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Raleigh business leader Michael A. Griffin says the best leaders are built through experience, not titles, and encourages young professionals to focus on learning before leading.
RALEIGH, N.C. Jun 18, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Michael A. Griffin, CEO and Chairman of National Business Center, Inc., is encouraging young professionals to resist the pressure to rush into leadership positions and instead focus on understanding the work, the people, and the processes that make organizations successful.
Griffin’s message comes from personal experience. Before becoming a CEO, he spent years working in customer service and learning different aspects of business operations. He believes those experiences provided lessons that continue to shape his leadership approach today.
“Everybody wants the title,” Griffin said. “Not everybody wants to learn what the people doing the work deal with every day. That’s where the real education happens.”
According to a recent Gallup workplace report, managers account for as much as 70% of the variation in employee engagement. Despite that impact, many professionals enter leadership roles without first gaining experience across different functions within an organization.
Griffin believes that creates challenges for both leaders and teams.
“When I first started, I paid attention to how customers reacted, how employees solved problems, and where processes broke down,” he said. “Those observations taught me more about leadership than any management title could have.”
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership has found that experience-based learning is one of the most significant drivers of leadership development. Exposure to different responsibilities helps future leaders understand how decisions affect employees, customers, and operations.
For Griffin, some of the most valuable lessons came from working closest to customers.
“I remember seeing situations where a policy looked good on paper but created confusion in practice,” he said. “If you’ve never been the person dealing directly with that confusion, it’s easy to make decisions that create more problems.”
He believes young professionals should actively seek opportunities to learn beyond the boundaries of their current role.
That could mean spending time with different departments, volunteering for new projects, observing experienced colleagues, or simply asking more questions.
“The people who grow the fastest are usually the people who stay curious,” Griffin said. “They want to understand how everything connects.”
Griffin also draws leadership lessons from his background in baseball and football. Growing up in Eastern North Carolina, he learned that successful teams depend on every player understanding their role and how it contributes to the larger goal.
“In sports, you learn pretty quickly that one person can’t do everything,” he said. “You also learn that every position matters. Business works the same way.”
He believes those lessons are particularly important in an era where career advancement often feels accelerated.
Social media and professional networking platforms can create the impression that leadership is something people achieve quickly. Griffin argues that the strongest leaders are often the ones who spend years building knowledge and credibility before taking on greater responsibility.
“People see the promotion,” he said. “They don’t always see the years of learning that came before it.”
His advice to young professionals is straightforward: focus less on managing people and more on understanding how the work gets done.
“Learn the customer side. Learn the operational side. Learn where problems start and how they get solved,” Griffin said. “The more perspectives you understand, the better decisions you’ll make later.”
He believes that leadership is ultimately about serving others and helping teams perform at their best. That becomes easier when leaders understand the challenges their employees face.
“When people know you’ve done the work or taken the time to understand it, trust comes faster,” he said. “Trust is one of the most important things a leader can earn.”
As organizations continue to navigate change and workforce development challenges, Griffin hopes more young professionals will view learning as an investment rather than a delay.
“Leadership isn’t a destination,” he said. “It’s the result of experiences, lessons, mistakes, and growth. The more you learn before you lead, the better prepared you’ll be when the opportunity comes.”
About Michael A. Griffin
Michael A. Griffin is the CEO and Chairman of National Business Center, Inc., based in Raleigh, North Carolina. He oversees Vegas-Style Skill Games and Blue Bull Gaming and has spent years working in customer service, operations, and executive leadership. Raised in Eastern North Carolina, Griffin played baseball and football growing up and credits many of his leadership principles to lessons learned through sports, teamwork, and hands-on experience. He frequently writes and speaks about leadership, operational discipline, customer behavior, and professional development.
Millie James is an American real estate investor and Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship, Emeritus at Business School.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
