Taking the Next Big Step
Derrick Evers started the Owner/President Management program at one of the lowest points in his professional career. At the time, he was going through "a business crisis," he says. "It came out of nowhere, and I ended up having to sell my business." He currently works as CEO and managing partner at Kaizen Development Partners.
In OPM, he was met by a group of business leaders and scholars who were eager to help him reset and find a new direction. "I could bounce ideas off of them and ask, 'What would you do?' " says Evers. "I was able to discover who I was here—discover what I was made of. And that was due, in large part, to the men and women that I met in OPM."
Evers went on to found Kaizen Development Partners, a Dallas-based real estate development firm, and today serves as its CEO and managing partner. The company's name was inspired by a case study about Toyota that he examined in OPM.
"The word kaizen is a Japanese business term that means 'continuous improvement' " explains Evers. "It was something that resonated with me and my two business partners. Fast forward to today, and we've tripled our growth in a very short period of time. I'm convinced that would not have happened if it weren’t for OPM."
He isn't the only one to have experienced this kind of transformation. "OPM throws you into this melting pot and then you come out the other end with a new perspective and completely transformed." he says. "It's been spectacular, it's been uplifting, and it's been a game-changer for me."
Since completing the program, Evers is sometimes approached by executives who ask: "Why should I take the time and spend the money to do OPM?" The answer comes easy to him.
"My answer is you can't afford not to do this," he says. "It'll change your life in every possible way."