Great leaders transform the way we think about leadership, success, and the human experience behind business. My recent conversation with George Parente, CEO and owner of DTG Consulting Solutions, was the perfect amalgamation of all those concepts. George is a leader who has spent more than two decades rising through the ranks of one of the most respected firms in consulting, and his quiet, consistent brilliance is redefining what sustainable leadership truly looks like in our world today.
George joined DTG in 2000 as Chief Financial Officer and, in 2021, became only the second CEO in the company’s 50-year history. That alone speaks to the deep trust he has earned from the people around him. With more than 30 years as a CPA, George has done far more than manage numbers. He has rolled up his sleeves and stayed deeply engaged in financial operations, forecasting, and organizational strategy while leading the company into new eras of growth and innovation.
Along the way, he has committed himself to constant learning, earning certifications in Negotiation Mastery from Harvard Business School, as well as business law, change management, sales growth strategies, and business contracts from Cornell University. He is also the bestselling author of In Their Shoes: Lessons in Corporate Leadership from a Former Uninspired Employee, a book that challenges leaders to view the workplace from the perspective of the people they serve.
And yet, when I read his long list of accolades to him, George simply shook his head because for him, success isn’t about recognition. It’s about reflection.
“I only recognize success when I look back at it,” he told me. Daily wins matter just as much as long-term achievements, and success is simply defined by whether you accomplished what you set out to do. But as he reflected on his 25 years at DTG, he shared what he considers one of his greatest measures of success: the extraordinary longevity of his team.
DTG has employees who have been with the company for 20, 30, 40 — even 52 — years. In an era where employee tenure often struggles to reach two or three years, these numbers are more than impressive; they represent a culture built on trust, stability, and shared purpose. “It’s difficult for them to even conceive of walking away,” George said. And it wasn’t difficult for me to understand why. When leaders genuinely care about their people, about their careers, their families, their growth, it creates a home, not a workplace.
That deep commitment to people is woven into everything George does. Early in his tenure as owner, he reviewed the entire payroll and asked himself a simple question: If I were this person, with this experience, would I feel fairly compensated? Where the answer was no, he took immediate action by raising earnings, placing individuals on projects that would give them room to grow, and ensuring they were not only valued but secure. Because in his mind, a culture may feel like family, but it must also provide a tangible foundation for people to build their lives.
Leadership at DTG is intentional and deeply personal. George meets weekly with every department leader, from recruiting to HR to IT, to ensure connection, alignment, and that his message of support flows consistently throughout the organization. He shows up to internal calls not to oversee production, but to remind the team: My job is to give you the tools you need to be successful.
That humility and service-first leadership have carried DTG through some of the most dramatic disruptions in modern history. George joined the company as the dot-com bubble was bursting. A year later, he and his team watched the 9/11 attacks from their office in the Empire State Building — losing clients, friends, and even one of their own consultants that fateful day. They weathered the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, economic downturns, and now the profound disruption of artificial intelligence, which is reshaping entire categories of entry-level employment.
Each time, George leaned into a powerful lesson passed down to him by DTG’s founder, John Di Bari. During a bleak financial period in 2006, John shared a story from his time in Vietnam — enduring a night of relentless bombing in a foxhole with his battalion. When daylight came, they looked around, saw who remained, and moved forward. “If I can make it through that,” John told him, “I can make it through this.” That story reframed every challenge for George, reminding him that while business can be tough, it is still business.
What matters is surrounding yourself with the right people, staying in the fight, and pushing forward until the light returns. Even today, with decades of experience and achievements behind him, George is still pushing himself to grow. He calls himself a lifelong learner and is currently working with a communications coach to sharpen his verbal and non-verbal communication aiming to say in ten words what once took a hundred. That self-awareness, that hunger to improve, is a hallmark of every exceptional leader I know.
What inspires me most about George is that he doesn’t tell others how to lead; he simply leads, and they follow. His team, his clients, his family — they witness who he is every day. And as he watched his own father build a community around a small New Jersey restaurant, George learned that the most powerful legacy any leader leaves behind is the imprint of their actions.
As our conversation closed, George offered words that meant the world to me—speaking about authenticity, presence, and the importance of showing up fully as ourselves. And he is right. Authenticity is not just a trait; it is a form of success. It is what allows us to inspire, to connect, and to lead with impact.
George Parente is living proof that leadership is not defined by position, but by purpose. Not by accolades, but by actions. And not by disruption, but by the courage to navigate it with integrity, resilience, and heart.
If you want to learn more about George’s leadership style, watch the full interview on C-Suite or listen to the podcast on C-Suite Radio.
