Meet William Fogler

 

We were lucky to catch up with William Fogler recently and have shared our conversation below.

William, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

Helping and supporting those around me is one of my life’s most important purposes. I am fortunate to have been raised in a giving family and strongly believe the more you give, the more you get. My parents set a powerful example — my father offering practical support through fixing things and providing transportation, while my mother dedicated her time to assisting family members and volunteering even while working full time.

Their generosity inspired me to extend that compassion to a broader circle. As a child, I received recognition from organizations like the Lions Club and the Optimist Club for my efforts as a good citizen. This upbringing nurtured my belief in servant leadership, a principle I continue to uphold today as an adult. It’s a philosophy that has encouraged my continued growth in gratitude, kindness and abundance.

I try to put these principles into action in my daily interactions with people and organizations. This might mean offering a lift or food to an individual I see struggling, delivering flowers left over from an event to my elderly neighbors, providing spot bonuses to my team, or serving on a nonprofit board. We all have the ability to engage in small and sometimes big acts of generosity, and it’s important to fulfill our duty to be good members of society by contributing, not just money, but also time, attention and caring. Giving is good for your soul. To see the impact on those you are serving is so rewarding.

Over time, the philosophy of giving more than you receive has led to greater abundance in health, happiness and success.

Today, my emphasis is on being able to support my employees when they are in need. We recently launched an employee assistance program for which the company pays an annual membership fee. The program features a hotline that allows employees to call about anything they are struggling with – legal, financial, emotional challenges and more. I can also refer employees to it if I have a concern for them. The team has been overwhelmingly grateful for this program.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am the principal and founder of WM Events, a nationally recognized, true full-service event house. We recently celebrated our 20th anniversary, rebranded, and completed the renovation of our new, gorgeous offices and production facility. I am so excited for the future of WM Events as we continue to grow and excel in our industry.

We are based in Atlanta and work throughout the United States and beyond, orchestrating every moving piece of the consulting, planning, design, and production of our clients’ events. We are planners, advisors, partners, designers, and, every once in a while, miracle workers, who take on corporate events, fundraisers, meetings, tradeshow design and private affairs.

At WM Events, we approach our work and build our working relationship from the idea that it’s not one-size-fits-all — it’s couture. Our clients’ goals and vision inform all we do. We’re obsessed with nailing the overall strategy and the minute details, and we get it right every time. This high level of performance and attention to detail have allowed us to be trusted by clients, including NCR, University of Georgia, Delta Air Lines, and the Atlanta sports teams — the Braves, Falcons, Hawks and United.

Based on the previous question, it will come as no surprise that community involvement is key both to my business philosophy and my personal life. I serve on the board of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Hughes Spalding and volunteer with numerous philanthropic organizations. In 2021, I was honored by the Allie Awards Board of Directors with the Dale Riggins Humanitarian Award. It was humbling to be recognized by my colleagues and peers in the event industry.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Set goals and intentions. This works like magic. At all points in your journey, continue writing goals, making lists and forecasting into the future. This will allow you to create a roadmap to get you to the next level, and then the next. And do write them down to make them concrete even while leaving room for flexibility.

Stay curious and seek out education, always. Take any opportunity you can to learn something new. So many things are interrelated that even if something does not seem relevant now, it may benefit you later. Besides, stretching your brain is always a good thing!

Kindness, gratitude and abundance should always be the vibe. Through kindness, we can ease the toughest situations. Gratitude allows your life to feel more fulfilling. When we stay in a mindset of abundance, we are capable and comfortable with giving and receiving more than we could have imagined.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

Both! An accomplished person will play to their strengths while also working to improve on areas that may be more challenging. And even when it comes to our strengths, there is always room to grow and expand.

I consider myself to be well rounded, and I am competent in many of life’s foundational activities, like cooking, gardening and athletics. In some cases, these come naturally to me, but I also work to improve where needed. For example, with cooking, my knife skills aren’t as good as I want them to be. So I take time to watch tutorials and learn about cutting techniques in order to be better.

In business, I always emphasize my strengths — it was how I chose my career. Planning, design, staying calm during a crisis, and problem solving come naturally to me, and I am passionate about what I do. I have typically been strong in sales and the people aspect of my business. However, the finance and bureaucracy aspects have been less automatic.

One solution to those less comfortable areas is to, as they say, hire people smarter than you. Another way to put this is to hire people who complement you, who fill the void where your knowledge and strength drop off. By having these players on your team, you can also learn a lot from them.

Business coaching has been vital to my success and something I invested in. About eight years ago, I understood I had hit the limit of what I knew about running a business, and I was not as strong of a leader as I wanted to be. At the same time, I knew I wanted to grow my business. I hired a coach, and it was one of the best things I could have done for my life and my company. I set one-, three- and five-year goals for the business. When I saw I had a weakness, I found someone to help me, and I was rewarded. In fact, it propelled me into another realm.

Sometimes just playing to your strengths is not an option. It’s a good idea to recognize but not be ashamed of your weakness. If you hide behind weakness, you won’t ever know whether you could overcome them. But if you acknowledge a weakness, you can get help and break through. Most importantly, you won’t avoid potentially positive situations just because you worry you will fail.

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