ROULHAC ENTERPRISES

Posted By Chris Smith

Getting the chance to interview a successful CEO of one of America’s major corporations is always inspiring. Last week, I had the privilege to sit down with Steve Wambold, former Purdue University football player and current CEO of Ferrellgas, which is one of the largest distributors of propane and publicly traded on the NYSE. Steve was extremely generous with his time and possesses that calm edginess that makes leaders so great. Steve is very passionate about helping college athletes succeed and offers us tremendous insight on everything from networking to how he became CEO. Enjoy the interview!

Meet Steve Wambold, CEO of Ferrellgas

Wambold joined Ferrellgas in 1997 as District Manager of the Mulberry, Indiana, office, and was promoted to Area Manager of the Southern Illinois retail offices the following year. He was named Indiana Area Manager in 2000 and Southeast Regional Vice President in 2004, before being promoted to Senior Vice President of Retail Operations in 2005 at the corporate level. He was elected President and Chief Operating Officer in 2006.

An Indiana native, Wambold earned his bachelor’s degree from Purdue University where he was a member of the football team.

CA: Was there a time when you realized that being a former student-athlete contributed to your success?

SW: I would say not a time. All the time, being an athlete teaches you a lot of life skills. When you talk about competing, part of competing is also looking behind you to see who is coming up, and in college, you’re playing against top athletes from all over the country. Learning how to keep your head above water and compete against the constant influx of new athletes and holding off the charge of them trying to take your spot requires you to be prepared and on top of your game. On top of that, sometimes you lose out and you learn how to deal with adversity and those life lessons learned follow you throughout your life and I use them every day.

CA: Is there a specific trait acquired while being a student-athlete that you think is utilized more than others in business?

SW: I can’t pinpoint one trait; I would say it’s an equal balance of all of them. However, if you forced me to pick one, I would have to say being competitive is the one I would pick. The market place is changing and the world is changing, things are speeding up and you have to be competitive and if you’re not, you’re not going to provide what your customer wants. Someone else is going to beat you to the finish line.

CA: What advice would you share with Career Athletes members who are currently working and striving to attain leadership positions within their organizations?

SW: Be patient and take your time; survey the landscape. Our competitiveness as athletes can be a double-edged sword and turn people off and lead to stigmas and stereotyping. So be patient, get to know all the players in the game and don’t just focus on your supervisor or your supervisor’s supervisor. Learn everything you can about your company. Find out what your company’s strategy is, what the mission is, get religious on what the company is trying to accomplish and then do things the right way. Never take shortcuts. Be patient and try to accomplish things within the company’s strategic plans and you will get noticed. You will get noticed the right way.

CA: Is it ok to approach the higher-ups in your company and let them know of your ambition or should you let your work get you noticed?
SW: That is a good question. If your intention is to get noticed by the higher-ups, the best way to do that is through results. I don’t care how big an organization is, results get noticed. If you perform with excellence, someone is going to notice. My advice for our new people is, find a reason for me to come ask you a question or to find out how it is that you achieved something. I like to meet everybody, but I especially like to sit down with those who are working hard and accomplishing great things. I think it’s important to network within your company and be seen, but I think a lot of time people go overboard with that.

CA: What advice or counsel would you give to current student-athletes looking to impress you with their resume?

SW: I like to see longevity at whatever it is. I don’t care for all the transferring I am seeing with student-athletes after they sit the bench for a year. I would rather speak to a career second stringer that toughed it out at the university for all four years as opposed to someone who rode the bench for a year and then transferred and started somewhere else. The fact that somebody dug their heels in and decided to build upon something where they were at, stuck with the decision, and kept their word to go and represent that university for four or five years means a lot to me personally. On top of that, I like to know that individuals get involved with their communities and try to make a positive difference. When I am meeting with an individual who has shown the ability to commit to a team for a long period of time and also give back to their community, I know we will have an individual who will stay with our company for a good amount of time.

CA: Who you know is more important today than ever. Surveys consistently show that around 85% of new careers or promotions were through personal connections. How important is professional networking?

SW: I believe networking is very important especially for a college athlete coming out of school and starting off in a new career. I guess the old adage is you should run with someone faster than you if you want to get faster. Running in circles that you are not comfortable in will build your confidence. Once you have taken your time to survey the landscape and understand where things are moving within an organization, figure out who you want to aspire to be like, find that person and try to find ways to get closer to them.

CA: How beneficial have mentors been in your career? How did they become mentors?

SW: You need to be proactive in trying to seek out a mentor. There are lessons to be learned in life that one will learn all the time just by proxy of being alive, but there are mistakes you can avoid in life by attaching yourself to a mentor who has been through these experiences. I do think a mistake some make when looking for a mentor is that they always look up. They naturally tend to target more experienced or older individuals, but there are lessons to be learned from people that are younger than you and across different levels in an organization as well. One of my early mentors here at Ferrellgas is Bill Clever. When I started out as a branch manager, Bill was one of my truck drivers. Bill is still a truck driver today and I still consider him a mentor. Bill is someone I can call and he treats me the same as when we first met and isn’t afraid to tell me what’s going on with the company. I think it’s important to find mentors that have accomplished what you want too, but I also think there is merit in identifying mentors who have a lot of life experiences no matter what they are doing in an organization.

CA: Was being a CEO a goal you established early on in life?

SW: It was a goal of mine early on, but I think what happens with athletes, for example, is that we visualize things; we mentally prepare ourselves before our event. As I started achieving certain levels within the organization, I used the same visualization techniques I learned as an athlete to visualize myself as CEO. I didn’t necessarily have the exact strategic plan of how to become CEO, but I could envision myself as CEO because I knew I had a lot to bring to the organization. I strongly encourage athletes to use visualization and mental preparation in their professional career just as they did in their sport. I use this approach in everything that I do within the organization. I have to give a lot of investor conferences and I know ahead of time who will be in the audience and what a different banker’s stance is on our company. I envision what questions they will ask me and try to always play the game before the game is played.

CA: How does the pressure we experience of playing college athletics compare to being a CEO?

SW: It is very comparable. It is funny you asked that question. I can recall the pressure that it takes to be a skilled player in football like it was yesterday. As a skilled player, you have to be perfect every time with very few chances. Athletes say this all the time and I don’t think most people believe them, but they say ‘I don’t even hear anything when I am out there; I just focus on the task at hand.’ I think the skill of staying focused and preparing before an event is something we all learn as athletes and it sure does play well into your professional life.

CA: Do you have any final words of advice for the Career Athletes community?

SW:I tell people that the window of opportunity isn’t always obvious, but there is always one out there somewhere and you have to jump through it and take advantage of the opportunity when you see it. A lot of times, our gut tells us ‘I need to act on this impulse’ and, unfortunately, a lot of times we shut this impulse down. When that window shuts, you never know when it’s going to open again. You have to be able to recognize opportunities and the only way you can recognize opportunities is by getting to know your company, paying attention and bringing your best every day. If you do things right and pay attention, those windows will open up more often than not. A lot of people expect things to happen naturally and that’s not the way it is. You need to take some risks.