Dr. Rick (Eric) Johnson PhD

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Dr. Rick (Eric) Johnson Quick Facts

Main Areas: Strategic Leadership, Strategic Planning, Sales Effectiveness, Employee Development
Best Sellers: Profit is NOT a Dirty Word, Leading the Pack, Turning Lone Wolves into Lead Wolves
Career Focus: Executive Management Consultant - Executive Coach

Dr. Eric (Rick) Johnson Biography

Rick Johnson has over 35 years of experience in distribution sales and operations. Rick’s career can be broken down by decades. The first ten years of his distribution career were spent with the largest steel-processing distributor in the world (Joseph T. Ryerson). Rick started in Inside Sales, grew into the Merchandise Manager’s position, spent five years as an Outside Salesman, two years as Sales Manager, and the final year at Ryerson, Rick was General Manager at their Dayton, Ohio facility.

The second ten years began with Rick starting his own processing distribution center from scratch. In the first year, sales reached $1 million dollars and had grown to $25 million in its tenth year when Rick sold the business to one of the major national chains.

The third ten years of Rick’s career began almost by accident after a year of retirement when a former customer asked Rick to close an acquisition that was losing money. Rick agreed to spend six months working in the business and evaluating the possibility of a Turn-A Round (TAR) or closure. After six months, the plant began operating at break even and actually ended that year with a small profit. In the third year after Rick’s TAR efforts, the plant was very profitable and the decision was made to sell the operation. This began Rick’s career in dealing with financially troubled Turn-A-Round companies. During this decade of Rick’s career, he completed four TAR’s. The smallest company had annual revenues totaling $50 million and the largest TAR Rick competed had a revenue stream of $400 million. Rick’s position as a change agent in these companies included Chief Executive Officer (CEO), President, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vice President of Sales & Operations.

After completing ten years of TAR work, Rick decided a decade of acting like Darth Vader was enough. Rick joined a large consulting firm and became managing partner. Rick specialized in Executive Management, Sales Effectiveness, Strategic Planning, Turn-A-Round restructuring and Organizational Design. Rick started CEO Strategist LLC in July of 2005 a company that focuses on providing value through Executive Management, Employee Development, Sales Effectiveness with his proprietary "Tier Level Selling" program, Board of Directors representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training.

Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. He also served in the United States Air Force. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. on April 15th, 2005. Rick is frequently published in NAW SmartBrief, Material Handling Wholesaler, Supply House Times, American Fastener Journal, Hotelier, and many other industry publications, with over 150 different articles published to date. He’s also a published book author with seven titles to his credit including -- “The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance ” The “Roadmap”, Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf—The Evolution of Sales”, Leading the Pack – Model Driven Leadership, Profit is NOT a Dirty Word, 56 Ideas to Maximize Sales and a fiction novel about teenagers called “Shattered Innocence.”

Other Programs & Highlights

Lots of consultants claim to be experts at strategic planning. But not many have started their own company from scratch, not many know what it is like to meet payroll or have their entire livelihood at stake because they have personally guaranteed the financing of their corporation and few have been corporate presidents themselves. Not many have both real world experience and an education that blends that experience into providing a solution based approach. Very few have a planning process that leads to effective execution. Many believe a weekend retreat that “pumps” the employee up, flip charts that list fifty four different initiatives and some form of strategic planning report is all that is necessary to create a winning strategy.

They are wrong!

If you really expect to develop a strategic plan that works it is an absolute must that you get buy-in and reliable implementation from your team. When you (the CEO) facilitate the meeting or become an active participant, your planning team believes you have an unannounced pre-determined plan, and you're cleverly maneuvering them to create what you wanted all along. Additionally, no matter how strong your team is, your presence inhibits creativity and innovation. CEO Strategist’s methodology does not allow you to take an active part in the grunt work of plan development. You create the vision, your team creates the plan and you and your board approve it.

Reasons to hire CEO Strategist (Rick Johnson) to help your team develop a strategic plan.

Rick is a strategic planning pro – Rick understands strategy. He understands distribution. He has walked in shoes just like yours.
Rick has been a corporate president, an owner and entrepreneur. Not just a vice president, or a department head, or a planning guy. He's walked a mile in the shoes of a CEO and has seen the view from the top as only you have seen it – taking the problems and opportunities to bed with him every night. Just like you.
Rick has a track record of planning success. Using his Pyramid strategic model, he has successfully lead CEO’s to create End Game --- Visions for the Future that the strategy team uses to create a roadmap to accomplish the objectives outlined in that vision … crystal clear and time-bound goals…laser-focused action plans…tracking systems to monitor progress built on a platform of accountability.
Rick encourages you to call many references to get real feedback about the process and success they have enjoyed as a result of CEO Strategists strategic planning methodology.

Reasons Rick would politely decline the engagement.

You don’t believe in strategic planning. It’s okay if you don’t believe – that’s your choice. However, success is infinitely more likely with a CEO who does believe – but who may simply have had trouble finding a capable facilitator with an effective process that ensures implementation.
Your style of leadership simply won’t allow the empowerment of your employees and you feel threatened by not being intimately involved in the process. If you’re a dictator or autocrat…and don’t want participation from others…and you’re unwilling to change…it won’t work for you. If the only good idea is your idea…you tell your people what to do…really aren’t interested in what they think…don’t care if they “buy in”…and don’t believe they could possibly have a better idea than you…it won’t work for you. If you feel it must be your plan and no one else’s…and you’re unwilling to change…it won’t work for you. The process methodology CEO Strategist takes you through is simple:

· You create the End Game --- Vision for the Future with guidance and support from CEO Strategist· You present that End Game to the strategy team and ask them to challenge it.· The strategy team tears the end game apart, puts it back together and through CEO Strategist participation an End Game is agreed upon that everybody buys into and supports.· You excuse yourself from the planning process itself.· The strategy team then creates the long term plan for presentation and approval by you the CEO, Owners and Board of Directors as the case may be.

He’s unavailable. Rick’s schedule fills up fast. He is selective as to the clients he works with. He often gives location discounts and prior client discounts and priorities. Rick limits his strategy clients not to exceed ten clients per year.

Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Dr. Rick (Eric) Johnson

Most of us are not born leaders. We are not adept at communication. However, a good percentage of us long to become leaders and make deep connections in our careers that lead to commitment, a commitment to success. “The true test of a successful leader is that he leaves behind the conviction, the will and the understanding to carry on.” Willie Nelson once said: “Leadership is easy, just find a bunch of people going in the same direction and jump in front of them.” Well --- it’s just not that easy – in spite of what Willie says. Leadership is about understanding the importance of making emotional connections with your management team. An effective leader will encourage these people to open up, share dialog and reveal dreams. An effective leader is skilled at coaching, teaching and mentoring. It’s not as easy as Willie Nelson would have you believe. Leveraging your personal leadership model entails advancing your personal agenda by advancing the agenda of others. A good leader is not intimidated by the success of others. They encourage others to succeed and help them fulfill their wants and needs. Doing this not only sky rockets personal success but it sky rockets the success of your company.

Getting Started With Dr. Rick (Eric) Johnson

CEO Strategist’s three keys to creating and maintaining competitive advantage for your business:

Strategic Planning Expertise - CEO Strategist provides expert guidance during the entire strategic planning process that is based on real world experience. Learn more… http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html

Sales Effectiveness Management - Unfortunately, there is no “Purple Pill” that you can buy to drug your sales team. This is simply a structure for continuously improving sales force performance through focus, discipline and a process built on a platform of accountability utilizing best practice and CEO Strategist’s proprietary Tier Level Selling (T.L.S.) foundation. Learn more…. http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html

Diagnostics and “The Business Assessment” - Before you can solve problems, you must first accurately diagnose them. It’s often easy to recognize that a problem exists, but it’s much more difficult to put your finger exactly on its cause. Learn more…. http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html

CEO Strategist’s other supporting services:

Executive Advisory Services and Board Representation - Learn more… http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html
Education & Training
CEO Strategist LLC does not provide generic “canned” training. Our programs are always customized to fit our client’s specific needs and to address the most important industry issues. Learn more… http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html
Leadership Development --Executive Coaching - Learn more…. http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html

Speaking - Dr. Rick Johnson delivers custom presentations with real world down to earth discussion about current relevant topics in wholesale distribution. Learn more….. http://www.ceo-strategist.com/strategic-planning.html