We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Janet Kendall White a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Janet, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My Dad died when I was very young and my Mom raised four children. She was the leader of the house and in so many ways exemplified what good leadership entails. She knew each of us individually, handled us differently, gave our chores based on our interest at that time, willingness and skill, she showed tough love when needed, she coached and also rolled up her sleeves when someone struggled with an assignment to assist and teach but not do. She was a strong female role model for me personally including when I saw her vulnerable at times. You wouldn’t meet too many people that were more authentic and transparent. She also taught us that “God is not a respecter of people” and that we should treat everyone the way that we would like to be treated regardless. She wanted us to be able to engage and feel comfortable with the President of the United States or a homeless person. We were expected to work hard, play hard, not complain and certainly not to use the words “I can’t”. Watching her and other leaders both good and bad from the time I was young fueled my lifelong interest in leadership. Effective leadership is so critical at all levels starting with the family unit and in all groups, organizations and countries.

Janet, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For more than three decades, we have been equipping and empowering business leaders and organizations with tools to develop their existing skills and launch their teams and organizations to greater heights. Our clients trust us with their most important asset- their people.

Helping people is what drives me and the consultants that work with me; developing the whole person, as an effective leader, by drawing on their strengths and potential. Our passions also include giving back to our communities and to those that are and have served our country. What we do we do with passion and authenticity. We do our best to walk our talk and love to partner with clients, vendors and others that do the same.

All Berkshire Group practitioners have experience managing and leading in organizations and have a passion for leadership, growing and developing individuals and organizations. For approximately three decades Berkshire Group has developed and applied models and principles to a variety of situations and organizations with positive results. We have all sat in similar seats to those we work with. We have applied what we teach and coach, it’s not just theory or academic to any of us.

Utilizing our proprietary models and training as well as Everything DiSC® and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team® proven assessments, tools and online learning platform we deliver impactful results through tailored coaching, dynamic workshops and insightful speaking.

We have a proven track record of helping companies achieve a lower turnover, have higher engagement, develop award-winning cultures and grow financially.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There have been a few key times when persistence, resilience and pivoting were required along this 30 year business ownership journey in a bigger way than the normal ongoing resilience we have to have as small business entrepreneurs daily. I will share two of those below.

One happened fairly early on in my business. I was pregnant with my daughter and thought that I had everything figured out contract wise for after her birth. It looked on paper perfect. Just before she was born a large contract that was scheduled to start after she was born fell through. I was also scheduled to start a very intense certification program shortly thereafter. As the primary breadwinner at that time I remember having to really look at all the ways that I could bring in revenue quickly while still working on larger prospective contracts, getting used to changing diapers, hormones raging, and going through a very intensive program at the Gestalt Institute. In many ways I look back and am surprised I made it. That is when as so many times over the years, the network becomes so critical. The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) time and time again has been a source of support, collaboration, referrals, etc. Other women business owners who had been where I was and made it through propped me up, gave me a hug and a kick when I needed it. Resilience is something that I think is part of daily if not hourly life for small business owners. If you don’t have it you aren’t going to last very long.

Another time was when a very long term and successful client engagement ended. The project was the opportunity and experience of a lifetime but when it was accomplished and the company, I had been helping for years sold the engagement ended. I was emotionally and physically spent. What had been a great success and climax caused me to go into that well known after affect slump. Anyone that has experienced something that you have worked so hard on and for and it’s a win knows what I am talking about whether it is in athletics or business. I benefited financially but not in a way that I didn’t need to crank up the business and get new and more clients. It came at a time when after so many years, so much success, it felt like I was starting over, and I was not sure I could or wanted to do it. I was not in a good place all around. The world of self-promotion on social media was not where I saw myself for business development. Just as things were coming together and I had a full year of speaking engagements lined up for 2020… Yes, you guessed it, the lockdown was announced and all but one of those paid engagements were cancelled. At that point, due to the network of supportive friends and colleagues I was in a good place mentally and laughed. I had put some things in place to create a better referral process and pipeline and knew that it would work. It did. In April I started working with people from my home office one on one more than I ever have. That shift has been extremely rewarding, financially positive, and the results have been great for clients. During the lockdown, the NAWBO network also was there for us as women business owners, all trying to figure out how to pivot and survive literally. Once again, resilience in daily situations but also in bigger ones is a must for business owners of all sizes but especially small businesses. Learning to laugh at the situation, at myself, dust off and step up have been a way of life. My foundation of trusting God will provide and has my back allow me to hopefully meet the challenges with grace most of the time.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think that from the start of the business a long time ago, there have been some common themes that have built our reputation.
Trust: trust that we will treat our clients with the utmost respect and as partners, trust that we are able and willing to help in the way that we say that we can, trust that we will be honest in all our dealings, trust that we will treat all our clients and employees with respect and dignity regardless of their position.
Results: word travels and also when you can share both tangible and in tangible testimonies and data that builds your credibility.
Willingness to be vulnerable and admit any mistakes and fix them.
Eager to go the extra mile. We bend over backwards for clients and to meet the objectives that are agreed to.
Having and bringing the right tools and methods to solve the problem or capitalize on the opportunities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://berkshiregroupinc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetkwhite/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berkshiregroup
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/berkshiregroup/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BerkshireGroup