Interviewee Name: David Gray
Company Name: DSG Associates
Website: http://www.dsgassociates.ca/
Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
David Gray: I am unusually direct in speech, as I consider trust to be a condition most quickly built upon a foundation of honest communication. At the same time, I take pains to be empathetic and non-threatening in my overall approach.
Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?
David Gray: There is no such thing anymore. Every day is different. The commonality from one day to the next is that I get up around 6 am to take my West Highland white terrier, Eddie, for a morning walk. Some days I am then in client meetings until as late as 9 pm, other days I spend the entire day reading books and articles on leadership, career coaching and related topics, doing research on the internet, or reflecting on various client situations and challenges.
Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
David Gray: I truly enjoy my work as a Leadership Coach, a Career Consultant, and as a Sales Leadership Educator. (I detest the word “Trainer” unless it is applied to the training of dogs, and even then I have reservations concerning its use). As a result, the motivation flows directly from the work itself. If you enjoy what you do, then you will naturally find yourself “in flow” without any great difficulty. Of course, many if not most people either do not engage in work that they enjoy and thus do not get into a ‘flow’ state of mind; or, they have only a general idea as to how to make daily work actually ‘work’ for them on an individual emotional basis, and so they do not experience and appreciate the positive aspects of their work as fully as they potentially could do. But I digress…
Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
David Gray: I would work a lot more diligently in High School and in my Undergrad years at University. Then I would go to Law School. After that, I would try to retain a modicum of humility – although that would probably be difficult, because even as it was, with all my youthful ignorance and indolence and all those missed opportunities, it still took about ten years of hard slogging in the Sales profession to put a significant dent in my hard-headed arrogance!
Avil Beckford: What's the most important business or other discovery you've made in the past year?
David Gray: The most important discovery I have made is that each of us comes fully equipped for the life we are destined to lead. The challenge is in figuring out what equipment we have, and then in figuring out how to use that equipment. In my case, my sheer determination and doggedness enabled me to overcome a lot of obstacles. My natural optimism was also an important asset, especially in rough times.
Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?
David Gray: The biggest threat to my business is complacency. I have reached a point in my consulting career wherein most of my business comes to me via referral. Although very nice, this state of affairs does tend to breed complacency. Rather than wait for the possibility of a downturn in this situation, I need to get out and do more business development.
Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?
David Gray: As with any successful consultant, the most unique aspect of my service is the specific bundle of talents and experience that I personally bring to the table. Rather than attempt to duplicate this unique set, in associating with other independent consultants under the DSG Associates umbrella, I try to identify other individuals who also bring a unique blend of talents and experience to the table, thereby enriching our shared clients in a manner that a more traditional consultancy approach simply would not be able to accomplish.
Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?
David Gray: The major challenges I have faced in life can be boiled down to two components: First, doing things the hard way. Second, not listening to my own intuition. Both of these difficulties were more predominant in my younger years. As I have ‘matured’ (hopefully!) the challenges I have faced have tended to be more of an external nature rather than intrinsic to my own being.
Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.
David Gray: I have had a number of good breaks. No one break made my career come together so to speak. The people who gave me those breaks all had two things in common: they were in a hiring position to say ‘Yes’, and they believed in me.
Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?
David Gray: One of my biggest failures would have to be having not believed sufficiently in my own capabilities when I was a young man. As a result, I tended to either miss opportunities completely or else under-perform as compared to my real potential. I gradually learned that self-belief is one of the foundations of success. This realization has in turn enabled me to help others realize this fundamental learning.
Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?
David Gray: One of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make was to set out on my own as an entrepreneur after spending over twenty years working within more structured working environments. Initially, this decision entailed a steep learning curve and a lot of serious concern as to whether I could hack the new course, and if not…then what would my options be? As it turned out, working on a totally independent basis where I am completely responsible for all my successes – and failures – suits me to a ‘T.’ I am responsible to my clients and to myself. There is no one looking over my shoulder second-guessing my decisions or trying to micro-manage my daily moves.
Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?
David Gray:
- The first was actually a non-event. Despite competing to the best of my ability in individual and team sports of various kinds, I never won a First place in any of them either on my own or as part of a team. That experience taught me that the process is at least as important as the outcome.
- The second was leaving home as a young man on an abrupt and unexpected basis. Although already quite self-sufficient for the most part, circumstances dictated that I had to get myself fully organized on a completely independent basis financially whilst also commencing my first year at university. I am immensely proud of the fact that I continued my education on an uninterrupted basis whilst both supporting myself and paying for university by working two jobs at the same time.
- The third would have to be my marriage to Anne, my life-partner and the inspiration and foundation for all of my subsequent success, whether in business or in life on a wider level.
Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?
David Gray: Learning, while in my mid-thirties, how to paddle a white water canoe on an expert basis, having never previously been exposed to serious canoeing of any sort.
Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?
David Gray: Indirectly for the most part. There was one gentleman who mentored me on an ongoing basis in my early thirties as a professional coach when I was working as a corporate executive. This learning provided the foundation for my own coaching approach and style. However, unfortunately although much of the advice this individual provided was very insightful, on a couple of occasions he got the whole picture wrong. I trusted him and so the result was some very difficult learning experiences for me completely at my own expense. These experiences taught me to be very careful to ensure that my own clients never feel compelled to act on my advice, but rather, to sift through the input from all external sources on an independent basis and then arrive at their own informed decision.
Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?
David Gray: Think before you act. Or as Abe Lincoln noted, “If I had ten hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first six hours sharpening the axe.”
Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?
David Gray: If your natural instinct is to rely more on lateral, gut-feel observations of people’s statements and actions than on facts, then trust your own intuition in arriving at the deeper truths. If on the other hand you are an individual who tends to rely more on a detailed and linear observation of facts as they unfold on the ground, then trust your sensory capacity to sort through to the practical truth.
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