LEADING
TRUESDALE FINDS
BALANCE By Jan Joslin / Photos provided
I
t was Christmastime 2016 when Gil Truesdale’s youngest daughter, in her early 20s, said, “This is the longest you’ve been home since I was born.” Truesdale calls it a gut-wrenching moment. He was at home for a 10-week stretch across 2016 and 2017, not because he took a break from traveling for his corporate job but because he was named foreman on a jury. Later, Truesdale realized there are things that happen in life that alter the way you think. It may be something you did, or it may be divine intervention, but either way you have no choice. “From that point forward, I have been trying to work my way out of that lifestyle,” he said. In the years since Truesdale graduated from Charleston Southern in 1986, he earned 10 million flight miles, taking about 260 flights a year. His rise on the fast track had him migrating from operations to national then global sales, selling safety products, and then five years in, he began working on diversity-focused spending. He spoke to massive corporations about trickle-down spending, and asking, were their corporate purchasing and global spending practices helping the people at the bottom of the chain who made the products. “In hundreds of global meetings and talks, I was the only white guy in the room, and it became very normal for me,” said Truesdale. He worked with Fortune 500 executive committees for years on diversity. He also stepped up to became a leader to middle managers. He said, “A lot of people are leaders by title, but if you don’t have experience, it is tough.” By 2005 he was tired of the global travel and limited his Gil Truesdale on the road for Martin Technical in his role as Chief Revenue Officer. Photo provided
10 CSU magazine
Fall 2020, vol.30 no.3
