For the first decade of his career, George Parente lived as an uninspired employee. It seemed like every company he worked for cared little about their employees and a whole lot more about their bottom line. Employees were viewed as disposable, and this led George to make a personal promise to himself: If he was ever in a position of leadership, he would lead from a place of empathy and put his team and customers first.

From 2000 to 2020, George worked in managerial positions, but never had the final say in leading and setting a culture for a company. In 2021 this changed as he became the owner and CEO of DTG Consulting Solutions. Since that point, George has implemented his own personalized form of servant and transformational leadership—doing his best to lead by walking in the steps of those on his team. The results of this new approach have been astonishing. In 2022, DTG posted the best numbers of the company’s fifty-year history, and their financial bottom line has only continued to climb. From George’s perspective, this only happened as he put his team first.

Through the pages of In Their Shoes, George offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at how he leads an organization along with his personal philosophy of serving others. The goal is to inspire a generation of new leaders to lead their teams from a position of empathy and empowerment. George is on a mission to break down the hierarchical structures that separate the person at the top of the ORG chart from the people at the bottom, and he invites you to join him on this journey.