Meet Our Members ~ Jon Greenawalt of Personal Mastery Programs

What is your name and the name of your business?
Jon L. Greenawalt, Sr., Personal Mastery Programs, Inc.

Jon Greenawalt

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
My mother bought my current home on Bearcamp Pond Rd. in May of 1945, just at the close of World War II in Europe (VE Day). As a family in those days, we lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan and were summer residents until I moved here permanently in 2017.
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Our family’s interest in Sandwich began in 1911 as a result of my mother’s mother (my grandmother, Florence Spalding) contracting Tuberculosis. In those days, there were no antibiotics and the usual treatment was rest at cool, dry locations. For reasons unknown to me, her family chose to send Florence to a rehab facility in Wonalancet, NH called Ferncroft. 

During her two-year recovery period, the rest of her family would visit for a few weeks in the summers. As a young girl, my mom fell in love with the area and the Sandwich residents who hosted them during their stay. One of those people was Elizabeth Wilde, who lived in the home next to what is now the Sandwich Children's Center. Fast forward to 1945, when my mother visited here and reconnected with Elizabeth who encouraged her to buy what is now my home.

Jon's homestead in Sandwich

How did you get started in this profession?
I had been an HR professional in two privately held corporations in Philadelphia, PA then Detroit, MI until 1976, when I left to join a local management consulting firm. After 11 years of experience and getting a sound footing there, I started my own firm, PMP Inc which is still active today. While a risky move and challenge, it has proved to be the most successful and gratifying career choice.
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I was and continue to be inspired by my Personal Life Vision, which is “For all people to identify and have access to their unique genius and share if as a gift to the world.” Further, I am committed to having every interaction with others be a contribution to them.

Jon in 2011

Tell us about your business. What do you offer as a service?
PMP exists to “Ensure the survival and growth of organizations with empowering their people to achieve their own life purpose in support of the mission of the enterprise.”

Our programs are comprehensive in nature. We deliver value to each individual in client organizations by combining Team building, Strategic Planning, Personal Development, Leadership Development, and Management Training into systems that facilitate the development of a personal growth culture.

​A frequently heard complaint about consulting/training is that people return from such programs with new concepts and, when faced with on-the-job pressure, revert to old, ineffective behaviors. PMP's comprehensive approach, backed by our promise for results, guarantees sustainable change and unprecedented results. If you would like to learn more about what we do, please visit www.pmpcoach.com

How did your business get started?
​My last corporate role, which was in the early 1970’s, while successful, was missing the support and commitment of the owner to ensure the success of the company. Then, after being a successful part of another consulting firm for 11 years, that owner refused to sell me controlling shares of his firm. I knew it was time to leave and create my own future.

My own consulting began when I was asked by another Michigan business if I could help them bring the culture and leadership tools I had implemented at my current employer to them. After getting permission to do so from the owner, I met with the other company’s CEO, confirmed the challenges they were facing and put together a proposal which they accepted. Truthfully, I didn’t really have much of a plan and for the first year was consulting only on a part-time basis. I was really “winging it” while I was developing rudimentary programs and workshops for their leaders.

As a good listener, I was able to build trust, pinpoint key issues, and coach the company on how to approach them. By doing this, I began to build confidence in my ability to help other companies as well.
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At that point, I resigned from my then current employer and started out by joining an existing consulting firm (previously mentioned) where I received training, technology and tools to build a practice and become successful. Then, after being rebuffed by that firm's owner from acquiring ownership control, I took what I had learned and created a new enterprise.

New Year's Eve, 2016

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work?
Experiencing the frequent appreciation from people for my contribution to them, often positively impacting life-alerting situations for one or both their career and personal lives. Watching the sparkle appear in people’s eyes over the power of some new insight or opportunity they gained, along with their determination and commitment to pursue their dreams.

What is the hardest?
Seeing people give up on believing themselves capable of taking control of their lives, and reverting to a role of victim, blaming others or the circumstances for their distress, suffering or failures.
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How has this last Covid year affected your work?
​Fortunately, with minimal negative impact. I was able to learn how to be effective using remote technology (principally Zoom) to conduct coaching sessions, sufficiently effective for my clients. Most difficult was the challenging and ineffective requirement to conduct normally in-person training workshops for clients online?, which eliminates the critical dynamics and personal interchanges/dialogues that can only occur when people are in the same room.

Dick Seery and Jon Greenawalt at the SBG Annual Meeting in 2020

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
Continue to fulfill my life’s purpose; treat others with dignity and respect; live to be 100 years old, and when I arrive there, plan for the next 10 to 15 years.

​What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?In addition to my business, I have been active since arriving in 2017 on various committees and board. I am a past Board of Trustees for the Barnstormers Theatre and a past Vice Chair of the Sandwich Business Group. I am a current member of the Sandwich Zoning Board of Adjustment and a member of the Bearcamp Pond Association.

It is a joy living here full-time, realizing a lifelong dream. It is a beautiful state and community, with honest, helpful people who are good neighbors and a credit to our town.