Robert Sherwin Robert Hoole Sherwin , Jr . ( born May 13 , 1951 ) is an American businessman and winner of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award . A graduate of the United States Military Academy , he is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Zenger Folkman . Early life . Sherwin was born in 1951 in St . Louis , Missouri , to Robert Sherwin Sr . and Jeanne Sherwin ( née Davis ) . He is the third of five children , and the only boy . Sherwin moved with his family to Southern California , where he attended middle school and high school . He attended Katella High School in Anaheim , California , where he excelled academically and in both basketball and baseball . His senior year he led the basketball team to the 2 - A championships , where Katella played ( and ultimately lost to ) Verbum Dei , 90 - 87 , " in what some consider the greatest basketball title game in Southern Section history . " He played basketball at Katella under coach Tom Danley , one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in California history . West Point and the Army . Sherwin attended the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York , and graduated in 1973 . He was a member of the Black Knights basketball team , and started his sophomore through senior years . As a sophomore , he played under Army head coach Bobby Knight who left after that year to coach at Indiana University . As a junior and senior , Sherwin played for the former Villanova assistant basketball coach Dan Dougherty . Sherwin was the West Point team captain , and recipient of the 1972 - 1973 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the best player in the nation under six feet tall . In both his junior and senior years at West Point , Sherwin was also named to the All - Metropolitan New York basketball team and to the Academic All - American basketball team , and was one of five Division I players to receive an NCAA post - graduate scholarship for academic and athletic achievements . Current LA Lake coach , Mike D ' Antoni , was one of the other scholarship recipients . Following his graduation from West Point , Sherwin went on to achieve the rank of Captain in the Army . During his service , he played on the All Armed Forces basketball team and was named to the AAU All - American basketball team . His primary duty in the Army was as an air defense missile systems officer ( Improved Hawk ) . Though he was stationed all over the world , it was during his time on assignment to Key West , Florida , that he met his wife , Susan Sherwin ( née Perdue ) , who was an officer in the Navy also stationed in Key West . During his time playing basketball at Army , he was given the nickname " Lier , " due to his similarity in playing style to NBA great Norm Van Lier . Post - graduate studies and career . Sherwin earned a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Michigan in 1981 , and in his early career , was a design engineer at Ford Motor Company , a systems consultant at Deloitte , Haskins & Sells , and the Vice President and Controller of Oral - B Laboratories . His business background also includes extensive experience in software and Web application businesses . He was the co - founder and CEO of both FlipDog . com and WhizBang ! Labs . FlipDog , an online recruiting website , was named by PC Magazine as one of the Best 100 sites on the Web . Sherwin is also a co - founder and former board member of LiveWire Innovations , a developer of diagnostic equipment used to locate electrical faults in complex live wire networks . Sherwin has spent more than 25 years as an executive , leader , coach , and mentor in some of the world ’ s largest and most successful training and development companies . Since 2004 he has been the COO at Zenger Folkman , one of the world ' s premier leadership development companies . He is the co - author of the best - selling leadership book , How To Be Exceptional : Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your Strengths ( McGraw - Hill , 2012 ) . Sherwin was the CEO of Kaset International , the SVP of Operations and CFO of AchieveGlobal , and the CFO of Zenger - Miller . He was also the President of Industrial Training Zone , a groundbreaking provider of Web - delivered technical training in PLC ' s and motion control . Family . Sherwin is married to Susan Sherwin . They have four children and seven grandchildren .