“Seeing, Listening, & Understanding: The Art of Persuasion” presented by Phil Trewhitt, Managing Partner of Premium Growth Solutions and ESCORP

Why did the chicken cross the road?

The world is changing faster than ever. Companies rise and fall with increasing speed. The ability to rapidly adjust your company strategy, tactics, organizational structure, and methods is one of the crucial determinants in successfully growing your business. The easy part is setting goals and developing plans to attain them. The hard and time intensive part is the execution, which relies heavily upon your people being enthusiastically committed to both the goals and the plan.

How do you engage the minds and emotions of your key people to drive the changes needed to succeed and grow?

To address this, let’s turn our attention for a moment to that age-old question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Was it simply to get to the other side? Had he resigned to let the inevitable happen or was he running away from something? What if it was just easier than turning around? You see there is more to that chicken than meets the eye.

You may not care why the chicken crossed the road, but knowing how your people are wired is critical to persuading them to work the plan. Unfortunately, most people begin trying to persuade a person to take an action or behave a certain way before gaining an understanding of how that person processes the world around them, what is important to them, and what they need to come to a comfortable decision. To get your team members to the other side – that next level of business growth – you need to learn how to get them appropriately engaged and moving in the right direction.

For over 25 years, Phil Trewhitt has been an organization “turn-around” executive and advisor to private and public corporations, including Starbucks Coffee, Procter & Gamble, and US Foodservice. In these various roles, he used the art of persuasion as a catalyst to rapidly achieve positive sustainable change. On August 9, he will provide insights into how to better understand people by seeing and listening and how to influence individuals and groups to improve.

People, chickens, and roads… There is more to the story than just getting to the other side. ‘Tis the never-before-told fable of the chicken (until now).

Meet Our Speaker: Phil Trewhitt

Phil Trewhitt has been a hands-on “turn-around” executive for both public and private companies and a strategy consultant for over 25 years. He has held the positions of Vice President of Finance, Senior Vice President of Operations, Senior Vice President of Sales, and General Manager for large corporations. He also has been a consultant to Starbucks Coffee, Procter & Gamble, Pacific Seafood Group, US Foodservice, and Foodservices of America as well as numerous mid-size and small companies. These projects included Wholesale Marketing and Sales Strategy, Supply Chain, Geographic Expansion, and Mergers & Acquisitions. He has turned around various companies with revenues ranging from $100 million to $250 million. In the three years at PSG, for instance, he turned aggregate losses at three companies into aggregate profits of more than $10 million dollars per year. 

Currently, he is managing partner of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC, and ESCORP, LLC, both of which are based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The firm specializes in assisting organizations who are already successful but desire to dramatically increase their size, profitability, market share, and geographic scope without losing their focus, best business practices, and core values. With more than 100 years of combined operating experience, the firm's partners represent the areas of Operations, Strategy, Finance, Project Planning, and Human Resources. What differentiates them from many consulting groups is that they use a team approach to providing you integrated 360-degree counsel. Their group is currently assisting companies in various industries including distribution, hospitality, equipment and supplies, entertainment, accounting, and manufacturing. Their work for these companies is in the areas of management development, operational assessments, marketing, brand management, policy development, and strategy.

Phil holds a Bachelor degree in Accounting from California State University-Stanislaus and an MBA in Operations from Seattle University.

In the community, Phil has worked with Junior Achievement in various K-12 teaching roles. He also has provided services to a junior college advisory board and religious organization. The center of his world is his six year old daughter, Cheyenne.

Coffee, light breakfast, and TLC served.