157 A Life-Long Commitment to the Girl Scouts and Giving Back to the Community with Diane Tipton, CEO Self Storage Zone | Greater Washington DC DMV Changemaker

[00:00:00] Mahan Tavakoli: Welcome to partnering leadership. I'm really excited this week to be welcoming Diane Tipton. Diane is the president and CEO of Self Storage Zone. She has developed more than three and a half million square feet across 33 self storage facilities in Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia, New York, and New Jersey.

She is also committed to giving back to the community. And she has done so through the many different organizations she's involved with most especially her passion for Girl Scouts. She is a recipient of the gold award, served as the president of Girl Scouts in the national capital region, and currently serves on the USA Girl Scouts board. 

I really enjoyed this conversation, having known Diane for more than 20 years and seen her quiet impact in the community. It's great getting a chance to find out a little bit more about her background and upbringing, why she is so committed to giving back and also getting a chance to share that with a broader community.

I'm sure you will really enjoy listening to Diane and learning from her leadership experience. I also enjoy hearing from you. Keep your comments coming. mahan@mahantavakoli.com There's a microphone icon on partnering leadership.com. You can leave voice messages for me there. Don't forget to follow the podcast.

Tuesday conversations with magnificent Changemakers from a greater Washington DC DMV region like Diane, and Thursday conversations with brilliant global thought leaders. Primarily leadership book authors, whose insights I believe can help all of us have a more impactful leadership approach, whether it comes to our teams and organizations or in the community.

Now here's my conversation with Diane Tipton.

Diane Tipton, Welcome to partnering leadership. I am thrilled to have you in this conversation with me.

[00:02:03] Diane Tipton: I am very thrilled to be here Mahan. You are a great guy and a great leader, and I'm honored to be here.

[00:02:10] Mahan Tavakoli: It's been such an incredible honor watching your leadership Dianne for now 20 plus years, since we first went through Leadership Greater Washington together, and having seen the significant impact you've had through your involvement and through your quiet leadership in the Greater Washington community.

But before we get to that, we'd love to know whereabouts you grew up and how your upbringing impacted the kind of person and leader you've become Diane.

[00:02:40] Diane Tipton: I was lucky enough to grow up in a small town in Georgia, mill town called LaGrange, Georgia. it's not quite as small as it used to be, but it's still close on the Alabama border about an hour south of Atlanta. And, it was kind of a Ozzie and Harriet and that tells my age,

[00:03:01] Mahan Tavakoli: Diane. So if people are wondering who is Ozzy and who is Harriet?

[00:03:05] Diane Tipton: They can look it up, Google it. Anyway, so I had this idealic childhood where, you know, you went out and you played and you left the house and in the morning and you were called for lunch, and you recalled for dinner, and if you didn't come around, then they sent some kid down the street to find you.

So it was just this wonderful upbringing, and I had terrific parents. I did move to Columbus, Georgia for a couple of years in my life. And, that was during the third and fourth grade. And that proved kind of pivotal in my life but it was a great place to grow up. LaGrange, Georgia.

[00:03:48] Mahan Tavakoli: Diane, in what way was that move so important to you?

[00:03:53] Diane Tipton: Well, let's just get right down to it, I guess, Mahan.

I was very outgoing. I needed to know everybody, I guess I could back up and tell you a story about my parents always said that when they put me in the nursery at church, they had one person to take care of all the other kids and one person to take care of me. And I was just that kid that was running around in the neighborhood and meeting everybody. 

And when we moved to Columbus, Georgia, the beginning of the summer, before I started the third grade, it was no different.

I introduced everybody in the neighborhood to my parents. I spent all day at the pool because, oh my God, Mahan, we had a neighborhood pool and I could just walk to the pool by myself and go down there because there was a lifeguard.

I just thought it was the best place in the world to be until I started school. And when I started school, here I am, this kid who nobody knows, who became very, very dark skinned throughout the summer because I spent so much time in the pool and I had this very short curly hair. And I go to the bus stop and I was excited about being on a bus. I was in too small of a town that they didn't have buses that took us to school. My mom had to take me to school every day. 

When I was at the bus stop, I was trying to meet everybody, just like every other place I've went to in my neighborhood in Columbus. And all of a sudden these older kids came up to me and they started calling me the N word.

And I will never forget that for as long as I live, it was very hard. And I know that there are a lot of people listening who had to deal with that, but it gave me a perspective on what it felt like and what it feels like to be judged based upon how you look. And I could never presume to try to put myself in the shoes of someone who is black or brown or any other ethnicity that has to deal with it every single day.

But it was a pivotal moment for me in terms of me knowing what it felt like, and knowing that I did not want ever look at people and judge them simply based upon their appearance.

[00:06:17] Mahan Tavakoli: It's incredible Diane, how that experience as you mentioned, even for one bus ride had an impact on you and how you perceive the world. We can't necessarily put ourselves fully in the place of other people and the experiences that they go through and many experiences that people of color have gone through, over many years and decades. How has that experience, shifted how you view the world around you?

[00:06:52] Diane Tipton: I will say that it wasn't one experience. It kept happening to me for a couple of years, and it was significant enough that my parents moved from Columbus, because we couldn't get beyond it unfortunately.

 We couldn't get beyond the prejudice against me and how people treated me. And my father had to commute for the next four years of his life from LaGrange to Columbus, which, no interstates then back roads. And it took them a little over an hour and a half each way. 

But, I will say that it is something that I think about in terms of every interaction I have with people. And I want to make sure I look at people as themselves and as they present themselves to me and not based upon their appearance.

[00:07:50] Mahan Tavakoli: You have a tremendous ability to engage with and connect with other people's humanity regardless of how they present themselves on the outside, Diane, and it's these experiences in life that shape us into who we become. 

As you then grew up, you decided to stay close to home and go to university of Georgia. What did you want to do? And what did you want to become at that stage of life Diane?

[00:08:20] Diane Tipton: There were not that many women role models for me that weren't teachers and teachers are completely fine role models, but that was just not something that I knew I wanted to do. There was this friend of mine and her mom was an interior decorator. I thought that would be a great thing for me to do. 

And I decided that I would go to the university of Georgia and I would study art history. I start with art history and I love all the history courses and I put off and put off as long as I can, but I finally have to take an art class. I take the art class as I must do, because hello, I'm getting an art degree and I go into this wonderful studio, got these big long tables, there's all this wonderful light coming into the studio. It's just a beautiful setting. And they put an easel in front of me and the guy says draw, and he looks over my shoulder and he's like, huh. this sort of goes on. 

And then we have a project that we have to do. And he says, pick an artist, pick a particular painting by this artist and you must do a painting. I am really nervous by this point in time. This is probably halfway through the course and I am definitely on his bad list.

 He is looking at me like, what am I doing in there? And I choose Amodeo Modigliani because I love Modigliani. And I thought I can do that. You know, the angles, the elongated, it looks easy enough, I can do that. And he used me as the poster child of what not to do in an art class for the rest of the class.

Somehow I made it through. But the only way I did make it through Mahan this also maybe shows my age is by carrying around a bottle of my Lanta, that I had to swig every day before going into his class, because my stomach was so upset. Obviously there was something wrong with this major.

[00:10:35] Mahan Tavakoli: That's incredible, Diane. I'm glad that on my end, I had similar experience a little earlier in life. I still remember in Washington international school, Mr. Long was my art teacher and he said, Mahan, I'm going to give you a C in the class, just so you pass. And I don't have to have you again in this class.

Sometimes we find out what we are not necessarily good at, which is fine.

 What appealed to you about accounting and tax accounting?

[00:11:08] Diane Tipton: My father, was an IRS agent and he had retired at that point in time from the IRS. And he had opened up his own accounting practice. He got his CPA and opened up his own accounting practice in our basement. 

I was home for a winter break and this is right after the art class, of course. And I'm thinking, what next, what next, what next? and I was working for him earning a little extra money, by filing these BNA tax management portfolios, and I started sitting down instead of filing these things and reading them and this is kind of interesting. Oh my God, look at this. Look at these changes they're doing, this is kind of fun.

 And that struck me as odd because the last thing I wanted to do is be an accountant that sounded like the most boring thing on the face of the planet.

 I started talking to my dad about it and my mom was also a bookkeeper. I talked to both of them about it. And I decided that I would go back and change my major to accounting, just like that. And I started taking cost accounting. Hmm. This isn't so bad. I couldn't take tax accounting right away, but I took all the prerequisites that you had to take before getting the tax accounting. And then I took tax accounting and just absolutely loved it and went directly from my undergraduate degree to my graduate degree of a master's of tax and accounting.

[00:12:33] Mahan Tavakoli: are the that's wonderful how we find what we are good at and what we love. Sometimes we vet experimentation Diane. The other thing that's really interesting is that you played rugby in college.

 how did you get involved in playing rugby?

[00:12:53] Diane Tipton: I did Mahan. That is a little known fact about me. And I guess you've now blown my little known fact. Yeah, my rugby cover.

When I started at the university of Georgia, I was walking across the quad and I mean for a girl to go from a small town in Georgia, to the university of Georgia, which is absolutely huge, was a lot. And I was walking across the quad and somebody says, Hey, you, Hey, you, and I'm looking around and trying to figure out who this woman is calling to. And she had a table and she's like, get over here, get over here. And I walk over there and she said, you are a rugby player. You are a back. You're going to be very fast. And I want you to sign up to play rugby. And I listened a little bit and I said, OK I'm going to do it.

[00:13:45] Mahan Tavakoli: Diane, you had no idea what rugby was?

[00:13:48] Diane Tipton: No idea what rugby was whatsoever. And of course being the person that I am, I went to my roommate and I said, guess what? You're playing rugby. I got her roped in as well. But, I will say that, you know, I grew up when there was no Title Nine and Title Nine had just happened. They were throwing money at the women's at forming a women's rugby team because they needed these women's Title Nine sports in order for the school to stay open.

 We had every privilege as the football players, we got to do everything that they did in terms of training. And, I had just this incredible experience of leadership and team building and, being part of a larger whole that I have never had the opportunity to be a part of. 

And, Mahan, I think I will probably have to say that I may be the only person interviewing for big eight accounting jobs with a black eye, four years later.

[00:14:54] Mahan Tavakoli: That's incredible. So when you went interviewing for jobs, you had a black eye and still Arthur Anderson offered you a job.

[00:15:05] Diane Tipton: Yeah, they were good enough to be one of four firms who were willing to move me up to Washington DC, because as much as I love Georgia and growing up in Georgia, it was time to experience something else. And I hadn't really spent any time outside the state in my life.

I took a trip in between my undergraduate and graduate school all the way up to Maine and checked out Washington DC, and New York city and Boston, and they all have all these great attributes, but I felt a little bit like Goldilocks and the three bears saying, this one felt just right with Washington DC. So that's how I got to DC. Anderson was willing to bring me up. 

[00:15:55] Mahan Tavakoli: You came up to DC with Arthur Anderson. What was your experience like initially with them then Diane?

[00:16:02] Diane Tipton: They were very conservative, accounting firms all were, women wore suits and ties, and buttoned down shirts are silk collared shirts. And I know that sounds a little odd to many people who might be listening, but we had this, everybody sorta had to stay in a lane of exactly what you're supposed to wear at that point in time of course, it's definitely not like that anymore.

 But they were very accepting of women. they didn't have all that many women in the workplace and they wanted to encourage more women to join. They took it as a point of pride that they had a rugby playing black eye woman who had just started at the firm.

[00:16:51] Mahan Tavakoli: You also met David, I believe while at arthur Anderson. How did that come about?

[00:16:57] Diane Tipton: I did. David Bratt, who's my husband, he was sort of the ringleader of trying to get all the newbies. Everybody who's newly started into a social world of Arthur Anderson. It's a big firm, right? he wanted people to feel engaged and accepted and part of the overall team. So he would organize activities like going to blues alley or going out to lunch or just doing a happy hour of things like that.

I never, ever once worked for him as did people did not work for him on his team, he just wanted everybody to feel part of the overall Arthur Anderson family.

[00:17:42] Mahan Tavakoli: You ended up then meeting up with David, marrying David who's been the love of your life all these years, but you also, in your twenties Diane, changed jobs a lot, which is much more common right now in that, over the past dozen years or so people gotten used to younger people changing jobs, that wasn't the norm. If someone didn't stay with the same organization for a while, they were seen as a job hopper. What got you to move around? 

[00:18:15] Diane Tipton: Mahan, I'm going to tell you that that is where my overinflated ego probably came into play a little bit. And also the fact that I found out, I just didn't like doing accounting.

And I liked tax work. I like doing the creative element of it, but being in the master's program, I kind of thought, well, gee, I'm just gonna hit the ground running and I'm going to start doing all this research and writing in taxation. Isn't that what everybody does? No, of course. That's not what everybody does. You pay your dues and you go on audits and you do tax. 

But the, learning part of doing tax returns and that sort of thing. So, I found out about an opportunity to join the national tax office, or so I thought of what was then a big eight firm called Ernst and Whinney, there's been a lot of merger since then, I made the jump after only a year and nine months, which was unheard of today, it's de rigueur, but back then it was unhurt. 

And so, as I'm getting closer to when I'm starting and I'm about to start there. I get a phone call and they tell me, well, you know, they really need you and the national utilities division and it is going to be taxes so you're a national tax person, but working in the utility divisions on drum roll, please, the taxation of rural electric cooperatives. Have you ever heard of such a thing, Mahan? 

[00:20:01] Mahan Tavakoli: I just can't wait Diane, it sounds so exciting. 

[00:20:05] Diane Tipton: Yeah. okay. Paint drawing is pretty exciting too, but, this gentleman who was quite nice, had written a book on the taxation of rural electric cooperatives and I was going on the road, with him and we were trying to promote the utility divisions tax work in the taxation of rural electric cooperatives. And so that took us to some really wonderful small towns in America. 

And let's just say it wasn't exactly what I envisioned as the next step of my career. So we parted ways after a year and it was, let's just say it was very mutual. But probably they were happier to see me go than I was. But, no, the national tax office was not going to be, taking me into their tax department. So that's where I got back in touch with David. I was networking like crazy I'm 24 because I started college at 16 and went straight through basically, through my master's and I'd finished my master's by 22. So I did not really feel as though I could make another pivot. Let's say. The next one needed to stick and, So David and a lot of other people were very instrumental and helpful in, helping me decide how to go forward and one thing that, David and others said was to take some time to, first of all, finish my, CPA exam and get the CPA behind me, which I did. 

And I was very fortunate to find what would become my pathway for the rest of my working life. That was in real estate through the accounting firm of Resnick veterans Silverman, which was quite small at the time. And it's now very large and it's a firm that most people will know of as a CohnReznick. 

[00:22:12] Mahan Tavakoli: So what led you to your own self storage company Diane? 

[00:22:18] Diane Tipton: It was, an opportunity with, as a result of, the Evans company, the development company I was working for at the time, the owner David Evans, decided that he wanted to phase out of business. He decided he wanted to sell and take a more passive approach to real estate and not continue with the large development and management company for office development. And so we had done a couple of self storage facilities, and I had also done some accounting for self storage facilities at Resnick, and just felt like it was a terrific asset class. 

About the time that we started at our leadership greater Washington class Mahan, several of us, including, president of the Evans company, Steve Garcetti, we started, our own. a self storage company. And that was in 1997. We've gone through a few iterations since then. We started off developing in Washington, DC. We started in New York, New Jersey. We're now just back end in the DC area. And I have another partner who was a terrific partner with me. And, one of the big decisions that I had to make at the time when we started this company, was would I be an employee of a company or would I be an owner of a company, and take all the risk associated with that. And that was actually a pretty quick decision for me, but it's made all the difference in the world in terms of my overall career path. also, much I have enjoyed growing this company as an entrepreneur versus an employee. 

[00:24:09] Mahan Tavakoli: You have done an incredible job growing it over the years, Diane. Now, one of the things that makes you special Diane is while you were starting the company and dedicating so much effort and time as an owner to it, you still were very committed all throughout to the community. As you mentioned, initially involvement with leadership, greater Washington and involvement with different elements of the community. Most especially Girl Scouts. So would love to know what is it that keeps you so involved in the community. And then how did leadership greater Washington impact that before we then get into your love and passion, which is Girl Scouts. 

[00:25:01] Diane Tipton: You're making me wait aren't you about talking about girl Scouts?

[00:25:04] Mahan Tavakoli: You're waiting for those girl scout cookies. 

[00:25:09] Diane Tipton: I should have a box with me right now. well, my parents were both very, very involved in the community. I grew up with a model of servant leadership and when I first moved to Washington DC, I wanted to volunteer as soon as I had any extra time whatsoever. So I started volunteering for a couple of organization, but I wanted to get more engaged. And I was doing some work with the chamber of commerce for Arlington, Virginia. And they said this organization called the women's home, needed some board members. So I became a board member there. 

And when I was working with Resnick, I saw a lot of real estate similarities with an organization called Jubilee Support Alliance. And a lot of people that I was working with as brokers, as attorneys, and also as developers and construction companies, they also volunteered with Jubilee support Alliance or Jubilee housing. So I got on the board of Jubilee support Alliance and had a great time volunteering with them and learning all about the church of the savior ministries and Adams Morgan, and ultimately became the president of Jubilee support Alliance. 

And from there, I of course met Lyle's Carr and Lyles was saying, you should, join leadership, Washington. It was then called leadership, Washington, not leadership, greater Washington. And I was fortunate enough to be in the greatest class. Of course, our class Mahan, the iconic class. it was a terrific year meeting, some absolutely incredible people. And I then got on the board of leadership, Washington. 

[00:26:58] Mahan Tavakoli: Service to community is something that you got from your parents. And you've been very engaged in the entire region through different organizations, including leadership greater Washington, and I know Girl Scouts is a big part of your passion, your love, your commitment. You had served on the board for 12 years, six of it as its president. are back on the board of directors of Girl Scouts. 

What gives you so much energy and passion for Girl Scouts Diane? 

[00:27:31] Diane Tipton: Well, I have to go back Mahan to, how I got involved with Girl Scouts to begin with. My father was an incredible Boy Scout leader in LaGrange, and his big focus and he thought all boy Scouts should become equal scouts. 

And as a daughter, he would drag me along to all of the court of awards, where I had to sit through all of the eagle pinning ceremonies, including my brothers. And you want to know who pinned my brother's Eagle on him Mahan? John Glenn. 

My dad somehow got John Glenn to come pin on my brother's Eagle, as well as seven other Eagle Scouts from that year. And I'm sitting there saying, what is the equivalent for girls? Because I of course became a girl scout in the second grade, as soon as I possibly could. And I was extremely engaged in girl scouting. You might not be surprised Mahan to find out that I sold more girl scout cookies than any girl in the pine valley council for several years, not competitive at all. Okay. 

But I kept saying to my leaders, where's our Eagle, where is the girl scout Eagle? And we are a 110 year old organization. That's had the highest award for 106 years. That may be the best kept secret you've ever not heard. So I did earn my gold award. I kept bugging my troop leaders until they figured out what needed to be done and what I would have to do to earn my gold award, which I did. I was a troop leader of my daughter and she earned her gold award. And it is an incredible, incredible achievement that about 4,000 girls a year in girl scouting earn. And I have, as you know, been on the board of girl Scouts of the nation's Capitol, the largest council in the United States, I was the president of nation's Capitol for six years. And until I got on the board of GSU, I say, I said it was the best volunteer job I possibly could ever have, but now I am in my ultimate dream volunteer job. And that is, being a member at large on the GSU USA national board.

And I co-chair two committees that involve the gold award. One is a gold award scholarship task force, and the other one is, looking for scholarship for a foundation, potentially for the gold award. So we have a lot of work to do as a national organization. I hope people listening to this podcast will look up the gold award and that they will look at any resume that comes across their desk of all the women and girls that you're now going to put to the top of your pile even put at the higher top of your pile, any girl or woman who has earned her gold award in the past. 

[00:30:55] Mahan Tavakoli: What is it now that girls need the most, that girl Scouts helps them with? What are the capabilities? What are the skills? What is the confidence? What is it that girl Scouts does for girls today? Because one of the things I, and not going to include this part of it is.

With so many more activities with so many more options with society having changed the needs of today's girls to a certain extent are different than the needs were 10, 20 years ago. So right now, what are the needs the girls development, how does girl Scouts meet those needs? 

[00:31:42] Diane Tipton: We consider ourselves the absolute premier girls leadership experience bar none. We have been doing this a long time and the element of girl scouting that is evergreen pun intended, is how we create the leaders of tomorrow. We try to make sure that girls are in a safe space to develop as they are, who they are, their authentic self. 

Our tagline is building girls of courage, confidence, and character that make the world a better place. And that is exactly what we do. If you look at every female Secretary of State. She was a girl scout. If you look at female owners of companies, 80% of them were girl Scouts. If you look at women in Congress, a large majority of them were girl Scouts. it is not just that type of leadership experience. It is being your best authentic self. And it is also trying to make sure that you have your own voice during a period of development as a girl that is so difficult when you have so many things and so many influences that are not positive. We are a positive, safe place for girls to develop.

[00:33:16] Mahan Tavakoli: And that leadership development, that confidence, that ability to have a voice and use that voice for impact is something that has been important, but becomes even more important in the years ahead.

Now, Diane because of your impact on the community, your leadership, whether it's with girl Scouts, Jubilee, Housing, all around this region and in leadership greater Washington, this year in October, you are being honored in celebration of leadership as a leader of the year. So the leadership greater Washington membership is going to get together honoring and celebrating your decades of contribution to this community. 

Would love to know what that award means and represents to you as a person that has done so much throughout these years.

[00:34:19] Diane Tipton: I'm still speechless, overwhelmed with this honor. And I want to, of all, say that, I am not a person who typically likes to have the focus on them. I like the focus to be on the organizations that I'm supporting and promoting, or, you know, the company I'm building and the projects I'm developing. 

So, this is very overwhelming for me to receive this honor, and to be in the company of Rosie Allen Herring and Alex Orffinger and Artis Hampshire Cowen, and Lyle's Carr. It's just unbelievable that I don't consider myself that type of volunteer and leader in the community. So I am overwhelmed with this honor. 

What I do want to do, and the reason that I am so excited about talking to you today, Mahan in partnering leadership is I want to show girls all girls out there and all women out there that anything is possible that you can come from very humble beginnings as I did. And you can take all of the negative feedback and all of the adversity and all of the setbacks, and you can repurpose them and turn them into a different pathway that is your pathway. And I know that at each of the points in my career and in my life where I have felt that there was a great deal of adversity, it seemed to be for a purpose that I was able to turn into a positive and I could not feel more fortunate that I was able to do that. And that's part of what I want to in all that I say with this great honor that I'm to receive in October.

[00:36:37] Mahan Tavakoli: It is an outstanding message Diane and I wholeheartedly believe that it is important who we choose to celebrate and whose stories we choose to tell. So when we celebrate people and tell stories of people who have been committed to giving back, have succeeded against odds, have been able to make it through and serve as good role models.

Then in your case, all young people and young girls most especially can look at it and draw inspiration and say to themselves, I too can become like that person and aspire to be more like them. So when we celebrate only the stories of the outlier entrepreneurs that did whatever it took to make the most amount of money, then we are teaching our community and our society, that's the path to go. 

One of the beauties of celebrating leaders like you as leadership, greater Washington does, is that you are the kind of leaders and you, Diane Tipton are the kind of leader we want more girls to learn from and to aspire, to to become.

[00:38:07] Diane Tipton: Thank you Mahan. I really can't thank you enough.

[00:38:11] Mahan Tavakoli: Diane, are there any leadership practices, resources, you find yourself recommending?

[00:38:18] Diane Tipton: I am not a big instructional reader.

I've been doing more of being engaged with podcasts like yours and listening to them than I have in the past because the technology allows us to be able to go for our walks and, and runs and exercise, and also improve our, our minds and be engaged.

So I don't have any real guidance in that regard. I think that with respect to girls, I would just say that they should find someone they mentor, they want to emulate and to try to follow them, whether it's Maya Angelou, who I do read or whether it is their girl scout leader are whether it's a teacher or anyone else that they should try to find good mentors. And I would say the same thing of men and women as well. 

[00:39:27] Mahan Tavakoli: Well I appreciate, Diane for you having been a mentor to emulate, to me, to so many in our community, to so many girls, as you have continued your journey and your leadership and your impact

Thank you so much Diane Tipton for joining me.

[00:39:51] Diane Tipton: Thank you very much Mahan The hour went back by quickly and I enjoyed speaking with you. Thank you very much.