Unveiling the Traits of Servant Leadership and Grit on the Path to Success

Jerick Henley: A Journey in Entrepreneurial Excellence and Tenacity

Jerick Henley stands out as an exceptional entrepreneur, dedicating three decades to building thriving organizations from the bottom up. He is Chief Marketing Officer at American Health Staffing Group (AHSG). However, his current achievements result from a long journey paved with determination, tireless effort, and an innate ability to inspire and motivate others to surpass their limits. ?

Countless accomplishments and milestones mark Jerick’s entrepreneurial journey and showcase his tenacity and servant leadership. He has encountered numerous obstacles on his path, yet his steadfast resolve has propelled him forward, undeterred by challenges.?

Behind Jerick’s success lies an inspiring narrative of resilience, adaptability, and a relentless pursuit of greatness, and his story serves as a testament to the boundless possibilities within a person’s spirit, motivation and drive.

A case study in tenacity

Straight out of college, Jerick was full of confidence. On one of his first sales calls, he took over a particular product to demonstrate how it worked to a prospective buyer. Unfortunately, he spent too much time fumbling to get it working, and the prospect walked out of the sales presentation and never returned. When Jerick went to find him, he was raked to the coals in the meanest way possible. In fact, he had never been spoken to like that.

With his tail between his legs, Jerick wouldn’t be wrong if he quit the job right there and then. He began to drive away. If he turned left, he would go back to the office. If he turned right, he would move in the opposite direction or away from the problem. He did turn right and thought that this couldn't be what business would be like for him. After driving around, he realized he wouldn't let anybody talk to him like that, even if it was a self-inflicted wound. Jerick turned the truck around, went back in and apologized again. But this time, he forced the prospect to come back and look at the product.?

This moment transformed the rest of Jerick’s 30-year career. It proved to him he needed and had a level of tenacity he probably wouldn’t have ever achieved if he had started on an easier sales call. “I needed my pride and ego checked,” said Jerick. “I was absolutely humiliated that day and learned that preparation, purpose, and tenacity hold value.” ?

Jerick will never forget that moment and is thankful for that day that shaped the rest of his career. Ironically, that prospective client became one of his best customers, and Jerick thanked him throughout the years for that experience because if he had treated him differently, he wouldn’t have learned that lesson so early.

E stands for entrepreneur and effort

Although Jerick wouldn’t change his career choice of entrepreneurship, he does realize that you will have ups and downs if you choose this path. As Jerick illustrated, you will have many doors slammed in your face and need a lot of effort to get through the challenges. ?

Jerick suggests that an entrepreneurial spirit coupled with hard work can lead to success. For Jerick, the entrepreneurial bug was planted at a young age because his father was also an entrepreneur. Jerick witnessed tenacity, intentionality, and passion about what his father did, and most importantly, he was full of energy and enthusiasm about his work and relentlessly pursued success.

Even if you have the entrepreneurial spirit in your DNA, you can still feel hesitant about jumping into business ownership. For Jerick, he knew he wanted to work and invest in himself but didn't feel like he was the smartest guy. But he believed he could build some great businesses if he demonstrated grit and tenacity.

Know your strengths and weaknesses and making a partnership work

For those ingrained with an entrepreneurial spirit, it is good to recognize your limitations. Jerick works with his long-time business partner, Mark Smith, AHSG’s CEO. Mark and Jerick are a perfect match. Jerick needs Mark to help his businesses thrive because he realized that he is great at building businesses but needs to hand off some of the daily operations to someone better at the details, like Mark. ?

Selecting a partner to do business with takes part discernment and part investment. You will want to do your due diligence ahead of time and understand if you will work well with the partner and if your values match. But even if it is a perfect match, similar to a marriage, you must work at it to make it last for the long term. ?

Staying humble and being honest and transparent are good ways to keep a partnership going strong. By heading into conversations with humility, everyone can discuss challenging things because each person assumes the other has the best intentions to solve the issue.?

Jerick commented that creating an exit strategy in case the business fails is equally vital as entering into a business partnership and continuing to develop the relationship. Business owners should consider how to unwind the business partnership if unsuccessful. This helps with planning and brings to light many motivations and honest conversations you wouldn't usually have.

The three success factors

Jerick shared three components that he believes comprise success for entrepreneurs:?

1.???Grit - We are all given a level of talent from the start, but if we put effort into that talent, we turn it into a skill. Jerick believes that extra effort counts.

2.???Simplify - Entrepreneurs are often on the cutting edge or early adopters of a product or service. As a result, they are often put into a position of explaining their forward-thinking ideas to others. To cast a vision to others and sometimes outline very complicated strategies, simplifying concepts to teammates and clients is extremely helpful. Getting people to digest the idea and rally behind it is key, and simplifying the explanation is one skill an entrepreneur can use to build success for their ideas.

3.???The why - People can always get paid to do work or buy a service if they need it. But believing and backing the purpose behind the work or service is where people commit. The why for Jerick centers around supporting families, believing in individuals, and creating opportunities for them. Once people believe in an idea’s purpose vision, they become more committed to the work. ?

Creating a loyal grit culture?

Jerick believes that to instill grit into the business culture, you must have servant leadership and a staff willing to embrace a challenge. ?

First, Jerick demonstrates servant leadership by showing his employees that he does the work and cares about employees. It is more than talk; there is no handing off tasks to assistants or skipping out on team dinners. "Grit and servant leadership can't be done by proxy," said Jerick. "Your motivations must be authentic, and the staff has to sense and feel it too."?

Second, employees must have a stake in their future success. Some will buy into the challenge, grow their loyalty, and display grit and determination. But, again, this grit starts at the executive level when they witness the leadership serving the business hands-on. ?

An important thing to remember is that not everyone will buy into the culture. Once you recognize that an employee cannot demonstrate grit at your place of business, it's best to move on and find someone who will.?

Jerick's servant leadership and grit have paid off in employee retention and hiring for AHSG, as most of his new hires are referrals. This reduces the company's employee acquisition costs and brings in people to engage positively with the company on day one.?AHSG?has also won several awards for employee retention and satisfaction, and their company motto, "Make a difference daily in the lives of those we serve," is one admirable example of the intention and purpose of servant leadership.

Last Advice

For entrepreneurs looking to leap into business ownership, Jerick advises that hard work will get you far. Jerick has encountered plenty of obstacles in his career, but because he worked hard, his efforts made a difference, and challenges worked themselves out.

?Although we all look for a balance between work and life, when you are starting a business, this may be offset for a while. The amount of effort it will take to get the business going cannot be diminished. Don’t back down from a setback, no matter how hard the fall. “This stuff is not easy, but the more effort you put into it, the more you will get out of it,” Jerick said. "You may not be the smartest or have the best product or service, but effort matters at the end of the day."