Culver shares secrets for career happiness
HARTLAND – When Curt Culver speaks every year at the University of Wisconsin School of Business in Madison, many of the students ask him about money.
After all, Culver was the chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based MGIC Investment Corp., the inventor and one of the largest providers of private mortgage insurance in the nation.
As such, Culver saw the Great Recession, with its depressed U.S. real estate market, from the front lines.
He watched MGIC’s bottom line tumble from a surplus of $565 million in 2006 to a net loss of $1.7 billion in 2007. Its stock dropped from $76 to 76 cents per share.
Homeowners suddenly owed far more than their houses were worth. Millions simply walked away from their mortgages and gave their house keys to their banks. Large homes built on speculation sat unfinished and vacant for years.
Fridays were brutal. For the better part of two years, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would announce at the close of business every Friday the latest closures of failed banks — MGIC’s customers.
MGIC incurred losses for seven consecutive years as the nation crawled out of the economic hole.
At the darkest hour, was Culver scared that the company — and the nation — would completely collapse into another Great Depression?
“I don’t think scared is the word. I would say it felt daunting,” Culver recalled. “I was worried about our people (at MGIC). If this thing fails, they’re all going to lose their jobs.”
With the help of a bold recapitalization plan, plenty of diligence and some good old Wisconsin frugality, MGIC returned to profitability as the market stabilized in 2014, and Culver retired in 2015 after more than 25 years in the private mortgage insurance business.
With the Great Recession now in his rearview mirror, Culver is enjoying retirement. On the day of this interview, he’s tanned, rested and enjoying a Culver’s ButterBurger. (He’s part of the family that founded the restaurant chain.) A voracious golfer with a 4 handicap, he can be found on the links several times a week during the summer.
When he’s not teeing it up, he’s serving on multiple
of directors, including UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, and he continues to be the non-exencouraged ecutive chairman of MGIC. He’s also one of the family co-owners of the Culver Franchising System Inc., based in Prairie du Sac. Culver’s restaurants are among the hottest franchises in the country. The chain has grown to more than 680 restaurants across 25 states.
Still, when he speaks to the UW busiboards ness students every spring, Culver tells them not to focus so much on the money. It’s a curious mandate from a man who made his living selling private mortgage insurance.
“I tell them money is important, but happiness is really more important,” Culver said. “I’ve seen a lot of unhappy CEOs who certainly had everything they wanted financially, but they weren’t happy. They didn’t like what they were doing.”
No matter your age, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, Culver says, you owe it to yourself to find another job.
“You have to have a passion for your work. Life is too short. And frankly, those who really enjoy their work are the ones who get ahead, even though that isn’t their primary goal,” Culver said. “And the secret to career happiness is to never stop learning. As I say, become massively competent. Companies today no longer have career paths, but rather advance those who continue to love what they are doing and never stop learning.”
Culver tells millennials starting out their careers to focus on “purposeful leadership” and the “five H’s” to maintain a balance in their careers and their lives. Here they are:
Humor. “The ability to laugh at yourself. Too many people take themselves way to seriously to their detriment. My best executives always had a great sense of humor and never took themselves too seriously,” Culver said.
Health. “You need to take care of yourself while you are young or you will pay later. We strongly and financially wellness at MGIC for the benefit of our co-workers and for our health costs. Strong minds come from strong bodies,” Culver said.
Honesty. “The bedrock of your business and personal life is honesty. I came to MGIC in 1982 because I didn’t trust my boss at my previous company. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you don’t trust the company or its management, find new employment,” Culver said.
Hustle. “If you want something different in your life, you have to do something different. Things never get better on their own. In fact, they usually get worse. So, some people complain and whine the rest of their life rather than doing something to change their life,” Culver said. “As my daughter, Christine, taught me, life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass but rather about learning to dance in the rain.”
Humility. “My predecessor at MGIC, Bill Lacy, told our organization time and again that ‘nothing fails like success.’ Organizations that are successful in the short term start to believe their own press clippings, get arrogant and lose the customers that really count. As I say, organizations that count their blessings rather than their press clippings are long-term success stories,” Culver said.
Steve Jagler is the business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. C-Level stands for high-ranking executives, typically those with “chief” in their titles. Send C-Level column ideas to him at steve.jagler@journalsentinel.com.