Grit Becomes Growth: The Path from Pain to Transformation | Bart Foster, Ep 09
Episode Summary
Bart Foster shares his journey from corporate executive to founder of SoloHealth, a health screening kiosk company that scaled to 4,000 Walmart locations before he was forced out by his board. He discusses the emotional trauma of losing his company, his intentional relocation to Boulder, and founding Business Outside—a consulting practice that uses nature-based experiences to help leaders build authentic connections and live more intentionally.
Pull Quotes
On the moment his executive chairman announced his removal in front of the team
“He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Bart, I just got to commend you for stepping aside.' I was gutted.”
“Monetarily, I hit a single, but lifestyle-wise, it was a home run because it put me on a whole new path. Now, I can't imagine creating a better life and career.”
On the bell curve framework for meaningful conversation
“70% of the conversations we have in life are right in the middle: how's the weather, how's your job, how are your kids. For the most part, nobody cares. It's when you get to the 10% on each side—positive and negative—you get to the feeling and the emotion.”
“When we're walking shoulder to shoulder, you don't need to be inside the four walls of a conference looking at PowerPoint slides. I find that we're more authentic, more vulnerable, and we can build trust faster.”
“The way I grew up, there was a personal you and a business you, and you'd leave the personal at home. That's not true anymore. There's one you, and the more authentic we can be, the better.”
Transcript
Here's the cleaned transcript:
: Hi:, welcome to Tales From The SkyUnge. It It's a podcast about business consulting and Venture investing.
We get out there in the world and find and find people who are making making it happen and get their stories.
Today today in the Lo, Bart Foster. Hi Bart,, hey buddy. Welcome to the Sky. It's been a minute.
Bart, you are one of these dynamic guys that's always doing doing really cool interesting things.. But before we get too into it,,, why don't you give you us quick intro about your? I'm to when you and I met. Was going to be in Atlanta right through the tech incubator ATDC. Were Were we both running businesses? I think we were CECEOs, young CEatOs at about the same time time going through that grist mill That that is fundraising in the south. that That's when I met you and then I think we actually did a little bit of training training together . we've literally walked a few miles.
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