The Rest of the Story

The Rest Of The Story

The EARLY Journey

Dick Gourley was born and raised in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. He was fortunate to have two loving and caring parents, who were amazing role models. They were proactively committed to ensuring Dick, and his younger sister Diane, were able to take advantage of all opportunities available for personal growth, leadership development, and community service, so that they both could go to college.

The Pacific Northwest, by happenstance, would became Dick’s early leadership laboratory. Seattle is located on Puget Sound between two mountain ranges. As a boy he loved playing the team sports of baseball, football and soccer. When he turned eight years old, he became a Cub Scout prior to joining the Boy Scouts. As a Boy Scout, he was in Troop 282 in West Seattle. The Scoutmaster was Andy Nelson, who was an early member of The Mountaineers. Andy was a kind and humble leader who ensured that the young men in his Scout Troop would learn about life and leadership, by going on week hikes in the Olympic Mountains, Mt. Rainier National Park and the Cascade Range.

One of Dick’s initial outings was to the Sol Duc Valley in Olympic National Park. Though Dick’s Grandpa had a working dairy farm nearby in Sequim, and it was on the Dungeness River, he had never been to Sol Duc. Go Figure! During his junior and senior high school years, he learned about servant leadership, core values, teamwork, and self-discipline, by playing football, soccer, and baseball as a varsity athlete at West Seattle High School. In addition, he attended Boy Scout Camp each summer on Hood Canal, and climbed many of the major peaks in Olympic National Park with his Scout Troop and boyhood friends. Olympic National Park was Dick’s favorite, and. in particular, he truly loved the Sol Duc River Valley, which included the Seven Lakes Basin, the High Divide, and Sol Duc River and Falls. The name, Sol Duc, is a Native American term meaning “sparkling waters.” Dick chose the name “Sol Duc Leadership” to honor the eight indigenous tribes that call the Olympic Peninsula their home.

The Education Journey

After graduating from West Seattle High School in 1971, Dick was fortunate enough to be accepted to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in July 1971. Back then, most high school students did not have the opportunity to visit colleges far from home. So, when Dick took his first commercial flight to New York City, all he knew was that it was a very good school, and each cadet had a full-ride scholarship. What he did not really understand was that West Point is recognized as the top leadership school in the world. The West Point leadership experience radically changed his life, and further reinforced his desire to become a purpose-driven servant leader. He is grateful to have had such an incredible opportunity, and graduated in June 1975, eager and ready to serve the Nation.

After graduation, Dick was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. Late that summer, he attended and completed the Infantry Officer Basic Leadership Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. The mission of IBOLC is to train and develop second lieutenants to become competent and adaptive Infantry Officers, capable of leading soldiers into combat. After IBOLC, Dick attended the United States Army Ranger School. Ranger School is one of the most challenging military schools in the world, and it is the Army's premier combat leadership and small unit tactics course. Dick graduated as a member of Ranger Class 5-76. While he learned a great deal about small unit combat tactics and special operations, after some reflection, he realized the real purpose of Ranger School was to create world-class leaders, and specifically servant leaders.

He left Fort Benning after graduation, and then, headed to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) for his first combat unit assignment as a newly minted platoon leader. Dick was initially based in Böblingen, a suburb of Stuttgart in Southern Germany. He was a member of the 16th Infantry Regiment, where he served as a Mechanized Infantry Platoon Leader, Scout Platoon Leader, and as Executive Officer for Alpha Company. Combat units like the 16th Infantry spent much of their time at or near the East German and Czechoslovakian border conducting training operations and observing the Warsaw Pact soldiers on the other side of the border. While with the 16th Infantry in the winter of 1977, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group for mountain operations with the Austrian Armed Forces. Austria was a neutral country at that time and not a part of NATO. During his time in Böblingen, he learned how to be an effective leader; an effective communicator; an excellent short and long-term planner; and how to best serve his soldiers and the citizens of the FRG, that he touched while representing the United States.

After spending two and a half years at the small unit level, Dick was selected to be one of the Aides at Central Army Group NATO in Heidelberg, West Germany. During the Cold War, HQ CENTAG was NATO's forward defense against the Warsaw Pact Forces, in the southern half of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was incredibly fortunate to be selected for this role and learned a great deal. In particular, he learned about strategy, planning, external and internal communications, and how to operate effectively in a multinational environment.

After nearly four years living in Europe, Dick returned to the United States in 1980, and was posted to Fort Lewis, near his beloved hometown of Seattle. He served as an Infantry Company Commander with the 9th Infantry Division. Being a company commander was a joy, and it enabled him to utilize the servant leader skills he had learned during his time serving in the U.S. Army. In December 1981, Dick made a major life decision to leave the military for a career in the corporate world. He is very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend West Point and serve in the Army. Dick values the lessons he learned and cherishes the lifelong friendships he made with his classmates and the soldiers he served.

The Corporate Journey

In January, 1982, Dick joined IBM Corporation in Seattle, Washington. His soldiers joked that he was leaving the Big Green Machine for the Big Blue Machine. Though it was a difficult decision, Dick could not have joined a better organization than IBM Corporation.

He completed the twelve month IBM Sales Training Course in Los Colinas, TX while serving as the youngest marketing representative on the Boeing Account Team. With a mechanical engineering degree, knowledge of the emerging CAD/CAM applications business, and a current Top Secret DOD clearance, he was assigned to Project WILO at the Boeing Military Airplane Company. Nobody at IBM knew what “WILO” was all about since it was a Black Project. Dick and his systems engineer, Norm Westby, worked quietly to help BMAC develop the composite wing for the B2 Stealth Bomber Project. Northrup was the prime contractor, but Boeing’s’ aerospace engineers from BCAC, using newly developed IBM CAD/CAM engineering workstations, enabled Boeing to exceed DOD expectations for the program in terms of reduced cycle time, innovation on wing design, and exceptional quality. Dick was very fortunate to be at IBM, on the Boeing Team, and a team member on this important defense program. He truly valued his entire experience with his Boeing business partners.

Dick was promoted to Marketing Manager in 1985 and led the Finance, Insurance & Utilities account team in the Pacific Northwest. In January 1988, he was promoted to Area Marketing Manager in San Francisco, CA for all Industry Software Marketing on the West Coast. In early 1989, he was promoted to Global Industry Account Executive for Rockwell International in Los Angeles due to his experience working at Boeing. Rockwell was a conglomerate, and as such, he had responsibility for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program; the B1B Bomber Program; Rocketdyne; the NASA International Space Station; Rockwell Semiconductor; Allen-Bradley; Goss International; Rockwell - Collins Aviation, and finally, Rockwell Labs on their Gallium Arsenide Program.

In early 1991, with IBM in transition, he accepted a role as IBM Branch Manager for Silicon Valley, rather take a staff role at corporate headquarters. In the new role he was responsible for IBM’s Silicon Branch Office and led a sales, systems engineering, and business development team of 13 managers and 80 employees. He transformed the organization from a proprietary, mainframe-focused business, to open systems, and a workstation-based operation. He worked to created a start-up culture and empowered his employees. Major accounts included Intel, AMD, National Semiconductor, LSI Logic, Chips & Technologies, Lockheed Missiles & Space, Varian, Raychem, Sun Microsystems, HP, and Apple Corporation. He participated in the IBM / Apple Alliance that spawned the PowerPC, Kaleida, and Taligent initiatives. Annual sales were in excess of $125M.

Finally in 1994, with IBM still in transition, Dick made the decision to resign from IBM, and to focus on being a startup leader in Silicon Valley. His objective was to go to a mid-sized company headquartered in Silicon Valley, and to work toward eventually becoming a raw startup expert. During the next six years, he served in a number of international sales and marketing leadership positions at Oracle, Adaptec, GET Manufacturing, and Talk City Marketing Group. In January 2001, he founded Gourley, Stewart, Mackenzie & Roberts LLC to help raw startups, in their quest to build viable business models and help them scale. That began his next career stage in management & strategy consulting.

The NONPROFIT Journey

Dick’s nonprofit journey actually began in 1961, when he watched President Kennedy’s Inauguration Speech on January 20, 1961. While he participated in a number of service activities at West Point and during his time in the U.S. Army, he wanted to give back to the community once he started his corporate career.

In 1983, after his IBM Training and assimilation onto IBM’s Boeing Account Team, he was recruited to be a Board Member of the Governor’s School for Citizen Leadership in Seattle, WA. The Washington Governor's School for Citizen Leadership, operating out of Seattle University, was a nationally recognized residential program for citizen education and community leadership, engaging diverse, high school age students across the Pacific Northwest. Key funding was provided by David E. "Ned" and Kayla Skinner, Bill Gates, and a number of Seattle-based global corporations.

In 1985, He was recruited to be a Director of the Board of Directors for the original Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Chapter in Seattle, WA. CASA is now a national association in the United States that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for abused or neglected children in order to provide children with a safe and healthy environment in permanent homes.

The CASA Program was created in 1976 by King County Superior Court Presiding Judge David W. Soukup, who was concerned over making decisions on cases of abused and neglected children without sufficient information. Judge Soukup conceived the idea of using trained community volunteers to speak for the best interests of these children in court. This program was the first of its kind and has served as a national model for child abuse advocacy. In 1977, the Children in Placement Committee of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) developed guidelines to help the juvenile justice system protect the child's right to a safe, permanent family. The committee coined the umbrella term "Court Appointed Special Advocate" - CASA - denoting any volunteer following a clearly defined role as a friend of the court. Based on the initial idea, national CASA today has more than 70,000 advocates serving in 1,018 state and local program offices nationwide.

His service focus initially consisted of identifying and assigning guardian ad litems by working with the Superior Court. He shadowed "Guardians" and worked with the team that helped establish CASA's operating guidelines based on those early lessons. Dick successfully solicited funding and pro bono services from several of Seattle's largest law firms including Perkins Coie LLP and Bogle & Gates.

In 1988, Dick moved to San Francisco and due to work and travel requirements, he was only able to serve on the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, Board of Directors, in Menlo Park, California. However, he did learn a great deal from that experience.

in January 1989, Dick moved to Los Angeles, California. Due to work and travel requirements, he was only able to serve as an Advisory Board Member at the St. Joseph Hospital System in Orange, CA. His service included advisory services and fundraising.

When Dick returned to Northern California in early 1991, he made a conscious effort to intentionally engage with nonprofit organizations, where he could provide significant value. Between 1991 and today, those organizations include the Triton Museum of Art; David Packard’s Silicon Valley Arts Fund; Joint Venture Silicon Valley; the San Jose Symphony; the City of Santa Clara Library Foundation; Interim pro bono CEO at the San Jose Symphony; the Carmel Bach Festival; Kinship Center; President of the Carmel Bach Festival Foundation; Hotel de Zink; Hearts for Homeless; Partners In School Innovation; Napa Chamber of Commerce; Napa Valley Welcome Center: St. Helena Chamber of Commerce; TEDx Napa Valley; St. Helena Welcome Center; Robert Louis Stevenson Museum; Rotary Club of St. Helena; President of the Dads’ Club at St. Francis Catholic High School in Sacramento, CA; Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra; Startup Sacramento; 1 Million Cups Sacramento; Mentor Sacramento; and the Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Dick learned a great deal by volunteering with these nonprofit organizations. That learning impacted his thinking about creating a nonprofit that will enable and better support nonprofit and social venture leaders.

Lessons Learned

Creating enduring great nonprofits and social venture is not easy.
Many existing nonprofits and social ventures, feel entitled and expect to be funded.
Nonprofits and social venture must provide significant value to those they serve & their investors.
Servant leadership throughout the organization, is very critical to success and sustainability.
Nonprofits & social ventures who do not understand their customers’ needs, will fail.
Nonprofits & social ventures who focus on servant leadership & customer development will thrive!
The global need for quality nonprofits & social ventures has never been higher!

As a result of the lessons learned by Dick’s experiences, he decided to create Sol Duc Leadership.

Sol Duc Leadership’s purpose is to help nonprofit & social venture leaders create enduring great organizations.

The Consulting Journey
In January 2001, Dick established GSMR Consulting, a consulting firm serving Silicon Valley organizations that are starting-up or in transition. From 2001 through 2009, the firm’s clients included early stage startups, turnarounds, nonprofits, emerging private enterprises, and global public companies. Past clients include Ramp Networks, Fujitsu Software, Nokia, Imperito Networks, A4 Systems, Pacific Tweed, RE InfoLink, Alain Pinel, the State of California, and Lavante.

Dick established Mackenzie Stewart, a leadership development and strategy consulting firm, in 2010. Mackenzie Stewart incorporated servant leadership into the firm’s consulting methodology, and focused primarily on startups, emerging organizations, and social ventures in California. Industry focus expanded beyond high technology, and included retail, professional service firms, the wine industry, nonprofit trade associations, and the social sector. Past clients include Partners In School Innovation, ZitoVault Software, Proficio, and AthleticOutlook. Dick led Mackenzie Stewart from 2010 through 2017.

In January 2018, Dick established Dick Gourley Consulting, a management & strategy consulting firm. Dick Gourley Consulting is an innovative management & strategy consulting firm. DGC’s purpose is to help business leaders build enduring great organizations. DGC serves business leaders and their organizations.We help clients rapidly improve performance by solving critical problems, and identifying new opportunities. DGC provides a whole solution consisting of consulting, professional services, executive coaching, mentoring, training, facilitation, client dashboard, research, and an online community. Unlike some consulting firms, the DGC solution is simple, affordable, innovative, and on-demand. Current clients include Red Line Safety; Liste Software; SC88; Buzly; Civic Duty; Glyde Technologies; Arctic Fox; and MyLearnmate.

The Highest Goal

During Dick’s time in Silicon Valley, he spent a fair amount of time attending speaker events at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The extended GSB community is a huge leadership lab, and during this time, Dick became acquainted with the works of Jim Collins and Michael Ray. Michael taught the Personal Creativity Course at the GSB, and is known as “The Most Creative Man in Silicon Valley”. Jim Collins was one of Michael’s early students, and the two forged a strong bond during the Go-Go times in Silicon Valley. Michael wrote an amazing book called “The Highest Goal”, and Dick considers it a classic. Amazon says, “Through twenty-five years of teaching Stanford University’s famed Personal Creativity in Business course, Michael Ray discovered that people who move beyond ordinary success and achievement have a secret. They live for a highest goal that drives them to accomplish their dreams, find fulfillment and become generative leaders. Here Ray shares that secret and shows how you, too, can thrive by incorporating this powerful secret into your daily life.”

Jim Collins was a student of Michael Ray’s prior to graduating and joining the GSB Faculty. Jim is best known for his best selling book, “Good To Great.” However, those in the know realize Collins that Jim is today recognized as the top leader on developing enduring great organizations in both the business and nonprofit space. In an interesting happenstance, Collins was offered West Point's Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership in the early summer of 2011. Jim went on to actively serve DOD Leadership, including Lloyd Austin, who led HQ CENTCOM, and now serves as Secretary of Defense. Lloyd was Dick’s room mate during Beast Barracks in the summer of 1974, and where they trained the incoming Class of 1978.

Dick admires the important works of both Michael Ray and Jim Collins. They provide individuals, leaders, and organizations with a significant competitive advantage. He has incorporated their ideas and concepts into Sol Duc Leadership’s DNA and curriculum. Finally, Robert Greenleaf, Michael Ray, and Collins have all had a significant impact on both Dick’s personal and business life. Servant leadership is the foundation of all he does.

Next Steps

After a great deal of reflection and discernment, Dick realized his calling and Highest Goal is to build and grow Sol Duc Leadership during the next 15 years. His intention is to take the lessons he learned during his business and nonprofit careers, and help provide a way for aspiring leaders to help create a better world. Sol Duc Leadership will incorporate servant leadership, the works of Jim Collins, and the philosophy of Michael Ray, to create a truly special and sustainable global online community that enables social venture, nonprofits and business leaders to thrive.

As the great philosopher Yogi Berra often said:

“If you don’t know where you are going, you might not get there!” - Yogi Berra

Sol Duc Leadership is the result of of a lifetime of experience, and Dick’s commitment to pursue his Highest Goal, by climbing his Second Mountain!

Please join us on our journey, as we work to develop the leaders necessary to help create a better world.

Kind regards,

Dick Gourley and the Sol Duc Leadership Team!