Dr Jim White Of PHT Investment Group: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Value diversity. It’s not enough that HR adheres to a diverse hiring policy. The company as an entity must then work to create a culture of inclusion and mutual respect. Sexual harassment, racism, and ageism have no place in the workplace… or anywhere else in society, for that matter.

As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jim White, PhD.

Dr. Jim White is founder and CEO of PHT Investment Group GP LLC, as well as Chairman and CEO of Post Harvest Technologies, Inc. and Growers Ice Company, Inc., and the bestselling author of five books. Throughout his career, he has bought, expanded, and sold 23 companies operating in 44 countries. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering, an MBA, and a doctorate in psychology and organizational behavior. He shares his insights and critical thinking skills in a webcast series, Healing America with Dr. Jim White, in which he explores the many issues and challenges faced by our nation — and how to fix them.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I grew up in a sharecropper cabin in a low-income, rural area of South Carolina, and spent my childhood as an abused and neglected child. At the ripe old age of five, I became head of the household when my parents walked out the door and never came back. I became something of an entrepreneur then: I started collecting and selling empty Coke bottles to feed my younger siblings. It was not a happy childhood.

From that early age, I developed a keen interest in business. How do you make deals? How do you structure them? How do you finance them? Those questions laid the groundwork for my later life.

Still, I dropped out of high school, and then volunteered for Vietnam. The lessons I learned in the military were invaluable.

Afterwards I enrolled at Georgia Tech University on the G.I. Bill, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering, went on to earn my Masters, and eventually my doctorate in Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

A “funny” thing that happened in Vietnam was not so much a mistake but a realization:

It was all about the haircuts.

I arrived in Vietnam with all the other young recruits. I was a poor Southern high school dropout thrown into a platoon with wealthy, educated, and smart young men. You can imagine it seemed like I was at a serious disadvantage. It was intimidating and I felt inferior.

But at some point it dawned on me that we all had the same haircut.

In other words, it didn’t matter where we came from — how much money our parents had, whether or not we came from big families, whether we were Ivy Leaguers, and so on. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was on an even playing field. The only tools any of us could use to succeed were ones found within: courage, wisdom, honesty, integrity. I discovered I had an innate talent for leadership. For the first time in my life, I was given an opportunity to shine.

Yes, I was dealt a bad hand as a kid. But out of every tragedy one can find an opportunity… that is if you are willing to open your mind to such opportunities. I also believe I was born with the right stuff to overcome any situation. Failure has never been an option for me. I have been knocked down many times. But I get up and up and up every single time. I never quit.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Gene Jackson, owner of a small gas station in Lawrenceville, Ga took me under his wing when I was 14 and taught me how to work on cars. He provided security and a sense of belonging.

J.D. Humphreys gave me a job as a crane operator when I was 18 years old.

Bill Burch, owner of Burch-Lowe in Atlanta, Ga gave me a job after I returned from Vietnam and allowed me to work and go to school at the same time.

Orville Freeman taught me the ins and outs of Washington, DC., and opened my eyes to international business possibilities after I left Ingersoll Rand.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?

I could talk for hours about “purpose” in business! To me, business is more than revenue and earnings; it is about driving long term value for all our shareholders and stakeholders. In fact, I’ve written extensively about what I call the Five Ps, that is, the five major elements that together provide a framework for a company’s purpose:

1. Portfolio strategy and products: the products and services our organizations provide, and the “where to play” and “how to play” choices we make to best serve our customers.

2. People and culture: the talent — and the talent management — our firms deploy.

3. Processes and systems: the operational processes we adapt to meet purpose-related targets; the ways we ensure that behavior up and down our value chain is in line with our purpose.

4. Performance metrics: the target metrics and incentives we use to measure what we wish to achieve, how our firms are progressing, and the way we create and distribute incentives to make our organizations’ purpose tangible.

5. Positions and engagement: how we align our external positions and affiliations to be consistent with, and consistently deliver on, the purpose our company has defined.

Each of the dozens of companies I’ve founded, bought or sold have had a unique purpose and vision. For now, let me answer your question with regard to one of my current companies, PHT Investment Group:

Our vision: We will be the leading Private Equity and Opportunity Zone Investment Firm, providing disruptive solutions and delivering competitive returns for our investors and stakeholders.

Our mission: We will deliver predictable, sustainable, long-term value for our investors and stakeholders.

And, let me add our values: We will achieve our vision and mission with passion for excellence, honesty, ethical behavior, and uncompromising integrity.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?

Let’s go back to the example of Vietnam for a moment, as so much of my leadership philosophy hearkens back to my military experience.

During my first tour, I volunteered for the most difficult and dangerous assignments because really, I had nothing to lose. I quickly excelled and earned leadership positions because I excelled at those assignments.

I commanded some of the toughest units and learned leadership skills beyond anything I’d ever expected. I learned to lead based on the values of our Founding Fathers, such as Truth, Vision, Respect, Courage, and Tolerance. I learned how to instill determination in my troops to overcome hardships. We worked together as a team, ignoring our differences and working to achieve a common goal.

Nothing in our collective experience is as uncertain or difficult as war. The lessons we learn in wartime can and should help guide us through other times of turbulence.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

When I became a platoon leader, I had to figure out how to make all those boys trust me, so I led them according to principles that were important to me, like honesty. I was straight with them — I said, “I know you don’t want to be here. You can’t control politics, or what Nixon and Johnson are doing. But you can control what you do while you are here. You have a choice: to leave here vertically or in a body bag.”

If I gave up, who would have led those boys through the most treacherous circumstances possible? I didn’t consider giving up then because I felt I owed it to my troops to lead them through. That overwhelming sense of responsibility is what motivated me. Eventually I realized not only that I could lead, but that I should.

Now, I feel a similar responsibility to my team of employees. They look to me for leadership during challenging times — like the pandemic — and I owe it to them to lead to the best of my ability.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

The role of a leader is not just getting people to follow… as we know, there are lots of examples of historical figures like Charles Manson or Jim Jones who led their followers to do terrible things. For me, leadership means setting an example to guide and inspire others so that together we can do the right thing: create a better and more successful enterprise for all.

Leadership is not about gathering personal power, but about looking out for the welfare of all — whether it be a sports team, a business entity, a community, or a country.

The principles are the same. Those principles led to my creation of Circle of Success™, a yearlong management and leadership development process. Over my career I’ve coached nearly 100,000 participants worldwide, including Fortune 500 CEOs, management teams, governments, and trade associations, in what I know best: transformative management and leadership processes.

When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?

There are many strategies I use to motivate and engage my teams. Here are a few:

1. Singling out and praising individuals in front of the rest of the team.
2. Clearly and repeatedly communicating the vision and mission of the company so that everyone knows what they are working toward.
3. A process called multi-voting. Starting with a SWOT analysis (a breakdown indicating the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) of a company, employees are given a forum to vote on what they think are the most important factors in each quadrant. This helps the company drill down on what the most critical points are, and makes participants feel valued and engaged.
4. Town halls. They shouldn’t be empty exercises. They should be a chance for employees to interact with the CEO and have their concerns heard to improve the work environment.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

Honestly. Communicating difficult news — whether it is in a business or personal setting, to colleagues, friends, or family — is best done straightforwardly but with a great deal of empathy and awareness of how the news will affect the individuals involved.

If possible, cushion the blow with a plan of action. For instance, a hospital administrator delivering sobering news about the spread of coronavirus can present a treatment plan. A CEO informing employees of a company closure due to the pandemic can follow with a strategy for future reopening.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

When is the future predictable? Of course, the pandemic has shaken us to our core, but the truth is that we never know what the future will bring… just like the economic collapse of 2008.

I think every good leader plans for a shakeup… just like, for instance, the leader of a law enforcement team plans for every possible contingency during a sting.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

According to the Harvard Business Review, there are actually four principles of enduring business success:

1. Exploit over explore — exploit existing assets and capabilities before exploring new opportunities.
2. Diversify the business portfolio — know when to diversify, and maintain a broad base of.

suppliers and customers.

1. Learn from mistakes — everyone makes mistakes, but don’t repeat past failures!
2. Approach changes conservatively — don’t make sudden, radical changes, and be methodical in planning and implementation.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

Many companies filed Chapter 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Between mandated closures and stay-at-home directives, plus a scourge of unemployment and painful plummets of the stock market, it’s no wonder that so many companies were — and still are — floundering.

Of course, we can’t blame the virus for the entirety of the failures. Many companies were poorly run long before March 2020. I would venture to name American Airlines as a well-known example.

But countless other, smaller businesses made many predictable mistakes. Some have been hanging on so close to the edge — operating without sufficient cash reserves, running the whole business on a credit card — that it almost would be tempting to say “You did it to yourself… it was inevitable.”

These are the companies that should have been operating on a cash flow plan, an outline to reduce costs or increase revenues. For owners and CEOs, it’s not too late to implement a cash plan and make modifications as needed: eliminate unnecessary expenses and implement purchase controls. Sell off assets as needed, especially older inventory, and halt the production of services and products that are not clear moneymakers. Make sure customers can pay, or require pre-payment before delivery of goods or services.

Most importantly, innovate.

Glaring mismanagement aside, in reality Covid is separating those businesses that seized the opportunity to innovate from those that didn’t.

Ask yourself, what opportunities are there in this environment, for additional revenues? Post-Covid, innovation in successful companies may take many forms. Many employees may continue to work remotely. Brick-and-mortar retail stores may stay entirely with online sales. Colleges and universities may continue to stagger classroom attendance. Online learning may skyrocket well into the future.

Importantly, I think many American brands will think twice about offshore manufacturing. The short supply of N95 masks at the beginning of the pandemic was just one lesson we’ve learned the hard way. Reshoring goods, from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to electronics and chemicals, will mean that companies will be forced to innovate in their approach to production. After all, lower electricity, coal, and water costs — along with cheap labor and loose environmental regulations — is why American manufacturing was sent overseas in the first place.

Companies must be open to change. Life is change! Being nimble, adapting to new situations, and keeping an open mindset are crucial. There are lots of business models that went under because they couldn’t adapt to a changing environment — take the Yellow Pages, for example. After five decades they stopped printing in 2019… but the good news is they were able to pivot and become an online entity.

The same is true for scores of newspapers; many have stopped delivering print versions and have reinvented themselves through websites.

And, I’m sad to say that Amazon has put many brick-and-mortar bookstores out of business completely. They just couldn’t compete with the behemoth book seller.

Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?

As I said earlier, I am a firm believer in finding opportunity out of tragedy. I’ll give you an example.

The pandemic has been a shakeup, especially in my industry: agriculture.

The effect of COVID-19 on California’s agricultural industry has been severe and unprecedented. By mid-2020, farmers in California had lost some $2 billion and work on track to lose as much as $8.6 billion. In Monterey County alone, employment dropped forty percent, from an estimated 54,000 workers in April 2019 to 32,400 a year later.

The response to the pandemic, with social distancing requirements, a travel ban, and shelter-in-place orders, hacked away at many of the markets for California’s farmers. The closure of non-essential businesses such as restaurants, retail, sports and entertainment, directly impacted the food service sector and institutional demand plummeted from hotels, hospitals, universities, daycares, schools, and offices. Fresh vegetables either went unharvested in the fields or quickly spoiled after picking.

So, there is opportunity here. That’s why my companies are spearheading an innovative new $250 million facility in California’s Salinas Valley that will be a savior for local farmers. We are redeveloping a 28-acre commercial campus in an infrastructure project to extend the shelf life of produce so that it stays fresh longer and doesn’t go to waste in uncertain times.

Our pre-cooling and cold storage facility will be the most technologically advanced in the nation and will be operational for the 2026 season. It will change the way growers and shippers manage their product, and will benefit retailers and consumers from coast to coast.

My strategy is to identify a need, and then identify a way to fill the need.

Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.

What a turbulent couple of years it has been! As our economy struggles to right itself after the financial blows dealt by the pandemic, I believe it is more important than ever that we business leaders conduct ourselves ethically. I think the five most important things leaders should do to lead effectively in turbulent times are the same five things they should do ALL the time:

1. Set, communicate, model, and expect all employees to respect the rules set out by the company. Everyone in the company, from top down, must internalize the company values. People will become more driven and more excited about their jobs, and their performance will improve.
2. CEOs must show integrity. It’s not that different from the lessons taught in kindergarten. Don’t lie; don’t steal; don’t cheat. Conduct yourself with the utmost transparency, relying on values such as trustworthiness, courage, honesty, and wisdom.
3. Create a company culture of cooperation and teamwork. A certain degree of competition between employees is healthy; but backstabbing and sedition clearly are unacceptable. A company culture of active listening, sharing of ideas, and plentiful praise benefits everyone… and the bottom line.
4. Value diversity. It’s not enough that HR adheres to a diverse hiring policy. The company as an entity must then work to create a culture of inclusion and mutual respect. Sexual harassment, racism, and ageism have no place in the workplace… or anywhere else in society, for that matter.
5. Prioritize health and safety protocols. The scourge of the virus is not over. It is unacceptable to be cavalier about COVID-19 risks when a great many workers and their families remain vulnerable.

Creating a workplace environment where employees are both loyal and excited to do their jobs can help carry a company through the bleakest of times. It requires the company leadership to be engaged, attentive, upfront, and to maintain an open channel of communication where employees can safely provide feedback to management.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Always stand on principle… even if you stand alone.” Although John Adams said this long ago, it is relevant to the way I strive to conduct myself both as a corporate leader and in my personal relationships.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Visit me at: my website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!