52 Cups of Coffee: 417 Edition - Cup 43/52 - Dwayne Fulk

Here's the weekly boilerplate intro if you've already read anything from past cups of coffee skip ahead to the cup of coffee below the name!

After hearing about the book 52 Cups of Coffee on a Podcast, I thought it sounded like a great opportunity to connect to people in my community. Initially, my plan was to just have coffee once a week with someone I know. I was thinking of friends, family members, or colleagues with whom I could spend some quality time. But the opportunity to engage with my community is always in the back of my mind. So I thought it might be interesting to ask the same set of questions to a diverse cast of influential and interesting people in the 417 area and share them here on my LinkedIn page. At the end of the year, who knows what we'll have... at the very least it's 52 interesting conversations. It's a loose plan. I don't have any real intentions and I think that's the beauty of it. Curiosity. Community. And a chance to learn a little bit from each person. A big thanks to the folks at Travellers House Coffee & Tea for being willing to provide a place to chat and several cups of coffee throughout the year!

**I don't like taking notes while having coffee and conversation so I've trusted Otter to do the transcribing. Any editing issues are my own. I'm not a professional. :) I've included a list of books we discuss throughout the conversation at the bottom.

Dwayne Fulk - 43/52

I have to admit I've heard good things about Mr. Dwayne Fulk so I'm not sure why I was surprised to find this cup of coffee to be so refreshing and enlightening, but if worked at City Utilities of Springfield I would be really proud to be a part of that team and really excited for the incoming new CEO. Dwayne clearly is the type of leader that considers his people first and acts from the philosophy. His professional experience has prepared him for a role that truly impacts all of us in the Springfield area at least and I am comfortable knowing Dwayne is "keeping the lights on" for us for the foreseeable future. I am always inspired by leaders that talk about seeking happiness, extending kindness, and leading intentionally. I also told Dwayne after I turned off the microphones that I usually save the compliments for this section of the article, but I was truly very impressed and inspired by his story and his philosophy. This is a good one. I hope you get something out of it, I know I did.

Rhett Roberson?

What is the CliffsNotes version of the story of you??

Dwayne Fulk?

Okay, well, I arrived in Springfield in 1987 as a freshman at Missouri State. I didn't know anybody in Springfield and was lucky enough to get thrown in with a roommate who was a native. So, I got to know his family and got to know the area. I worked for a law firm here, then left for law school. I tried really hard to find a place better and convinced myself there was no place better than here. I've been happy here ever since I first started working in a law firm in 1994.?

Rhett Roberson?

Cool.?

Dwayne Fulk?

Since then, I had a 25-year career in private practice of law. I started at City Utilities in 2017 after being on the Citizens Advisory Council for three and a half years. When the General Counsel position opened up, it was actually what I think is the number one job for a lawyer in Springfield. It was one of my career ambitions to have that opportunity, and I just happened to be lucky enough for the timing to work out. The General Counsel at the time, John Black, told me it was public service, and if you don't like public service, you wouldn't like it. I said, "Oh, I like public service. I know community service, I've done that." I didn't realize until I started working there how that permeates the company and all the employees. Ever since then, it's been like my community service and my job all wrapped into one. I didn't know. I thought I knew a few things from my service on the Citizens Advisory Council, turns out I didn't know much at all about how complicated the utility industry is, how complicated it is to have five commodities and one utility. I think it's unique to city utilities. Electric, gas, water, broadband and transit. So, the people I work with are some of the smartest and most creative people I've ever met. The industry is one of the most exciting and most current that I can think of and every single one of our commodities and all of our support services are in disruption right now. So, our biggest focuses are on innovation, and I think that's going to be our biggest challenge; to think differently. Especially in an industry that's so old and so entrenched in some of its ways, but it's exciting. So, that's the CliffsNotes version.?

Rhett Roberson?

Where'd you grow up?

Dwayne Fulk?

I grew up in Macon, Missouri, a small town in North Missouri, and at the time, I had never been to this area of the state. When I was looking at colleges, Don Simpson, that's Matt Simpson's father, was the head of admissions at Missouri State. He called to ask if I've ever been to Springfield, Missouri. I said, "No, I wasn't planning on it. I was planning on going somewhere else for college." And he convinced me to come take a visit and my family and I really enjoyed our visit. We really enjoyed the area and the college, and the pre law advisor at the time, Alice Bartee, convinced me that I could go anywhere from here, and it turns out, she was right.

But growing up, I had an interest in math, science, and law. I thought I was going to be an aeronautical engineering major in college, but still planned on going to law school and it worked out because Missouri State didn't have that major. I just made up a major. So, coming from Macon to here, a small town in Missouri, not knowing anything about the world, my major in college was international affairs. So, I have an international law degree and for the first 25 years of practice, I did international trade law for about 10% of my practice.?

Rhett Roberson?

Very cool.?

Dwayne Fulk?

I think growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere led me to want to get out and branch out.?

Rhett Roberson?

Were your parents involved in law? How did you get interested in practicing law?

Dwayne Fulk

No, actually, my parents were both government employees. My father was a highway patrol radio operator. He worked nights. He had learned that trade in the Navy. My mother worked for the school system as a lunch lady. She was a school cook. So, I didn't know anything about law, but my middle school and high school English teachers encouraged me to consider it. Luckily, it was something that I had an aptitude for, and was able to apply some of the things I'd learned. I have really enjoyed the practice of law in the sense of the way it teaches you how to analyze and learn and think, but also to advocate. I think it's a skillset that you can apply to a lot of different things. At least, I'm hoping that.?

Rhett Roberson?

(Laughs) Yeah, I would think so! What brings you joy?

Dwayne Fulk?

What brings me joy--and I've really had the opportunity to do this since I've been at City Utilities--is developing people. I enjoy the work that I do, I enjoy the people I work with, but what I really enjoy is giving people additional responsibility and seeing how they do, providing coaching, and answering questions. It's really exciting how the people that I work with now and some of the young people I've worked with through some of our nonprofit organizations and through the educational community, can grow and blossom. I was fortunate enough to have mentors that gave me that opportunity when I was first out in the work world and practicing law. So, it's so great to give back and I believe that's really the way that we can be the most impactful. The way you can live forever and be "immortal" is only through the people that you help and influence through your lifetime.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to getting to the end of this, which is more of the legacy question. Sounds like you lean that direction already. What do you do when you need to recharge?

Dwayne Fulk?

I am what my daughter and I call, an extroverted introvert. I enjoy being out with people. I enjoy being social and communicating externally, but my recharge is reading and spending time alone. My relaxation is things that are mundane and mostly brainless like ironing, shining shoes, mowing the lawn, cleaning cars. I don't know that I would say that's the answer to your question, but that's the first thing that comes to mind. We spend a lot of time, my wife and I, with family and at the lake. So, that's some of the things that we enjoy.?

Rhett Roberson?

How many kids do you have??

Dwayne Fulk?

We have three children. Our oldest daughter, Michaela, just turned 35 and she has three children with her husband, Andy. So, we have three grandchildren: five, almost three, and almost six months. Our son is in the middle and he's an auditor with Forvis. He just got married two weeks ago. That was an exciting development. He lives in Kansas City. Our youngest daughter is a senior in college at University of Tulsa. She just received notice that she's going to be one of the top 10 seniors recognized at the homecoming game next weekend and in the homecoming court as well!

Rhett Roberson?

Congratulations!?

Dwayne Fulk?

She's a pre-med major, so she's taking the MCAT soon and applying for medical school.

Rhett Roberson?

Gotcha! Well, probably a proud father then.

Dwayne Fulk?

Yes, absolutely.?

Rhett Roberson?

I just have the one little girl. She just turned three. We've got a lot of stuff ahead of us!?

Dwayne Fulk?

It goes really fast. My advice is take lots of pictures and videos. They love to watch those later, and they'll really appreciate those.?

Rhett Roberson?

So, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you??

Dwayne Fulk?

I'm 55.?

Rhett Roberson?

Okay, I was going to say, you seem to be a young man for having a 35 year old daughter!?

Dwayne Fulk?

(Laughs) Well, I appreciate that. Sometimes I don't feel so young.?

Rhett Roberson?

(Laughs) You and me both. How would your colleagues describe you??

Dwayne Fulk?

Oh, wow. I would say my colleagues would describe me as fast-moving but thoughtful, tough but fair. Those are some things I've heard from some of the employees that I work with. I have had the pleasure of working with a lot of our employee groups, our unions, and some of the negotiations that we've done for the contracts that the three different unions have. So, I think across the board, what I try to do is be open, honest, transparent, and fair. Those are the things that I strive for.?

Rhett Roberson?

Sure. In your in your practice before did you deal with unions at all in any of that??

Dwayne Fulk?

I did. I had a varied practice in private practice. I started out doing aviation finance, of all things. I was traveling Monday through Friday and buying and selling and leasing commercial jet aircraft. I also had a local practice that involved local businesses, general corporate work. A few of those had unions, and I was able to negotiate contracts for some of them, but my primary focus by the time I ended my first half of my career was mergers and acquisitions.?

Rhett Roberson?

Gotcha.?

Dwayne Fulk?

So, we did have some union groups involved in some of those as well.?

Rhett Roberson?

Okay. I'm sure that brings some particular challenges of its own during a merger and acquisition process.?

Dwayne Fulk?

It does, and yet, what I found is that people are people.?

Rhett Roberson?

Sure.?

Dwayne Fulk?

You know, we all want the same things. We all care about leaving a legacy. We all care about our families. Everyone wants to do a good job. That's probably been my biggest lesson I've learned at City Utilities, the worst thing you can say to an employee is that you're disappointed in them, that they didn't do a good job. I'm surprised how much pride people have in their work, but I probably shouldn't be considering that they feel like they work for the community, and they don't want to let anyone down.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, that's good stuff. Can you describe the work that you do now? And as you transition into your new role how will that work change? What will the work be going forward??

Dwayne Fulk?

Yeah... that may take a little time. So, in my role as senior vice president, chief legal and economic development officer--which is probably the longest title ever at City Utilities--I'm over the legal and government relations department, the environmental affairs department, the records governance departments, the internal auditing departments, the electric reliability compliance department. So, in other words, all the fun stuff. When I arrived at City Utilities, they were not considered to be the department of fun.?

Rhett Roberson?

(Laughs) Everyone gets very excited for compliance.?

Dwayne Fulk?

That's right. And maybe not even the departments of "yes", in terms of trying to find ways to solve problems and work through transactions. We try not to be the departments of slow or the departments of "no". We try to find solutions. So, in that role, I was involved in a lot of the things that I think I'll be doing as president and CEO, but as an advisor and as a facilitator, as opposed to the final decision maker. I'm looking forward to that role, but also the role of working on our visioning process as we go to a new strategic plan. And then being the person who's out front and center as we engage more with the community and with our stakeholders in trying to move that plan forward. I think that'll be the main difference, just the seat that I'm in, and then the responsibilities.?

Rhett Roberson?

That's a lot of titles to transition.?

Dwayne Fulk?

Yes.?

Rhett Roberson?

Are they all going to go to one person again or are you splitting that up across a few people??

Dwayne Fulk?

That's a great question. The department I didn't mention that I took on last year is economic development. That's something I did in my private practice on the client side, where I represented developers, landowners, and business owners. So, for the last year, I've been working with the economic development team, as Dean Thompson has been working with the Chamber of Commerce and the Springfield Business Development Corporation on regional economic development. So, I don't know that there'll be someone who will do the legal side and the economic development side, at least not right away, but our plan is to have an Interim Director of Legal and then do a search in the spring for someone to take over that role. Then Dean Thompson will probably be more available at that time, and he can take back over the economic development side.?

Rhett Roberson?

You kind of briefly touched on it earlier. The question is, how did you get into your line of work? I guess, more specifically, how or why did you make the jump from your private practice to internal counsel??

Dwayne Fulk?

Sure.?

Rhett Roberson?

Did you continue to do some private practice? Or once you're there, are you there??

Dwayne Fulk?

Right. Great questions. So, you know, as I mentioned, I got into law from the recommendation of teachers, because I didn't have any family members that practice law. In fact, I was the first member of my family to go to and graduate from college, and certainly the first one to go to and graduate with a degree in professional schools or a master's degree. I think the idea that I had at the time is I just wanted to help people. Jerry Seinfeld has a joke about how lawyers are the people who read the rules on the inside of the board game box. That was something that I'm sure I did early on growing up, but knowing those rules helps you to facilitate how to work within the rules and then accomplish whatever someone else's business goals are. So, I really appreciated my role as a facilitator and of helping people accomplish what they were trying to do.

At the same time, as a lawyer in private practice, you're also a business owner. When you become a partner in a law firm or a shareholder in a corporate law firm, those are the roles where you're building a book of business, developing a client base, working out in the community and economic development. I enjoyed both sides of that. In my role working with airlines and aviation finance, I worked a lot with Trans World Airlines. I actually had an office in their in house counsel department in St Louis with a post-it note on the door with my name on it, because I was up there so much. So, I got a taste of what it was like working in the in house counsel role, where I worked on, not just the legal side, but the business side as well. I always had in the back of my mind that was something that I would like to work my way into and as I mentioned, I think the general council role at City Utilities is generally known, at least in my opinion, as the best legal role in Springfield. So, that was always an aspiration of mine.

In private practice, after 25 years, I found myself doing a lot of the same things over and over again, forming LLCs, helping people buy and sell real estate, or buy and sell businesses. A lot of the documentation is similar. Looking ahead in my career and doing the same thing over and over again didn't sound as appealing as doing something new. So, when the opportunity arose that was one of the biggest hurdles for me, the concept of giving up my client base, because you can't do both. You can't continue private practice and also be in house, especially for a government organization. So, it's kind of like burning the ships behind you. There's no looking back, right? That was exciting for me. In the role I'm in now, our goal is to get ahead of problems and keep them from becoming actual legal matters in terms of a litigation or a claim. I think we've been very successful with that, by focusing on preventative measures and education and working with our employees on how to get ahead of things.?

Rhett Roberson?

Who's the best boss or leader you've had the opportunity to work with and what made them so good??

Dwayne Fulk?

Sure, I mentioned earlier that I had a great mentor when I first was practicing law. He's deceased now. His name was Jerry Redfern, and he was a partner at Neale and Newman, in my first client meeting he turned to me and asked my opinion in front of the client. When I said that I would defer to him, he said, "You have a license, just like me. You're a lawyer, just like me. Your opinions important, just like mine." That blew me away and I've tried to bring that to every interaction since then with people that I mentoring or that I'm working with. Because everyone brings different skill sets and different opinions and different knowledge to the table, but they're all important. Jerry was the one who took me under his wing, introduced me to his clients, and the other clients of the firm, helped me develop my professional approach, and my client base. Also, he and his wife were great people who would always have the social side of things. They would bring new people in the firm into their house, out to dinner with other attorneys, and just introduce us to the bigger world in Springfield of the community. Before he passed away, he transitioned into nonprofit roles, where he ran a couple of foundations. The Musgrave Foundation was one of those. Through that, I saw what an impact he was making on the community, and that's what I'm modeling the second half of my career on is the giving back phase. So, it was great to have a mentor who was such a developer, and I think that's how I've modeled my focus now on developing people.?

Rhett Roberson?

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up??

Dwayne Fulk?

As a child, my dream was to become an astronaut. Even through high school, I thought I might still try to be a fighter pilot or to be in the Air Force, at least. So, my first college enrollment was as an aeronautical engineering major. I was thinking I would go to law school, but that would be my back up, because I might still harbor those dreams of being a pilot. I've still never tried, so that's still something I'd like to do someday.?

Rhett Roberson?

Even with all the time around the aviation industry, huh??

Dwayne Fulk?

Even with all that time. One of the things I did as an attorney in the aviation industry was to go on the shop floor at the TWA overhaul base in Kansas City and talk to the engineers and the mechanics about all the things they do when they rehab a plane. A C check, a D check, things like video bore scoping the engines, how much it costs, what was involved. That was what we focused on in our negotiations, but I also learned how careful and how much overlap there is in what they what they do to make sure that those are safe. So, I actually feel much safer in a plane sometimes than I do on the road.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, that's a lot of necessary trip wires there. Fail safe, somewhat.?

Dwayne Fulk?

Absolutely, yes.?

Rhett Roberson?

What book has had the most profound impact on your life??

Dwayne Fulk?

I purchased a book for my son for his high school graduation called The Alchemist . That's a short, easy to read fable type book. Since then, I've discovered who I think is the modern author in that vein, and that's Patrick Lencioni. Patrick Lencioni is a business author who writes in fables. So, I don't know if I can pick just one book, but if I can pick The Alchemist as the inspiration, and Patrick Lencioni is the practical side, those are the types of books that speak to me.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, I've read The Ideal Team Player .

Dwayne Fulk?

Yes.

Rhett Roberson?

And that's a good one. It's a real quick read, but the alchemist was absolutely my favorite book for several years.?

Dwayne Fulk?

Absolutely. What I get from The Alchemist, there's a lot of things you can get from fables, but what I get from it is the idea that if you go out and try to find your happiness and try to find your treasure, you'll probably end up right back where you started, because it's not out there somewhere, it's where you are.

If you go out and try to find your happiness and try to find your treasure, you'll probably end up right back where you started, because it's not out there somewhere, it's where you are.

If you can find your happiness, and you can find your life's work and your treasure where you're planted, that's where true happiness and success comes from. And it's not about trying to get something from someone else, or to try to put something over on someone else, it's about being open to opportunities. And not just from The Alchemist, but from other readings, I think it has to be a team. You have to be open to the universe helping you achieve your goals. And if your eyes are open, and if you are attuned to that, you can find it.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, I love this. I'm glad that you chose to sit down with me. I never know what I'm going to get. I mean, that's just a philosophy that really resonates with me. So, maybe I'm a little biased, but to have a leader like you in the community who has the opportunity to really impact a lot of folks, to have that view on life, I think that's really neat. Even if it is 100% bias. I just love that that was your book. Whatever that's worth.?

Dwayne Fulk?

Sure, absolutely.?

Rhett Roberson?

What's a the most important lesson you've learned in life so far.?

Dwayne Fulk?

I'd say, the most important lesson I've learned in life, and I just mentioned a little bit of it, is that it takes a team. And probably the biggest mistake I ever made in my life was not being part of a study group in law school. I thought I could do it on my own. I thought I should do it on my own. I wasn't trusting of other people to help me in reading cases and preparing for exams and working on projects. I found out pretty quickly that it's difficult to do everything yourself. There's just not enough time in the day, and you don't have enough experience and enough knowledge or skills to do everything. We do a lot of collaboration at City Utilities. We do a lot of teamwork. That's not always apparent in the law firm world, so it's been very refreshing to do that. I feel like we can do more, more quickly through others than we can do on our own. I've really tried to take that to heart and tried to weave that into developing people and making sure that we're collaborating every chance we can get.?

Rhett Roberson?

What advice would you offer for young professionals entering the workforce??

Dwayne Fulk?

What I would say to young professionals is to get out and get involved. There are a lot of opportunities to be involved in Springfield, even as a young professional. One of the best things I did in my beginning my career was joining Rotaract. I was in the Leadership Springfield program. At this point, I would probably join The Network. I'm no longer qualified for that, but if I was, I think those are the three things I would look at doing right away. There are a lot of other things to do as well. But whatever your interests are, whatever your passions are, get out and meet other people, get involved. The 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle, applies to everything. 20% of the people in Springfield do 80% of the work, and you'll be involved before you know it.?

Rhett Roberson?

Right. Yeah, and we have such a welcoming community.?

Dwayne Fulk?

Yes.?

Rhett Roberson?

This type of project, just using this as the example, it'd be pretty difficult in a lot of communities to get 52 people, especially in leadership positions, to take an hour out of their day to come meet up. So, I think even this project is an example of that.?

Dwayne Fulk?

I think that's true. Springfield, I think in attitude, at least, is a big small town. People appreciate connections here, and I think they seek connections here.?

Rhett Roberson?

What are you most proud of??

Dwayne Fulk?

I'm most proud of my family. My wife and I met when I graduated law school and I came to Springfield and tried to get a loan from a bank, and she was the loan officer on duty when I came in with my documents marked up. So, I didn't make the best first impression! The freshman roommate that I had in college, his father actually set us up on our first date and gave the toast at our wedding. So, those connections paid off in that way as well. Since then, we've had a lot of adventures together, and we have three great kids, three great grandkids... three wonderful grandkids, not three great grandkids.?

Rhett Roberson?

(Laughs)?

Dwayne Fulk?

And you know, we're looking forward to the next chapter of our lives where we're going where we empty nesters, and we get to travel together. She's retired from banking. Her name is Tammy. She was a banker for 35 years in Springfield for State Bank of Southwest Missouri, which is a one location, sort of the first private bank in Springfield. So, high customer service. But I told the board of City Utilities that when they hire me, it's a twofer, because she relates to people at a different level that I do. She's involved in the community as well and does a lot of volunteering. We're a team, and I think we'll be able to accomplish a lot for City Utilities and for the community together.?

Rhett Roberson?

Yeah, that's very cool. When the empty nest portion of the life hits, where's the first bucket list trip??

Dwayne Fulk?

Well, we gave up our trip to Italy for our 25th anniversary in 2020. We were hoping to take that next year, but we're already thinking that we may have some other trips we need to take with our family to make up for trips that we canceled during COVID. So, hopefully someday we'll make it there.?

Rhett Roberson?

It's still on my bucket list as well. Alright, final question, my favorite question, it's the legacy question, how do you hope the world is better for having you??

Dwayne Fulk?

I mentioned that I love to develop people. I think that's the way that we can make the most impact in our lives, the most ripple effect out to the community and to the world. The only way I think you can live forever, the only way to be truly immortal, and to make an impact in that way. But every day, what I try to do is to try to make someone's life better. One person each day. I think that's my legacy, is to just be kind to people and to have that small impact for a random stranger. And if everyone did that in the world, it would be a lot better place.?

Rhett Roberson?

Agreed. Love it. Is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have??

Dwayne Fulk?

Wow, great question. You asked a lot of good questions. I think that covers it for me.?

Rhett Roberson?

All right!?

Dwayne Fulk?

I appreciate it.?

Rhett Roberson?

I really appreciate you making time.

Books

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

The Ideal Team Player - Patrick Lencioni