The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2022
Derek Anthony A Distinct Leader with Innovative Approach
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o work is too small or too big; if one does their work with passionate determination, one will eventually climb the ladder of success. Having such strong determination, Derek Anthony, worked at 22 jobs in his professional journey learning a valuable lesson in hindsight. Each of these lessons molded Derek into becoming the Vice President of Real Estate at The Woodmont Company. His tremendous corporate background in sales, marketing, operations, P&L, and negotiation skills are unlike anyone in the real estate business. Woodmont specializes in every aspect of commercial real estate, including development, asset management, tenant representation, brokerage, construction supervision, and investment sales. A Distinct Journey Grown up in North County of St. Louis suburbs, from cutting grass, to lifeguarding in high school, to stringing rackets in college, to help pay for bills, to buy an engagement ring, and then graduate from Missouri State in Marketing, Derek wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue. Derek took his first job out of college at Woods Wire Products, Inc., which got him on the right foot having a wonderful friend and mentor, John Wiesehan Jr. John had 15 years with GE and a corporate structure background in Sales & Marketing and patiently got Derek to break out of his shell. Since then, Derek has taken every opportunity that knocked on his door utilizing his ability to put deals together, which has been with him even after the Woods Wire days.
about different cultures professionally, took his strengths of direct reports, and incorporated those traits into how he manages and leads his team today. Speaking about his journey, Derek says, “Given all my experiences from operations, P&L’s, people skills, emotional intelligence, and how to read a room, makes commercial real estate no different. It just comes down to deal-making and figuring out how to get to the closing table and being sensitive to both sides views and having an open mind, while making the soft ask.” Crossing the Hurdles Derek has come across many challenges in his journey. He remembers one company he worked for was dealing with a lawsuit of $64,000,000 for not paying royalties and the company was shutdown. Derek had to sign up as an Uber driver to take care of his two kids and wife, even though he had the highest-earning period of his life and a mortgage. He also applied for a warehouse job at Amazon and was
What gets measured gets improved.
Over the next 17 years, Derek managed, sold, and marketed Consumer Electronic products to big retailers and distributors throughout the United States with Coby, Uniden, X-10, Fulfillment Plus, GPX, and many more brands. Derek traveled the world, visited factories, learned
April 2022 | 30 | insightssuccess.com
