Back in 2018, I began thinking about what did I want to do during the “second half” of my career. There wasn’t an issue or a problem, just long-range thinking.

I was in a chief strategy officer position, had finished both my MBA and PhD, and considered, “What’s next?”

Using my over 40-years of work background and leveraging my PhD in Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship, I decided to explore what it would be like to have my own business when it was time to leave my corporate career.

My dissertation was in group dynamics with an emphasis on cohesion. In my corporate career, it gave me the opportunity to work with a variety of leaders both within in and outside my current industry.

I had success developing a mentoring program for an industry-led organization, earned the designation of being an international development educator, plus received a South Carolina State House recognition for developing a Global Leader Exchange program.

These activities seemed to be the perfect foundation to start a consulting and leadership coaching business focused on culture and leadership, strategy, and employee retention.

But, what would make my product and services offerings different from others? How would I position by “authority voice” in the marketplace to showcase what this business had to offer.

Based on the research, I found that there were very few resources to help companies retain their employees. There were a good number of books on employee acquisition, but not employee retention.

Thus, the birth of my first bestselling title, “Cohesion Culture: Proven Principles to Retain Your Top Talent. The book is filled with practical information using humor, metaphors, analogies, song lyrics, dance moves, reference to books and corporate icons, and personal stories.

Using a three-act approach, I help the reader start their leadership journey with Chapters 1 and 2 before moving into how to build a culture that promotes a “best place to work,” and ending with the final two chapters on bringing a culture infused with cohesion to life.

For just a tease of what makes this book different from others will make perfect sense when you read Chapter 6, “There’s no place like home.” AND, just like it sounds, it is application of cohesion as it relates to Dorothy, the scarecrow, Tin Man, and cowardly lion on their quest to defeat the wicked witch and claim her broom for the Wizard of Oz.

From there I refined my offerings to focus on coaching leaders to retain employees (talent) by infusing cohesion into their cultures. When cohesion is present, people have a sense of belonging (inclusion), are valued (meaningful work), and share in mutual commitments (collaboration.

These safe workspaces are the perfect petri dishes for giving employees a reason to stay, and cohesion is part of the building blocks of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The book gave me a platform to support this new venture and a resource guide for those who want to see the recipe before buying the cake.

There had to be more, and there was.

It wasn’t enough to have a book, I wanted my client base to have access to all the materials in the text through personal training, an effective online, leadership course, and leadership coaching.

Enter my strategic alliance colleague, Ben-Jamin Toy, a successful team-building expert who has worked with hundreds of companies in over 100 countries.

Together we took the original trademarked Cohesion Culture program and built a series of online and in-person training programs that are interactive, high-impact, and filled with culture cheat codes that help individuals and managers power up their leadership.

Our courses do not offer rope courses, trust falls, or death by PowerPoint.

Every learning opportunity through the Cohesion Course program is filled with hands-on activities that allow participants to experience real life issues today and implement practical solutions tomorrow.

The Cohesion Culture Course, fondly referred to as “the Camp,” is a five-module, five week online learning experience filled with over two-hours of bite-sized video learning, workbook activities, easy to replicate activity videos, weekly challenges, and helpful information to lead team building, and develop stress-free habits to avoid burnout.

Again, what makes this course different?

It is supported with a leadership coaching component that I call Accountability Coaching for Transformation (ACT). We do not just leave the participants to figure it all out on their own, we provide additional individual and cohort coaching sessions to help them implement what they are learning.

Greetings. I feel the best way for you to become acquainted with my consulting and coaching business is to understand who I am. My business is shaped around my values and deeply developed relationships. The best way for you to understand me is to learn my story of what is keenly important to me … family.

Most people know me as a simple man of faith. I married, Vickie, my high school sweetheart in 1977. Together, we have two-children and six-grandchildren from the ages of 3 to 22.

Something you would not know about me from my resume or professional social media profile is that we built a multi-generational home on Daniel Island, SC in 2022.

Our daughter, husband, and four of the grandkids live on one side, while Vickie and I live on the other. Think of a townhome built beside a multiple bedroom house and wrapped like one structure. We share the garage area, upper deck, and pool area.

In addition to the perceived benefits of living together, yet separated by our own personal living spaces, is the connection we’ve been able to make with our grandkids. Priceless!

Our son prefers to live alone, and his two children are old enough to do the same, but we are all living within a 15-minute drive of each other.

Some may wonder how this opportunity came to be, so that will take us back to 2008.

For five years (2008-2012), my parents (Slim and Fanny) as well as our son and his two children lived with us. There were four generations all living under the same room. My mom aka FANNY was suffering from dementia, and my dad known by many as SLIM had to contend with macular degeneration.

During our first year together, a local news station got wind of our home situation and before we knew it, the Today Show had sent out a crew and documented this extraordinary living arrangement.

It was during this time I coined the phrase “Life in the Hallway.”

A friend of mine was curious to know about the type of commotion around the house and if I had a space to call my own. Without much thought, I quickly replied, “You know I’ve been married for more than 30-years so claiming the bathroom or a closet was out of the question. So, I will choose the hallway as my very own personal space.

He stared laughing and telling me that my response was really good. After getting him to calm down, he said, ” “That’s funny. Your last name is Hall, you’re in the Hallway.”

And, that was how “Life in the Hallway” was created. I believe there is a book in there somewhere, but it will have to wait for now. From there on our family experiences have been known as ‘Life in the Hallway.’

For more insight into what shaped my thoughts about leadership, I will defer to an excerpt that I have used many times.

“When people ask me about my leadership journey, I refer back to 1969. At 12 years old, my mom, aka FANNY, was diagnosed with breast cancer. We lived in a small rural town in West Virginia that offered limited education, poor economic conditions, and we were 30 to 45 minutes from the nearest hospital or major employer. Back 50-some years ago, when a person was diagnosed with cancer, your immediate thought was the person will die. We thought the same would be true for mom. But she had other things in mind and felt that it was important to live her life fully until the good Lord took her away.

Mom embraced her cancer and followed the doctor’s order and through the miracle of surgery and cancer treatment, mom survived 43 years beyond that awful summer.

Mom said that we were poor by circumstance, not by choice. She had cancer by circumstance, not by choice. She taught me that my character would always be defined by choices not circumstances.

Mom and dad instilled in me the concept that a person can be anything they want when they put their mind to it. She told me that if I wanted to sweep floors for a living, fine with her. However, I had better be the best floor sweeper ever.

Mom gave me that look, drew me closer to her, and whispered, “Because one day, when I get out of this bed, I’m going to come to your business and look in the tight places on the floor. Anyone can sweep in the middle, the best sweeper would get into the corners.”

I learned many lessons from that 98 pound soaking wet incredible woman I got to call “Mom.” So much so, I wrote another bestselling title, “FANNY RULES: A mother’s leadership lessons that never grow old.” Since mom was losing her memories, I thought it fitting to pay tribute to her leadership legacy by wrapping 31 teachable moments around 9 rules and sharing them with generations to come.