The Master of Business Leadership Origin Story

Hi, my name is Phil Johnson. I am the Founder & CEO of the Master of Business Leadership Academy. My life, and MBL's origin began 72 years ago, on December 1, 1953 in Brantford, Ontario Canada. Our family lived in a small 2-bedroom post WWII bungalow where my mom and dad raised 3 boys. I was the youngest and quite a surprise as my mother was in her early 40s when I was born. Three boys in one small bedroom with a coal burning furnace, no air conditioning or television although we did have an old tube style radio that served as our entertainment center. 

My parents were born in 1909 and 1910 and went as far as grade 8 in school. My dad was a factory worker who never made more than $5.00 per hour. During WWII he served as a Sargent in a mortar artillery platoon in North Africa. His men, who were mostly in their late teens or early twenties, used to call him “the old man” because he was 29 years old when he enlisted. As a younger man he had boxed and played semi-pro baseball. My mother was a factory seamstress who left her job to take care of our family. 

I was born 6 weeks prematurely, weighing approximately 4 pounds. My first 6 months were spent in an incubator at the local Brantford General hospital. My dad brought milk to me each day on his bicycle because he didn’t own a car. I have dyslexia. It is a neurological disorder I was born with. I notice it most when I am trying to spell, read and occasionally hear. It can cause me to re-arrange words and numbers in my mind. I didn’t realize I had the condition until about 35 years ago. Back in those days there was no such thing as dyslexia, ADD or ADHD.  

I failed Grade 3 and Grade 5 and I was labelled a slow learner. I used to pray the teacher would never ask me a question and I rarely made eye contact. Many times, the back of my shirt would be soaked with sweat by the time class was over. Getting a “C” was a great mark for me, “A’s” and “B’s” were out of the question. 

Some of my earliest childhood memories were that our neighborhood had dirt roads. Asphalt roads, TVs and private phone lines came several years later. We also had a milkman, bread man, egg man and potato man that made their deliveries in horse drawn trucks!  

I started working when I was 9 years old pulling copper wire out of the back of factory dumpsters and selling it for 5 cents a pound. I also went door to door shoveling snow in the winter. By the time I was 12 I had a part time job working in a produce factory loading boxcars with crates of corn. I also worked as a caddy at a local golf course and picked strawberries on a farm. These were just a few of the many jobs I had in my early years. 

Life seemed to be going along okay until my mother developed breast cancer. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy which lead to a radical mastectomy. On December 3, 1967 she died. It was two days after my 14th birthday and I was in Grade 7 at the time. One month later I made a decision that was to change the trajectory of my life. My dyslexia and my mother’s death became the catalysts for my journey. 

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It was a snowy January night around midnight and I was taking my dog Duke for a walk. He was a Blue Tick hound my parents had given me as a puppy when I was 5 years old. Standing behind a neighborhood factory I decided to go for it. I wanted to see what was on “the other side of the hill” so I could help others.  

That decision began the 57-year journey that continues today. The following year I was surprised to win an award as the ‘most improved student’ in my grade school. I became an “A” student throughout the rest of grade school and high school. My father died in May of 1974 as I was completing Grade 13. Four years later I graduated in the top of my class from the De Groote School of Business at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. I also played football and basketball. I paid for my education through summer and part-time jobs during the year. I received a partial scholarship as the son of a WWII veteran. My undergraduate success motivated me to continue my education. I spent 5 years studying Electrical Engineering while beginning what turned out to be a 20-year career in the semiconductor industry. By the time my career in that industry had ended I had become a corporate executive. I was travelling throughout North America and the Pacific Rim. 

In 1990 I remember talking with one of my older brothers and asking “Is this all there is?” I had accomplished more than I, or for that matter anyone else ever thought I would. But obtaining the "brass ring" in my career wasn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be. 

I eventually decided to leave corporate America, breaking away from the herd in order to lead it in a better direction. I turned down three Vice Presidential roles in order to create the Master of Business Leadership Academy.

My life has come full circle with the promise I made to myself on that snowy January night over five decades ago and I have never been happier or more grateful. 

The Master of Business Leadership Academy has grown to 27 members, with MBL alumni spanning the United States, Canada, England, Italy, Japan, Germany, Bosnia, South Africa, Australia, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, India, Nepal, Poland, Slovakia, and Greece.