About

Why Begin the Begin?

Good question. First, I'm a huge R.E.M. fan and Begin the Begin is one of my favorite songs of theirs (along with I Believe). Both are on the amazing CD Lifes Rich Pageant. Buy that immediately and thank me later.

What I like about the phrase is that it's a call to action.  It applies to all leaders, whether you're an entrepreneur or working for one. It applies to people who want to help others. It applies to anyone who believes they can be something better but is hesitant to take that next step.

German poet and playwright, Goethe, said: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

Begin the begin, people!

Why do I write this blog? For these people.

Who am I? I'm the CEO of Purpose Group, a purpose-driven holding company. I'm fascinated with entrepreneurship, leadership, and doing good. Best place to find me is on LinkedIn.

Below is what a typical day looked like for me a few years back when I was running Dragon Army:

In 1998 I founded my first company, Spunlogic, with Raj, and after adding two more partners along the way and working our a$$es off for ten years, we were acquired by Engauge in March of 2008. I served as President and Chief Digital Officer of Engauge until we sold to Publicis Groupe in August of 2013. I then immediately started my next company, Dragon Army, which was originally based in the amazing Atlanta Tech Village.

In 2023, I co-founded Purpose Group to build more businesses in the world that are a force good.

I'm a graduate of the 2013 Leadership Atlanta class and a member of the 2012 Atlanta 40 under 40 class, and I'm on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and The Carter Center.

I've written four books on leadership: The 5 Day Turnaround (how to lead like an entrepreneur), The Crisis Turnaround (how to lead during a crisis), The Great Team Turnaround (how to build a great team), and The Culture Turnaround (how to build a killer culture).

I co-founded 48in48, a hackathon nonprofit that brings together 200+ volunteers to build 48 nonprofit websites in 48 hours.

The A Pledge, is a nonprofit focused on bringing racial equity to the marketing and advertising industry. I co-founded this organization along with nine other incredible Atlanta leaders.

I also founded Ripples Media, a disruptive take on the book publishing industry.