Derrick Miles

Derrick Miles

Using His Spiritual Gift to Change Lives

Minding My Business

Have you ever noticed how some of us go through life feeling unfulfilled or unhappy with our accomplishments? Is it possible that we haven’t discovered our spiritual gift?

Monica: You have an extensive background in the health industry. What was the motivating factor that guided you in that direction?

Through Milestone Motivation, Inc., Miles and his brother Darryl have developed methods and techniques to help others live purposeful lives and achieve greatness,

Derrick: Well, when you talk about a motivational gift, my motivational gift is giving. I always wanted to be in an environment where I had an opportunity to help people.

When I was younger, it was something in my spirit that always pushed me into an area of healthcare. So when I had an opportunity to volunteer, I went to the hospital. I liked pushing the patients around, and I liked the environment totally. I went to undergrad and majored in medical technology. My minor was in chemistry because I always liked the challenging things. Instead of going to college

thereby eliminating burnout, frustration and ineffectiveness.

and just getting a degree and getting out, I wanted to give myself a challenge.

His leadership style resulted in remarkable success during his 12-year tenure as an executive in the health care industry. As a health care administrator, Miles handled operations and logistics for facilities that served over 140,000 patients, including more than 40,000 children each year. Throughout his administration, Miles was responsible for revenue of $60 to $200 million.

When I came close to graduating, I started working as a medical technologist. I was working in the laboratory one day when I heard a small voice. A small voice told me to go into the physicians lounge. At the same time, I’m thinking, why am I going into the physicians lounge? I've never been in there before. But when I went in, I saw a magazine with a picture of three smiling gentlemen on the front cover. I said, "I wonder what those guys are smiling about?" I picked it up, and I read the magazine. I found out that they were all hospital administrators. It explained that they had gone to college and graduate school and came out, worked a few years and actually started running an entire hospital.

Derrick Miles, as a young man who was just about to become a college graduate, realized what he calls "his spiritual gift" – giving -- encouraging others to pursue their dreams and passions, and to accomplish their destinies.

Known as “The Encourager,” Miles is the Chairman and CEO of The Milestone Brand, Inc., a professional development and training company that helps corporations and individuals identify and fully utilize their natural gifts to achieve what he has coined “Superhuman Performance®.”

Miles shared wonderful insights with Monica, the Founder of Exceptional People Magazine, about his vision to help many people live exceptional lives.

So I went back into the laboratory, and I spoke to the supervisor. I said, "How long would it take for somebody like me to become the director of the lab?" He said, "The director of the lab? It's going to take you five years just to be a supervisor in Micro." I said, "Well, I just read this magazine where these gentlemen, went to graduate school for July-August 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 33

Minding My Business

two years, and they were running the whole place." And she said, "Well, that's what you're going to have to do."

And I took that to heart.

When I arrived home that evening, I called my mom and dad. I said, "Hey. I want to come home and go to the local university" -- it was University of South Florida -"and prepare myself to become a hospital administrator."

And within 30 days I had moved back home with my parents, and I had enrolled in the University of South Florida to take all the prerequisite courses to become a hospital administrator. So by having a science background, I didn't have the required accounting and economics courses.

I had to take those prerequisite courses.

But during that time I developed relationships with people all over the country. I met a gentleman who was at Florida A & M University, and he had a book that contained a list of all of the African American CEOs and COOs in the country. So I took the liberty to write a letter to everyone in Florida --African American CEO or COO -- and requested a 30-minute interview or an informational interview, for me to learn more about the industry. For almost six months I jumped on a plane, went to Miami. I drove to Gainesville, Sarasota, and met with anyone who would let me into their office who could to teach me anything about the industry.

One of the CEOs said, "Derrick, I really like your enthusiasm and your drive. I'm going to make a phone call to my friend, Kevin Lofton, in Birmingham, Alabama." At that time I had just read about Kevin Lofton. He was among the highest paid African American hospital administrators in the country. And the guy wrote me a letter of recommendation. Within two months I was working for the most recognized hospital administrator in the country.

So that's how I actually got in the business. Once I was at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I was able to get into that program. I think it was ranked number eight in the country.

I went there, graduated and decided that I would go back home and work for an organization called Shands. Usually when you're a hospital administrator intern or what 's called a fellow, you have to spend about one year on the ground just visiting departments and learning, but there was this guy who took an interest in me.

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He saw me walking around in the finance department, and he said, "Hey. I've seen you before. You're a new student.

I want to teach you something." He said, "First of all you don't know anything. Understand that." I'm thinking, "Wow. What a way to start a conversation." Then he said, "I've seen hundreds of you all come through here, and all you all know is didactic work. What you need to be able to do is give a return on investment to the employer. For the money that you're making, you need to return at least twice as much of value for you to stay here." I'm thinking, "Man, I've never heard of that."

I had received two master's degrees and through those master's degrees, no one told me that my goal was to return more value than I was being paid. So this gentleman taught me the ropes. He taught me how to excel; he taught me how to do business plans. Within six months of my residency, they hired me full-time to work in the executive office. That had never happened before.

I was just out of graduate school and had never worked in a department whatsoever. Now I'm working for the executive office six months out of graduate school.

That caused some problems because most people think you should pay your dues. And all I kept hearing is, "Derrick, you haven't been here that long. You need to work in a department and see what it's really like." And I'll be honest. I let that chatter get to me, so I took a job within the organization. It paid a bit more, but it was in a department where I could get the experience that the people who were upset felt that I should get.

And my thoughts were, "Well, I'm going to prove it to you." So I took a job as the business manager of the largest operating room in Jacksonville, Florida. And I tell you, it was a tough job, but again, I had that experience with that one mentor in Gainesville, and he was still teaching me.

Within the first 17 months, we were able to turn around the operations by $36 million by having people who were committed and all the doctors on board.

So after being in that position for 17 months, they brought me back into hospital administration. They just saw something special in me, which I believe was my gift. One of the gifts I have is the gift of leadership, and I also have the gift of encouragement. That's why I go by the moniker "The Encourager".

Minding My Business

Monica: You and your brother started a company call Milestone Motivation and you have two books titled Superhuman Performance. How did you develop the name and the purpose behind your company?

Derrick: Milestone Motivation means it's a milestone when you understand the gifts that you have.

We started doing some research and we came across a study by Gallup in 2002. It said that almost 75 percent of people working are considered to be unengaged or actively disengaged employees and 25 percent are considered engaged employees. But here's the difference. The

people who are considered engaged utilize their gifts and talents every day. And we thought, "There it is."

So we started pulling together all the information. This is a biblically-based company. We pulled all of the information from the Bible about spiritual gifts. And we took the references that related to the marketplace like leadership, administration, wisdom, knowledge, and writing. We took those 14, and came up with what we called a milestone gift assessment. So we're able to assess people in the marketplace in the areas where they are gifted. When you're working within your area of gifting, that's when your performance goes up. If you're not working within your area of gifting, your performance goes down, you're frustrated, you're burned out and you're ineffective.

The program is called Superhuman Performance, and the two books are called Superhuman Performance. We've interviewed hundreds of people. We've spent thousands of hours on the research. We spoke with CEOs and executives all over the world, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and faith-based leaders who acknowledge that their gift impacted their success.

Monica: You and your brother Darryl have chosen to follow a faith-based approach versus what you may consider to be a secular approach. Can you explain the major differences between the two approaches?

Derrick: When you look at an assessment

by Myers-Briggs or you look at StrengthsFinder 2.0, they tell you about your personality, but it doesn't have anything to do with anyone else. So if I'm an ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging personality type), and a person doesn't know me, what does that mean to them -- absolutely nothing. But your spiritual gift -- and we call them gifts in the corporate world, but when we go into a faith-based organization, they are spiritual gifts.

When you use your gift, people are attracted to that. So if I don't use my gifts for the people who are around me who have a destiny, their destiny gets postJuly-August 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 35

Minding My Business

poned. With the spiritual gifts -- they're basically for enhancement of the body. My gift of encouragement is being used to encourage others. Some people have a gift of administration. If I meet someone with a gift of administration, I am drawn to that person because I don't have that gift. Or, the way that I look at it in a corporate setting, if you're working on a team and you have to produce a particular product -- if you have a hole in the particular project, that's because you didn't have all of the gifts covered.

Everyone needs to feed off someone else's gift. So your gift is ultimately for serving others. We call it the greatest collaboration tool known to man.

Monica: You also use the term "grace gifts". What are grace gifts?

because sometimes your gifts are noticed by others before you even notice them.

So in addition to the 52-question assessment that a person can take, we have four or five people who are close to that particular person to take the Milestone Gift Evaluation so that they can provide insight into some other gifts that you may have that you don't recognize.

I coach people one-on-one based on a document that's called "Make Room in Your Life Now," because Proverbs 18 and 16 says, "Your gift will make room for you and bring you before a great man." So we're showing and telling people, "This is how you make room in your life now."

That's a 5-week or a 10-week coaching session based on a person's preferences.

Monica: Who is your main audience?

Derrick: Grace gifts are gifts come from God, and there's nothing we have to do to receive that gift. It's from His grace. There's nothing that we do to -- I would say -- to accentuate that gift. That gift is already given.

So before you and I were born, there was a need in the universe. God said, "I have this particular need. I'm going to create Monica to fill that need." Normal human beings look at themselves and they are ineffective in producing the outcome that God has on their lives. So God has to give us a gift.

Monica: When you say, "Superhuman Performance," what you mean by superhuman?

Derrick: I'm glad you asked that question because what superhuman really means is that we all are human. We have basic talents, and we can perform at a human level.

But when God came and gave Moses his gift, he was able to part the Red Sea. That was superhuman. When you utilize the gifts that God has put into your life, your performance goes to a totally different level.

Derrick: Our main audience is working professionals, 25 to 55.

Monica: Do you think that any person has the ability to become a leader?

Derrick: Great question. Wow. Leadership is my gift.

I've seen it from my own experiences as a leader, and I'm going to say no. Leadership is a great gift and I've also seen people in leadership. I'm going to be honest; most people go into leadership because it pays more money.

They're very good with technical tasks, and because they're good at technical tasks, some people think that they can become leaders. That's not true. They get into leadership positions, and they fail miserably. The people beneath them are miserable. But once you find a person who is gifted in the leadership area, the individual is able to excel because that's a gift that they have.

Monica: What does success mean to you?

Monica: You say that you and your brother help individuals recover their God-given desires, talents, and traits. What are some things that you do to help people do that?

Derrick: I'm glad you asked that one too because one of the things that we do -- as I mentioned before we have the Milestone Gift Assessment Tool. And that's a 52question assessment. It will give people an idea of 14 gifts that are applicable to the marketplace. Then we also have a Marketplace Gift -- what we call Evaluation Tools 36 | Exceptional People Magazine | July-August 2011

Derrick: Success means to me -- it is when I complete my ultimate assignment for being here. I said this Wednesday when I spoke, I fell for the corporate lie, that you go to school, get a degree, or go to graduate school, get two degrees, make a lot of money, have a family, big house, big stuff, and you're supposed to be happy. That's supposed to be success. I wasn't happy. I was frustrated. I was angry.

I wasn't a great father. I wasn't a great husband. But when I started utilizing my gift, all of that changed. People started coming and presenting themselves in my life.

Minding My Business

We all have a destiny. We didn't just show up on earth.

We have a purpose for being here. So success for me is walking into that and using my gift of encouragement to help others achieve their destiny. So that's success for me because I've seen the other side. I know what it's like to have money and a Range Rover. I’ve done all of those things.

Monica: You're right. There are many people who have those things who still feel empty on the inside.

Derrick: Absolutely. And that was me, depressed, manic-depressive. I was all that. And I had all that stuff, multiple homes and was dying on the inside. That wasn't success to me. Success is what I do now, helping people.

Monica: And part of what you all do is to help people realize or find their life's purpose.

Derrick: Yes. Ultimately, that's what happens. If they keep researching, their purpose in life is going to be revealed to them.

Monica: What do you and your brother really enjoy most about your work?

Derrick: I love doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I can tell and other people can tell that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. People come to me afterwards and say, "Derrick, you just don't know how you impacted me.

Your story was just so compelling. And we know that it's not pretentious and you're passionate." So I love being able to do what I'm purposed to do and getting that feedback. The feedback is greater than the resources that people will pay to be a part of this, just to hear how people's lives are impacted, especially with the people who are motivated by money. When I cover that particular topic, I get a lot of people who come up and tell me that's where they are. They really want to do something else, but they just haven't had the courage to do it. And then I jump into the stories of all the people who, based on their gifts, have jumped out of the saddle. I'm not telling people to leave their job like I did. I was blessed because I was at an executive level, and I got a nice severance package, so I was able to do that. Not everyone can do that.

six months earlier. So once I was laid off, we already had a foundation. I got laid off on a Friday. That Saturday we were speaking.

Monica: Wow. I think when people are motivated by money, they are never satisfied. They always want more.

But when you live your life based on your gifts, your true gifts and your talents and you are using them and sharing them with others, you see life from a totally different perspective, and you really appreciate the things have much more.

Derrick: Absolutely. Wow. Yes, absolutely. I agree with that.

Monica: What kind of legacy would you like to leave your family and friends, even those who doubted you in the beginning?

Derrick: Wow, that's strong. Well, the Bible says that a man should leave a heritage for his children's children. So for Devon and Dawson I want to be able to have a business based on Marketplace Ministry that will allow them to earn a living. When I think of marketplace ministries, there are a few that come to mind. Chick-fil-A is a marketplace ministry, and we look at their mission which is to honor God. Service Master, which has Terminix and Merry Maids under its umbrella, is a marketplace ministry. They're there to serve God. So what I would prefer to do is utilize this message that we have to help people become all that they can be and help my family live by that. ♌

Just to know that there's that opportunity and that you can be working on it on the side, because that's what I did. I knew that I was being called to do something larger. Before I was laid off, my brother and I started the company July-August 2011 | Exceptional People Magazine | 37