Bill Murdy is an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of the West Point Association of Graduates and a principal and Chairman of the Hotel Thayer and Chairman of its associated Thayer Leader Development Group, which provides corporate executive leadership development. Previously, Bill served as the CEO of Comfort Systems and has served in a variety of senior leadership roles, including President and CEO of Club Quarters and General Investment and Development Company., as well as President, CEO, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of LandCare USA. Bill was also the Managing General Partner of Morgan Stanley Venture Capital. Bill graduated from West Point and served in the United States Army from 1964 to 1974, including one year in the Dominican Republic (82nd Airborne) and two years in Vietnam (173rd Airborne). He was awarded three Bronze Stars, four Air Medals, the Army Commendation Medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. In this episode, Bill shares the one theme from his career that he believes others can use for their own career, the most rewarding part of business, and the many lessons he’s experienced and learned from his service in the Army and his 40-plus-year-long career in business.
“You've got to be competent in what you're doing and you've got to communicate it properly. You have to have courage to step up and stand out. A lot of leadership is about getting out in front and staying out in front and taking the shots that are going to come your way. I think West Point and the military does a very good job of exposing younger people to that fact and they hand you a lot of responsibility early on and make you accountable. It stands you in good stead for a business career as well.” — Bill Murdy
Episode Timestamps:
*(2:40) AAR & Bill’s reason for going to West Point
*(7:30) Bill’s entrepreneurial journey begins
*(10:20) Aggressively take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves
*(12:14) Bill’s most rewarding part of his career
*(15:55) SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
*(18:20) A core part of leadership is getting out in front
*(19:20) The Sitrep — the Thayer Leader Development Group
*(23:30) Getting shot at with real bullets and how it compares to fighting for your company
*(26:00) Giving Back — advice for younger people
Links
Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn
[00:00:00] Bill: [00:00:00] I think leaders need to be curious and aware all the time and they need to demonstrate competence. Part of their competence by the way, is the ability to create trust. I love the phrase, the speed of trust. You can operate a lot faster if you've got the trust of those around you.
[00:00:19] Producer: [00:00:19] You are listening to On Point, a show about veteran business leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, financeseers, and social innovators who made a name for themselves in the military, and then took the private sector by storm.
[00:00:30] This show is hosted by the founder of the Old Grad Club, Eddie Kang.
[00:00:33] Eddie: [00:00:33] Hello and welcome to OnPoint. This episode features an interview with Bill. Bill is an emeritus member of the board of trustees, of the west point association of graduates and a principal and chairman of the hotel fare and chairman of its associated theater leader development group, which provides corporate executive leadership development.
[00:00:53] Previously, Bill served as the CEO of comfort systems and is served in a variety of senior leadership roles, including the [00:01:00] president and CEO of club boarders and general investment and development company, as well as president CEO co-founder and chairman of the board of land carrier. Bill was also the managing general partner of Morgan Stanley venture capital bill graduated from west point and served in the United States army from 1964 to 1974, including one year in the Dominican Republic.
[00:01:21] And two years in Vietnam, he was awarded three bronze stars for air metals, the army commendation medal, and the Vietnamese cross of gallantry. On this episode, bill shares the many business stories and leadership lessons he experienced and learned from his service. In his 40 plus year long career in business, as I speak to more and more veterans that have done amazing things in the private sector, nobody has been mentioned more frequently as being an instrumental mentor or champion to their story than bill Murray.
[00:01:50] Before we jump into it, feel free to check us out on LinkedIn and instagram@oldgradclubandonlineatoldgradclub.com. Now please enjoy this interview with us.
[00:02:03] [00:02:00] Build the way that we structure these podcast conversations, we do it through four parts. The first is called the AA. And it's, you know, the after action review and we want to learn from you and your career. You've done a lot of amazing things first, obviously in the military. And then you exited, I don't know if you started the group at Morgan Stanley venture capital or how that started.
[00:02:25] Can you take us through what that process was like and how did you come about that career field out of all the different options. And those must have been the early days of veterans.
[00:02:34] Bill: [00:02:34] Yeah. And I'll get to that in a second. But first the, the military, you know, my, my father was a, what was then called a 90 day wonder and world war II.
[00:02:43] He, he, uh, graduated from university of Michigan and, uh, it didn't enlist. He was, uh, brought into the army and sent to, uh, officer candidate schools spent 90 days there and became a Lieutenant and then went to Europe and he was a company commander. [00:03:00] In Europe and in the common engineers. And that was part of the reason I went to west point.
[00:03:05] Uh, part of it was that I wanted to serve. Uh, I always felt that, uh, serving was a obligatory. Cause when, when I went to west point, everybody, quote, unquote served. Now there are all kinds of ways to get out of that. This is
[00:03:20] Eddie: [00:03:20] 1960, well, six year class is 65. So this would have been 61.
[00:03:24] Bill: [00:03:24] Well, I'm class 64 and I graduated high school in 1960 in Houston, went to a public high school.
[00:03:31] I did not come from money or means at all, and I wanted to serve and, and, uh, at that point to everybody registered for the draft and you are subject to the draft and, and, uh, I felt well, I was going to west point, they'll get an education. I I'll, uh, Four years. And I, uh, I can make a decision then whether or not I want to stay.
[00:03:54] I always thought I was going to be a lawyer. So I was going to go to law school and move on from there that didn't, it didn't work out [00:04:00] that way. Uh, worked out other ways, but, you know, I, I not only enjoyed my 10 active years in the army. I enjoyed my time at west point, I thought, but I adopted early on a desire to learn, uh, an ability to stay curious.
[00:04:22] And I, I think being, and staying curious is a trait of a leader and, uh, being aware, being, uh, sensitive to what's going on around one. And, uh, so I liked that. The military in west point. And I, I, I had three combat tours, one in the Dominican Republic in a, in a, in a war that everyone has forgotten, except the 26 people who didn't come back, including one of my classes.
[00:04:55] Right. And then I had two tours in Vietnam [00:05:00] and then finished up, uh, teaching, uh, the, the army sent me to Harvard business. You know what in effect was a fellowship, but then I went back to Vietnam right after business. And then from there, from, from Vietnam, went back and taught for three years in the, uh, department social sciences.
[00:05:19] But, but even there, I volunteered for other things. I, I was an assistant coach and then what was called 150 gun football team. I. I actually volunteered for an assignment in Washington and which morphed into something else. And I was invited back the next summer and spent, uh, some time, uh, in what was then the cost of living council, which is part of the white house staff, 19 73, 74.
[00:05:48] So I, I just, my volunteering by staying aware of what was around me. I, I, I just. Put myself in a way you have all kinds of interesting opportunities [00:06:00] on purpose. I have a family I've been married to the same woman for 56 years. We have two grown children, both of whom are older than you. And so we didn't sacrifice the family in this either, but I at at 10 years, uh, I decided that, uh, I wanted to do something else.
[00:06:22] This was post Vietnam. We were all headed to the commander general staff college at 11 worths. And then we'd go be somebody's bright boy in the Pentagon. And, and that just didn't look as attractive to me as to what I'd been doing in the army. And so I, I, uh, and I didn't want to join. Big organization. I interviewed, uh, you mentioned McKinsey, McKinsey.
[00:06:46] They offered me a position, but that looked too much like, uh, you know, writing reports. I was really naive enough to think that's all McKinsey did, but, uh, [00:07:00] and I had offers from some big companies in staff jobs or, or. Jobs where there was future within that company. But I decided I wanted to do something entrepreneurial.
[00:07:11] So I joined a group of people that had started a company in Hawaii of all places. Uh, I didn't know. Did any serious things in Hawaii at the time, but we, we, uh, built and ran, uh, a very large company to became public. And it was, uh, it grew from nothing to a billion dollars in, uh, in, uh, seven years and a billion dollars in 19.
[00:07:40] Late seventies was a lot of money. Absolutely.
[00:07:43] Eddie: [00:07:43] It's still, still a lot of money.
[00:07:45] Bill: [00:07:45] Yeah. Yeah. And that was a revenues. We were in the petroleum refining business and had a great experience. And, and actually one of my mentors and the CEO of the company was a world war II. [00:08:00] Officer, you're not a west pointer, but, uh, who was a mentor of mine.
[00:08:05] And, and, um, I ended up being the number two guy in the company at the time that I ultimately left. And there were lots of reasons for leaving. One of which was my wife who wanted to come back to the mainland, but I had a, you talk about stumbling into opportunities just by. Take, I, I accepted an invitation to go meet some people from, uh, it was a party in Northern New Jersey and I met this guy there who was trying to be an executive search guy.
[00:08:34] And at that time, Morgan Stanley was looking for someone who had helped build a business to come into Morgan Stanley. And build an alternative revenue stream for Morgan Stanley, but becoming what they called an industrial holding company that never happened because what we were right. 1981. And you don't remember this, of course, but that was the microprocessor revolution.
[00:08:59] And so we, [00:09:00] we turned that opportunity into an early stage venture capital opportunity. And with Morgan Stanley's reputation and big blue flag, we could, uh, it was easy for us to get into associations with other high quality venture capital firms. Many of whom still exist. One of them was Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers, Frank Coffield.
[00:09:26] One of the partners, there had been a friend of mine at west point. I just called him up and said, I'd like to come out and talk to you about what we're doing and what we can do together. We ended up working very closely with them and we're in all kinds of follow on investments with them. And, uh, produced huge rate of return for, uh, Morgan Stanley.
[00:09:47] And then we were investing our own money when Stanley in those days was the partnership investing our own money. And then we went out and got other people's money. Uh, and they came a venture fund. We can talk about sizes of things. [00:10:00] We raised a hundred million dollar fund, which was a very large fund. So I, I sort of rattled on here about, uh, where I started, but, you know, if there's a theme to it, if there's something, there is something there that someone can learn from it's, you know, aggressively taking advantage of opportunities as they come in front of and not being afraid of them.
[00:10:27] Uh, you know, I was in over my head, uh, you know, most of the time actually, and there's a famous line. And a movie or is it the guy is under fire and the guy asked him, said, what the hell do you know what you're doing? He said, no, I'm just making it up. As I go along well for awhile, I was making it up. As I went along, I had fancy MBA, which gave me some basic tools and, uh, contacts and things.
[00:10:54] But, you know, being out there helping run, helping form [00:11:00] a businesses is a whole lot different than, than, uh, in business school. Absolutely.
[00:11:06] Eddie: [00:11:06] Um, and so it sounds like you were in industry and went to management and then went to the investing side. And then went back and had multiple CEO roles between general investment in development, land care club quarters, which I think a lot, most veterans have stayed in at one point in their life.
[00:11:25] Um, everybody knows club quarters. And then the longest tenure you had over at comfort systems USA, what was the most rewarding part of your career? I mean, obviously, you know, the military is super rewarding for different reasons, but then within the private sector, where did you feel the most comfortable and where did you feel like perhaps the most.
[00:11:42] Bill: [00:11:42] Well, I, I think, you know, the almost 81 gets to reflect on things. And I think that the most rewarding, satisfying things that I look back on is, uh, seeing other people do well. And seeing, seeing ideas [00:12:00] start on a piece of blank paper and become an idea and become a business and provide livelihoods for a lot of people and, and returns for a lot of investors, you know?
[00:12:12] That it sounds a little corny, but it's the most satisfying part of being in business for us, I'm concerned, but I, uh, I do. You know, is it Morgan Stanley? I was running the venture capital fund and uh, it's and we, this was a time of big, the initial big deals leveraged buyouts. Didn't didn't call them private equity at the time.
[00:12:36] Private equity is not a term, uh, in the seventies, it became a term in the eighties sometime, and the deals were starting to look the same. And I, and I. I had run something before and, and, uh, thought I had some leadership capability. And so I just left Morgan Stanley with the idea of going and [00:13:00] running something.
[00:13:01] And I went to a multifaceted business in Boston that was on private owned by a family called general investment development. And we were in the, we were in lots of businesses, but principally the multi-family residence. Uh, business, the apartment business we owned at one time, we owned or controlled to, you know, 40,000 class, a apartments around the country, but, and I stayed, stayed with that for awhile and, and I think added some real value and build a team, uh, that added, uh, you know, about 300 million new net worth to the, the enterprise while I was there.
[00:13:43] But, um, You know, I, I had always, I, you know, I, I don't think I ever intended to stay with anything for a long period. I didn't, I didn't job hop. I mean, you can look back at my resume, you know, uh, with the exception of club quarters were [00:14:00] only spent a little over a year. I've stayed at things, you know, eight, 10.
[00:14:04] Yeah. You know, the initial excitement to does tend to wear off, I think, and maybe I got a little restless, but I decided to, to leave the Gid and do something else and, and was aware of some things in my, I was raised in Houston, Texas, and some people down there had caught on to the consolidation. A roll up, uh, thing.
[00:14:31] Would you basically, uh, taking advantage of some accounting rules at the time? And, uh, I, they made me an offer to come down and help put something together, which I did. And that ended up being, you know, a commercial landscape design and maintenance company that became one of the largest in the country and was acquired.
[00:14:56] And, uh, I, uh, I didn't [00:15:00] stand in the way of getting it acquired it. We had ideas about building it to a much bigger company, but, uh, the investors, uh, you know, were hungry for liquidity and we, we sold it.
[00:15:13] Eddie: [00:15:13] Let's get into our next segment, the SOP or standard operating procedure in this segment. We're going to talk about the personal routines, habits and words to live by that have been instrumental to our guests.
[00:15:26] You know, you've always stayed curious, but what else have you done either, whether it's the way that you live, the words that you live by, the habits that you do on a daily basis that allowed you to be successful both in the military and across the different roles that you've had in industry?
[00:15:41] Bill: [00:15:41] Well, I was an aid to a major general for a short time.
[00:15:47] And I learned from him about, you know, not only having diarrhea. Putting your values down and your beliefs down and then following them. And I took that into my first business. And when I [00:16:00] told my partners in this business, I said, I think we ought to have a, uh, not only, uh, a vision, a mission, but we ought to have values that we articulate.
[00:16:10] And so then the number one value on that. For me has always been integrity and not, and to honesty. And, uh, so I, I tried to maintain that and I used to do wall street presentations with the two public companies I was CEO of. And. I would, I would have a chart of values of the company and, and nobody else had those guns chart.
[00:16:35] I thought, I thought it was important to imbue them with the same sense of, of the company that we had. And, uh, there, it wasn't fancy and I didn't take it a long time to explain it, but I. No. And that we had, we were a values-based enterprise and that, uh, we even talked about, uh, [00:17:00] I think I was talking about stakeholders along before a lot of other people were, we were still talking about stockholders as our stockholders and stakeholders to include employees which clashes with raw capitalism sometime, but in the long run.
[00:17:16] Uh, is so beneficial. I mean, we, we really made that happen at comfort systems, uh, for instance, but you know, there are lots of things I can. Aim at it here. You know, I, first of all, confidence is, is pretty important, uh, to one's activities. You just can't communicate, you got to be communicating something and you've got to be competent in what you're doing, and you've got to communicate it properly.
[00:17:45] You got to have courage to step up and stand out. Uh, a lot, a lot of leadership. Getting out in front and staying out in front of, you know, taking the shots that, that are going to come your [00:18:00] way. Uh, and, and I think west point to, and, and the military does a very good job of exposing younger people. To that fact, hand you a lot of responsibility early and, uh, make you, uh, accountable and, um, You, it stands you in good stead for, for a business career as well
[00:18:26] Eddie: [00:18:26] onto the next segment, the sit rep or the situation report in this segment, we'll dive into what our guest is focused on today and how their vision is transforming the future of industry and society.
[00:18:39] It sounds like you've thought about this before. And a lot of what you've just talked about seems to be related to. What you're doing with the Thayer leader development group. And that's really kind of what we, what we are super interested in talking to you about. Cause like, it very much aligns with what we were trying to do, but also in some ways, talking about the values that you [00:19:00] brought to the private sector.
[00:19:01] And it sounds like you're doing that through this group in educating other perhaps non-military leaders on these values and how to develop, like, can you tell us a little bit in your words. Like how you saw the opportunity for theater leader development group and, and why you kind of dedicated so much to this.
[00:19:19] Bill: [00:19:19] The theater leader development group, which is headquartered at west point is, is something that I helped found and always thought that, uh, it would be a good idea. We develop the leaders with a system of character-based values-based leadership. The experiences, some are classrooms, some are active kinetic activities.
[00:19:46] Some are story-based our faculties, as opposed to being, uh, you know, professors of organizational psychology. Uh, they are. Retired [00:20:00] to generals and colonels who have been there and done that. There's a lot of army, a lot of military in it, just as an aside, when we started, as I thought we might have a tendency to do too much of that.
[00:20:13] If anything, our audiences have asked for more of that, because I think. Uh, and we can be proud of this, that the army has been ahead of the corporate world for a long time, in terms of, of leadership and leadership development. To me. A 2030 year career in the army is, you know, 30% of it. 25% of it is, is education, reeducation leadership education.
[00:20:41] Aside from the fact that you get the practical experience as well. So it's worked, I think we've really made a contribution. I think we've, uh, Identify west point in the, in the minds and eyes of many American, uh, and foreign corporations as a [00:21:00] leadership Institute because of what we do. We, we, we have, um, up until COVID operated this thing on a face-to-face basis.
[00:21:08] At west point, we pivoted to virtual and with some success and I, I, by the way, I've not done any of this. I have some wonderful partners in the Thayer leader development group of fantastic, a general partner Rickman, a cozy class of 86, who is the kind of guy I would trust with uncounted money overnight.
[00:21:30] And Dan rice, who is the president and chief operating officer of, uh, the senior leader. These were all dedicated to the same character-based values-based to concepts that drive it. And we, and we went and. Went out and brought in a fantastic woman, exact as executive director who has really provided all the educational behavioral things that we could, we could ever want.
[00:21:55] And she's a, she's a real driver. And so we, it, it [00:22:00] takes it, it takes a team to do these kinds of things. And I think we assembled from the outset, the right team to do. Yeah.
[00:22:07] Eddie: [00:22:07] I mean, it's fantastic. I think that, um, the more that we can kind of connect a lot of what we learned, both in the military and at west point to the private sector, I think that kind of the communication flows both ways is really important because one of the things, obviously we're doing with what we call here, the old grad club, or is, is teach the, the military kind of how the private sector works.
[00:22:28] But I think from what you said is there's a lot to learn and it seems the, the private sector is very eager to learn a lot of what the military kind of teaches us as well.
[00:22:36] Bill: [00:22:36] Yeah, that's true. And I, and I said, uh, as an aside, before, you know, I been shot at, with real bullets, that that is part, a joke and part real.
[00:22:47] I remember at, uh, you know, comfort systems. I was brought into comfort systems to turn it around. It was in real trouble back in 2000. Yeah. I mean, real trouble. We had [00:23:00] $300 million of currently pay whole debt. We were, uh, Uh, accounting profitable, nor were we cashflow positive. You know, the rest of it is a day at the beach, but the, uh, I remember I, some of my senior people saying, you know, I ain't, God, you can say we were going bankrupt.
[00:23:18] Can you can't you see that you stay in cool. And he said, and I dismissed the whole thing by saying, look, I've been shot at re with real bullets, this, this, we can get through this guys. And we did, we, we went to work, uh, which had not characterized. The activities of the prior management to any great extent, but, uh, we, uh, we pulled it out and you know, that that company has gone from low single digits to $70 a share in a it's taken awhile.
[00:23:51] Uh, but, uh, it got there and it it's one of the it's the largest, uh, mechanical services company in the U S. That's an
[00:24:00] [00:23:59] Eddie: [00:23:59] incredible, um, and the experience, one of the things that's pretty interesting about all the companies that you've kind of led is how different a lot of them are. I mean, if it's, you know, whether it's.
[00:24:11] Landcare or club quarters are your comfort systems. It seems like they're all somewhat different industries, but, um, you've been, you've been the guy, so, um, it's really impressive. Well,
[00:24:21] Bill: [00:24:21] there, there some it's at some level, there, there are similar, you talk about general investment development than land care, then club quarters and comfort.
[00:24:31] They're all in this service business in one way or. We're not manufacturing companies. We're not mining company and not all Yaz company. So they're in the service business. All have clients they'll have, uh, constituencies to please. So that, that that's something that's similar among them. That I, I think I, to the extent I was influential in, in guiding and directing, and that's what I was the co that common [00:25:00] thing, serving the client and was, uh, something I brought to it.
[00:25:04] Yeah.
[00:25:07] Eddie: [00:25:07] All right. It's time for our final segment. And so whether it's, you know, the 27 year old who just left the military and did a few tours and decides to get out, or whether it's, um, somebody who's scaling in their career is, you know, 30, 40 years old and is trying to reach the, the, the, uh, the success that you've seen in your career.
[00:25:27] Like, what advice would you have, you know, for those, those people that are still kind of really gunning it. One
[00:25:33] Bill: [00:25:33] of my early mentors, uh, said to me, he said, you know, to the extent you get to a level of success, however that's defined, uh, pass it on. And I, and I've tried to do that. And I will admit to having helped a lot of, especially west point graduates, uh, positioning them, finding backing for them, finding [00:26:00] ideas for them.
[00:26:01] You know, um, there's no secret that I mentioned for I'm almost 80 years old. I I've just been part of the founding of two new companies, startups that are both headed by bet. Both headed by veterans. That's incredible.
[00:26:14] Eddie: [00:26:14] Do you mind sharing with us what those two artists? Cause I think that, you know, it'd be interesting for the audience.
[00:26:19] Well,
[00:26:19] Bill: [00:26:19] one is one is called vet Excel, the T a C C E L. And we are going to provide, we are providing transitional health care to veterans, but it's going to be provided by veterans. And there is, you know, it's a for-profit company. Uh, the, the rate of, uh, Have returned to hospitals is one of the most expensive things that hospital companies and hospitals have to go through.
[00:26:47] And what we're trying to do is reduce the rate of return by providing transitional healthcare to a, to a veteran. For instance, who's had a heart attack and is now at home and, and providing him continuing to serve him or her. [00:27:00] Continuing services. So he did return to the hospital. So that's, that's one company and that's headed by a guy who was, uh, you, you said you talked to Bob McDonald's.
[00:27:10] I know he did, uh, the guy, Matt Collier. Who's a veteran, a west point graduate was Bob's principal assistant in the public. Sector. So we're, we're very serious about that company and our COVID has interrupted our progress, uh, a lot. And the second company is in the, uh, wind and solar power business. Again, a service businesses is a lot of wind power, solar power, electric production facilities, but I don't think we've paid enough attention to the fact that they're going to need to be maintained.
[00:27:46] We've started going young, man. I enlisted in the army. Uh, then, uh, it was a ranger of Italian, uh, Greg guy. And, uh, I was introduced to him and we put some money [00:28:00] behind him and, uh, we're, we're working this, so I just, you know, there, uh, that's just what I do. I'm sorry, but, uh, Things, and, and it's important by the way, for veterans west point grads, et cetera, to stay involved with the charitable activities that relate to the military.
[00:28:24] I've been on the board of the Vietnam veterans Memorial. I've been on the board and executive committee of business executives for national security, I think forever. Amen. There's the Johnny Mac soldiers fund, which provides scholarships to the children on the fall. And I, I, uh, I just, you know, I've been fortunate and, uh, enabled to support those things and do, and it's not just money.
[00:28:51] The support for those organizations is not just describe the money that people can, can work for those and help [00:29:00] promote those. And. So I've, I've done some of that along with my wife's, uh, various pursuits, like the world wildlife fund and the Sierra club and the metropolitan opera.
[00:29:14] Eddie: [00:29:14] That's awesome bill. So it sounds like your, your advice for, you know, to get by giving back, that is your advice is, you know, you're giving back the advice of, of just continuing to give back on, because there's so many different causes that, that are, it seems like I'm worthwhile and on the veteran front.
[00:29:30] So, and that's what we're trying to do here as well. So we're, we're really. Thank you so much for the time and,
[00:29:37] Bill: [00:29:37] well, I, I, um, as I think about it, I don't know what, uh, shed any value here. Certainly hadn't been organized, but, uh, you know, I, I, I really believe in this sort of, uh, competence, curiosity, uh, Axis here.
[00:29:55] I think leaders need to be curious and aware all the time and they [00:30:00] need to demonstrate competence. Part of their competence by the way, is, is the ability to, to, uh, create trust in the organizations. And you can. I love the phrase, the speed of trust. You can operate a lot faster if you've got the trust of those rules.
[00:30:19] Thank you for listening to OnPoint. Please take a moment to rate and review the show. Wherever you're listening. It really helps us out. Also subscribe to our newsletter@oldgradclub.com and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn at old grad club. We'll see you on the next episode.