Aug. 19, 2021

At one point in life, Tom Morgan contemplated becoming a doctor.

Medical school had other ideas.

“I dodged a bullet – or the world did,” said Morgan, who was turned down by the school.

Instead, the 67-year-old Mitchell native now diagnoses businesses – or more precisely, their leaders – on the issues that arise in running an organization and in life.

Think of him as a coach for CEOs, one supported by a group of their peers, which he cultivates through Vistage Worldwide, a peer-advisory board he facilitates for top executives and business owners.

“I’m the kind of person who isn’t intimated by challenges,” Morgan said. “That’s how I wreak havoc on my clients. I don’t know if I foresaw what I would be doing, but I always run to opportunities.”

Building businesses

A new USD graduate in the 1970s, Morgan arrived in California “with literally $5” in his pocket, he said.

“I had no qualifications to do anything.”

But he had been an EMT in college, and when he opened the phone book, the first page listed ambulance companies.

“And I went over and started working the next day for minimum wage,” he said.

Working in the field as a medic, entrepreneurialism began to take root. He and a couple of partners were inspired by a movement at the time to consolidate local mom-and-pop ambulance services “to give better service, pay more money, have better equipment and still make money,” he said.

They worked up a business plan on a cocktail napkin that led to a company they owned 11 years. Through acquisition of 16 companies, it grew to $100 million in revenue.

They sold in 1994, after Morgan had earned his MBA from the University of California, Irvine. He went on to invest in other companies, ran one in health care and then came back to Sioux Falls in 2006 to lead PetMedicus Laboratories, a specialty pharmacy company to develop products for companion animals.

When “2008 happened,” he decided to stay instead of moving back to California.

That led to a year at Morgan Stanley where he worked as a financial adviser, and “I still have a lot of clients I work with out of the office in Minneapolis, but what I wanted to do was more the consultative process for businesses,” he said.

He called Vistage because he had been a member in San Diego and lived near the office and asked if it had a chair in Sioux Falls.

“They said no, but they’d been trying to get one forever,” he said. “I knew what I wanted to do.”

Forming a group

In 2011, Morgan kicked off Vistage in Sioux Falls. The target was a group of 16. By midyear, it began with nine members.

“That blew away San Diego,” Morgan said. “They didn’t think that was possible, and then I started my second group the next year.”

Scott Peterson, CEO of Interstates, became a catalyst for Morgan. He had been in an Omaha Vistage group and was eager for one closer to home.

He introduced Morgan to Randy Knecht, CEO of Journey Group, and Kari Karst, CEO of BX Civil & Construction.

“So I had three A players before I ever talked to anyone else because they trusted each other,” Morgan said. “Vistage turns on trust. So if you’re in a peer group and you have someone you can’t trust or can’t speak candidly in front of or they’re not thoughtful, then you’re not going to share as much.”

Knecht had not met Morgan and was not yet CEO at the time he agreed to be part of the group.

“What really intrigued me was it was a difficult time for me,” he said. “When I was in that transition period, it was decided we would not have a CFO and I would assume both roles. I did that for two years, and it was a really difficult time … and I didn’t really have anybody to talk to about this.”

That’s an advantage of Vistage, he said.

“Now, I’ve got other CEOs probably dealing with similar issues, and it might be an opportunity to actually get some help,” he said.

Vistage is a commitment, those involved said. It’s $18,000 annually plus a commitment to meet once a month in an all-day session.

“The dues are not your biggest expense; your biggest expense is your time,” Morgan said. “It’s a contact sport, not a spectator sport. I want to be able to look in the rearview mirror and the return on investment. A lot of it is somewhat subjective. Did I make a better decision? Is that return there for my company? We’re really big on trying to manage your time better so you’re not working 18-hour days.”

Inside Vistage

A typical Vistage daylong session includes a speaker on workplace trends or other emerging issues combined with issue processing.

“It’s where we tackle the questions people are trying to think through,” Knecht said. “Sometimes they’re problems; sometimes they’re opportunities.”

KeyMedia Solutions founder and CEO Korena Keys joined the group a few years ago and is the smallest business represented.

“I was looking for a community where I could share and brainstorm and process challenges,” she said. “As a business owner, especially a solopreneur, you don’t really have that network of people who have gone through the same scenarios. You can’t really talk to your team about employee issues or financial challenges.”

Participants estimate three in five issues include people.

Keys came into the group after a year when her firm had landed several large clients but found itself in a cash flow crunch.

“Of course, you have to hire the people to do the work, to do the billing, so we were in a really precarious financial situation,” she said. “And I learned at the time, more businesses go bankrupt because of growth opportunities versus loss of revenue.”

Through her Vistage peers, she was connected to resources and advisers to help her manage through it.

“I can honestly say if it wasn’t for Vistage I would not be in business today,” Keys said. “They really helped me overcome some pretty big obstacles and have made connections and introductions to different organizations I didn’t know even existed that have helped me shape and grow the company.”

Vistage group members also work one-on-one with Morgan for a monthly meeting that lasts from one to three hours.

“Depending on what’s going on, and it’s totally driven by the member,” Morgan said. “And it goes from kids, theology, bioethics and some business.”

The goal is to go where they want to go, he continued.

“I’m the place they can call when they have no one else to call. I rarely get 3 a.m. calls, but it has happened, and I take them,” he said. “One of the many blessings in my life is I get to hang out with really cool people. I would throw myself in front of a bus for them, whatever they need to be successful.”

The CEO coach also recognizes the need to prepare for his own eventual business transition. He’s working on trying to figure out who could become another Vistage chair for the market.

“I really respect Tom,” Keys said. “There’s nothing we could challenge him with that he doesn’t have an answer for and a strategy. And he … just has this calm confidence about him. If he’s not going to get shook up, I shouldn’t be shook up about it. He’s always challenging himself to read another book, take another course, attend another seminar. He doesn’t come across as ‘I know everything.’ It’s ‘I have a lot of experience, and I love to learn, and if you have a challenge, I’m going to help you solve it.’”