Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Carusi

Hi Dan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

Typically, I start my story mid-career as a husband & father during a period of time when outdoor scouting adventures changed the trajectory of my life both personally and professionally. However, reflecting back it started as a cross country and track long distance runner for Moravian College. The Head Coach knew how to build a High Performing Team by recruiting a diverse collection of athletes who collectively scored points versus winning races. The combined efforts of working as one team around a common goal resulted in numerous titles, a Division III National ranking and an induction into the Moravian College Sports Hall of Fame.

My introduction to team development and performance improvement was challenged twelve years later while working for WorldCom as an up-and-coming Sales Manager. Unfortunately, I joined the company six months prior to the fraud announcement followed by a corporate bankruptcy. I experienced firsthand the impact a toxic culture and poor leadership had on people. I was forced to grow up as a leader and more importantly lead with empathy and integrity. I also quickly learned how to build a team that could thrive through uncertainty and grow in resilience.

My WorldCom experience is what set me on my journey to develop better leaders (including myself), building high impact teams, and helping people perform at levels they did not believe were possible. Throughout my journey, my climbing, paddling, hiking, camping, and equine adventures opened my eyes to the effectiveness of Experiential Learning, and I started challenging the traditional approaches to Leadership and Team development. My mission became challenging the status quo by disrupting corporate learning by shifting focus from teaching new skills to changing behaviors by getting people outside their comfort zones. I continue on this journey today through my company Red Paint Consulting LLC.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Fortunately, the road to my farm is a gravel road so I’m very use to the bumps, mirroring the many bumps of my life journey. My father always told me that life was a series of hurdles to be cleared and in between the hurdles was smooth ground. At this stage in my journey, I definitely have cleared a number of hurdles.

Professionally, when you challenge the status quo, there is much resistance. To achieve the desired results, you have to convince senior leadership to do things radically different – move from what is safe and proven to the unknown. This creates significant fear, uncertainty, and doubt at all levels increasing the amount of resistance to block the change. It basically becomes a big Change Management initiative for every new concept introduced. Sometimes with success and many times it ends in failure.

I also had a 12-year run in the technology Private Equity space supporting sales and business transformations over four consecutive PE cycles. Basic responsibilities included implementing leadership development programs, culture transformations, corporate universities, organizational change management, and sales transformation. A complete transformation of the business to accelerate growth & profitability of the organization. At the end of the transformation, you exited the business as your work was considered completed resulting in the loss of numerous job roles. Yes, gaining great experience but a bruise to the ego and confidence. More frustrating was watching new leadership undo everything you built over a three to a five-year period. To quote my wife and best friend Cheryl, you take the weekend to have your boohoo moment and then get back to it. I hated that advice but she was right. You fall off the horse, dust yourself off, and get back in the saddle.

Personally, and like many others, life threw some extra hurdles my way. Consecutive health issues to manage over the years including a ruptured disc in my lower back, torn meniscus in the knee both requiring surgery and a diagnosis of Melanoma skin cancer which fortunately was at an early stage. My father passed away unexpectedly in 2015 shortly before Christmas which was very difficult to get past followed by my Mother-in-Law passing also right before Christmas a few years later.

The challenges and struggles both personally & professionally taught me there is no separation between the two. Everyone we interact with in the workplace or in life are dealing with something in their lives that we are not aware of. Knowing this puts us in a position to lead with empathy and to extend a helping hand for those in need. Wouldn’t it be nice if we learned from our own challenges and transform as leaders to lead with empathy, compassion, and kindness. That is how we change the world.

As you know, we’re big fans of Red Paint Consulting LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?

Red Paint Consulting provides performance improvement solutions for leadership and team development. Making people uncomfortable and leveraging Adventure & Equine Experiential Learning is the foundation to our methodology. Our consultants are outdoor enthusiasts to include rock climbers, hikers, surfers, paragliders, mountaineers, horseback riders, and paddlers, all who are also successful business professionals. Combining our passions towards performance improvement and the outdoors, we have helped people & teams grow both personally and professionally around the world.

Why Experiential Learning? The traditional approach to performance improvement and talent development simply does not work anymore, if it ever did. Companies invest millions of dollars every year expecting change, but only to see performance and growth stall, wasting time and money. Doing what has always been done but expecting a different outcome, how is that working out for everyone? Also, with employee engagement on a downward spiral and with the difficulties of attracting and retaining top talent, it is time to change the status quo. Our stoke is to watch people and teams perform at a level they did not think was possible after completing one of our programs. When you tap into someone’s passion, push them out of their comfort zone, and rally around one common goal, the trajectory is only upward – we call it “One Team, One Goal, Many Summits”.

Red Paint Consulting LLC has partnered with sales organizations, business executives, high school & college students, tech. startups, law firms, and cross-functional teams for highly successful Experiential Learning programs. Activities range from climbing a rock face, paddling a river, hiking & camping, working with horses to activities that take place in the parking lot of the office building or ballroom pre-function space. We meet our clients where they are and design programs in alignment with their business strategy & desired outcomes. Our signature program is Equine Facilitated Learning. Watching people interact with horses, forming a human/horse connection is life-changing for many and amazing to experience. Participants exit the program not only with the tools they need to be successful in their professional lives but to be better people in life.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?

What matters most to me is ‘family”, I worked many hours, traveled thousands of miles, had great successes, more failures, performed at the top of my game, and hit rock bottom but the one consistency in my life is my family. You can lean on them during the difficult times and celebrate with them during the good times. I cherish the memories and experiences from the past, in the present, and what is to come in the future. However, the future is unpredictable, and we need to live in the present moment spending time with the ones we love. A shout out to my wife Cheryl and my children Nick & Ashley, Nick’s Fiance’ Kate, and Mom. No better team in the world and it would be a much different world without them.

Outside of family first, what matters to me most is helping others. My biggest reward for the work I do is seeing people transform real time. I have a front row seat watching people step outside their comfort zones, experience self-discovery, being present, acting with resilience & grit, deciding to change their behaviors for the better, and performing at a level both personally & professionally they did not think was possible. When you hear from participants of the Equine Experiential Learning programs tell you that their time with the horses changed their lives, it inspires the Red Paint Team and me to do more, to reach more people, to change more lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://redpaintconsulting.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile

Image Credits

Nick Carusi Photography