Building Your Dream Team: Why Professional Networks Matter With Charlie Garcia

Building Your Dream Team: Why Professional Networks Matter With Charlie Garcia

by | Podcast

Charlie Garcia is the Managing Partner at R360, a global invite-only community for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. R360 is dedicated to helping members and their families flourish across six capital dimensions: financial, intellectual, social, human, emotional, and spiritual. Charlie is a decorated United States Air Force veteran and has advised six US presidential administrations. He also founded Sterling Financial Investment Group, one of the fastest-growing private companies in the US, and has served on several corporate and governmental boards.
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Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:

  • [5:45] How Charlie Garcia became a White House Fellow and worked under multiple presidential administrations
  • [08:22] The unorthodox interview question that landed Charlie a key government role
  • [11:11] Why Charlie left the law to pursue finance
  • [19:41] The emotional toll of running a fast-growing company and its impact on personal life
  • [22:41] How YPO and Vistage supported Charlie’s leadership evolution and strategic thinking
  • [24:55] Returning to the Air Force Academy to lead reform amid scandal
  • [33:30] What Charlie did to increase diversity and inclusion at the academy
  • [39:23] The founding of R360 and the six dimensions of wealth used to help families flourish
  • [49:53] Launch strategy for R360 — why Charlie chose a partnership model with early buy-in
  • [56:32] The importance of accountability and family engagement in the R360 model

In this episode…

For many high achievers, building wealth and success doesn’t always translate to fulfillment or impact. Entrepreneurs often face burnout, decision fatigue, or isolation, especially after a major liquidity event or business exit. Without the right community or purpose, even the most successful individuals can feel directionless or disconnected from their true potential. Charlie Garcia, a former Air Force captain turned financial entrepreneur, offers a compelling framework to shift this narrative. Drawing from his journey through military service, founding Sterling Financial, and advising six US Presidents, Charlie emphasizes aligning personal values with purpose. Through his leadership at R360, he encourages ultra-wealthy individuals to focus not just on financial growth but on flourishing across six dimensions of capital — financial, intellectual, social, human, emotional, and spiritual. He also shares how peer-based accountability, strategic mentorship, and lifelong learning communities like YPO and Vistage helped him evolve as a leader. Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Charlie Garcia, Managing Partner at R360, about building purpose-driven wealth and community. Charlie shares insights into scaling Sterling Financial, lessons from the White House Fellowship, and how values-based leadership shaped the creation of R360. The conversation highlights the significance of aligning one’s life purpose with personal and professional goals and the value of authentic leadership.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special Mention(s):

Related episode(s):

Quotable Moments:

  • “I realized I wasn’t living in my purpose until I could clearly articulate it.”
  • “Wealth isn’t just money — it’s financial, intellectual, social, human, emotional, and spiritual.”
  • “If you can’t see it and feel it, it’s not going to happen.”
  • “You got to give everybody an equal opportunity, not equal outcome.”
  • “You need different leaders to take a company from $1M to $100M and beyond.”

Action Steps:

  1. Define your life purpose and core values: Charlie Garcia emphasizes that knowing your purpose helps align your work and legacy. Clarity in these areas makes decision-making easier and more fulfilling.
  2. Leverage peer networks like YPO or Vistage: These communities provided Charlie with accountability, mentorship, and lifelong learning. Surrounding yourself with high-level peers accelerates personal and professional growth.
  3. Invest in your family as part of your enterprise: R360 supports family coaching and personal development. Treating family members as key capital assets leads to stronger multigenerational outcomes.
  4. Adopt a scalable operating system like EOS: Charlie credits EOS with successfully growing multiple organizations. Having clear goals, accountability structures, and the right people in the right seats drives sustainable growth.
  5. Approach philanthropy with intention and impact: Inspired by his work with Charity: Water and education reform, Charlie shows that aligning wealth with passion and purpose can lead to massive social good.

Sponsor: Rise25

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Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:00 All right. Today we’re talking about the importance of building networks professionally and surrounding yourself with successful people. My guest today is Charlie Garcia. I’ll tell you more about him in a second, so stay tuned. John Corcoran: 00:13 Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show. John Corcoran: 00:30 All right. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran here I am, the host of this show. And you know that every week I talk to fascinating CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies. And, you know, if you check out the archives, we’ve got Netflix and Grubhub, Redfin, Gusto, Kinko’s, YPO, EO, Activision Blizzard, LendingTree, so many great episodes. Check out that in the archives. And before we get into this interview, this episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help businesses to give to and connect to their dream relationships and relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? We do that by helping you to run your podcast and content marketing. We are the easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do three things: strategy, accountability, and full execution. And Charlie, I know from doing my background, my research on you that you appreciate the value of relationships with the right people, just like I do. And for me, doing a podcast has been the privilege of my life because I get to meet amazing people like yourself and so many others. And what I love about what we do at our company is that we’re like the team of magic elves behind the scenes that make it look easy for a company and a host, that they can create amazing content and amazing relationships and most importantly, run their business. So if you have any questions about podcasting, go to Rise25.com or email us at [email protected]. And before we get to today’s guest, I want to give a shout out to one of my past guests on the show, Sean Magennis, who is currently Global Member Development at Tiger 21 and a great guy, great guest on the show. I imagine you, Charlie, crossed paths with him at YPO in the past, and my guest, of course, is Charlie Garcia as the Managing Partner at R360. He’s a decorated military veteran, having served in the United States Air Force. Thank you, sir, for your service. He advised six US presidential administrations from both parties and in the business world founded Sterling Financial Investment Group, which he grew to 60 or so offices. We’re going to talk about that in a moment. He’s also served on a number of different boards, and in 2020 established R360, which is an invite only organization for ultra high net worth individuals. So we’re going to talk about that as well. Charlie, I’m such a pleasure to have you here today. I’ve been so excited about this interview, and I always love to get to know my guests and a little bit what they were like as a kid. And you actually grew up partly in Panama. Your father was Panamanian and went to Catholic school. Tell me a little bit about that unique upbringing, because I don’t even sense a hint of an accent. You must be going to like international schools and things like that when you’re growing up. Charlie Garcia: 03:00 Thank you John. Thank you for having me. And interestingly I know Sean very well and I was in Tiger 21 eight years. So we have crossed paths before. He’s a great guy. So I did have an accent, a pretty thick accent. When I first went to the Air Force Academy, I had, you know, blonde hair and blue eyes and they’d say, where are you from? Are you from the South? And I said, yeah, south of the border. John Corcoran: 03:26 Very south. Charlie Garcia: 03:27 But because I had this kind of funny accent and I didn’t look like I was Hispanic, they put an O in front of my name in the military, and they called me O Garcia instead of Garcia. But I lived in Panama 20 years, and that’s where I grew up, and I did go to Catholic school. So back in my day, and especially in Latin America, when you got caught doing bad things and you had nuns, you know, they took out the ruler. John Corcoran: 03:59 And my father went to Catholic schools. I heard the stories. Charlie Garcia: 04:04 Yeah. So. And I was also an altar boy. There was a church about a block away. And on Saturdays the nuns would come in and make the host, and it was like this pancake thing, and you would close it, and then they would take the host and put it somewhere special, and the scraps would be thrown away. Well, I would then take that bag where all the scraps were thrown away, and I would come when it got dark. No one was around, and I would take those scraps and put them into little baggies, and I’d take them to school and sell them for a nickel. Yeah. And I did really well for about three weeks until I got caught. And my father was a doctor. My mother’s a seventh grade science teacher, and they both get called in by Sister Mary. Celeste and I got suspended and needless to say, there was punishment from all sides. I didn’t stop my entrepreneurial ventures. I just figured out something to do that wasn’t, you know, you would think I was selling drugs on campus. It was only like a host. But, you know, the scraps, right? Might as well have been a sin. John Corcoran: 05:15 That’s funny. That’s funny because you seem like a very straight laced guy. I mean, you end up, you know, becoming a White House fellow. You go to the US Air Force Academy, you had a unique vantage point as a White House fellow. You were there, I believe, 88 to 89. You’ve got this great picture of you with President Reagan. But that was during the election, transitioning into the next administration. President Bush, the first President Bush. What was it like having that experience? And for those who don’t know what a White House fellow is, talk a little bit about what you guys did. Charlie Garcia: 05:45 Sure. And I wrote a book and the only book that exists about the White House fellowships in 08 09. It was set up by Lyndon Johnson. Wanted to figure out how, you know, if you look at the Founding Fathers, you know, 14, 15 people, why can’t we have that type of individual that we can find out in America, mid-career, in their mid 30s, bring them to Washington to work for the president or vice president or a cabinet official for a year, attend all the meetings, have your office right next to theirs, and then maybe 20 years later, you would get inspired to come to Washington or take a cabinet position. Learn how Washington works, works, the media, the Congress, the judicial, the Supreme Court, the executive branch. And so it was just an incredible first, you got to get selected. About 5000 people apply. 15, 14, 15 get selected. I got selected at the age of 27. So I was the youngest White House fellow selected at the time, and I love education. My mother was a teacher and I actually got hired by Bill Bennett. He was the secretary of education. But then what happened was in the summer, he decided to leave, and he started a consulting firm with Jack Kemp and Jeane Kirkpatrick. So now I don’t want to work in education. It wasn’t for Bennett, so I wanted to work somewhere else. Someone was already at the State Department with George Shultz, and the deputy secretary really wanted a White House fellow, and they gave me permission to work for him, even though he wasn’t the cabinet secretary. And working for him and him then becoming a mentor changed my life because that guy was John Whitehead. John Whitehead had been in the Navy. He went to a small firm in the 50s called Goldman Sachs, and he rose to become the chairman of Goldman Sachs. He retired as chairman, and Schultz had convinced him and Reagan, hey, the State Department’s a mess. We could use someone with your skills to come in and help us out. So I ended up with an office right next to him, and I’m working for, like, John Whitehead, who’s such an amazing leader. And but six months later, he left and Bush comes in and says he’s going to declare a war on drugs. And who does he bring in? John Corcoran: 08:20 Bill Bennett. Charlie Garcia: 08:22 So I became Bill Bennett’s, like a third hire. It’s like, oh, you again. Wow. John Corcoran: 08:29 And it was a very high profile assignment at the time. At that time, that was a big campaign promise. Charlie Garcia: 08:35 It was a big deal. The military was totally against it. They saw this as another Vietnam. But I remember when I interviewed with Bennett, you know, I walked in, I was so prepared. And he said to me, do you have good hands? What? What? We have a flag football team. I’m looking for someone that can catch and is fast. I’m like, yes, sir, I can catch. I’m fast. All right, you’re hired. John Corcoran: 09:00 Like, we’re like Jack Kemp’s team this weekend. Charlie Garcia: 09:04 And he has all these guys from the boiler room, so I hope he can take a hit. John Corcoran: 09:08 That’s funny. Charlie Garcia: 09:08 And I learned more just being out in the field, playing on a Sunday and then going to beers and at his home or. Or later. But he was an amazing leader and so was Whitehead. So. And every week you’re going to the White House and meeting with senators and congressmen and Supreme Court justices, members from the media. We go on an international trip, a domestic trip. We went to Asia that year. There’s a military trip as well. So after that, that year you leave with lifelong friends and you just learn, learn a ton about how the government works. John Corcoran: 09:44 Yeah, it’s a really incredible vantage point to be kind of on the inside by deliberate, by intent. You know, that’s designed so that you are right on the inside there helping. I had Warren Rustin on this podcast previously, who had been a White House fellow under Nixon at the end of the Nixon administration. And then I think he was actually the fellow under Ford. And then Ford took over. And so he just told this crazy story about the whole transition period, because that was a chaotic time in American history. And it’s interesting thing about that story is that John Whitehead had gone from financial services into government. A couple years later, go from government into financial services, and you start Sterling Financial, which at one point was the number eight fastest growing privately held company in the United States, according to Inc. magazine. What was it? Was it your mentorship under Whitehead that led to your interest in financial services, or to go into. Charlie Garcia: 10:42 That really inspired me. And also Bill Bennett had been a lawyer. So I decided to leave the military and I went to Columbia Law School. I did very well, first to publish on the law review and things like that. John Corcoran: 10:57 Yeah. But by the way, I went to law school as well after working at the White House, because I looked around all the other lawyers that had been in meetings with them, and they would generally win arguments over me. I would lose my arguments to them. I was like, maybe I should go to law school. Charlie Garcia: 11:11 Yeah. You know, law school. It definitely teaches you how to think and how to write. But I did an internship with Whitehead when John Whitehead was in the State department. The wall falls in Eastern Europe and he teamed up with a friend of his on Wall Street to set up the Hungarian American Enterprise Fund, the Russian Enterprise Fund, the check. So they were putting $500 million in a VC fund that the government was funding to spur democracy, entrepreneurship and capitalism in those countries. So I ended up working in, in Hungary and between Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and John helped me with that. But then I worked at a firm called Greenberg Traurig in Miami, and we were taking savings and loans public, and these companies were coming out at 50% of book value, coming out at $10, opening up at 19. Raymond James was on the other side of the deal, and they said, hey, the couple of associates that were working on the deal, do you want any stock in the public offering? And I’m like, yeah, you know, I had some money and I bought 4000 shares. I came in the next day and it popped to $19. So I’m looking and saying, wow, I made $36,000. My offer to go work there. Was it 72? So I made half of one year’s salary where I’d have to work 3000 hours to get that. We’re on an hourly basis. My executive assistant would be making more money than I would. But when I got there, the banker on the deal was looking down. I said, hey, dude, I made a lot of money. Be happy. And he said, Charlie, I got bad news. The partner told me that he didn’t think this was kosher. He made me cancel the trade. What? And on that second, I decided, and I figured out that law was a business. And there were a lot easier ways to make money than practicing law. And what initially happened, I saw an opportunity with what was going on in the banking sector. All these banks were going public. And if you had a savings account or an account at the bank. You were offered stock in the public offering, and it was, you know, you’re almost doubling your money when they go. So I started in law school, a hedge fund called the Bank and Thrift Fund. I opened about 500 bank accounts all over the United States back in the day where you didn’t.
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