EM caught up with Harold Mills, CEO of ZeroChaos, headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Much has been written about Mr. Mills, but EM wanted to dig a little deeper to get to know who he is, outside of the multi-billion dollar company he leads. What we found was that you can’t separate the two and that family, his zeal for community, and his passion for work are what make him who he is.
Harold greeted me with a smile that was charismatic and a laugh that was truly contagious. He has the ability to quickly make one feel comfortable in his presence. I wanted to know what made him tick and what better way than to ask the question “What kind of a child were you?” His response “I think I was the typical child. I have always been very independent and I always loved to work. My mother instilled in me a very strong work ethic and a passion for education.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, and the youngest of four children, Harold remembers his first job driving a tractor. Going door to door with his snow shovel in the winter he would charge his neighbors $10 to clear the snow from their driveways. He laughs and says that after lining them all up he would come back with his snow blower and be done in about five minutes. Harold describes himself as a student that loved school and did well in public school. However, he states that this was just not enough. He is quick to give credit to his teachers, particularly a middle school teacher that took the time, after school, to take him, along with a few other students that showed promise to the high school to take certain classes that would keep them ahead. The schools were approximately ten miles apart. This teacher, Harold considers as one of many mentors, another mentor being a Harvard graduate that told him that he was going to attend Harvard Business School. “He told me that most people don’t go because they don’t apply. I have always remembered that speech to this day and used it as part of my mission to succeed-most people don’t take the risk and try” At fifteen he talked his mother into allowing him to attend a private high school that they could not afford, and then proceeded to be tested, interviewed, and accepted into the school. He then talked the school into giving him a scholarship.
Mills is a graduate of Purdue University. He did apply for Harvard Business School and learned while working at Ameritech, that he had been accepted. Although happy about the opportunity, he was faced with figuring out how he was going to finance this endeavor. While at Ameritech’s training center, Mills ran into the CEO of the company. During the conversation Mills informed him that he would be leaving to attend graduate school at Harvard Business School. The CEO’s response was “Am I paying for this?”. A sixty second conversation ensued which resulted alleviating what he referred to as a lot of stress, significant fear and anxiety. I asked Mills if he thought this event was coincidental. Mills reply: “I knew that God had shown up in my life once again.”
CHANGING AN INDUSTRY
What Mills has done to the staffing industry was nothing short of genius. ZeroChaos took the industry to another level by becoming a “One Stop Shop” for long-term staffing needs. By contracting with Corporations that utilize these agencies, he implemented a process by which the staffing agencies would bid on jobs that would be awarded to the lowest, most qualified agency. While the staffing companies were not happy, this process saved the corporations, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars and placed ZeroChaos on the map as an innovative leader. The model is being used on a global scale and to-date the company manages over 100,000 contractors. At the end of the day Mills says that the feeling was that if they were doing the right thing for customers they had an opportunity to be successful. The ZeroChaos mantra is “Dedicated to Customer Success” which holds to the philosophy that if they are consistently creating customer success, their clients will keep them around.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Community Improvement is a top priority for Mills, particularly the empowerment of the community on Orlando’s west side where employment, affordable housing, and work force training are among some of the community’s biggest issues. He is most proud of the work that is being done through Lift Orlando. He considers Lift Orlando a holistic approach to community engagement from a health, wellness, education and housing prospective, but also the ideas about jobs and economic viability are things he believes in and are very important to him. Lift Orlando is the brainchild of Thomas Sittema, CEO of Orlando-based CNL Financial Group and Steve Hogan, CEO of Florida Citrus Sports, who along with other business leaders such as Sy Saliba, Chief Marketing Officer at Florida Hospital, Bill Dymond, president and CEO of law firm Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed and Eddie Moratin, who was hired as Executive Director of Lift Orlando, felt compelled to improve this area of Orlando from a community perspective.
The group’s goal is to work with Orlando’s west side communities to create a sense of place. A massive renovation, in the plans for the last two years, is slated to begin around November/December 2015 that will include renovation of apartments on Orange Center Boulevard, which will be demolished and rebuilt as mixed-income housing. Lift Orlando has also partnered with Purpose Built Communities out of Atlanta. Purpose Built Communities successfully redeveloped what is known as the East Lakes project in an area that faced most of the same challenges found in west Orlando communities and will advise the Lift Orlando team throughout the life of the project. Partnerships have also been formed with Orange County Public Schools, Frontline Outreach, Legends Academy and Nap Ford Community School. Health organizations such as Florida Hospital and Orlando Health joined in the beginning to lead the wellness initiatives in the area, working towards the goal of offering great opportunities for every family to be happy and healthy.
Mills was asked to lead the Economic Viability component of the project which has 4 tiers; Employability, Employment, Entrepreneurship, Employers (location of major corporations to the area). Community partners are committed to providing job training programs, bringing jobs with starting salaries that range from minimum wage to 35,000-45,000 annually, along with a commitment to achieve 100% employment within the community, mentorship, training for entrepreneurs and much more.
“I think that the community is thrilled at what we have been able to achieve so far” Mills says. The organization is listening to the community and Lift Orlando believes community leadership is integral to the project’s success. The communities have come together and renamed their initiative and it is now referred to as the West Lake Area. They have formed their own committees and councils. Mills works with the council as an advisor and coach but says his role at the end of the day is to present their final ideas and help make them a reality. “This is the opportunity for the community to lead the economic development in a direction that is in concert with their needs and desires.”
Work/Life Balance
Mills life begs the question be answered of how he balances it all. He is married with three children. He spends a majority of his time traveling, as the company provides services in 43 countries. While he is not sure he does a great job balancing it all, he does his best and makes sure that he is home on the weekends. “I try not to take the work home with me” Mills says. Not to mention, he was also named the American Diabetes Association’s Father of the Year, one of his proudest acknowledgements.
“I have been the beneficiary of all of the people that have intervened in my life at God’s given time that have pushed me and directed me throughout, from those that have placed me in jobs, those that have helped me get training and exposure, education, as well as all kinds of experiences that have brought me through this journey and prepared me for what I’m doing today. Everything has come together to put me in a place where I feel confident about what I’m doing and more importantly, why I am doing it.”…..Harold Mills
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