Douglas Campbell III lived and breathed golf as a young boy in Michigan. He grew up on a golf course, hewing his skills on the lush green fairways.
“At twelve and thirteen I was traveling around the state and competing,” Campbell said.
His love of golf is expressed today a little differently; as coach of the Wilton High School golf team.
Campbell left Michigan to go to the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville. He attended Lake Forest College where he continued to play. He also coached for two years. After Lake Forest, he studied in Spain and finished his undergraduate career at the University of New Hampshire and received his MBA from the University of Virginia. While in graduate school he started his first business, a weekly newspaper in Alexandria.
Upon graduating with a degree in Spanish and international relations, Campbell began his early career working at the United Nations, the State Department and Congress.
“It was fascinating, I worked on the 200-mile fishing zone and on ocean pollution issues.
Campbell even co-wrote a text book, “Major Issues of the Law of the Sea.”
He moved from Virginia to Stamford to work for Champion International as the director of marketing for Champion Office Products.
“I spent five years with Champion, and had a corporate job,” Campbell said. “I”™ve started five businesses in my career, one of them is Sylvan Learning Center in Darien; it was their first one on the East Coast and I helped set up their national advertising and was very involved in the early years.”
It was while establishing the Sylvan Center in 1984 with his wife, Gwynne, that Campbell first got the bug as an instructor.
“Two years into the Sylvan in Darien, I started a second Sylvan in Westport that I sold,” he said. “I was doing some consulting for some small businesses and someone asked me to teach a marketing course at Sacred Heart University and I said fine. And then they asked me to teach full time up there, so I ending up teaching at Sacred Heart and Fairfield fulltime for about 10 years.”
Campbell then started running one- to two-day MBA programs for small business owners and “people loved it.”
“Business coaching was sort of a new term, but someone asked me to go down and speak at the International Coaches Federation meeting. I met a lot of people like me who were relatively successful and like working with people and giving back. From that I began to develop the coaching model which evolved into phone meetings.”
In addition to his other accomplishments, Campbell founded and facilitates the High Talent Creative Resource and Networking Group that meets with Fairfield County’s leading entrepreneurs monthly. He also carries over his history in journalism by writing for several newspapers and speaking on business growth topics.
“I mainly work with people who are running and building businesses, in that sense I understand the mentality in the world of big business and the mentality,” said Campbell. “I bring a strong sense of strategy, business development and marketing. I”™ve been very fortunate, and worked with some very interesting people. I love it, you”™re working one on one with people who are working on some real issues.”
Between Campbell”™s two children, Collin, 24, and Caroline, 21, he”™s coached hockey, baseball and softball but never had a chance to coach the sport he grew up playing, golf.
Two years ago he responded half seriously to a newspaper advertisement for the position at Wilton High School.
“It”™s turned out it”™s been a ton of fun,” said Campbell whose taken a disorganized program to the state”™s top five, sitting arm in arm with Greenwich and Darien. “I think it”™s that you”™re dealing people who are motivated and mature, and they work hard and have good ethics. You want to build a team, you want to encourage and motivate people. There are about 30 roles a coach can play and I think you”™ve got to figure out which role is best to use at what time. I would say that coaching is finding out what motivates people. I”™ve always had high expectations for people, as a professor I”™d always set the bar fairly high, and 90 percent of people respond and say afterwards that that”™s one of the best experiences they”™ve ever had.”
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