"Failure is a setback, not a dead end. Learn, adapt, and keep moving forward."
Greg Lindberg Tweet
Greg Lindberg is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. For the last three decades, he has been on the quest to reinventing, transforming and giving back. For the last few years, his mission has been focused on helping people reach their ultimate potential though wellness, longevity and leadership.
His goodwill and determination have helped grow hundreds of businesses, employ thousands of people, empower leaders and impact communities through philanthropic efforts.
Lindberg, who was born and raised in San Mateo, California, graduated from high school in 1989. After that, he attended Yale University where he completed his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1993.
During his sophomore year at Yale University, Lindberg established a health insurance compliance and reimbursement newsletter called Home Care Week to help health care professionals make sense of medical regulations. Over time, his small startup business turned into a multi-million-dollar publishing company.
Since then, Lindberg has acquired and transformed more than 100 companies that were either failing or underperforming and are now worth billions of dollars. He’s also employed more than 7,500 people.
His experiences and challenges as a business leader inspired him to author two books: Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity into Advantage published in 2020, 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership published in 2022 and Lifelong: Quantum Biology, Anti-Aging Science, and the Cutting-Edge Program that Will Transform Your Body and Mind published in 2023.
Through this work, Lindberg’s mission is to empower people unlock their greatness through his brand Lifelong Labs by focusing on wellness, longevity and leadership.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Greg Lindberg: I am an entrepreneur, philanthropist and author turned wellness advocate. For the last three decades, I have been on the quest to reinventing, transforming and giving back. For the last few years, my mission has been focused on helping people reach their ultimate potential though wellness, longevity and leadership.
My goodwill and determination have helped grow hundreds of businesses, employ thousands of people, empower leaders and impact communities through philanthropic efforts.
I was born and raised in San Mateo, California, graduated from high school in 1988. After that, I attended Yale University where I completed his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1993.
During my sophomore year at Yale University, I established a health insurance compliance and reimbursement newsletter called Home Care Week to help health care professionals make sense of medical regulations. Over time, my small startup business turned into a $1.7 billion-revenue company.
Since then, I have acquired and transformed more than 100 companies that were either failing or underperforming and are now worth billions of dollars. The companies I have an economic interest in currently employ 7,500 people.
My experiences and challenges as a business leader inspired me to author two books: Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity into Advantage published in 2020, 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership published in 2022 and Lifelong: Quantum Biology, Anti-Aging Science, and the Cutting-Edge Program that Will Transform Your Body and Mind published in 2023.
My mission is to empower people unlock their greatness by focusing on wellness, longevity and leadership through my brand Lifelong Labs.
Can you share a time when your business faced a significant challenge? How did you navigate through it?
Greg Lindberg: The best example of this is when we almost went out of business in 1998 when our largest market for our healthcare newsletters collapsed from a regulatory change that impacted reimbursement in that industry.
We were forced to cut costs dramatically and adapt to the new reality very quickly. It taught us a lot of valuable lessons that we still practice today.
How has a failure or apparent failure set you up for later success?
Greg Lindberg: In 1998, I almost went bankrupt thanks to an enormous shift in the market I was serving. But that experience taught me and my early employees how to pivot on a dime, refashion revenue streams, slash expenses, and build new pathways.
Every business failure I faced over the years prepared me for the future in ways I could’ve never imagined. Failure also helped me learn many lessons, grow, transform and develop immense strength.
What society considers failures are steppingstones for future success. The earlier in an endeavor that you meet failure, the sooner you can learn from that failure and move forward.
Unless we embrace a willingness to fail, we’ll never actually rise to the top and achieve our dreams and never learn how to turn adversity into advantage.
How do you build a resilient team? What qualities do you look for in your team members?
Greg Lindberg: This year is my 32nd year in business. The challenges never ends. To build a successful business over the long haul you must expect and even welcome battles and challenges that are certain to come your way.
There is no effort without error and shortcoming. Be willing to pivot in entirely new directions. That’s what I instilled in my team.
The business that my team and I grew started as a healthcare publishing business. We pivoted to healthcare technology and now we are pivoting to exit the insurance business. These have been major changes requiring enormous effort and learning. But they are critical. We kept pivoting and kept reinventing ourselves.
How do you maintain your personal resilience during tough times?
Greg Lindberg: While I get faced with challenges all the time, I never gave up. Instead, I embrace it, and use it as a guide to help me transform my life through intense wellness activities and mental challenges.
As a result, I incorporated fasting, cold and heat exposure, exercise, nutrition, and mental challenges to my daily routine. These wellness changes now have become my lifestyle. I now feel stronger, healthier, energetic and youthful.
I achieved those results by incorporating hormesis, a phenomenon in which small to moderate stressors like fasting, cold exposure, exercise, and nutrition provide beneficial effects to the body when the harmful stressors are small. Those experiences allow the body to become comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Hormesis has been explored in biology for thousands of years. Applying this concept through those daily routines can improve your life today, in the future, and even improve the life of your offspring.
What strategies do you use to manage stress and maintain focus during a crisis?
Greg Lindberg: I mange stress by fasting four days a week and only eating on weekends. I also challenge myself mentally and physically.
Applying this concept through those daily routines has tremendously improve my life mentally, physically and emotionally.
Most importantly, the best way to manage stress is to see it as a gift. You make stress the fuel and you try to learn and grow and become stronger from it.
Our brains thrive and survive during challenges, and that’s when we have an opportunity to get better. There is no progress in peace and comfort.
How do you communicate with your team during a crisis?
Greg Lindberg: I think stress or crisis can be critical to growth and success. Business and leadership are not about peace, comfort and relaxation.
They’re about adversity. The more you lead and grow, the bigger the responsibilities and challenges will be.
What advice would you give to other CEOs on building resilience in their organizations?
Greg Lindberg: It’s important to embrace and welcome adversity as an opportunity for growth. Great leaders remain flexible and adaptable and are ready to pivot when it’s necessary.
Failure is a setback, but you have to accept it, learn from it and continue to persist. Instead of dwelling on problems, leaders should focus on thinking outside the box and finding solutions.
How do you prepare your business for potential future crises?
Greg Lindberg: Adversity is inevitable. By embracing change, maintaining a positive mindset, focusing on solutions, leading by example, prioritizing self-care, and seeking support, businesses can not only survive but thrive in the midst of adversity.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about leadership in times of crisis?
Greg Lindberg: Fail early and often. Failure helps you learn, get stronger and be more successful.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Greg Lindberg for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Greg Lindberg or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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