Personal development programs are nothing new to Lake Forest pharmaceutical executive Mark Booth, but he got some unexpected results after working with Permanent Solutions Training (PST).
The Lake Forest-based company forces people to take a hard look inside themselves before setting goals for their personal, professional and physical development, because PST’s owners believe self-searching is critical.
That approach stems from their background in special operations with the U.S. Navy, where they have coached recruits aged 18 to 27 since 2009, according to Justin Walker, one of the company’s owners.
“We’re dedicated to building, reinforcing and sustaining the foundation on which prosperous teams and individuals are built,” he said.
As a former president of Takeda and now chief commercial officer of Orexigen Therapeutics, a San Diego-based pharmaceutical company, Booth was familiar with personal development programs for individuals and organizations. But he said he found PST unique.
“They are all cut from the same cloth,” Booth said of Walker and his partners. “They represent the best of what this country has to offer. They make you list 25 goals. With them it all begins with commitment.”
Booth was so impressed with his program that introduced his son, Kirt Booth, to PST. By the time they were both done, they had arrived at a common goal without knowing what was happening.
“One of his top goals was to have a better relationship with me and one of my top goals was to have a better relationship with my son,” Mark Booth said. “Neither of us knew that was on the other’s list.”
Kirt Booth graduated Lake Forest High School in 2012 and went to Indiana University. But he moved home to live with his family in Lake Forest after he said he became overwhelmed by the college experience.
“My dad said ‘get a job’ and we’ll see what happens,” Kirt Booth said.
So the younger Booth went to work as a barista at Starbucks. It was his first job. He also began a relationship with PST, and things started to change. He was promoted to shift manager at work and has made plans to enroll at College of Lake County in the fall.
“They don’t give you a goal or answer a question,” Kirt Booth said of the program. “You have to do it yourself. They leave it up to you work out what you’re going to do.”
Without PST, he said, he never would have gone back to school.
The PST process begins with an important list of questions, according to Walker. Clients usually ask themselves if the goal is attainable for anyone, whether they can do it and what they will gain from achieving it.
“Then we ask them to answer a fourth question,” Walker said. “What does it do for other people? If you are at home and get up to get a glass of water, get one for your wife and see how she reacts. See what it does for those closest to you.”
For Kirt Booth, one of those goals that meant something to others, too, was cleaning his room. He remembered his father telling him to do it when he was younger.
“It was the right thing to do,” he said. “If I leave it a mess am I respecting my dad as much as I should? It’s not a hard thing to do and it makes him happy.”
PST works with groups as well as individuals.
Former Lake Forest resident Tom Danielson learned about PST from his brother and thought it could work for his California-based business, Evolution Pacific, which sells medical devices. He arranged a two-day session for his employees and some customer representatives.
Already, he said, he’s seen results. One thing that changed was the way the company developed sales goals.
“In a sales organization you decide what you want to do, divide it up and give each person their goal and then they get upset,” Danielson said. “They changed the purpose of the exercise. Everyone was asked what they wanted their goal to be.”
Danielson said the goals were higher and so far the results are better than expected.
Walker said individual clients are usually asked to make a commitment to eight to 12 one-hour sessions. Typically, half that time is spent in counseling and the other part in physical training.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
