My Coaching Journey with Rodric Lenhart

Rodric Lenhart, a Michigan-born lifelong entrepreneur, started his business journey at a young age with a fruit stand in his mother’s front yard. Over the last thirty years, he has expanded his ventures to create multiple multi-million dollar companies in both product and service industries.

Rodric’s passion for entrepreneurship led him to become one of the first graduates of UT’s Entrepreneurship, Family, and Small Business Program and he holds an ICF designation as a professional coach from Brown University’s ACT Leadership and Performance Coaching Program. Through his books, limited private coaching, courses and speaking engagements. Rodric now focuses on helping entrepreneurs build businesses that align with their lives.

Having traveled to forty-eight countries across six continents, Rodric brings a unique world view and a deep appreciation for freedom and autonomy to his work – donating all profits from his work to his foundation ‘Send a Student Leader Abroad’. If you’re an entrepreneur looking to transform your job into a thriving business, Rodric is who you want in your corner.

Read Rodric Lenhart’s story below and hear how he is applying coaching skills in his career.

Rodric, recently chatted with Mike Hutchins on ACT’s Student Experience Webinar, to watch the recording, please click this link.

Please tell us about your background and work experience prior to starting the LPCC program?

I have been fortunate to be a lifelong entrepreneur. Starting my first businesses as a teenager in Michigan. From humble beginnings, over the last thirty years, I have expanded my ventures to create multiple multi-million dollar companies in both product and service industries – automotive performance, real estate, wholesale distribution, construction and more.

Having sold my last businesses June of 2022, I wanted to move into a career of service and so started MillionDollarFlipFlops.com and SASLA.org (all of our profits from coaching, books, courses, etc are donated).

What led you to coaching?

Coaching competitive sports for nearly a decade in Charlotte NC, and with some of my boys being drafted to the majors, I’ve felt that overwhelming sense of pride and gratitude when one of them approaches you years later and shares that some off-the-cuff words of wisdom you imparted unknowingly changed their trajectory.

As an entrepreneur for decades, regularly being asked “how do you do it?” and helping others both start new ventures and work on, not in, their businesses, the same series of events unfolded. I’ve built many successful companies, but I’ve also traveled to 50 countries on 6 continents, the Super Bowl, World Series and more… my core values center around freedom and autonomy. Others desire those same things – but often go the wrong way about getting there. I want to help others on that path to what they truly want from their life, not what society tells them they want. There is no scarier notion to me than arriving at the end of our life, wondering if it has all been wrong (to quote Tolstoy). Helping others on that journey is what led me to become a professional coach.

Why did you choose the ACT & Brown Coaching program?

Many realize that the term “coach” is thrown around loosely these days. From $79 overnight certification “programs” to no credentials at all… it’s the wild west, to be sure. So I had two qualifiers when searching for a program.

  1. It had to be worth the spend, even if I never did this professionally (ie. the personal development was worth as much or more than the badge).
  2. It had to have “street cred”. There are coaching programs, and there are coaching programs associated with an Ivy League University – easy decision. LPCC and what Mike and Erin have built fit both bills without question.

What was your overall experience of the program and what has been the most rewarding part of your coaching journey so far?

In my upcoming book Million Dollar Flip Flops – Peace, Prosperity and the Courage to Change Course in Life and Business, I talk at length about my experience in the program. In the book, I mention that I don’t use the phrase “life-changing” at the drop of a hat. This program was life-changing.

I have been a student of personal development and human behavior and psychology as a hobby since I was a teen. Many of the concepts are not earth-shattering new ideas – nor are they advertised as such. It’s in the way they are presented, the world-class facilitators, and most importantly, the cohort you find yourself on the journey with that the magic takes place. Deep bonds are created with your peers, and the level of introspection that is afforded in a safe space, primed for development and growth, is worth the price of admission on its own. Like most things in life, you get out what you put in, and the members of my cohort “brought it” every single session. Many of us still keep in touch and have gone on to form other groups and help each other with our coaching endeavors. Lifelong bonds and unforgettable moments and experiences. I would to it again in an instant.

Tell us about the work you do now and how you are applying your coaching skills?

I have a new book coming out September 12th, an interactive journal, courses, monthly live workshops and have developed a partnership with EF Tours for our foundation ‘Send a Student Leader Abroad’ that will send me to their world summit and on a 12 state speaking tour this fall. An upcoming TEDx talk, the list goes on – and all in addition to limited private coaching with clients worldwide. ALL of this stems from the time I spent in LPCC/ACT, the feedback from my cohort and mentors in the program, and the ongoing connection with the people in and around the program itself. It laid the foundation for everything I’ve built in the last 6 months. After completing the program, I am a better coach and mentor, but I’m also a better partner, a better friend and a better human being.

At the start of every baseball season, before the first game, I would tell the boys something that went like this:

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you’re lucky. Sometimes the other team is just having a bad day or is just playing at a lower level. I don’t care if we win or lose. I care that you give your all at every practice and at every game. If you give it everything you have and come up short, you didn’t lose anything at all. Sometimes the other team is just better than you. twenty years from now you probably won’t remember who won or lost this game. But if you give your all every day, at the end of this season you will be a better ball player and you will be a better young man. And that you get to keep forever”.

My experience with LPCC is something that can never be taken away.

See you on the journey…

About ACT

A Leadership and Performance Coaching company focused on developing exceptional leaders, helping leaders become Aware of their impact so they can make better Choices leading to Transformative results.

Our commitment to transformative learning, innovation and diverse thinking, and making an impact in the world is at the core of what we do. We are a family-owned, service-driven company who partners with the Brown University School of Professional Studies, organizations and government agencies to deliver our life changing programs.

ACT, in partnership with Brown University School of Professional Studies, an international leader in executive education, is excited to offer ACT’s ICF accredited Leadership and Performance Coaching Certification Program. ACT shares Brown University’s mission to develop reflective leaders, to effect change in the world, and to improve human welfare. https://actleader.com/

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ACT is an internationally recognized coaching, leadership development and consulting company known for its commitment to leadership and performance coaching, valuing its long term partnerships with Brown University, the intelligence communities and its loyal and devoted diverse community.  

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