessons from all of that include:
- Spend time, money and attention to the purpose, vision, values and strategic intent of your company. We ignored that in our transition to a “corporate culture” and financial goals (even though some of those goals were necessary for our continued success) and it resulted in the very painful experience of firing 240 employees and closing 15 offices.
- Focus, alignment and commitment are key aspects for organizational success. They can and must be measured, monitored and trained/coached for maximize effectiveness. When I look back at how we created extraordinarily fast-growth and very profitable, it was when we hired, trained and coached against those standards: focus, alignment and commitment. Today it is the heart of the work I do with executives and teams.
- My personal executive coach encouraged me to “fire a few friends.” He observed that I had developed a huge network and many members were not aligned to my purpose, vision and values. Said in a different way, they were takers, not givers. They used me and our company for income, credibility and expertise while giving little or nothing back. Perhaps in a desire to be liked, I put up with that. My personal life and company results markedly improved when I, as politely as possible, ended those relationships.
- I coach executives of the inherent value in “completing your past” and dealing openly with hurt and betrayal. A business friend and mentor reminded me to “walk my talk.” I had compartmentalized some negative events because I was ambitious and knew that if those events captured my thoughts I would be less effective. What I needed to realize is that subconsciously that pain was still within me and was affecting my hiring, management, leadership and how I “showed up” with staff and clients.
- Integrating fun and celebrations of success or even failure are crucial components of success. I learned this by participating in The Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan’s amazing group coaching program. My family jokes that “Robert was born in a three-piece suit.” I lean toward being a very serious guy and learned the power of having more fun — both personally and in my company.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Simple answer here: By demanding excellence from myself, my team and everyone I’m privileged to serve. Making excuses for myself or others diminishes my God-given gifts and results in mediocrity. My personal gift from God is that I am an interruption. If the people around me want to stay the same, they have chosen the wrong mentor.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
There are so many examples and each came to me when I was finally awake to the need and willingness for personal change. Notable are two books: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand when I was confused about the prices and rewards of putting personal freedom and responsibility into practice; and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, the book second only to the Holy Bible for profound personal growth. Attending a talk by the late General Colin Powell had a big impact on my leadership practices. Hiring a series of personal executive coaches, each with specific skill sets, helped me see different points of view and get out of my own way. Listening carefully to feedback from experienced and wise friends Lou Faust, Chris Pelley, Kenny Fischer, Chad Burmeister and Tami Young has been invaluable. Finally, I’m reminded daily of the music, words and ways of being modeled by dear friends no longer with us like John Denver, Dale Collins, Martin Leaf and Wilson Cross. Anyone reading this has a similar list and opportunity — it does take an openness and courage to actively seek counsel and act on it.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I usually quote Viktor Frankl when asked this. To mix things up I’ll change my answer to;
“Teach only love for that is what you are.” From The Course in Miracles
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We are enduring times of great change, even chaos. To me that means a need to have a safe and inspiring fall-back to timeless principles embodied in great literature, religion and philosophies. Change is best handled by having a solid foundation. If I could wave my magic wand, we would collectively honor and embrace timeless wisdom while embracing change. You can check out one approach to this at www.LivingABetterStory.org
How can our readers follow you online?
If you go to www.ExtraordinaryPeople.com you can register for my free weekly e zine “An Extraordinary Minute” so we can stay in touch. Additionally there’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/extraordinary-robert-white
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Robert White On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
