Boyd Harter - Bernhardt Wealth Management

tremendous growth that has allowed theirrevenues to reach around $55 million today.Despite its wildfire success, Guident hasnever been bottom-line focused. Rather, itsemphasis is on company culture, even as their stafftopped 200 employees and 50 subcontractors.“Our leadership team is very much aligned on thefact that Guident, is a means to an end,” Boydpoints out. “We don’t live to work; we work tolive. I’ve got young kids and a family, and mywife and I are extremely wrapped up in theiractivities, whether it’s coaching soccer or helpingwith Boy Scouts. We also make a point to do a lotof traveling to help our kids experience the worldfirst-hand. We try to give them more than just apicture in a book—we want them to be there andexperience it themselves, which gives them moreperspective on what they’re learning. This balanceis embodied in the personality of the company,and encouraging this work-life balance in Guidentemployees is one of my highest priorities.”Company culture isn’t the only thing thatGuident’s management team sees eye-to-eye on.Boyd and his two co-owners, Dan Ackerman andTeddy Matheu, all have a strong drive towardentrepreneurialism in their blood, and as a result,there is no hierarchy among the ownership. Theyremain equal owners in the company, and eachone brings their own unique backgrounds,passions, and skill sets to Guident. Dan, forexample, boasts a highly seasoned technicalunderstanding of the industry, while Teddy excelsat cultivating relationships.Boyd, on the other hand, has a backgroundin finance, accounting, and IT, which gives him agood sense of how to transform a strategy intoreality. “Every decision that we make must becost-justified,” he affirms. “The checks andbalances among the three of us work out reallywell. We don’t make decisions on a whim.Change comes slowly, with the three of us needingto justify our choices to the each other. It can beinfuriating, but at the end of the day, I think it’s agreat practice.”Boyd was born and raised for the first nineweeks of his life in Evanston, Illinois, as his fatherfinished up PhD work at Northwestern University.The family then moved to Boulder, Colorado andfive years later to San Francisco, California. It wasstill a growing city at that time, and Boydremembers it as a fantastic place to grow up untilthe family relocated across the country to NorthernVirginia when he was in fifth grade.Boyd’s first job came in junior high, whena friend wanted to get rid of his paper route. “Ididn’t know that it was a hot commodity at thetime, but I really wanted to deliver that afternoonedition of the Washington Star,” Boyd recalls with alaugh. He acquired the route through a trade,added a slew of customers, and grew the routequite a bit, and he can still remember thatadrenaline rush of winning over new customersfor the first time.“Several years later, I sold it to aneighborhood kid and made quite a premium,” hecontinues. “That’s when my eyes really openedup, realizing that the real payoff was not theincremental day-to-day revenue that came fromadding new customers. It instead came withselling the route, which had become moreprofitable as a whole. I learned to invest back inone’s company, because if you can delay thatpayoff, you’ll benefit exponentially. That was myfirst accidental lesson in entrepreneurship, and theflame was lit.”Boyd also learned a strong work ethicfrom his father, who was an executive of FannieMae. His father essentially came from nothing,working hard to change the course of his life andprovide a better experience for his family. “Hetaught my sister and me to make sure that we werestriving to give the next generation a better qualityof life,” he remembers. “There were strongcurrents of integrity, pride, and responsibilitywoven in to the way my parents carriedthemselves, and that made a strong impression onus.”Boyd later attended the University ofVirginia, where he was an accounting and financemajor, and then rejected an array of job offers toremain for graduate school to earn his Masters.Subsequently, he accepted a position at PriceWaterhouse on the consulting side of the firm,where he met his wife. “I knew she was the onefor me when we were on a bike ride one day and Isaid I wanted to step off the traditional path, leavemy job, and backpack around the world,” herecalls. “For a split second she thought I wascrazy, but very quickly she jumped on board. Sixmonths later, we had saved every penny so wecould resign from our jobs and spend a yeartraveling around the globe. We had saved up2

$25,000, and we were going to make that last aslong as we could.”Both of their employers begged them totake a leave of absence instead of resigning, sowith jobs to return to later, the young coupletraveled around the world for a year, beginning inTurkey and ending in Hong Kong after visiting 25countries, including Syria, India, and Nepal. Later,they visited Croatia shortly after the Yugoslavforces had retreated. “My wife and I wentstrolling in, and the hotels were dirt cheap, and weloved it,” Boyd details. “There are two differentkinds of people: people who have more moneythan time, and people who have more time thanmoney. It’s the people who have more time thanmoney who are genuinely the happiest. It’s noteven close. We live in a consumer-driven societywhere money is extremely important, but it’simportant to escape it and achieve that differentperspective.”Echoing his brazen trip to London aftergraduating from college, Boyd’s later escapadesare far from out of character, and that sameadventurous spirit defines his professional life justas it does his personal life. The popular route outof UVa’s McIntire School of Commerce was publicaccounting, but Boyd went his own route. “I’vealways been a contrarian,” he affirms. “I don’t juststep to the side a little bit, I try to step way outthere, putting myself in situations that test me. I’mnot afraid to take risks, even risks that may appearreckless to others. I believe this makes me a betteremployer and better leader. I’m very conservativefinancially, and I have a very educated approach tothe risks I take. It’s that combination of beinganalytical and being brave that creates success.”In advising young entrepreneurs enteringthe business world today, Boyd stresses theimportance of balance in all things—whether it’swork/life or confidence/humility. “Unintendedconsequences are the root of all evil, so try toanalyze all possible outcomes and make sure thatyou’re comfortable living with whatever theconsequences might be,” he urges. “You have tobe unshakably confident, but never arrogant.Always educate yourself, but know that you’regoing into any situation with naivety. Embracethat—you’re there to learn first-hand, not fromsecondary sources. And remember that life islong, so don’t be a short-term thinker. You’ll havea lot of pressure to live for the day, and thatmentality has its time and place, but thinking forthe long-term is the most important thing you cando.”Beyond this, Boyd lives by advice that hereceived from Mammy, his grandmother, who toldhim not to take life too fast. “She used to tell menot to climb the ladder too quickly, or I’d misscertain experiences,” he explains. “That’s why I’mconstantly giving myself what I call the RockingChair Test—when I’m eighty years old and sittingon the front porch in my rocking chair, lookingback on my life, will I regret this decision or won’tI? I like a world with little grey. Once I decide, Idon’t want to go back. Life is easy when youfollow a no-regret path.” For some, this no-regretpath is not the road well traveled, or even the roadless traveled. For Boyd, it’s the road no one hastraveled yet—a road all his own. By Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP ® , AIF ®About Gordon J. BernhardtPresident and founder of Bernhardt WealthManagement and author of Profiles in Success:Inspiration from Executive Leaders in theWashington D.C. Area, Gordon provides financialplanning and wealth management services to affluentindividuals, families and business-owners throughoutthe Washington, DC area. Since establishing his firmin 1994, he and his team have been focused onproviding high-quality service and independentfinancial advice to help clients make informed decisionsabout their money. For more information, visitwww.BernhardtWealth.com and Gordon’s Blog.3