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North Fulton Business Radio

How Mentorship Transforms: Five Men by Dave Schmit

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How Mentorship Transforms: Five Men by Dave Schmit (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 884)

What happens when you reflect on the people who shaped your character, not just your career?

Dave Schmit, principal of Schmit + Associates and author of Five Men: The Transformative Power of Mentorship, joins host John Ray for a moving conversation about the mentors who changed his life. From his father and a high school baseball coach to a faith leader who walked with him through unimaginable grief, Dave shares how each man left a lasting imprint. Their influence continues to guide his work, his family, and his approach to leadership.

This episode is not about business tips. It is about legacy. It is about the quiet power of showing up for someone else. Dave’s book is an invitation to reflect on the mentors in your own life and the person you could become for someone who needs you.

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, and is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Key Takeaways from this Episode

Mentorship is built over time: Dave’s mentors spanned decades and shaped every part of his life—vocational, personal, and spiritual.
Mentors speak hard truths: The most meaningful guidance often comes in the form of tough love, delivered with care.
Mentorship vs. coaching: Unlike coaching, true mentorship is grounded in long-term relationships and mutual respect.
Anyone can be a mentor: teachers, bosses, priests, parents; many roles can become mentoring relationships when trust and consistency are present.
Mentorship can heal division: Dave and his book’s preface writer, Egbert Perry, highlight how mentorship fosters understanding in a divided world.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction and Welcome to North Fulton Business Radio
01:51 Guest Introduction: Dave Schmit
02:23 Dave Schmit’s Background and Career
03:29 The Inspiration Behind Five Men
06:53 Mentorship Stories and Lessons
09:18 The Importance of Long-Term Mentorship
12:09 Personal Stories: Lessons from Dad
17:12 Truth Tellers: The Role of Mentors
17:50 A Career in Development
18:35 Meeting Fred Fisher
19:39 Building Connections
22:08 A Personal Story of Loss and Faith
24:26 The Importance of Mentorship
26:52 Encouraging Young People to Seek Mentors
28:56 How to Be a Better Mentor
30:29 Final Thoughts and Book Information
34:17 Closing Remarks and Announcements

Dave Schmit

Dave Schmit is a seasoned real estate developer, entrepreneur, and mentor dedicated to building communities and future leaders.

As the founder of Schmit + Associates, he has helped shape walkable, experience-driven developments across Georgia.

Outside of business, Dave is passionate about mentorship, leadership, and faith, drawing from his experiences as an athlete, coach, and community leader.

Five Men is his debut book, sharing the invaluable lessons he learned from the mentors who shaped his life. His mission is to inspire others to recognize, appreciate, and become mentors in their communities.

LinkedIn | Amazon

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $17 billion in assets and more than 180 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices throughout the region. All of Renasant’s success stems from each banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way to better understand the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

If you’re a law firm, medical practice, or manufacturer, there’s one headline you don’t want to make: “Local Business Pays Thousands in Ransom After Cyberattack.” That’s where Beyond Computer Solutions comes in. They help organizations like yours stay out of the news and in business with managed IT and cybersecurity services designed for industries where compliance and reputation matter most.

Whether they serve as your complete IT department or simply support your internal team, they are well-versed in HIPAA, secure document access, written security policies, and other essential aspects that ensure your safety and well-being. Best of all, it starts with a complimentary security assessment.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

With over 880 episodes and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!

The show invites a diverse range of business, non-profit, and community leaders to share their significant contributions to their market, community, and profession. There’s no discrimination based on company size, and there’s never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates businesses by sharing positive stories that traditional media ignore. Some media lean left. Some media lean right. We lean business.

John Ray, host of North Fulton Business Radio, and Owner, Ray Business Advisors — **John Ray, host of *North Fulton Business Radio* and Owner, Ray Business Advisors**

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. John and the team at North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, produce the show, and it is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

The studio address is 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.

You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

John is the national bestselling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.

North Fulton Business Radio

ATL Developments with Geoff Smith: Egbert Perry, The Integral Group LLC

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ATL Developments with Geoff Smith: An Interview with Egbert Perry, The Integral Group LLC

Host Geoff Smith speaks with Egbert Perry, Chairman and CEO of The Integral Group LLC, on the the distinction between commercial real estate development and community development, the moral imperative of improving housing affordability, the Assembly Yards project, and much more.

Egbert Perry, The Integral Group, LLC

Egbert L. J. Perry, a native of Antigua and Barbuda, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Integral Group LLC, a company he co-founded in 1993 with a mission to “create value in cities and (re)build the fabric of communities.” Since then, Integral has become a premier provider of sustainable real estate and community solutions in mature and emerging markets across the United States and, more recently, internationally. The Company is vertically integrated with subsidiaries in the community development, commercial real estate, investment management, property management, and program management fields.

A community development, commercial real estate and construction professional since 1979, Egbert has developed and/or built most project types, including residential, office, retail, institutional and mixed-use projects. For 13 years from early 1980 to late 1992, he helped to grow an Atlanta-based real estate and construction company into the nation’s 3rd largest African-American owned business, with annual revenues of about $200 million.

Integral’s mission was first put on display in 1996 when Centennial Place, a collaboration that also involved another firm and the Atlanta Housing Authority, was created. This forward thinking project was the nation’s first urban mixed-use community, integrating mixed-income housing, early childhood development, K-12 education reform, recreation, health & wellness facilities, and human services. This holistic revitalization approach to community development has since been emulated in Atlanta and scores of cities across the country.

Over almost a quarter century, Integral has implemented scores of public-private partnerships that promote “responsible” community development and commercial real estate. It is well-respected for its expertise in affordable, workforce, luxury, and mixed-income housing solutions, often as components of master planned, mixed-use and Transit Oriented Developments (“TOD’s”).

Today, Integral is a diversified, 300-person organization with projects in the mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and Western regions of the United States. The Company is headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Denver. Integral and Egbert have received numerous awards, and are regarded nationally as innovators in the field of urban development and revitalization. Egbert’s policy positions are often sought on issues of housing, community economic development, regional planning and development, public-private partnerships and K-12 education reform.

An honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Egbert received both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from the University’s Towne School, and a Master of Business Administration degree with majors in Finance and Accounting from its Wharton School. In 1990, he was elected as the eleventh graduate in the University’s then 250-year history to be named to the “Gallery of Distinguished Engineering Alumni” of the University’s Engineering School.

Past Board assignments include Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta International School and United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

Geoff Smith, Host of “ATL Developments with Geoff Smith”

“ATL Developments with Geoff Smith” covers all things economic development in the Atlanta Metro area. From everything inside the Beltline to Avalon and beyond, Geoff Smith interviews the movers and shakers making the ATL one of the best places to live, work and play. An archive of past episodes can be found here.

Geoff Smith is a mortgage banker with Assurance Financial working with Real Estate agents and homebuyers to help them get happily to their closing table. Geoff is an authority on the latest economic development trends shaping the Atlanta Metro area. His interviews reveal an inside perspective at how things get done in the ATL.

Geoff is an active member of his community serving on the Board of Directors of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, as well as holding the position of chairman for the Chamber’s Education Committee. He is also Secretary of the Roswell Youth Baseball Association and coaches his sons in football, baseball and basketball. Geoff enjoys golf, camping and traveling with his wife and two sons. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia.

“ATL Developments with Geoff Smith” is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®, located inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with approximately $12.9 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.