I was your classic at-risk kid. I grew up in the government housing projects in Washington DC, later moving to the Maryland suburbs and going from “lower” lower class to “middle” lower class. One of the prized jobs for a teenager back then was to be a paperboy and with hard work and patience, my brother and I eventually hit it big time delivering for the Washington Post – the most expensive of the papers and the most lucrative for paperboys. In the fall of 1970, the Post sponsored interviews for private schools and invited their pool of paperboys to attend. It looked kind of cool, so my brother and I both signed up and interviewed with several schools. I was offered scholarships to both St. Mark's and Phillips Exeter. My mom was terrified of me getting lost in such a big school as Exeter, and in the fall of 1971, I was headed to Southborough for an introduction to a whole new world. You can probably imagine that for a kid coming from the hood being dropped into what was then the ultimate preppy world – it was a major culture shock. I remember going through one of my classmate’s record albums, and if it weren’t for the Beatles, I would not have recognized a single artist!
Academically, public school had never been much of a challenge, and I had never received less than a B+. But third form English under Mr. Gaillard was more challenging than anything I had ever faced before then, and even in College. I worked harder than I had ever worked in my life. When in the final quarter I got a C+ I was so proud… of a C+ of all things! As an aside, based on what Mr. Gaillard taught me, I aced freshman English at Dartmouth and have gone on to write seven books.
It was my recently passed classmate, Jack Peterson, who in 1973 introduced me to my love for the next 20 years: the computer! In the early 70s, St. Mark's was perhaps one of the few high schools in the nation that had its own mini-computer. Jack showed me how to use Basic to create a simple “Guess the Number” game. He showed me how you could program computers to do just about anything. For this Black kid from the projects of DC, he had opened a whole new world for me. I spent evenings and weekends learning all I could. At Dartmouth I would later win the prestigious John G. Kemeny Computing Prize and start my career as an IT consultant with five offers before graduating. Jack’s simple kindness, generosity of his time, and gentle encouragement says so much about who he was.
After graduating from Dartmouth, my career accelerated from a computer programmer, to a systems designer, to a systems analyst, to a systems planner, to a business planner using facilitation to help users get to decisions. Over 14 years with ADP and Ernst & Young, my fascination for systems had transformed to a fascination with people, process, and the art of facilitation. In 1992, I launched Leadership Strategies – The Facilitation Company. By the time I moved into “preferment” 30 years later, we had become the largest provider of professional facilitators and facilitation training in the country. We helped change companies and change lives by showing organizations how to achieve amazing results through using the power of facilitation to empower people and groups to high achievement.
What’s “preferment” you ask? Some people call it retirement, but that sounds like you are about to go to sleep. Not me. Preferment is where I get to do the things I prefer to do…and only that!
I continue to support St. Mark's through my philanthropy and have provided for the School in my estate plans because I will always be grateful to St. Mark's for opening a world of opportunity to this kid from the projects of DC. Through St. Mark's I learned to live the true meaning of Age Quod Agis.