Note: This is part of an ongoing series of articles that mine the Be Epic Podcast for lessons and insights that students and practitioners can apply to their lives as business leaders.
An interesting thread of innovation and transformation runs through Steve Nelson’s career, and that bodes well for Northwest Arkansas. If the pattern continues, the region’s reputation as an agent of positive change is only just beginning.
Nelson, who was recently a guest on Matt Waller’s BeEPIC podcast, spent nearly 15 years with IBM, and since then he has been involved with a variety of start-ups as an executive, investor, board member, and advisor.
Many of these organizations haven’t just created something new, they’ve transformed industries involving software, sports, manufacturing, and equity for women in business. Among other things, he was a managing partner for Wakefield Group, a venture capital firm in Chapel Hill, N.C., employee No. 7 at the digital sports media company Quokka Sports, a co-founder along with several women’s soccer stars of the equity-driven fashion company re-inc, and a co-founder of the innovative 3D printing company Carbon.
Find the people, places, things that inspire you, give you energy, give you vitality...then find the people who are the best at what they do. And prioritize those folks.
You might say that transformative people, companies, and projects are drawn to Nelson, or maybe it’s that Nelson has a knack for connecting with transformative people, companies, and projects. Either way, they tend to find each other. So, if you’re looking for “the next big thing,” you might start by looking for Nelson. And these days, you’ll find him in Northwest Arkansas.
How did he get here?
Nelson and his wife, Susan, had a home in North Carolina and adult children in California, but the pandemic severely limited their options to fly across the country for visits. So, they bought a sprinter van and took to the road. During a trip from Los Angeles to North Carolina, they came through Bentonville to visit with their friend Alice Walton about her newly founded Whole Health Institute.
“Before you know it, somebody called and said there might be a unit available,” said Nelson, who is one of the Institute’s founding board members. “We took a look at it on, like, 10 minutes notice. And at the seven-minute mark of being toured around it, my wife says, ‘We’ll take it.’”
The Whole Health Institute, founded by Walton in 2019, has a mission of making whole health “available to all people in all communities,” and its plans include a medical school.
“I just love people that are big dreamers,” Nelson said, “and Alice Walton and her whole initiative at Whole Health wants to transform healthcare in America.”
Nelson sees the same type of entrepreneurial spirit in Northwest Arkansas that he’s seen in other places, including North Carolina in the late 1990s.
“I think Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas could be this next great place to start and grow a business,” he said. “There’s no reason it can’t be that next great place.”
The key, Nelson said, is the momentum that comes from like-minded people who are pursuing their passions to make the world better. Those people feed off each other, he said, just as he has fed off the passions of others throughout his career. That’s why he advises college students to invest their time and energy in challenges that matter, in serving others, and in working with people who are good at their work and a joy to work with.
“Find the people, places, things that inspire you, give you energy, give you vitality,” he said. “I think that brings inspiration into your life. And it helps you create your life calling. … And then find the people who are kind of best at what they do. And prioritize those folks. You know, first and foremost, I love to go to work on them, with them, for them.”
Interestingly, Nelson never mentioned goals like getting to the c-suite or becoming financially wealthy. He appears to be yet another example of someone who has found such things simply by pursuing service to other people and by looking for joy in relationships.
“Happiness is fleeting,” he said. “Joy is not. I think you get joy from serving and helping others. And for me, it never fades to try to be of service and help other folks. And it never fades to want to be around incredible people.”
Northwest Arkansas’ reputation for fostering entrepreneurship and innovation took off with pioneers such as John W. Tyson, J.B. and Johnelle Hunt, and Sam Walton. Today it’s fertile ground for startups connected to retail, marketing, technology, supply chain management, the arts, and healthcare, as well as for innovation from inside legacy companies.
It’s exactly the type of community that attracts people like Nelson.
“It’s the whole idea of being around people who, when you wake up every day, you’re excited about who’s there,” he said. “It’s just something I get excited about. And I love it as a base for the next chapters. So that’s the way I guess it came to be. And here we are. And it’s been fantastic.”
For college students in the region, the opportunities are nearly endless, both with existing organizations and startups. With so many choices, Nelson said it’s important to make decisions based on what really matters.
“And for me,” he said, “it’s all about vitality, learning, growing and getting energized. And I always do that when I’m growing and developing with amazing new people where I think I can learn and contribute in some way.”
He’s found that in California and in North Carolina, and now he’s finding it in Northwest Arkansas.
