The Rest of the Story
William Eastman
Respect for entrepreneurship was part of my early life. My father alternated between being paid and paying himself as we lived a gypsy life. After studying engineering, I joined the United States Coast Guard as a Marine Scientist and Meteorologist. It was this early life experience that taught me the value of hard work and the need for precision. We were the only agency of the government conducting non-military oceanographic research to find people in distress and protecting the environment. It also taught me the power of a compelling mission making a difference in people’s lives.
Over the rest of my career I worked through the ranks to achieve the rank of Chief and finally a Mustang Officer. I was honored to join a select group representing only 3% of the entire Officer Corps. My final Coast Guard assignment was Chief of the Leadership and Management School with another compelling mission - training the Coast Guard's future. During this period I attended Graduate School and had the great fortune to learn the business from the giants of the industry: Paul Hersey, Ken Blanchard, David McClelland, and Tom Peters to name just a few of my mentors.
However, this was not enough, there was something missing. I left the service after 12+ years and began the journey of entrepreneurship. Over the last 3 decades I started 5 businesses with the common mixture of success and failure – 2 successful, 2 unsuccessful, and 1 work in progress (this one). I used my experience and education to build a consulting practice working with the Fortune 500 companies. Our client list was the who's who of industry leaders in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, software, hospitality, and online services. We created HR infrastructure, implemented lean manufacturing, built performance systems, and helped develop service cultures. Also during this period I worked with United Nations Development Programmes helping small businesses in West Africa. The experience changed me and led to my next major life transition - finding a solution to the problem of bringing expensive consulting to small businesses.
This experience formed the basic question of my last two decades – why do some businesses succeed while others fail and that answer is the basis of the IBGR Network and our global footprint.
My story is your story.
Respect for entrepreneurship was part of my early life. My father alternated between being paid and paying himself as we lived a gypsy life. After studying engineering, I joined the United States Coast Guard as a Marine Scientist and Meteorologist. It was this early life experience that taught me the value of hard work and the need for precision. We were the only agency of the government conducting non-military oceanographic research to find people in distress and protecting the environment. It also taught me the power of a compelling mission making a difference in people’s lives.
Over the rest of my career I worked through the ranks to achieve the rank of Chief and finally a Mustang Officer. I was honored to join a select group representing only 3% of the entire Officer Corps. My final Coast Guard assignment was Chief of the Leadership and Management School with another compelling mission - training the Coast Guard's future. During this period I attended Graduate School and had the great fortune to learn the business from the giants of the industry: Paul Hersey, Ken Blanchard, David McClelland, and Tom Peters to name just a few of my mentors.
However, this was not enough, there was something missing. I left the service after 12+ years and began the journey of entrepreneurship. Over the last 3 decades I started 5 businesses with the common mixture of success and failure – 2 successful, 2 unsuccessful, and 1 work in progress (this one). I used my experience and education to build a consulting practice working with the Fortune 500 companies. Our client list was the who's who of industry leaders in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, software, hospitality, and online services. We created HR infrastructure, implemented lean manufacturing, built performance systems, and helped develop service cultures. Also during this period I worked with United Nations Development Programmes helping small businesses in West Africa. The experience changed me and led to my next major life transition - finding a solution to the problem of bringing expensive consulting to small businesses.
This experience formed the basic question of my last two decades – why do some businesses succeed while others fail and that answer is the basis of the IBGR Network and our global footprint.
My story is your story.