David Harper

Job Title:  Owner & Managing Principal

Current Employer:  The Adivsory Alliance

Why did you become involved with SHRM SAV Chapter?

It’s a great community of people who have a shared concern and passion for people and the workplace. It’s also a great resource network to be able to tap into. Lots of experience and knowledge.

What is some of the best career advice you have been given?

My father and mother, just by who they were and are, showed the value of dedication and hard work. My father had his own business and my mother raised a family of five boys. Both not easy tasks.

Later in my career I had the good fortune to be taught at business school by Mike Feiner, the former head of HR for Pepsi worldwide. He subsequently became an invaluable mentor. Among the many comments I remember were the value of “shipping”. Above all else, leaders “ship”, i.e., they have impact, they get results, they get it done. And similarly important, leaders “show the blood in their veins”. You can’t live behind a desk, and just because you work hard and get results doesn’t mean you can assume people know you care. You have to live it and show it daily.

What are the words you work by (or what is your motto when it comes to the way you live your career)?

At The Advisory Alliance, we have a set of Core Values and a Core Purpose:

Our Core Values
• Deliver quality custom work.
• Pursue and provide knowledge, truth, and impact.
• Be trustworthy and reliable.
• No fluff, buzzwords, BS, or jargon. No ego. No excuses.

Our Core Purpose
• To help both leaders and their organizations fulfill their potential

Where do you find the most inspiration?

I’m greatly inspired by Dana, my wife of 32 years. She’s been a nurse who, throughout her whole career, has literally worked from the alpha (obstetrics and baby) to the omega (oncology). She currently works on the trauma floor at Memorial HCA here in Savannah. She has seen it all and worked through it all. And throughout it all, she has also been a wonderful partner. I tell her I could never do what she does, and she tells me she would likely get physically ill if she had to speak before 5 people. We make a good team.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment to date?

Sharing it with my wife, I’m proud of our family and the children we’ve raised. It’s been wonderful to see them grow up, find their passion, and make their own way. We all enjoy getting together as a family when we can, and that’s one of life’s greatest rewards and pleasures.

I’m also proud of The Advisory Alliance, the firm I cited earlier, which I started 17 years ago here in Savannah. We are the oldest leadership development and consulting firm in Coastal Georgia, the Lowcountry, and quite likely east of Atlanta. We work with international, national, regional, and local companies and organizations. I feel so fortunate to be able to do work I love each and every day.

Who has been the most influential person in your career?

There have been too many to name individually. I’ve mentioned my parents, my wife, and my children. There have been past bosses, good and bad, that I’ve learned a lot from. Teachers in high school, university, and grad school. Friends along the way. Mentors like Mike Feiner. Great consultants I’ve collaborated with. And wonderful clients I’ve had the privilege of working for and with. They’ve all made me who I am today.

What do you love most about HR?

It’s never boring. It’s always interesting. People are complex. They’re not machines. They have rich and varied pasts that, in part, make them who they are today and contribute to why they do what they do. And they all want to be successful in their own unique way. If I can be a part of that and help out along the way, that’s reward enough.