Today we’d like to introduce you to David Dibble.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After graduating from SDSU, I started a company in a warehouse with $5000 in capital. Over the years we built the company to $10 million in sales and 200 employees. In 1980 I had a spiritual experience that profoundly changed my life. I became a bit of a seeker, particularly interested in answering big question such as: Who am I? What am I here to do? How does the mind work? How does the universe work?
On the business side, in 1980 I became very interested in systems, quality, and process and became an early adapter of systems-based management based upon the work of W. Edwards Deming, Deming was credited with being the central person in the incredible turnaround of Japan after WWII. He was also listed as one of the nine greatest turning points in human history by US News & World Reports. I began implementing Deming’s principles in my own business and, in the process, became known in my industry as a person with some expertise in quality, systems, process and management.
In addition to Deming, I was pulled to the Nobel Prize-winning work of Ilya Prigogine, John Stuart Bell, Albert Einstein, Buckminster Fuller, and Peter Senge, all brilliant men who filled in gaps in my understanding of how businesses and management could/should be. Starting in 1990 and for the following eight years I worked directly with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements. In 2002, I wrote my first book, The New Agreements in the Workplace, which describes a new leadership and management model that creates more value in businesses than traditional models. In 2006, I wrote my second book, The New Agreements in Healthcare, a basic roadmap for the transformation of healthcare in the US.
Over the years I continued to gain valuable pieces for the New Agreements Management Model including developing a comprehensive set of tools managers could use to significantly improve both their people and the business. In the process of using these tools, the managers or leaders themselves would become much more skilled and systems literate–better managers and leaders.
Today I’m putting the New Agreements Tools for Managers and Leaders online. The online Tools courses will be followed by an App that will make these Tools and support available to millions of managers and leaders. My mission is to create a critical mass of managers and leaders using the Tools as the way they manage, creating so much value in their businesses that we will change the world–profoundly–for the better. I hope this will be my legacy.
Has it been a smooth road?
Hardly smooth! I was a bit of a social outcast growing up, always the smallest and youngest in my class. When I lost my grandfather at age 12, I began drinking alcohol and at age 15 taking pills. I can only describe my behavior when under the influence as “death wishy.” This behavior continued and in college, I added cocaine and other goodies to the mix. I started my business at 24 and continued this fast tract spiral until the age of 34 when I had my first spiritual experience and the day I quit the alcohol and drugs and began putting my marriage and life back together.
In 1983 we attempted to take the company public and raise a considerable sum of capital to grow a $100 million company. The underwriter required that I hire a president and COO to oversee the day to day operations, which I did. I then preceded to let this individual run the business into the ground. We lost $millions, never went public and I ended up with a $7million company with a negative net worth of $1.6 million. Although given virtually zero chance of turning the company around, we decided to try. The next three years were the hardest of my life. We finally got our net worth to positive territory and I became an expert on systems and turnaround.
In late 1988, the Aerospace industry, our primary customers, began a restructure. 50% of the business simply disappeared. Any work available could only be had at below cost prices. The more we sold, the more we lost. It was a battle of the balance sheets, who had the most staying power to ride out the storm? It became clear we would not be one of the survivors and I closed the company about nine months before we would have been forced to close. That way we could pay our people and take care of whatever obligations seemed most important.
However, I lost everything–the real estate, cars, savings and etc. I found myself living with my wife and three kids in a rented house with little money and no job prospects. It’s the most frightened I’ve been in my life. As a failed entrepreneur who had never worked for anyone, I was the last person a company would hire, especially in a recession. I looked at my skill sets and decided there was a market for me as a consultant. The rest is history as I looked for better ways to manage and lead to better businesses.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the New Agreements story. Tell us more about the business.
My company looks like other consulting and training companies and, to some extent, it is. I’ve done a lot of onsite consulting and both public and intact group training.
However, I believe what sets us apart is what we are teaching. The New Agreements Tools for Managers and Leaders is a new and superior management paradigm that creates more value in businesses than its predecessors. Not a little more. A lot more value. I guess if I’m proud about anything, it’s that The New Agreements are based upon Nobel Prize winning systems science that describes how the universe grows and evolves.
When we align our businesses with the principles that govern how the universe works, we create businesses that outperform to old models, usually profoundly. I believe I was given this information to share it with the world.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Oh my yes! Business in general and some industries specifically are simply not sustainable. Remember, I’m talking about the legacy models and businesses. Looking at trends, we can see where we might end up. I am reminded of the old saying, “We better be careful. We might end up where we’re headed.”
The other thing is that everything is connected. There are no systems in the universe or in the business world that are not connected to everything else. When one thing goes down, everything is affected in some way. When the critical mass of stress on the systems is met, everything comes tumbling down.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thenewagreements.com
- Phone: 858-775-0722
- Email: david@thenewagreements.com
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbdibble/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
