Greg Lindberg, Founder of Global Growth, Releases New Book, 'Failing Early and Often: How to Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage'

DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On the day before he was to report to a federal prison camp in Mobile, Ala., Greg Lindberg, Founder of Global Growth, released a new book that examines the numerous obstacles he overcame in building the Company and the lessons he learned from his business and personal adversities.

The book, "Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage," can be downloaded for free here: https://www.greglindberg.com/book/

Hard copies are available for purchase on Amazon.

Mr. Lindberg, who is appealing his conviction, said he believes others can learn from the obstacles he overcame while building Global Growth from an initial investment of $5,000 into a Company that today is valued at more than $1 billion.

Those obstacles include numerous business setbacks, failed investments, a brain tumor that threatened his life and recently a bribery conviction related to political campaign donations that is under appeal.

"Before I check in to the camp at Montgomery on Tuesday, I wanted you to have a book that I wrote that may help you with your own adversities. This book is full of the lessons I have harvested from the seeds of my adversity," Mr. Lindberg said.

Below are excerpts from Part One and Part Two of the book:

"If you want to begin work on your dream now, learn from failure and embrace pain. I am here to help you get started and stay the course.

I humbly hope this book will help you turn any adversity, failure, heartbreak or trauma into an even greater advantage. I have had a few failures and adversities of my own. I've been divorced, indicted, convicted and have failed at numerous different business ventures.

I am currently facing a lengthy prison sentence. Yes, I am being ordered to prison for asking for "fair and rigorous regulation" from an "unbiased regulator." The federal government thinks I am a criminal, despite the fact I said on tape numerous times (not knowing I was being recorded) that everything we do must be fully compliant with the law.

I believe I've made every mistake there is to make in business at least twice.  I had a golf ball-sized brain tumor removed, which means I am half deaf and had to learn to walk again.  I've lost hundreds of millions of dollars on failed investments.

I am a humble student of the "School of Hard Knocks," and I am hoping to share a few lessons with you here in overcoming adversity—and turning it into an even greater advantage.

A little warning. This book is not going to give you the answers. Rather, this book will suggest a path that will lead to learning and wisdom through trial, error and failure. Simply reading this book will not give you this knowledge; you must take the material in this book and turn it into daily action and habits that will ultimately form your character after many years of repetitive effort. Nothing short of that will last. Nothing short of that will ultimately produce the greater advantage from your adversity.

Are you prepared to get out of your comfort zone and examine what unconscious beliefs are driving you to a fate that you might neither want nor deserve? Are you ready to embark on a path of self-awareness, of making the unconscious conscious, and to form new thoughts, new actions, new habits and a new character? These are critical steps toward turning adversity into advantage— and they must come first. You can't skip right to the end."

Most people underestimate the extent to which they are subject to the perceptions and perspective lens of their nature/nurture background. As a result, they limit the possibilities they see in life to the limitations of this lens. And, most importantly, they limit their ability to turn adversity into advantage. This, in turn, limits their ability to recover and prosper after living through a disaster such as COVID-19.

But, your subconscious is not your fate. And your genetics are not your fate. Your subconscious can be made conscious and be rewritten with new affirmations that will both unleash your freedom and quite possibly alter your genetic structure.

Regardless of where you might ultimately find your advantage—in business, your career, art, sports or your community— don't expect results quickly. Turning adversity into advantage can take years. But when the advantage does appear—and appear it will if you persist long enough— you will be overwhelmed by its power and wonder where it has been all these years.

I was recently sentenced to more than seven years in prison for something all my advisors agreed "there was nothing wrong with." It could take the better part of the coming decade to realize the full advantage from this adversity. But the advantage is there, and when it emerges, it will be more powerful than ever.

This book may also help you be a better leader if you should choose that path. Are you ready to make the sacrifice to be a leader? Leadership is not easy. Leadership is not entertainment. Leadership will absolutely increase your stress level and make you a target for everyone who wants what you have but doesn't want to pay the price.

The leader must always be willing to face the most pain and the most danger; otherwise, the social contract between the leaders and the followers is broken. The leader must take the risk of persecution, indignity, embarrassment, pain, incarceration and even death, if necessary. Any leader not willing to accept these risks is ultimately a leader in title only.

Finally, this book may help you overcome your fear of achieving your dreams. When you do conquer your fear, this can, in turn, instill fear in your detractors, especially those detractors whose power comes solely from their title. These detractors, without that title, know they are nothing."

In the book, Mr. Lindberg also explains he is confident that Global Growth will thrive under the leadership of Chairman George A. Vandeman and the rest of the executive team while he is serving his sentence. This can be attributed to one of Mr. Lindberg's guiding principles, 'first who, then what,' which emphasizes how important it is to build a good team and give them the independence and opportunity to thrive.

As Mr. Lindberg wrote in the book: "Hiring the right people allows you to move on to tomorrow's opportunities without having to micromanage yesterday's problems."

In Part Five of the book, Mr. Lindberg discussed his confidence in the Global Growth team:

"As of this writing, I am facing a lengthy prison sentence, and I am entirely confident the team at Global Growth can grow the business without my day-to-day involvement. The team has already been given enormous responsibility and has returned this in spades with enormous accountability for delivering results."

Mr. Lindberg also writes about the lessons he learned growing up in a blue-collar family, and how those lessons helped him succeed in business. Following are excerpts from the book:

"I was born in a working-class family. My parents (who were children of a plumber and an auto mechanic) taught me that hard work and discipline were rewarded with success. I remember looking at a ledger book my grandfather kept. He made 8 cents an hour and recorded every penny of income and expense. My dad never took a day off when I was growing up.

I started a business in 1991 with $5,000. I was a college student at the time and saw an unmet need in the home care market for regulatory compliance information and launched a home care newsletter.

By 1998, my business consisted of 12 people working out of one room full of folding tables and computers. We were struggling to meet payroll and pay our printing bill.

During the 1990s, we built products in the health care space and started looking at acquisitions. My first acquisition was for $17,000 in the travel ticketing space just before it disintermediated. That first failed acquisition taught the group a lot about how not to acquire companies.

Sometimes, a "near-death experience" makes you stronger: My business almost died in 1998, and we were able to diversify our revenue streams and rebuild cash flow. By 2002, we were able to close a "stretch" acquisition for $8 million, which gave us a foothold in the medical coding space.

In 2006, we acquired a health care business with $4.8 million in EBITDA. We put into place new management and implemented our core values using lessons from several prior turnarounds.

We then launched over a dozen product lines. Fourteen years later, that business has multiplied its customer base and has EBITDA of more than $74 million.

In 2009, I survived a brain tumor. I was fortunately able to return to work within a few days after the successful surgery.

In 2016, I became politically active during the 2016 general election for North Carolina's commissioner of insurance. I exercised my first amendment right to support former Commissioner Wayne Goodwin's campaign. This ultimately set off a series of unfortunate events that led to my indictment and conviction.

I am very lucky. This entire battle has made me stronger. I am sleeping better, losing weight and working harder and more efficiently than ever. I feel younger and more energized. I am a better father and better friend. Stress and pressure are building my character.

If you ever find yourself in a similar battle, remember: In every adversity there are the seeds of an even greater advantage."

About Greg Lindberg. In 1991, Greg started a small health insurance compliance and reimbursement newsletter business with $5,000. That company became the predecessor company for Global Growth. In the intervening years, Greg completed over 125 acquisitions across numerous technology and services sectors. Today Global Growth has over 8,500 employees, $1.4 billion in revenue and close to $300 million in EBITDA. Greg has invested in businesses operating in the United States, in Europe, in the United Kingdom, Central America, India, Australia, and the Middle East. Greg has funded ground-breaking clinical research studies related to human longevity and the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease. Greg graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude from Yale University in 1993 with an honors degree in economics. To learn more about our founder, please visit https://www.greglindberg.com.

About Global Growth:  Global Growth is a federation of independent businesses worldwide that deliver Global Good.  At Global Growth, we believe that companies that make the world a better place are more likely to thrive. Global Growth portfolio companies:

• Provide healthcare and make it more efficient;
• Conduct research to increase healthy lifespan;
• Help doctors communicate with their patients and each other;
• Ensure freedom of the press;
• Make personal information secure;
• Prevent, reduce, or recapture credit losses for our clients, leading to more affordable credit options;
• Encourage investment in the environment;
• Share technological advancements; and
• Boost entrepreneurial and economic opportunities around the world.

We will invest in growth companies that add value globally. We will act always with integrity. We also look for opportunities for social good. Global Growth companies and their affiliates have donated millions of dollars to causes and provided many hundreds of man hours. For more information visit: https://www.globalgrowth.com/

For more Greg Lindberg news please visit: www.greglindberg.com/in-the-news

SOURCE Global Growth