Domino Effect: Sherman Tate On Breaking Barriers, Effective Leadership

Editor’s note: This article appears in the latest magazine edition of Talk Business & Politics, which you can read here.

It’s difficult to separate a man from his upbringing. Tate & Associates CEO Sherman Tate is just fine with that. 

Tate, 68, grew up in the humble farming town of Marvell, in what he calls a “Leave It to Beaver” environment. He was raised by a mom and a dad who loved him and taught him life lessons that helped shape him into the business leader and entrepreneur that he is today. 

Such life lessons are noticeably absent from some of today’s typical business leaders, according to Tate, speaking from 30 years of experience working in corporate America. “Many do not lead by example,” he explained. “Companies fall victim to what I call ‘unintended arrogance.’ The mentality is, ‘I got promoted. I’m the boss. I’m going to call my secretary and issue directives. You guys better get it done.'” 

Ultimately, that approach doesn’t work, Tate said, citing a better example in leaders like Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. Tate recalls a legendary story that has stuck with him through the years.

“Welch came down out of his office to the assembly line. He said to those guys, ‘Here’s an idea I have in terms of a new product line. What do you think?’ Imagine. The men and women on the line. And they told him,” he said.  

Like Welch, Tate has put himself out there among those working for him. “I’ve read meters and worked services – not because I had to. I wanted folks to know that I wanted to hear what they had to say. That doesn’t mean you’re going to do everything they say, but you do have to be objective enough that when someone gives you a good idea, you hear it. All it takes is one or two, and all of a sudden, people realize ‘hey, the boss listens.'” 

Observations like these are a big part of what led Tate to start two management consulting firms: The Domino Effect and HT & Associates (Tate & Associates being the holding company). 

The Domino Effect, fully operational since 2011, helps clients identify and correct shortfalls by assisting them in every area of management – from the most mundane (writing job descriptions, performance evaluations and salary surveys) to the more demanding (branding and marketing, customer service, governmental affairs and lobbying). 

“We’ll look at what they’re doing, and refine it,” said Tate, whose largest customer to date is SAS, a large, privately owned software analytics company headquartered in Carey, N.C., that is relying on The Domino Effect for help with business development and governmental affairs as it transitions into Arkansas. 

A sports consulting firm, HT & Associates, began shortly after Tate’s colleagues Corbin Cobb and Scott Hamilton told him an alarming statistic. 

“They told me that 75% of pro athletes are broke shortly after retirement. That blew me away,” said Tate, who developed HT & Associates to work mostly with pro athletes, some collegiate athletes and a few high school athletes who look to go pro. 

“Most of these guys, once they go pro, have old buddies, relatives and others who latch onto them. These people travel all over the country with the athletes, who then provide them with hotel rooms, sometimes cars, and more,” he said.

HT helps athletes learn to treat themselves like successful companies, complete with a business strategy, branding, a portfolio and a long-term plan. Tate has helped his clients realize what it means to sign a $120 million contract. 

“Uncle Sam takes a chunk of that. We look at what’s left, what they need – do you need a house in Atlanta plus the one on the West Coast – and then give them options on investing the remaining money,” Tate said. “We don’t want to manage their money. Instead, we teach them to manage their own money.”

BLAZING TRAILS ONE AT A TIME 
Tate didn’t set out to break numerous color barriers throughout his career.  But he has by simply living the values his parents taught him. 

“Mother promoted education. Dad promoted strong work. There was no exception,” he said. “Nowhere in there – and I’m a product of the ’60s and came up through the civil rights movement – nowhere ever did my father or mother teach me prejudice. What they taught me is that there are good and bad people – people you can trust and people you can’t trust – in every color known to man.” 

As a freshman at Philander Smith College in the fall of 1964, Tate was part of a group of protestors who peacefully integrated the cafeteria at the state Capitol.  It took four days of sit-ins, but eventually Tate and his colleagues made sure the historic Civil Rights Act, which had passed earlier that summer, was properly enforced and that they were served.

The law and that historic year “slowly started a cascade of changes,” Tate said.

As he grew up, Tate began to internalize and appreciate his parents’ profound lessons. He graduated from Philander Smith with a job lined up, thanks to then-Vice Mayor Charles Bussey, with the consulting firm General Behavioral Systems (GBS) working with the City of Little Rock. From that point on, each new step on Tate’s career path – which centered heavily on human resources and personnel management – seemed to be a series of firsts for people of color. 

After he left GBS, Tate worked in state government, first for the Arkansas Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a division of the Department of Finance and Administration, and later for the Bureau of Legislative Research. The latter position was offered to him by Marcus Halbrook, the first and longtime director of the bureau. 

“At that point, the bureau had never had a person of color in any staff position,” Tate said. “I was the first African-American to walk through those doors. My job was in budget and personnel.”  

Tate’s career continued to be a series of job offers from those impressed with his work. The next offer was no exception. It came in 1976, from then-UALR Chancellor Bob Ross for the position of personnel department manager for the university. “He asked me to develop and manage the department,” said Tate, who, upon taking on the challenge, became the first man of color to be over the university’s hiring of non-faculty staff. 

Clearly, a pattern was developing. Tate heard next from Gov. David Pryor, who asked him to come back to OPM, this time as administrator. He did, and he continued to excel – and get noticed. “During my time with OPM, I joined the Little Rock Jaycees. I was not the first African-American member of the Jaycees,” Tate said with a smile. “There were three before me.” 

The Jaycees may not have been another first for Tate, but the introductions and friendships he cultivated there would soon lead him in the trailblazing direction once again. As he came into the group, Sheffield Nelson was transitioning out. The two visited only briefly until a few years later when their paths crossed once again at a local restaurant. Nelson was chairman, president and CEO of Arkla Gas Co., and he needed someone who knew personnel to manage Arkla’s Arkansas Division. He offered the job to Tate. 

As manager of human resources for Arkla’s Arkansas Division, Tate was Arkla’s first person of color in management and over the company’s largest division. This particular “first” proved to be both challenging and rewarding for the young businessman. Even with his strong upbringing, Tate found he was not immune to the challenges of being a black executive in a sea of largely white colleagues and employees. 

“I heard some of everything. I was called some of everything. It got to the point where it really got to me,” Tate admitted. “I called my dad one day, and I said, ‘Daddy, I don’t think I can do this any longer. I’m tired, I’m hearing the N word, and I hear it every day.’ He said, ‘So let me ask you this, has anybody put their hands on you?’ I said ‘No.’ So, he says, ‘So, you just dealing with words?’ I said, ‘Yeah, and I’m tired of it.’ And then my Daddy, with a ninth-grade education, says to me, ‘Son, the man hired you ’cause he knew you could do that job. If you walk off, nobody else that looks like you or me will have that opportunity.’ And he hung up the phone.” 

His father’s tough love worked. Tate stuck with the job and, supported fully by his boss, began to change the culture of the company for the better. 

While working for Arkla, Tate was promoted first to vice president of consumer and community relations and later to vice president of distribution and operations. “I was the guy running everything in Arkansas. That was a first, too,” he said. 

In what was by then his typical Jack Welch-esque style of management, Tate approached his new position of power not from the corner office but from down in the trenches. Dressed in company uniform rather than a suit and tie, he visited his districts and, taking on the duties of an employee, the boss began learning from his employees what he could do to make their jobs easier. 

Simple gestures, like providing his crew with the parts they preferred to use, established trust quickly between himself and his workforce. “I was one of them,” he recalled. “They knew they could approach me, and that made all the difference.” 

Tate stayed at Arkla until the company was bought out in 1997. He then served as vice president and general manager of operations for Alltel from 1998-2011. Tate and businessman Frank Fletcher also co-owned Fletcher-Tate Ford in North Little Rock from 1996 until its sale in 2002. Today, Tate and Mack McLarty are co-owners of Hope Auto in Hope. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY
Outside of his professional obligations, Tate was the first black man to be elected chairman of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. He has served numerous other local boards over the years, among them Philander Smith College, St. Vincent Health System, the United Negro College Fund and the Pulaski County Facilities Board. Currently, he is on the board of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and serves as chairman of the Southern Bancorp Bank Governing Board. 

Tate is also the current president of the Quapaw Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He believes in spending time as a mentor both to children and to young entrepreneurs. To the latter, he stresses the importance of not letting today’s technology isolate you from your business surroundings. 

“Yes, we live in the technology age,” he readily admitted. “But even in 2014, you must effectively interact and interface with people, which demands good people skills and good communication skills. You have to look somebody in the eye and talk effectively about what it is they want you to do and what you can do for them.” 

In late 2011, Tate left his position at Verizon to turn his full attention to his own companies. 

Being an entrepreneur and now leader of his own companies suits him, he says.

“I love it,” he said. “I know we make a difference with every client we serve. When a company hires us, the last thing they have to worry about is the quality of our product. We’re going to give them what they want and need. Consistent with that, we’re not ‘yes’ people. We do our research and our homework. We don’t tell them what they want to hear. We tell them what they need to know.” 

Looking back over his career to date, Tate attributes many of his achievements, including all of his “firsts” as an African-American, to being a good listener and a hard worker –  just two of many lessons he learned back home in Phillips County.

“Again, it goes back to something my dad taught me.” He said, “’Son, if you accept a job, regardless of what they’re paying you, you show up every day and do what you were hired to do. You don’t sit back and complain. You took the job. Give it 100% effort every day.’ I never forgot that, and [as a result], I never had a job I didn’t like.”