A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MONTE HOLM
It should come as no surprise that a corporate president who periodically drives his Harley goes zero to 90 all day long.
Indeed, World Financial Group President Monte Holm is up before the sun rises and continues going until long after the sun sets, often not settling in for the night until around midnight.
After all, there's much to do in between those hours for the man who's the company president. Monte spends 50 to 60 percent of his time with the field, either with Supervisory Board members or various CEO MDs in conference calls, promotion runs and generally assisting them with the vision, direction, mission and system of WFG.
"Everything I do is aimed toward creating a culture and environment to attract, train and retain and lead our licensed field force," Monte said.
He's on the road two or three days a week, but during the remainder of his time, he's in the WFG World Headquarters in Duluth, Ga.
Monte's day usually begins between 6 and 6:15 a.m., as his early start even beats the sun's rise. After some brief exercise, Monte gets dressed for work and is at the office by 7:30 a.m. In the Executive area of the fourth floor, he briefly catches up with other WFG Senior Vice Presidents, including Susan Davies and Edie Craig, hears Jack Linder's latest golfing exploits, and meets with his assistant at 9 a.m. to review the day's schedule.
Then it's meetings, meetings and more meetings for Monte, where topics, such as new technology; the Investment Advisors International (IAI) program; development and expansion in China; product providers; goals and strategy, commissions and field production; and agenda-planning for upcoming incentive trips and leadership conferences, are discussed. During the day, he may talk with AEGON representatives, as he is responsible for WFG maintaining its strong relationship with its parent company.
Since Monte encourages an open-door policy, his few spare moments are often filled as company managers and executives wander in and out of his office with varying issues to discuss. After cramming all of that into his day, Monte is home by 7 p.m. on most days, often making more calls to the field from home.
Of course, Monte's first priority is always his family, still eating dinner with his wife nightly and "going on a date" with her at least once a week (usually Saturday night) to the movies or a restaurant. Most evenings, Monte catches up with his children, which can be difficult to accomplish since four of his six children are presently away at college.
Then he takes time for his spiritual reading and the news, only watching a television show every once in awhile.
Though his lifestyle has changed over the years, there's one practice that Monte always accomplishes - beginning and closing each day with a prayer.
"I've done that since I was a boy," Monte said. "Then I'll review my goals, dreams and affirmations, and I'm in bed by midnight, usually." Then he laughed, "You know, my life isn't really all that glamorous! But I feel my life is blessed, and my life is a blast."