Originally Published February 7, 2018
Passionate, visionary, driven in the pursuit of excellence are characterizations which provide insight into Kevin R. Herrig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-r-herrig-ab8292a/). As founder, President and CEO of GSI, Inc. (aka GSI), Kevin continually seeks ways to pass these traits and benefits to the people in his life, his family, friends, colleagues, partners, employees and clients. Kevin’s vision of GSI’s future is for strong, continued growth, while providing his employees an exciting and gratifying worklife and homelife.
Kevin views success in leadership as coaching, teaching, and encouraging those around him to grow and prosper with a a drive for excellence. His belief is everyone can achieve greatness, if they are willing to work with excellence as the goal. He shared, the key to helping someone along is to show them you believe in them. It is important to allow others to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from the lessons experienced.
Much of Kevin’s passion for success comes from growing up where athletics played an important role in his life. The desire to be the ‘go-to’ team member when the game is on the line, and seeing others around him wanting the same thing, has a huge influence on him even today. He strives to pass that drive on to those around him and wants others to experience the thrill of being the person who drives the team to victory.
Working for JD Edwards, early in his career ignited a spark which led Kevin to believe he could be successful. His manager at the time gave him an opportunity to run his own team in the way Kevin felt would be best. It was this encouragement and on-the-job learning which helped Kevin gain insight and experience in leading others and driving success. Even today, that manager is still a close friend and a notable influence for Kevin.
Kevin believes people are the most important part of business. Being successful in business is more about showing you truly care about the success of others. There really is no other way to forge fruitful, long-lasting partnerships and connections. Kevin is fond of using the term “GSI Family” when speaking about the folks with whom he works. His attitude towards the GSI Family goes beyond just those who work with him. He cares about the families of those who rely on GSI to provide a paycheck, and loves to see them thrive as well. He encourages them to thrive in their personal lives so they can reach their goals like sending their kids to college, having an impact on their community, or wherever their dreams take them. Kevin sees his passion for the GSI Family as his biggest asset and feels honored to have played a small part in their growth both professionally and personally.
Kevin has an inspiring viewpoint on hardships. He talks about how there is always going to be difficult times in both business and in life. Kevin says it is the strength of your relationships that get you through the tough times. This is why Kevin believes it is extremely important to put quality time into all of your relationships. He says as soon as you start taking a relationship for granted, it will start coming apart. Without a deep seeded care for others, this kind of attitude does not exist. It is clear Kevin is most interested in focusing on people and helping them to thrive, not just survive.
At least two well-known global leaders have influenced Kevin. Kevin shared, Robert Kiyosaki and his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” ignited the spark which led to him starting GSI. Kevin also stated the life and teachings of Richard Branson have a big influence in his life.
Like most of us, Kevin’s dad had a huge influence in his life. Kevin’s dad saw Kevin’s qualities of being less risk adverse and more adventurous in business would serve him well on his journey to success. His dad encouraged him to not let the fear of the unknown hold him back from his dreams for GSI. He helped Kevin to understand, the worst thing that could happen is he might lose money, but money can be earned back; it is the knowledge from making mistakes and learning from them is the most valuable thing you can possess.
Kevin also listed off many other people in his life who are actively influencing him today. Shawn Scanlon (https://www.linkedin.com/in/esperp/) is a person who is always upbeat and passionate has taught Kevin, being happy is contagious. John Bassett (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-bassett-a23328111/) drives process excellence and sees things with a realistic mind-set. David Telford (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwtelford/) is the person who saw the potential synergy among the three principles of GSI and David is the one who brought them all together. Cathy Gallagher (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathy-gallagher-9079797/) understands the political nature of situations and partnerships and has helped Kevin understand more about connecting and relating in difficult situations. Bill Cashman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-cashman-ba459b1/) is more than just a CFO, but seeks to analyze the “why” behind the numbers. Both Bill Cashman and Cathy Gallagher are always willing to take on anything Kevin hands to them. Kevin attributes his success to these and many more who have influenced him throughout his career.
Kevin revealed, in recent years he decided to take what he calls a 360° view of his life. He sought feedback from mentors, colleagues, employees, and family members; asking for honest feedback through guided questions. There are a number of things he learned through this exercise. An example Kevin shares is where he thought he was helping, others were feeling micro-managed. This taught Kevin a valueable lesson about situational leadership...one size does not fit all.
Kevin finished by reemphasizing, making mistakes in life and business is part of the journey and leads to growth. Learning from those mistakes is part of the process. If someone wants to get better they need to look at themselves, those around them, the mistakes and lessons learned, and view it all through humility and a desire to grow. People are far more important in life than the financial standing of GSI. You need to invest in bringing smart people into the organization and give them the ability and opportunity to thrive; listen to those around you as they have great, valuable lessons to share.
GSI, Inc. (www.getgsi.com) is a prolific consulting and managed services firm which provides services in JD Edwards, Salesforce, NetSuite, Oracle and Microsoft RDBMS, Sharepoint, and ServiceNow. GSI also works with leading Cloud providers in support of these enterprise software solutions. In addition, GSI offers it’s own custom products and creative solutions to serve its client base with innovative approaches to Cyber strength, systems health, and tools to streamline and improve business processes.
Footnote:
To follow the author on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddrthomsen/
For more information on the GSI where Todd is a Sr. Client Success Manager - https://www.getgsi.com/