Kevin Wilkins built a successful corporate career with Fortune 100 companies like Procter & Gamble and Fidelity Investments. But when he sold his company and moved to New Orleans, he faced an identity crisis—no more corporate brand, no predefined path. He had to redefine leadership for himself.
Wilkins discovered that true leadership isn’t about titles or company logos. It’s about people, culture, and impact. He founded Trepwise, a consulting firm dedicated to strengthening purpose-driven organizations. His work focuses on aligning strategy, vision, and execution for nonprofits and businesses looking to make a difference.
One of his biggest leadership lessons? Make the company bigger than the founder. Wilkins emphasizes investing in people, fostering a strong culture, and ensuring the mission transcends any one individual. His success proves that leadership isn’t about personal accolades—it’s about building something that outlasts you.
Want to learn more about Kevin Wilkins' work? Check out his website at https://www.trepwise.com.
Connect with Kevin Wilkins on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/knwilkins.
Key Takeaways with Timestamps:
- [00:01:03] Introducing Kevin Wilkins: Founder and CEO of Trepwise, a firm that strengthens purpose-driven organizations.
- [00:05:06] Leadership Lessons from P&G: How Procter & Gamble’s culture of training and promotion shaped Wilkins’ leadership approach.
- [00:09:51] The Value of Liberal Arts Education in Leadership: Why strategic thinking matters more than rigid professional tracks.
- [00:16:03] Identity Shift After Leaving Corporate Life: Wilkins’ transition from big-brand executive to independent leader in New Orleans.
- [00:22:00] Scaling a Business Beyond the Founder: How Wilkins made Trepwise bigger than himself through strong culture and people investment.
- [00:26:01] The Secret to Sustainable Leadership: Why leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about creating lasting impact through people.
- [00:29:51] How to Connect with Kevin Wilkins & Trepwise: Final thoughts and where to reach out for collaboration.
Transcript
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:30:16
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.
00:00:30:18 - 00:00:51:08
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.
00:00:51:08 - 00:00:57:09
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Kevin Wilkins. He is the founder and CEO of Trepwise.
00:00:57:09 - 00:01:03:17
Craig Andrews
He served as the entrepreneur in Residence and CEO co of the Idea Village in New Orleans.
00:01:03:17 - 00:01:22:12
Craig Andrews
He's, trap wise, is a strategy consulting firm whose mission is to unlock the potential of purpose driven organizations by aligning people, process, and vision. And I've been looking over Kevin's background, his chocked full of purpose, which I think is going to be really interesting.
00:01:22:14 - 00:01:31:22
Craig Andrews
He's built a strong team of consultants that trap wise, who have collectively worked with over 700 purpose driven organizations. So,
00:01:31:22 - 00:01:34:22
Craig Andrews
Kevin, Kevin's done something really interesting.
00:01:34:22 - 00:01:37:00
Craig Andrews
He did the corporate gig with,
00:01:37:00 - 00:01:48:10
Craig Andrews
fortune 500. I would think even fortune 100 companies, and then went off and started his own thing. And so I think there's some really interesting wisdom that's going to come out in our talk.
00:01:48:12 - 00:01:52:05
Craig Andrews
Having stood on both sides of the fence and Sir Kevin, welcome.
00:01:52:07 - 00:01:54:23
Kevin Wilkins
Thank you. Great to be here, Craig. I appreciate it.
00:01:55:01 - 00:01:55:21
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So,
00:01:55:21 - 00:01:58:17
Craig Andrews
just out of curiosity, where did you grow up?
00:01:58:19 - 00:02:00:00
Kevin Wilkins
I grew up in new Jersey.
00:02:00:02 - 00:02:00:20
Craig Andrews
New Jersey.
00:02:01:00 - 00:02:03:10
Kevin Wilkins
Right outside New York City. Suburb. Community.
00:02:03:12 - 00:02:12:07
Craig Andrews
Okay. All right. So you're you're far enough north. You probably don't eat scrapple. I think you probably don't eat live pork products anyway, but you probably don't eat scrapple.
00:02:12:09 - 00:02:15:18
Kevin Wilkins
I do not eat scrapple. No, I, I have we do not.
00:02:15:18 - 00:02:21:11
Kevin Wilkins
We've got some great sandwiches in new Jersey. You know, there's a lot of unique food that comes through in new Jersey, too.
00:02:21:13 - 00:02:28:07
Craig Andrews
You know, I used to live in Raleigh, and I remember one time I used to do business out in,
00:02:28:07 - 00:02:34:12
Craig Andrews
sort of central Jersey. Warren. If you know where Warren, new Jersey is. And there was one time,
00:02:34:12 - 00:02:44:17
Craig Andrews
there was some weather. Couldn't fly out of Newark. Ended up staying in a hotel in Manhattan. And I just remember having a sandwich, and I was like, oh, my goodness.
00:02:44:17 - 00:02:56:01
Craig Andrews
Because I grew up in the northeast and living in Raleigh, I don't know what it is, but there's a difference in the way sandwiches are made in the northeast. Then when you cross the Mason-Dixon line.
00:02:56:03 - 00:03:18:02
Kevin Wilkins
I agree with that. Yeah. There's a new sandwich shop that opened up in New Orleans, Resilience and New Jersey based sandwich shop. And people are loving it. Now, what makes me smile is New Orleans is like the the, the capital of cuisine. We're one of the biggest foodie cities in, in the world, actually. So when people are praising this new Jersey sandwich shop that just opened, I'm like, really?
00:03:18:04 - 00:03:24:23
Kevin Wilkins
Yeah, we smile because new Jersey has to be known for something, so why not have a few sandwiches?
00:03:25:01 - 00:03:29:08
Craig Andrews
I think one of the most interesting places I've eaten in New Orleans was,
00:03:29:08 - 00:03:31:23
Craig Andrews
a place called Kushan. It's over here. Sure.
00:03:32:00 - 00:03:33:01
Kevin Wilkins
Fantastic.
00:03:33:03 - 00:03:36:10
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. Just exceptional. Exceptional.
00:03:36:12 - 00:03:57:05
Kevin Wilkins
So many good restaurants here. We've got more five star restaurants per capita than any other city we've got. Everything is good. There's simply no room for mediocrity. You want the best breakfast? You want the best hamburger. You want the best five star dinner. You will find it here. And restaurants will close. If they are not great. You've got to be great at every level.
00:03:57:07 - 00:04:00:06
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, so let's go back to.
00:04:00:07 - 00:04:10:22
Kevin Wilkins
I have to exercise a whole lot because that was my big learning coming to New Orleans. Yeah it was Benny's are a little caloric.
00:04:11:00 - 00:04:21:10
Craig Andrews
But yeah. So anyway, you grew up in Jersey, you went to Dartmouth, and then you. I said fortune 500. But looking at, I mean,
00:04:21:10 - 00:04:24:22
Craig Andrews
you worked at Procter and Gamble. That's fortune 100, isn't it?
00:04:24:23 - 00:04:25:14
Kevin Wilkins
Yeah.
00:04:25:16 - 00:04:28:04
Craig Andrews
And fidelity and what have you.
00:04:28:06 - 00:04:31:18
Kevin Wilkins
Yeah. Social research. I've had some. Really,
00:04:31:18 - 00:04:37:01
Kevin Wilkins
I've had some amazing career opportunities and some really, really interesting jobs.
00:04:37:03 - 00:04:45:09
Craig Andrews
And kind of high level. What did you do in those jobs and what were some things that you learned from that world? So it's.
00:04:45:09 - 00:04:47:11
Kevin Wilkins
Interesting. I graduated from Dartmouth College,
00:04:47:11 - 00:05:06:06
Kevin Wilkins
and I went in to Procter and Gamble, as in their brand management program, and that brand management program is geared to MBA students who were graduating. But they they used to I don't know if they still do this. They used to hire like maybe 10% undergrads who came from liberal arts backgrounds because they like the liberal arts way of thinking.
00:05:06:06 - 00:05:15:10
Kevin Wilkins
You know, you can analyze, you can strategize, you can write, and they looks for leadership skills. So if you were like a good leader and you've demonstrated that in your in your education path,
00:05:15:10 - 00:05:17:08
Kevin Wilkins
and you did well academically,
00:05:17:08 - 00:05:21:08
Kevin Wilkins
there was a potential to be able to work for Procter and Gamble. So I moved to Cincinnati and was in there,
00:05:21:08 - 00:05:23:22
Kevin Wilkins
was in their household cleaning division,
00:05:23:22 - 00:05:24:15
Kevin Wilkins
floor cleaners.
00:05:24:15 - 00:05:26:12
Kevin Wilkins
That was my claim to fame and,
00:05:26:12 - 00:05:39:04
Kevin Wilkins
learned a tremendous amount. I had no business experience. I mean, it was literally an undergraduate liberal arts major. So I learned I had to learn everything from like budget to positioning to branding to manufacturing operations.
00:05:39:04 - 00:05:47:14
Kevin Wilkins
And it was an incredible experience because they really they it was I'm not sure it's still this way, but it used to be promotion from within.
00:05:47:16 - 00:05:59:20
Kevin Wilkins
So you could only get to the next level by having you served at the previous level. They don't hire from the outside. And now again, that that might have changed, I don't know. But because of that philosophy at the time, they were
00:05:59:20 - 00:06:05:17
Kevin Wilkins
they really had to invest in their employees, right? Because they wanted you to be as strong as possible at the next level.
00:06:05:19 - 00:06:08:06
Kevin Wilkins
So the training and the education and the,
00:06:08:06 - 00:06:17:15
Kevin Wilkins
and the learnings were absolutely like, incredible. And in fact, I often say that a lot of the training I got a P&G I still use today in my career.
00:06:17:16 - 00:06:18:19
Craig Andrews
Yeah.
00:06:18:21 - 00:06:20:10
Kevin Wilkins
Well, the thing is, I had,
00:06:20:10 - 00:06:40:17
Kevin Wilkins
I it was the first time I thought to myself, I like what I'm doing, but the category I'm in isn't terribly exciting. So I had two friends who were like, I want to be a brand manager on anything, I don't care, I want to be a brand manager. I'm like, I'd like to be a brand manager too.
00:06:40:17 - 00:06:54:07
Kevin Wilkins
But this, like Mr. Clean Floor Cleaner is is there's only so much one can do with it, you know what I mean? So I didn't get a lot of passion out of before cleaning aspect, which then made me ask myself, okay, so what do I want?
00:06:54:07 - 00:06:58:06
Kevin Wilkins
If I like the general management stuff, I might want to do a different industry.
00:06:58:08 - 00:07:11:05
Kevin Wilkins
Like, how do I do that? And that's when I decided to leave to go to Harvard Business School. And Harvard Business School was a great transition for me because it opened my eyes up to like, the capital markets and more in the finance space.
00:07:11:05 - 00:07:18:14
Kevin Wilkins
And I then I then saw that, you know what, I can do this general management concept and apply it to financial services, which are dynamic.
00:07:18:14 - 00:07:19:03
Kevin Wilkins
And that
00:07:19:03 - 00:07:21:00
Kevin Wilkins
and constantly changing,
00:07:21:00 - 00:07:25:14
Kevin Wilkins
and be able to go into the financial services space, which I did after I graduated
00:07:25:14 - 00:07:27:02
Kevin Wilkins
in Boston.
00:07:27:03 - 00:07:47:16
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, one of the things that you said that just really kind of jumped out to me was how P&G would hire a certain number of liberal arts majors. And I had a professor who said the purpose of a liberal arts education is not to teach you a specific skill, but to teach to prepare you for any skill.
00:07:47:18 - 00:07:56:11
Craig Andrews
It's about teaching you how to think. And I'm personally very disappointed with the product that universities are putting out because,
00:07:56:11 - 00:07:59:21
Craig Andrews
I feel like we've strayed far from that vision.
00:07:59:23 - 00:08:00:15
Kevin Wilkins
Right.
00:08:00:15 - 00:08:04:09
Kevin Wilkins
I hear that, and I've got three boys. Plus, I'm blessed to have three boys.
00:08:04:09 - 00:08:07:20
Kevin Wilkins
And they're currently 28, 24 and 22.
00:08:07:20 - 00:08:11:07
Kevin Wilkins
So they've gone through my, my, my youngest is a bunch of graduate.
00:08:11:07 - 00:08:22:20
Kevin Wilkins
And they took very interesting paths because I agree with you. I, I'm a big fan of liberal arts. I'm a big fan of like, learning and reading diverse topics and studying different types of theories.
00:08:22:21 - 00:08:30:14
Kevin Wilkins
Doing some research. I think it just helps you. It strengthens the mind when it comes to analytics. And when it comes to strategic thinking.
00:08:30:14 - 00:08:42:09
Kevin Wilkins
Some people challenge that. They're like, oh my gosh, my son's a philosophy major. What job is he going to get? And what we've seen in recent years is the professional programs have,
00:08:42:09 - 00:08:45:08
Kevin Wilkins
really built Steam and the liberal arts, I think.
00:08:45:08 - 00:08:49:21
Kevin Wilkins
I'm not sure. I don't know the stats, but they might be a shrinking category. I don't know,
00:08:49:21 - 00:09:02:03
Kevin Wilkins
I do know of three of my three boys. My first one was pre-professional. He went to the Newhouse School in Syracuse. He wanted to he wanted to study TV, radio and film. He studied TV, radio and film. And then he got a job in Los Angeles.
00:09:02:03 - 00:09:20:02
Kevin Wilkins
And that's where he lives right now. My middle son went to Dartmouth College, and she wanted liberal arts, and he studied economics and political science and did everything. You wrote a thesis, everything that you're supposed to do in the liberal arts world. And he loved it. And he ended up getting a really good job as an analyst,
00:09:20:02 - 00:09:22:00
Kevin Wilkins
in a firm in New York City,
00:09:22:00 - 00:09:24:18
Kevin Wilkins
who, again, value that kind of analytical thinking.
00:09:24:20 - 00:09:51:00
Kevin Wilkins
My youngest is a finance major at Tulane, so he's going to go into investment banking. So I've got two pre-professional schools, and I have one liberal arts. And what I've noticed is I don't think I don't think you can critique either path. I think there's a path for each of your kids. I often say there's not one school for all your kids, but there is one school for each of your kids, and depending on what the kids want, they can choose among the different programs that exists.
00:09:51:02 - 00:09:57:11
Kevin Wilkins
I think it's interesting. Dartmouth is very liberal arts, very few pre-professional. They very like pre-med, maybe,
00:09:57:11 - 00:10:12:08
Kevin Wilkins
engineering. They have as well. The Syracuse is a mix. They've got like a lot of different pre-professional. They got some liberal arts. Tulane actually is a beautiful blend because they they encourage you to double major in triple major. So you can take economics.
00:10:12:08 - 00:10:34:13
Kevin Wilkins
My son's taking economics. He's taking finance and then he's minoring in Jewish studies. So I actually think that's a really robust type of academic schedule because it blends both. It gives you pre-professional experience and it gives you that liberal arts background. Yeah. The risk is when kids get on a path so early and then they're like, are they trapped?
00:10:34:13 - 00:10:47:17
Kevin Wilkins
Like at 18? They thought finance was interesting at age 25 and they got along be doing Midas. You know, it's just very when people choose pre-professional, I always get a little concerned that they might not love it. Right.
00:10:47:19 - 00:11:06:16
Craig Andrews
You know, I have somebody who works for me. And when her son was in the seventh or eighth grade, she was talking about how he was needing to choose which track he was going to be on. And I start asking her questions. I'm like, oh my goodness, we've become Japan in the 1980s, you know, because I used to live in Japan.
00:11:06:16 - 00:11:12:04
Craig Andrews
I mean, it was just like your future was determined early. And so I agree with you. It's,
00:11:12:04 - 00:11:21:10
Craig Andrews
I mean, fortunately, I fortunately or unfortunately, I, you know, I made a lot of mistakes in my youth, which didn't put me on any path.
00:11:21:10 - 00:11:26:13
Craig Andrews
But it it opened up a world of opportunities for and,
00:11:26:13 - 00:11:31:14
Craig Andrews
and just kind of rich experiences that,
00:11:31:14 - 00:11:35:08
Craig Andrews
ended up paying off later in life.
00:11:35:10 - 00:11:39:08
Kevin Wilkins
That's awesome. It's wonderful that you were able to discover that early on.
00:11:39:09 - 00:11:45:23
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So then you move. So you leave the corporate world and then you go down to New Orleans.
00:11:45:23 - 00:11:54:22
Craig Andrews
First off, what prompted you? I mean, you're kind of a northeastern guy, and you moved from the Northeast to New Orleans. I just seems like two different worlds.
00:11:55:00 - 00:11:55:18
Kevin Wilkins
It is.
00:11:55:18 - 00:11:57:19
Kevin Wilkins
So my story begins with,
00:11:57:19 - 00:12:08:21
Kevin Wilkins
the concept that I married a woman from New Orleans. So when you marry a woman from New Orleans, ultimately you will get to New Orleans. It just took us around 28 years to get here. We met at Dartmouth.
00:12:08:21 - 00:12:13:00
Kevin Wilkins
We got married soon thereafter. We lived in Boston for most of our married life.
00:12:13:02 - 00:12:16:19
Kevin Wilkins
I was in financial services, my work. My wife's a professional fundraiser.
00:12:16:19 - 00:12:27:22
Kevin Wilkins
We were talking about that path, you know, that you really weren't on a path that early, and so often you were encouraged to get on paths like your Jap Japanese analogy.
00:12:27:22 - 00:12:32:02
Kevin Wilkins
And kids are encouraged to get on paths early because, you know, you need to know where you're going, right?
00:12:32:02 - 00:12:36:03
Kevin Wilkins
So therefore you need to you need to be on a path. And I think my path and,
00:12:36:03 - 00:12:43:03
Kevin Wilkins
the first part of my career was robust but very predefined. And that's I,
00:12:43:03 - 00:12:52:01
Kevin Wilkins
as we were talking, like I went to good schools and I worked at good companies, they all had really good brand names. And I was,
00:12:52:01 - 00:12:56:05
Kevin Wilkins
excited to be part of that brand.
00:12:56:07 - 00:13:16:08
Kevin Wilkins
But the risk with that is you actually begin to lose your sense of self because you begin identifying with the brands. You really don't have to work very hard when someone says, when someone learns that you went to Harvard Business School, they're like, oh, you're smart. So you really don't need to prove anything, right? And then you say, you work at Fidelity Investments.
00:13:16:08 - 00:13:39:12
Kevin Wilkins
Oh, wow. You're smart and you're aggressive. That's interesting because each of these brands meant something. So if you were just aligned with the place you were working and then you were on your path, you really didn't need to think very hard about who you were and what you really wanted to do, because in Boston, my career was defined by, I call them these milestones.
00:13:39:14 - 00:13:43:02
Kevin Wilkins
You know, my title, my my income,
00:13:43:02 - 00:13:46:18
Kevin Wilkins
my breath power, my decision making power, my decision making
00:13:46:18 - 00:14:01:10
Kevin Wilkins
authority. And with every with every step up, you got more of each. So you just kept your head down, keep on working and then get to the next promotion. And then you get to the next promotion. And then you're like, what do I need to do to get to the next promotion?
00:14:01:15 - 00:14:03:20
Kevin Wilkins
Because you're on this path?
00:14:03:20 - 00:14:09:05
Kevin Wilkins
And that path served me well. However, at the end,
00:14:09:05 - 00:14:11:17
Kevin Wilkins
you ask the reason to move to New Orleans? I was,
00:14:11:17 - 00:14:20:06
Kevin Wilkins
president of a stationary research distribution company. We ended up selling the firm to a financial services firm in New York City.
00:14:20:06 - 00:14:22:07
Kevin Wilkins
I did not want to move to New York City.
00:14:22:09 - 00:14:26:01
Kevin Wilkins
And I did a bit of time with them after. And then,
00:14:26:01 - 00:14:33:19
Kevin Wilkins
I had flexibility to do whatever I wanted to do. My wife's a professional fundraiser. As I mentioned, she's a philanthropist. She was raising money for Harvard.
00:14:33:19 - 00:14:38:03
Kevin Wilkins
She got a phone call from Tulane around that same time frame,
00:14:38:03 - 00:14:41:08
Kevin Wilkins
asking whether she'd be interested in raising money for them.
00:14:41:10 - 00:14:47:08
Kevin Wilkins
She'd never gotten a phone call from her home. Never one that would be advancing her career.
00:14:47:08 - 00:15:00:08
Kevin Wilkins
So we paused, and we were like, this might be a moment for us to make this move. I think it's great for her. It'll give the kids a new experience. And I had flexibility to move. So that's what happened with the transition.
00:15:00:10 - 00:15:16:04
Kevin Wilkins
What I did not fully appreciate is when we got here, my wife said to me, so what do you want to do? Like maybe early retirement? You want to do that and, like, volunteer? I'm like, don't think early retirement is exactly in the cards for me. Ever.
00:15:16:04 - 00:15:19:05
Kevin Wilkins
But I don't know what I want to do.
00:15:19:06 - 00:15:23:18
Kevin Wilkins
And it was the first time I used those words. I don't know, because, you know, I've always known,
00:15:23:18 - 00:15:27:13
Kevin Wilkins
I'm on a path, right? The path dictates what I'm going to do.
00:15:27:13 - 00:15:40:02
Kevin Wilkins
But certainly when the path went away. Right. Because the sale of the company, the path has gone away. It was a successful exit. If the world wants to look at something like that.
00:15:40:04 - 00:16:03:04
Kevin Wilkins
And I was totally lost. I was like, I don't know. I think this move to New Orleans is interesting. Everything changed where we lived, where the kids went to school, what our social networks were, what our family affiliation was. It all changed overnight, and I didn't have anything to anchor it in. So I didn't have that career path.
00:16:03:06 - 00:16:08:08
Kevin Wilkins
And I was in a whole new community, one that we were familiar with. I mean, we visited here a whole lot,
00:16:08:08 - 00:16:20:09
Kevin Wilkins
over the years. But when you visit New Orleans, as we said earlier, you go to the nice restaurants and you go to the park and you take the kids to the zoo, and it's lovely, you know, when you live here, you're like, oh my God, there are potholes.
00:16:20:11 - 00:16:25:22
Kevin Wilkins
Oh my God, like there's crime. Oh, oh, the education system really isn't that great.
00:16:25:22 - 00:16:31:07
Kevin Wilkins
So it was very interesting because it forced me at the time to do a lot of soul searching,
00:16:31:07 - 00:16:47:09
Kevin Wilkins
New Orleans. This was four years, four and a half years after Katrina. So the cameras had gone away, the money had dried up, and there was a lot of need, and you didn't have to look very hard to see the strain and the stress that still existed here.
00:16:47:11 - 00:16:51:16
Kevin Wilkins
Education, youth, youth pathways, the,
00:16:51:16 - 00:17:17:21
Kevin Wilkins
cultural economy, the crime was an issue. Infrastructure was an issue. Living with water, as you can imagine, was a big issue. So many people came here after Katrina with such incredible intent, and a ton of nonprofits were established, and a ton of money was flowing into the city until it wasn't. And then five years later, these nonprofits are kind of struggling.
00:17:17:21 - 00:17:40:21
Kevin Wilkins
The money is drying up, the cameras have gone away, and on to the next, next crisis that they want to focus on. And New Orleans is there and they're trying their best. And it was in that environment when I finally said, you know what? I don't know what I want to do, but I hope that my background in some way, shape or form can somehow help the community.
00:17:40:23 - 00:18:10:11
Kevin Wilkins
And it wasn't like northeast savior ism. I'm not here to be like, share brilliance to save the community. It was a lot more humble than that because I did not know. I did not know what that answer looked like. I just put it into a category, and I joke that. When you tell people here that you went to Dartmouth, they're like, Dartmouth, where is where is that Connecticut or people?
00:18:10:11 - 00:18:32:06
Kevin Wilkins
You went to Harvard Business School there, like you couldn't get into two Lane. Why didn't you go to LSU? So there's a whole different mindspace. So those brands that I was so affiliated with didn't mean very much. I mean, let's be clear, there were people who knew what those two schools were about, but not it did not
00:18:32:06 - 00:18:35:16
Kevin Wilkins
carry that brand gravitas at times.
00:18:35:18 - 00:18:43:17
Kevin Wilkins
Nor like the Procter and Gamble or any of these, any of these companies that in the northeast people know about, or the West Coast people know about.
00:18:43:17 - 00:18:56:03
Kevin Wilkins
In the South, you know, there are other priorities here, and there are other organizations and there are other institutes that people are really, really fond of that do incredible work, great organizations to work for, great schools to go to.
00:18:56:09 - 00:19:18:02
Kevin Wilkins
It's just a different it's a different type of subculture. So I share that to say a lot of my identity, a lot of my identity, which is tied up in all these brands suddenly, like, was tied up with nothing. So I had to really discover, like what I wanted to do and what that meant for me in terms of who I was.
00:19:18:04 - 00:19:21:23
Kevin Wilkins
And I now, 15 years later, let's go.
00:19:21:23 - 00:19:33:18
Kevin Wilkins
I have such wisdom in terms of that whole life transition. I often say, you know, sometimes I'm going to just reverse the story and tell a brilliant, intentional story, when in fact my story was a bit unintentional. The,
00:19:33:18 - 00:19:36:05
Kevin Wilkins
and that was the part of my first part of my career.
00:19:36:05 - 00:19:58:07
Kevin Wilkins
I was I would say I was on this path. I didn't do a lot of thinking. I was just doing what I was told to do. I followed the rules to get ahead. I worked hard, I could get it done. I could really implement, and I got rewarded for that. I didn't really have to think my, my, my satisfaction, my identity was tied up with the titles and the and the and the career progression.
00:19:58:09 - 00:20:20:20
Kevin Wilkins
When the path goes away some, you're like, wow. I really hadn't been intentional with any of my decisions. Like, I was just on this path that they gave me, or that I found myself on. And now I need to be a lot more intentional with my choices. Like, what exactly do I want to do? How can I make a difference?
00:20:20:22 - 00:20:45:09
Kevin Wilkins
That was also a different mindset. My mindset in chapter one was more about how can I get ahead? So and how can I provide for my family, and how can I make more money and how can I get promoted. It was a little bit about me, me, me here. It was much more about it and them and the community and the challenges and the complexity of the issues.
00:20:45:11 - 00:21:05:13
Kevin Wilkins
Which I found so interesting. So when I, when I, when I started exploring the city, New Orleans is incredibly welcoming. People are like thanking you for moving here and having coffees with you and referring you to other people. I think credit really welcoming, warm community. It's an incredible city, incredible city.
00:21:05:13 - 00:21:09:21
Kevin Wilkins
I love it more than I think I've ever loved any place I've lived.
00:21:09:23 - 00:21:20:08
Kevin Wilkins
But when I, I was networking and I met with someone at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, which is a fantastic community foundation here, doing incredibly transformational work in the city.
00:21:20:08 - 00:21:25:17
Kevin Wilkins
They said at the time, we would love you to look at the non-profits that we've been funding.
00:21:25:17 - 00:21:31:02
Kevin Wilkins
Because the Katrina money is drying up and we're a little bit concerned about the sustainability.
00:21:31:04 - 00:21:34:23
Kevin Wilkins
And I said, okay, okay, I can I'll be happy to do that.
00:21:34:23 - 00:21:39:17
Kevin Wilkins
I really haven't worked for many nonprofits. I've been on boards, I've done volunteer stuff.
00:21:39:17 - 00:21:48:00
Kevin Wilkins
But I'm more of a business person and they're like, exactly. We need the business acumen applied to the nonprofit space.
00:21:48:00 - 00:22:00:03
Kevin Wilkins
Like, that's a really interesting insight. So my background could somehow help nonprofit organizations become more impactful and make bigger, transformational change,
00:22:00:03 - 00:22:04:05
Kevin Wilkins
and keep them focused and have them be overall stronger.
00:22:04:07 - 00:22:14:22
Kevin Wilkins
I love I began working with incredible leaders of nonprofits. I absolutely loved the content. If I was making a dollar, I was making a lot. Let's be clear,
00:22:14:22 - 00:22:21:19
Kevin Wilkins
but I had never been happier. I had never been happier. And that's why I to start the company.
00:22:21:21 - 00:22:31:00
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And you know, when you're talking about a lot of the identity and the big companies, I mean, I can completely see that the,
00:22:31:00 - 00:22:36:22
Craig Andrews
and, and I think, I mean, I've worked for some big brands, big multinational companies,
00:22:36:22 - 00:22:49:06
Craig Andrews
and the I, you know, I remember one time I was working out at the gym and ran into this recruiter there, and she just started talking to me, and she asked me,
00:22:49:06 - 00:22:50:09
Craig Andrews
what brought me to Austin.
00:22:50:09 - 00:23:02:15
Craig Andrews
And I told her about the company that brought me to Austin, and she was like, oh, you must be smart. And it was that identity in that company or,
00:23:02:15 - 00:23:04:01
Craig Andrews
and I think.
00:23:04:01 - 00:23:05:15
Kevin Wilkins
Like the universe.
00:23:05:17 - 00:23:07:01
Craig Andrews
I. Yeah.
00:23:07:01 - 00:23:08:18
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And I was like, well,
00:23:08:18 - 00:23:15:16
Craig Andrews
yeah, somehow I slept, I slept through I'm not sure how, but they, but I think one of the biggest,
00:23:15:16 - 00:23:34:02
Craig Andrews
challenges is when, you know, when we often start my own company for for me, what was a real wake up call was one I realized I had underappreciated the infrastructure that was in place that allowed me to do my prior job excellently.
00:23:34:04 - 00:23:44:07
Craig Andrews
But all of a sudden, I. I realized for the first time, I realized the number of people it took to make me successful at my job that, no, it wasn't a lone effort on my own.
00:23:44:07 - 00:23:56:00
Craig Andrews
But the other thing is, you know, you don't have that brand. You don't, you know, you can't you can't pick up the phone and expects to take your call because the logo on your business card.
00:23:56:02 - 00:23:59:07
Kevin Wilkins
Right? That's absolutely correct.
00:23:59:09 - 00:24:01:04
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And,
00:24:01:04 - 00:24:02:15
Craig Andrews
and that was that, that.
00:24:02:17 - 00:24:06:16
Kevin Wilkins
That makes you stronger because it makes you less about,
00:24:06:16 - 00:24:15:04
Kevin Wilkins
who you're doing it for and more about the what you're doing. So trip wise, when I started trip wise, it was a great rapper. For me, trip was about being,
00:24:15:04 - 00:24:22:00
Kevin Wilkins
that both concept of entrepreneurial thinking, you know, sort of entrepreneur. How do you how can you be innovative and wise?
00:24:22:00 - 00:24:33:11
Kevin Wilkins
It was about my wife's last name happens to be wise, and it was about sharing wisdom. So it was like a double win there for me. So trap wise was born, but it was basically a wrapper for me. I was the person doing the work.
00:24:33:11 - 00:24:40:05
Kevin Wilkins
And we would spend we would spend time in the early years asking the question, Is Kevin bigger than trip wise or trip wise, bigger than Kevin?
00:24:40:07 - 00:24:59:04
Kevin Wilkins
And early on, of course, Kevin was bigger than trip wise. People weren't coming to trip wise. They were coming to work with me and my team. But then suddenly, you know, 4 or 5 years into this trip wise was beginning to get some real momentum and our reputation around doing the work was really, really strong and I was not involved with all the clients.
00:24:59:06 - 00:25:10:04
Kevin Wilkins
So the moment that client work was happening without me is the moment where we were beginning to see the transition of Trevor as being bigger than Kevin. And I can say right now, 13 years in 12 years in,
00:25:10:04 - 00:25:30:19
Kevin Wilkins
trip wise is bigger than Kevin and but still, let's be clear, not the brand name of Procter and Gamble, you know, not the brand name Fidelity Investments, but in the nonprofit space, people learning that, oh is really, really good at a, B and C strategic planning, systems planning, organizational strengthening in the nonprofit and foundation space.
00:25:30:20 - 00:25:53:01
Kevin Wilkins
So we where our narrative is really clear and people know what we do and what we stand for. But I'm not I'm not there saying I work for trip wise. I'm there saying we can make a difference if we work together around a common vision, mission and values. Let's talk about human centered design. Let's talk about the importance of culture.
00:25:53:07 - 00:26:01:09
Kevin Wilkins
That's what gets me super excited. It's like literally the content of the work that gets me up every single morning to
00:26:01:09 - 00:26:18:06
Kevin Wilkins
pursue this vision of thriving and equitable communities, nourished by good ideas. And we believe that good ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. So regardless of your background, regardless of your education, no matter where you went to school, if you have an idea, let's hear it and let's talk about it.
00:26:18:11 - 00:26:27:17
Kevin Wilkins
And let's incorporate it in a way that's going to be useful to maximize the impact of the situation that you're addressing. Yeah, very different mindset. Well.
00:26:27:19 - 00:26:48:15
Craig Andrews
And I know we could talk forever, but one thing I want to make sure we capture before we wrap up, because you said something really critical there. You got tripwires to the point where trap was bigger than Kevin. And I think that's a that's a problem that a lot of business owners have is they are bigger than the company.
00:26:48:17 - 00:26:54:23
Craig Andrews
What did you do and what advice would you have for people to make their company bigger than them?
00:26:55:01 - 00:26:56:13
Kevin Wilkins
So remember I talked about,
00:26:56:13 - 00:27:03:08
Kevin Wilkins
the great training that PNG gave and the one thing that they did beautifully of many,
00:27:03:08 - 00:27:09:11
Kevin Wilkins
was how they train their people and how they invest in their people and how professional development is so important.
00:27:09:11 - 00:27:18:02
Kevin Wilkins
That concept I applied to boys in terms of investing into my team, hiring great people, making sure there was a fit and a skill that,
00:27:18:02 - 00:27:21:19
Kevin Wilkins
that can do well within the culture that we have built.
00:27:21:21 - 00:27:34:09
Kevin Wilkins
When I was at Harvard Business School, we had to take accounting, like every business school. And Harvard is all about case study. So and I would often joke that, you know, there's some classes that warrant a textbook. And I think accounting is one of them.
00:27:34:09 - 00:27:38:18
Kevin Wilkins
They were all about teaching it via case study. So I walked that final exam.
00:27:38:18 - 00:27:57:15
Kevin Wilkins
I thought, oh my goodness, I can I'm going to fail. I can actually fail this class. I've never failed a class before. How interesting will this be? And I got these and I remember this vividly. And I was able to do some of the numbers and they were asking all these accounting principles. And I remember thinking to myself that the organ doesn't matter what accounting principles this place puts in place.
00:27:57:15 - 00:28:12:08
Kevin Wilkins
The culture is crazy. They all hate each other. They're backstabbing, they're organized incorrectly. There's no job definition. So it doesn't really matter what they do. They need to fix the organization. So I wrote my exam on that and I did super well. Like I'm like,
00:28:12:08 - 00:28:21:20
Kevin Wilkins
well that I was confused. So I actually went to the professor just to make sure it wasn't a mistake, you know, because I did not I was not that kid in the class.
00:28:21:20 - 00:28:32:07
Kevin Wilkins
If you were going to say who's doing well in this class, they're not going to be pointing at me. And I remember she said to me, first of all, I was the first person to ever question a good grade. And the second thing was,
00:28:32:07 - 00:28:37:18
Kevin Wilkins
Kevin, you can do all the numbers in the world at the end of the day, it's always about the people.
00:28:37:20 - 00:28:56:23
Kevin Wilkins
I promise you, she does not remember who I am. And I promise you she does not remember she said that to me. But I'm telling you, it influenced my entire career. It's always about the people. So the one thing I did do very well in, in financial services was being able to build a culture where people felt aligned and felt,
00:28:56:23 - 00:29:00:03
Kevin Wilkins
part of a team that was doing good things.
00:29:00:05 - 00:29:17:05
Kevin Wilkins
When I got to New Orleans, and with trip wise, I really was able to lean into that. Like, what is the culture of this firm? What are we building? What's our values? What's our mission vision? Let's make sure we have the right skill set to do this type of advisory work. Where's the professional development? Let's make sure we're going to the right seminars.
00:29:17:05 - 00:29:25:21
Kevin Wilkins
Let's make sure that we are documenting all of our processes. Let's make sure that we're being innovative. And you just develop your team like that. And then the members of
00:29:25:21 - 00:29:38:00
Kevin Wilkins
your team as we grow, develop other members. And it's very much of this, like we need to invest in our people to make our people the strongest they can possibly be, to do this work that we can do for our clients who are incredible.
00:29:38:02 - 00:29:51:12
Kevin Wilkins
And if you have that model in mind that were only as good as the people we have doing this incredible work that we are so blessed to be able to do, that allows the company to get bigger than the other.
00:29:51:14 - 00:29:58:11
Craig Andrews
Wow. Well, there's great wisdom there. Kevin. How can people reach you?
00:29:58:13 - 00:29:58:22
Kevin Wilkins
Oh,
00:29:58:22 - 00:29:59:15
Kevin Wilkins
thank you for asking.
00:29:59:15 - 00:30:02:18
Kevin Wilkins
I'd like people to go to tripwires.com. That would be,
00:30:02:18 - 00:30:18:07
Kevin Wilkins
that's our website that tells you exactly kind of who we are and why we exist, and what our values are, and the type of work that we do. If you're a nonprofit leader, if you're on a board and you're looking for an organizational strategic plan, we do really well in that space.
00:30:18:09 - 00:30:27:13
Kevin Wilkins
If you're a part of a community that's having a challenge of sorts, our education system needs to be improved. We are living in an environment that's not healthy.
00:30:27:13 - 00:30:35:22
Kevin Wilkins
We do a lot of systems work. We do a lot of work in them in the health space as well, where we where we work with organizations to work with each other against the common issue.
00:30:36:00 - 00:30:56:04
Kevin Wilkins
And then we do a lot of organizational strengthening work in the nonprofit space. How can we make this nonprofit as strong as possible in order to do their job? If you're if you're affiliated with any of those types of organizations or, you know, people who are, please refer them to tripwires.com, and you can always reach me directly at kevin@tripwire.com.
00:30:56:06 - 00:30:59:07
Craig Andrews
Well, Kevin, thanks for sharing that. And leaders and legacies.
00:30:59:09 - 00:31:04:13
Kevin Wilkins
Hey thank you for having me here Craig. I really enjoyed our time.
00:31:04:13 - 00:31:31:08
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this
00:31:31:08 - 00:31:33:03
Craig Andrews
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00:31:33:05 - 00:31:56:13
Craig Andrews
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00:31:56:15 - 00:32:04:19
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.
00:32:04:19 - 00:34:06:20
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
