In this episode, Craig P. Anderson welcomes Phillip Wambsganss, President of Higher Education Servicing Corporation (HESC), to explore how mentorship, humility, and intentional connection shape great leadership. Phillip shares how early career failures, strong mentors, and self-reflection guided his evolution from a young banker to a seasoned nonprofit executive. He and Craig discuss the challenges of leading a growing organization, staying present with teams, and the lifelong balance between confidence and empathy. With stories that bridge personal growth and professional purpose, Phillip reminds us that leadership begins with listening and grows through service.
After You Listen:
Key Takeaways:
Things to listen for:
(00:00) Intro
(01:01) Mentorship and professional growth
(02:08) Influences on Phillip’s leadership style
(05:02) What leadership means and owning the vision
(08:03) First leadership roles and early failures
(15:22) Growth through mentorship and self-reflection
(18:42) Leading a growing team and staying connected
(21:34) Decompression, service, and balance outside work
(24:14) From peer to boss: navigating the shift
(26:04) Phillip’s advice to his younger self
Episode Transcript
This has been generated by AI and optimized by a human.
[00:00:00] Craig P. Anderson: My boss's boss looked at me and said, Craig, you'll look like a bum. Welcome to Executive Evolution. I have over 25 years of leadership experience in corporate America. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way, and I created this podcast so that you won't have to in that early stage of our career. We tend to think we know a lot of things.
[00:00:23] Craig P. Anderson: We have a lot of confidence that's not really born by any kind of experience and and that was me early on. One of my very first jobs, actually, my very first job where I actually got a salary and I thought I knew it all. I was hanging out with the cool kids. I thought I had it figured out and I really also had made it clear I wanted a career in this field.
[00:00:42] Craig P. Anderson: My boss's boss pulled me in one day and we'd been close and he'd known me for a long time, and as I came up through the ranks and he sent me, Craig, if you really wanna make a career outta this, there's a lot of things you gotta change. And first quit looking like a bum. You can dress up, you can put on a tie and show up.
[00:00:56] Craig P. Anderson: For those of you who aren't used to it. This was way back in the eighties when we used to wear ties to work, but there was a lot in that about professionalism, and it was presented a way that he kind of took me under his wing. He helped me figure out how I wanted to be as a professional, and he was there to guide me and give me advice, and it was such a crucial part of my career because I can really trace back to that moment as a moment where I really started to see my own career growth.
[00:01:21] Craig P. Anderson: And that's an experience shared by Phillip Wambsganss, the president of HESC, higher Education Servicing Corporation, and he shares a story of mentorship for himself and a lot more. So let's jump right in and hear the story of his executive evolution. Phillip, welcome to the Executive Evolution Podcast. I'm so glad to have you here today.
[00:01:40] Phillip Wambsganss: Thank you, Craig. Excited to be here.
[00:01:42] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, we've been working together for several years, so I'm excited to really, we've never really double dove into leadership that much about what's going on on your side, although I know you've done a great job with HESC leading all these years and really taking them to some exciting heights.
[00:01:58] Craig P. Anderson: So I'm excited to really dig into your leadership philosophies today. Are you ready to go?
[00:02:02] Phillip Wambsganss: I'm ready.
[00:02:03] Craig P. Anderson: Alright, well let's jump in with the, the lightning round that is never a lightning round. So first question, what is the best book on leadership that you have ever read?
[00:02:13] Phillip Wambsganss: One that I recently read this summer that my daughter actually gave me was a book by the name of Management Waste, and it's a book written by a gentleman named Larry O'Donnell and he was the president of Waste Management and he was on the first episode of Undercover Boss.
[00:02:35] Phillip Wambsganss: And the book is fascinating. It really, you know, a lot of times those business books, you know, it's just a lot of business tactics and whatever, but this one was really entertaining 'cause it was full of stories and how he grew as a leader. And if you've ever watched Undercover Boss, those are such riveting, exciting episodes of how a boss puts himself in a position to serve and to empathize with his employees or her employees.
[00:03:03] Phillip Wambsganss: And so the book talks a lot about that type of thing, and I found it really, really motivating and definitely would recommend it.
[00:03:11] Craig P. Anderson: Love it. Okay, cool. Question number two, who is your leadership crush? Are we concluding you or not? Uh, no, I'm set aside. Mine's just the obvious answer, Phillip.
[00:03:24] Phillip Wambsganss: Yep. You, you really are, you know, uh, up there with me, Craig, I, I, I do, I seriously do mean that you are, uh.
[00:03:32] Phillip Wambsganss: Thank you, great leader, and you're a great leader in my mind, just simply because of your humility and what you've really helped us do as an organization over the last five or six years beyond you, though, one person that comes to mind is, this may kind of surprise you, but it's a pastor named Craig Elle out of uh, Oklahoma.
[00:03:53] Phillip Wambsganss: And he's the pastor of a church called Life Church, and I don't go to that church, so I, you know, I'm not getting anything out of this. But he, he is a, an author. He's also very involved in a annual business summit called the Global Leadership Summit every year, and a lot of our leadership team will attend that either.
[00:04:13] Phillip Wambsganss: At a, you know, kind of in, in a person type setting or remotely. And we, we've had a lot of benefit out of his leadership here at our organization. He doesn't necessarily lead it, but he's sort of the spokesperson for the Global Leadership Summit. Fantastic. But he, he's an exciting leader in my mind because he's very visionary.
[00:04:34] Phillip Wambsganss: He can think outside the box and, um. Very motivating, very positive. He's also very well built, which I'm not, but you know, he makes me think I could, um, do more than what I'm already doing. So he's definitely somebody that I look up to and have a leadership crush on.
[00:04:53] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like he's got a real presence to him, both physically and verbally in his way to kind of get people motivated.
[00:04:59] Craig P. Anderson: Love it. All right. Last question. How would you define leadership in 10 words or less?
[00:05:06] Phillip Wambsganss: Oh, I, I absolutely hate these questions. So I, I did the thing you probably hate people do. I, uh, went into chat, GPT and asked chat GPT, well, what is leadership in 10 words or less? And actually it came back with nearly this answer and I kind of modified it a bit, but I actually like, I really do identify and like the response that I got from chat GBT plus adding a little bit to it.
[00:05:36] Phillip Wambsganss: But basically what I got was the ability to influence and guide others towards a, what it said was a common goal. And I, I didn't like that. And so what I would say is the ability to influence and guide others towards a goal or vision. And sometimes in my mind, what we're leading people through isn't common that you, they're not coming along for the fun of it.
[00:06:04] Phillip Wambsganss: You almost sometimes have to convince them that this is the direction we're going. Like it not. And over time, if, if, if they're a good employee, they will agree to, to. Go forward with you. But, um, but yeah, that, that would be my belief in a leadership, the ability to influence and guide others towards a goal or vision.
[00:06:26] Craig P. Anderson: No, and I like how you said that. I, I think it's really hard 'cause I have some clients, not you, but I have some clients who want to kind of crowdsource the vision, oh, I wanna get six people in the room and we're gonna work together to kind of create the vision. And it's hard because it's gotta be one person's vision, preferably the leaders, right?
[00:06:42] Craig P. Anderson: You know, and maybe informed by their board. But it's really the leader's vision because you're the one who has to keep everybody focused on it. You're the one who has to kind of keep, you know, banging the drum and showing the possibility of what's what can be done. And if it's kind of broadly outsourced, if you don't fully believe it and you've compromised the vision, now you're gonna have our time.
[00:07:04] Craig P. Anderson: So I think it's so important to do that, and I think that's something I've always, whenever I share the story anonymously of the work that we've done, it's just like you set that vision five or six years ago and we just never gave up on it, and you just kept saying, we're gonna do this. And then ultimately the amazing thing is when you do that, you get there.
[00:07:22] Craig P. Anderson: Right. That's crazy. But it's true.
[00:07:24] Phillip Wambsganss: Yeah, you're right. And sometimes you get there and it's, you get there in a different way, or you get there and the result is bigger than you even could have envisioned it being in the beginning. Yes. And that's when it gets really exciting and you set step back years later and you look and you're like, oh my gosh, how did, how did we get here?
[00:07:44] Phillip Wambsganss: I mean, it's just, it really is a testament of setting a vision, getting your team to buy into it and just, uh, sticking to it. And it's amazing what you can do as a team.
[00:07:55] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. Once everybody knows kind of the goal, everybody else can just drive towards it, which I love. So, well, so let's kind of unwind leadership a bit.
[00:08:03] Craig P. Anderson: Let's go back, Phillip, you know, what do you consider the first real leadership role that you had? Talking back in my career? Sure. Your career. I mean, I always talk about being band president in high school, which isn't the greatest example that it works, but any, any timeline you want to pick.
[00:08:19] Phillip Wambsganss: I am glad you mentioned that 'cause I hadn't even thought about that.
[00:08:21] Phillip Wambsganss: But I remember in high school, maybe out of stupidity or or whatever, I was willing to take a risk, even at like running for office, you know? Mm-hmm. Student council, vice president. I think just being willing to take a risk and some of it, it was just use my usefulness and not. Fearing, you know, what might happen.
[00:08:45] Phillip Wambsganss: But even in doing those things, it, it sort of taught you a little bit about being part of a team and leading in some small way a team. But actually going into early in my career, I worked at a bank as a, kind of like a, a credit officer or credit specialist. And it was really my first real sort of professional job outside of after college.
[00:09:09] Phillip Wambsganss: And I failed miserably. I, I was terrible. I was terrible. I was young, naive and just learned a lot. And then my next job after that was, uh, where I was a, an assistant manager of a bank branch. And I learned so much from that first job to that second job. I think it humbled me a lot what I went through, how I left the other job, the other bank, and, and I learned a lot if I were to grade myself.
[00:09:38] Phillip Wambsganss: From that first bank job to the second bank job, it was just apples and oranges. And I think it's because you, if you take the effort and not assume you know all the answers all the time, I think you can learn from your past experiences. And I look back on that first bank job and kind of embarrassed in some of the things I did and how I.
[00:10:00] Phillip Wambsganss: Felt like people owed me things. And in that second job, I'm really proud of, of the job I did and grade myself completely different in that second job versus the first.
[00:10:12] Craig P. Anderson: And when you went through that transition, you know, was there somebody in that second job that that helped? Was there a mentor or a boss who maybe helped guide you into how to lead in that first role?
[00:10:22] Phillip Wambsganss: That is a really good question 'cause that where I, I got so sort of sideways on the first job was the, the management that I had over me. I felt like other than one person that didn't feel like they really cared about me, it was all about the job and almost sometimes felt, talked down to at times and my role was.
[00:10:45] Phillip Wambsganss: Diminished. I felt like, again, some of this was a maturity issue, but that's how I felt. And as a, as a result, I sort of pushed back on that. And the second job, my branch manager over me was just the most amazing, brilliant man that I probably ever worked for directly. And just so encouraging and always would sort of, uh, prop me up and tell me, you know, I, yeah, I was doing a good job and recognize.
[00:11:14] Phillip Wambsganss: Me on just little things. And I think, yeah, I had never thought about it, but maybe that's why I performed so much better in in that second job beyond learning from the first was the leader be above me, was pulling me along and encouraged me a whole lot better.
[00:11:31] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, that's so interesting. 'cause I think in those early leadership roles, when we have that person who takes us under their wing and advises us and mentors us and tells us, you know, I can think of a guy that I worked for.
[00:11:44] Craig P. Anderson: The University of Florida, Rick Wilder, and he just pulled me aside and he just said, he's like, look man, here's how it is. If you wanna succeed, this is what you gotta focus on and quit focusing on this other stuff. And really, you know, from everything from the way I was showing up, dressed to the way I was, showing up to meetings, to everything.
[00:12:00] Craig P. Anderson: And I don't think I would've ever made the early career leaps had I not had his input and advice that early on to kind of say, this is, this is what you need to be thinking. Right? Because otherwise, yeah, when we're young. We think we know everything right? When you're 24, 25, you know it's rough
[00:12:17] Phillip Wambsganss: Vic. You must have trusted him and weren't threatened by him in any way for him to be able to point out things like that.
[00:12:25] Phillip Wambsganss: 'cause it's, it's real easy to point out sort of what may be construed as something negative in somebody and then take offense to it rather than thinned it. I appreciate you pointing out ways they can do better, perhaps. And that's a gift that he must have had.
[00:12:44] Craig P. Anderson: He did. Well, you know, I think it came from a place of genuine interest in me.
[00:12:49] Craig P. Anderson: Not like you're embarrassing the company, it's, I see something in you and if you can get these rough edges. Mm-hmm. You've got a lot of potential, but you've got to kind of work on these three things, and that's what it was. Right. I didn't feel spoken down to, I felt lifted up. Right. And that's, but you're right.
[00:13:06] Craig P. Anderson: A lot of people, even in leadership roles are not great at that. Right. It's just like, it's demeaning and it's like, you can't dress like that. You can't show up like that. And I mean, I've had my moments that's correct. Where I've, I've been that boss too, and I know that, um, and I'm not always proud of it, but it was, it's a different thing, right.
[00:13:23] Craig P. Anderson: It's, it's a hard thing to have that. So that was really though it sounds like kind of a springboard for you to see the potential of what you could be doing in different companies.
[00:13:30] Phillip Wambsganss: Yeah, absolutely. He was a good, a good boss. And, uh, I, I miss him.
[00:13:36] Craig P. Anderson: So now we fast forward, well, actually before that, let me ask you.
[00:13:42] Craig P. Anderson: What was your big takeaway from that time? Like what was like the one thing that you really took away from that to say, I want to be more this, or I don't want to be that. What kind of pulled that out for you there?
[00:13:51] Phillip Wambsganss: I'm an introvert, so I think one of the good things about being an introvert is I do a lot of self-reflecting.
[00:13:59] Phillip Wambsganss: Yeah, and almost sometimes too much if we're not careful, you self-reflect too much and you can almost overanalyze things and overanalyze a conversation and over-analyze, you know, oh gosh, did I offend somebody? Sort of thing. But the good side of it is that you self-reflect a lot, or I do. And so I knew the person that I, I left that first bank as was not the person I wanted to be going forward.
[00:14:23] Phillip Wambsganss: And it's about changing your mindset. And I even have to watch this even today, even with, you know, where things in our company going well and a lot of the success we've had over in recent years, I have to be careful not to fall back into some of those same traps of kind of seeing things half empty. And I'm sort of naturally somebody that sees things half full.
[00:14:47] Phillip Wambsganss: Uh, but if I'm not careful, I can fall back into the traps of, of looking at things half empty. And when I left that first job, I was just really negative. I was looking at situations actively, I was looking at my, several of my superiors negatively. And in retrospect, I didn't wanna do that going forward.
[00:15:04] Phillip Wambsganss: And so I, I made a conscious effort. I'm gonna go into this new job with a new approach, with more of my normal ways of, of dealing with people and dealing with situations that, uh, you know, it took conscious effort to do that.
[00:15:17] Craig P. Anderson: Oh yeah. Well now, so let's kind of fast forward. So now here you are HSC President.
[00:15:24] Craig P. Anderson: In this role, you have a big team, kind of a team that was really big through some challenges, shrunk and then grew again, and you guys are growing. What are the big leadership challenges in your organization for you right now?
[00:15:39] Phillip Wambsganss: Just off, off the top of my head, I think when you're growing, it's real easy to.
[00:15:45] Phillip Wambsganss: Sort of lose connection with people when you're smaller, you know, you're, it's more of a band of brothers and we're in this together, and as you grow, you, you have to sort of create new leadership structures, which we've recently gone through. And so. Well, some of the folks that I may used to spend lots of time with, I spend little time with, and so you just have to, I have to be a, a lot more conscientious and conscious of the people around me, the time I'm able to spend with them.
[00:16:15] Phillip Wambsganss: And one thing I've always struggled with a a bit is focusing on my work. And not focusing, uh, on interacting with the team. And the bigger you get, the harder it that even be, you know, that becomes even greater of a, of an issue. And so I think for me, that's probably been one of the biggest challenges is learning how to spend some type of quality time with my team.
[00:16:42] Phillip Wambsganss: Both at the leadership level, but even at the staff level. It, it's, I hate to say it, but there have been times recently where I'm walking the halls and I cross somebody and I'm like, who is that? I don't even know. Even that person. Years. And we're not that big of a company. We're actually a pretty small company in the old scheme of things.
[00:17:02] Phillip Wambsganss: And it's embarrassing and, and it shouldn't be that way. And so I consciously have to think, okay, how can I be a better. Boss to everyone in the company at some degree and interacting with my staff on at a little higher level. The other thing, you know, related to that is I spend more time with the people up here than I probably is my own family.
[00:17:24] Phillip Wambsganss: But it's disappointing at times when I don't even know what's happening in their own lives, and that's just something that I want to change over time is. I want to to know more about what's happening in my staff's life. And that's one of the exciting things. And not to backtrack too much here, but that whole undercover boss idea Yeah.
[00:17:45] Phillip Wambsganss: Is that when these bosses get to know their staff and their stories, it just breaks their heart to know that what they may be dealing with, and I've gotta make myself more available to my team, even the bigger we get, the just more of an effort I have to put in making sure I do that.
[00:18:04] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, no, the whole time you were talking about that, I was just thinking about your earlier comments about Undercover Boss is like, that's exactly what you're talking about.
[00:18:11] Craig P. Anderson: And it's hard. So maybe you just need to get a wig and some contact lenses and a fake nose and just go down and, and apply for a job in the front end. Right. And, uh, see what's going on. So, no, but that's, those, those are real things, right? Because the company grows and it doesn't have to grow that big before you're starting to realize I'm two and three.
[00:18:30] Craig P. Anderson: You know, layers removed maybe from people. I didn't remember the day this person was hired 'cause I, I just we're hiring at a pace now that I just don't see those people. And so it is a real challenge. So what are some of the things you're trying to do to kind of mitigate that right now? 'cause I think this is a real problem a lot of leaders have.
[00:18:50] Phillip Wambsganss: One of the things I've always been admired people for in general are the people who, when you're with them. They are completely present with you and you are the most important thing to them at that point in time, and from most people, most leaders, most people in general, I think we're constantly.
[00:19:15] Phillip Wambsganss: Thinking, what's the next thing I gotta get to? What's the next thing I need to do? And your mind is racing to the next meeting, to the next call you need to make to the next email. You need to check and you're not present. And so that's one thing that I've really been trying to do a better job at. I can't say I've, I've accomplished it yet, but it's something that is on my mind to be present with people.
[00:19:39] Phillip Wambsganss: And I think that's probably, for me, the the most important thing.
[00:19:43] Craig P. Anderson: Love it. Yeah. And it's so true because we're, we spend so much time at work and we're with these people all the time, but we're always within chunks of things and, and, you know, meetings with six or seven people or whatever they are, and it's hard to kind of find that one-on-one time.
[00:19:57] Craig P. Anderson: And I, I know you all aren't a fully remote workforce, but I, I wonder a lot these people who have built these fully remote workforces. You know, how do you execute on that when most of your communication's kinda the way we're talking? Mm-hmm. And you can build relationships that way, but it's not always the same as, oh, I bumped into this person while I was going to get a soda from the soda machine.
[00:20:17] Craig P. Anderson: And we talked for five minutes and I had a five minute deep conversation with them, right. Where I got to know something that was going on. But they are always watching and so, you know, I think that's a key piece. Well, very good. Well, so when you think about. Those leadership lessons you learned about the attitude to bring to the table and looking things at not half empty and, and really bringing your full self.
[00:20:39] Craig P. Anderson: How has that kind of grown? 'cause you've been, I actually don't know this, but how long have you been the president of HESC? How have you kind of seen yourself evolving over just the time you've been there, through all the challenges and growth and opportunities that you all have faced? What's, what's been your growth that way?
[00:20:55] Phillip Wambsganss: You know, I, I had a predecessor who had led the company for over 30 years. Wonderful lady. And she retired back in 2015. And, uh, at that time she had sort of been preparing me to take over, and I didn't really realize it at the time, but for several years she'd been sort. Preparing me to take her place. And so when that day came, I mean it's, you know, your head's spinning and you're sure feel qualified and you just feel like you're faking, you know, that whole fake it till you make it sort of fame.
[00:21:27] Phillip Wambsganss: Yeah. It was complete. Fake it till you make it. Not sure I've ever made it, but still faking it. But, um, I think, and this, this all sounds like normal stuff everybody probably talks about, but I think he's gotta find ways to decompress.
[00:21:41] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah.
[00:21:42] Phillip Wambsganss: I heard somebody say something, I may butcher it here, but if you're in a job that takes a lot of like muscular energy, you know, if you mow lawns for a living, they say when you, uh, away from that job, you need to focus more on things that work on your mind.
[00:22:02] Phillip Wambsganss: You know, things that are more mental. Or if you're doing things like what I'm doing where I'm just feel like I'm behind a keyboard all day thinking and. Putting out mental fires and organizational issues and all that. I've gotta get away and do something physical. And so for me, you know, it's crazy stuff.
[00:22:22] Phillip Wambsganss: It's mowing the grass and it's, uh, I live on a little bit of acreage, so we've got animals and things and just spending time doing physical things is so good for my soul and so good for my mind. So that's one thing that's good for me. I think for a lot of people too, like me, it's getting away, taking trips where you just wait.
[00:22:47] Phillip Wambsganss: Completely change your environment is just critical for me. And I think just having strong relationships. You know, I, I have strong relationships through friends outside of, of work and through our church. We have lots of friends through our church. And then I think the last thing is serving, I think it is so empowering and beneficial when you serve other people in whatever way that is.
[00:23:13] Phillip Wambsganss: If that means, you know, serving in a. A nonprofit organization, you know, serving people in some way or serving in your church or in your community or helping a neighbor or whatever. I think serving sort of reconnects you to really what's important. So those are a few things that I try to do on a regular basis.
[00:23:34] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. But just some ways to find that energy to get things back and not always be focused on because it's, when you have your job, it's not a eight to five job. It's constantly something that's there. And, uh, it's a very different, very different animal, so. Very good. Just one last question about kind of your, your experience.
[00:23:53] Craig P. Anderson: So you were kind of tapped, maybe not always to your knowledge early on, but tapped to to be her successor. And I'm going to assume then, so you got promoted from within a group of peers and that was an experience I had as well and I had really good relationships with those peers. You know, as peers, and then suddenly I was their boss.
[00:24:12] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. And it took me a while, I think. I think it was probably more about me than them. It took me a while to get comfortable. Mm-hmm. Being the boss and feeling that, how was that for you? Because that can be a tricky thing.
[00:24:24] Phillip Wambsganss: It is. I think that's, that's probably the biggest challenge when you do take over a leadership role from within at any, at any level, even if it's going from.
[00:24:36] Phillip Wambsganss: You know, a staff to a manager, or from manager to a director, to a director to a vp, or whatever it might be. It is a challenge because sometimes you're viewed differently from within and you may be treated a little differently, but sometimes you may be putting that pressure on yourself as well. But you know, I think sometimes you feel like you lose that personal relationship with people in some respects, especially if you become their boss now, you're no longer their friend or their.
[00:25:05] Phillip Wambsganss: Colleague, now you're their boss. And it just changes the dynamic of the relationship and it can get really lonely. I think you know that saying that the leader is the loneliest position in the company, however it goes, but you know, being the leader sometimes is a very lonely place because you don't have.
[00:25:24] Phillip Wambsganss: As many people to go to for help or for guidance or whatever, and and people aren't coming to you in the same way they may as before. And so, yeah, no, that is a huge challenge.
[00:25:35] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, it really is. And you're right. You know, the leadership is sometimes like being surrounded by people all day and feeling totally isolated from it at the same time because yeah, it's everybody who comes to you, good, bad, you know, I don't think they come to you.
[00:25:48] Craig P. Anderson: Manipulatively, but everybody has an agenda. Not in a bad way, but everybody does. Everybody around you is like, they're really trying to get Phillip to approve this or to approve that, and you know, with the best of intentions. And so it can be a really tricky thing. So, Phillip, final question. I'm gonna give you the chance to go back in time.
[00:26:04] Craig P. Anderson: Go back to Phillip. In that early leadership role, what's the one piece of advice you would give him that would make it easier, make him better, make him a better leader? What's the one thing that if you could tap him on the shoulder you'd share?
[00:26:17] Phillip Wambsganss: Two things. One, to be a better communicator and not just hear things, take things and assume the worst of what the interaction was.
[00:26:28] Phillip Wambsganss: And so communicate back and with people, with your people who are over you, under you. Be a better communicator. And again, don't take things so personal. Yeah, as though it was a personal offense, and I often have to remind myself of this when somebody says something and I bristle up internally and I stepped back and I thought, I think they probably didn't even mean it the way I'm taking it.
[00:26:54] Phillip Wambsganss: You know, they're just. Reacting or they just said something and they, they don't even mean it the way I am taking it. And so social media is the perfect example of this where on social media, just so, so much is being said, and, but if you were to actually talk to that person about whatever the topic is, there's so much more relatable and understanding.
[00:27:17] Phillip Wambsganss: You can empathize with people when you have a conversation, but when you just simply. Take what is posted or a snippet of what's posted, you jump to a conclusion. You know? And I think obviously that's part of what our culture is struggling with right now in this sort of polarization of things. And I think communication is the key.
[00:27:38] Phillip Wambsganss: If we can sit down and talk to people, open up, not take things quite so personal, I think it make our job as leaders a lot better, but also, um, make the environment a lot better that we're working in.
[00:27:52] Craig P. Anderson: Excellent. Awesome. Well, Phillip, if people want to connect, if people wanna learn more about the work you all are doing at HESC, what are the best ways for them to find you, follow you and learn more?
[00:28:02] Phillip Wambsganss: Yeah, so, uh, Higher Education Servicing Corporation. We're a nonprofit student loan lender, servicer, and secondary market. We have four other sister companies that we manage and administer as well. All involved in higher education in some way. And so I won't give you all of our websites, but our two primary websites that you could learn a little bit more about our organizations is hsc loans.com.
[00:28:33] Phillip Wambsganss: And our secondary market, north Texas Higher Education Authority is nthe.com. And feel free to, uh, connect with me on LinkedIn, Phillip Wambsganss on LinkedIn, and I'd be glad to, uh, connect with you there as well.
[00:28:47] Craig P. Anderson: Excellent. And we will drop links for all those in the show notes. Phillip, thank you for coming on and sharing the story of your executive evolution.
[00:28:53] Craig P. Anderson: I appreciate it.
[00:28:54] Phillip Wambsganss: You're welcome. Thank you, Craig, for having me.
[00:28:58] Craig P. Anderson: Thanks Phillip, for being part of the show. As always, I like to kind of wrap up the key points and themes and break 'em down into the areas of competence, confidence, and calm in the area of competence. He talked about how one of his realizations as the organization has grown is really taking the time.
[00:29:15] Craig P. Anderson: To connect in with people all across the organization. It's so easy to lose track, and we have to be very careful with our time when we're in the leadership role. But that opportunity to go out and connect with people on the floor or in the call center or anywhere else sitting at their desk in accounting or finance, all those areas, we wanna make sure we build those opportunities to connect, and that's absolutely a sign of leadership competence.
[00:29:39] Craig P. Anderson: In the area of confidence, what we talked about is stepping into leadership. You know, Phillip stepped into a leadership role. When he was elevated from within his peer group to be the president. And that's a really difficult time that happened to me at one point in my career as well. And you have to really balance one, believing that you can be there and dealing with that imposter syndrome, but also as Phillip shared connecting and communicating and keeping those channels open, even though the relationship you have with those people has fundamentally changed.
[00:30:06] Craig P. Anderson: But it starts with your internal confidence. And then finally, in the area of calm, I really appreciated what Phillip talked about. About what he does outside of work to kind of balance out his life and to kind of give him. Some, as he said, ways to kind of exert physically because he is so busy mentally at work, but also in service to others and all the rewards that get that that gives him, because it's a great counter to the stress of day-to-day leadership that we all face.
[00:30:31] Craig P. Anderson: So Phillip, thank you for sharing the story of your executive evolution. And remember, you can go from being an accidental leader to the greatest leader of all time. All it takes is developing your confidence, competence, and calm. See you next time on Executive Evolution.