We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dennis Turnipseed. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dennis below.
Dennis, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.
Serving the underserved brings a whole host of interesting issues to light. When you are serving an individual who is in a bad place in life, down to almost nothing, that person still expects you to be on the top of your game. The underserved expects you to adjust your schedule to fit theirs- in a lot of instances. You may meet up with someone and expect to only help the person overcome one issue, but more likely than not, you will be asked to help out with multiple needs. At the same time, the person doing the serving is expected to remain calm, be patient, not get frustrated, and really show little to no emotion that could be misconstrued as negative.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I began my business career as a CPA working for the largest public accounting firm in the world during the late 1980’s. After a short stint I realized I enjoyed the inner workings of how a corporation made money and left public accounting to pursue a career in industry. Over the next 26 years I worked exceedingly hard (60-70 hour weeks minimum) to move up the corporate ladder for multiple companies, across several industries, mostly in corporate roll-ups and consolidations, becoming increasingly involved in mergers and acquisitions. While I was a CFO at several privately held companies, my ultimate goal was to become a CEO one day. In early 2014 my goal was realized as I became CEO of a small oil-field service company based in Texas. In my early days of being a CEO, my dream job, I was very successful in growing the company and returning it to profitability- something that had eluded the company for a coup le of years.
Oddly enough, after waiting 26 years to reach my ultimate goal in the business world, I realized that holding the top seat in a company was not as satisfying as I had originally thought. I recall staring out the window of my large office thinking, “Is this all there is in life?” “Am I going to continue working for the rest of my life just to bring in that next paycheck. I began to realize there was something else going on inside of me.
Later that same year, 2014, the oil & gas industry collapsed- almost overnight! The customer base for the company I had just been successful in building up went away almost immediately, With revenue sharply declining (and ultimately cashflow), the company I had waited my entire life to lead was spiraling downhill quicker than I could stop the bleeding. Ultimately, I voluntarily resigned amid the whirlwinds of the industry because the company could no longer support me and also because what was stirring inside of me became a calling on my life to serve God, the Creator of the Universe- who very audibly called me out to build His Kingdom on Earth in late 2015.
Not longer after being called onto a new path- Kingdom Service, I met the founder of this 501(c)(3) organization, named Eyes On Me, Inc., who was feeling overwhelmed trying to provide non-profit programs and services to inner-city communities around Houston, TX. He needed help bringing a vision, mission and strategic focus to the organization he had started 8 years before. The Founder of the Eyes On Me, Inc., Bobby Herring, was (and still is today) the heart and soul. However, Eyes On Me also needed a businessman- turned- servant mindset (also known as a servant-leader) to help guide the organization forward and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the programs and services to the communities served. Six years after joining the organization and leading it forward, alongside Bobby Herring, Eyes On Me has grown into a multi-service, multi-dimensional organization that mentors, disciples, and serves at-risk youth and their families across some of the most under-developed, poverty-stricken communities across the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area.
What sets Eyes On Me, Inc. apart from most other non-profit organizations in the city is that Eyes On Me goes into the communities, meets people where they are, and helps them overcome whatever obstacles or burdens that prevent them from reaching a point of self-actualization. Said another way, becoming who they were created to be in the first place before the ways of the world brought them down. And what I am most proud of is that the organization serves, in some capacity, over 35,000 unique people annually, while creating an opportunity for over 5,000 volunteers to serve along the organization in the process.
I believe humans are created for much more than working a job their entire life. There’s a bigger world full of people needing to be loved and cared for. I believe making money should be a means to something far greater than just accumulating material possessions. And while I do believe its okay to have “things” in this world, we as humans, are called to so much more. At Eyes On Me, Inc. we live for that greater calling. We help equip others to come alongside us to explore and discover their greater calling as well.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
In the business world, people are hired to do a specific task, job, manage a process, etc. In the non-profit world, people are hired because they have a heart to serve that’s compatible with the vision, mission and strategy of the organization. What I had to unlearn is its not as important to hire people with the best technical qualifications for the role we look to fill. Its more important that someone has the proper heart posture and be willing to dedicate themselves to putting others before them.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The reputation of Eyes On Me, Inc. has been built by an unwavering focus on being beyond reproach. Living a personal life with high standards for conduct, morality, integrity and servitude and leading staff to be the same way is how our reputation had been built. When serving those that society tries to write-off, its real easy to get sloppy, provide programs and services that are not really transformational to the population being served, show up late, say things you shouldn’t be saying, and generally not take the time to understand the population you are trying to serve. However, no matter how low in life people may be, they will see through you if you are not genuine- both as an individual and as an organization. And once a negative perception is established, it becomes very difficult to turn around a reputation. Therefore, one must work hard every day to instill discipline in the organization.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eyesonmeinc.com/
- Instagram: Eyes On Me Inc.
- Facebook: @hiphophopemissions