Finding his ‘why’ and making an impact have been lifelong pursuits for Steve White. He was inspired by Mark Twain’s observation that, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” That piece of wisdom led White to live a life of purpose.
White says his earliest influence was his single mother who moved her “four knucklehead boys” from Florida to Indianapolis with $500 in her pocket and got a job cleaning motels. “That’s motel with an M, not hotel with an H,” White emphasizes. She’d take the boys to work with her where “we learned about teamwork, and what you can control, which is your attitude and effort,” White recalls.
An aspiring athlete in high school, White became the basketball manager for his school’s highly competitive team. Aiming for a career in sportscasting, he went to Indiana University as a journalism major, switching to business when he realized he was better suited to the business world.
After college, White became American Hospital Supply’s youngest-ever sales leader at age 23. It didn’t go well. “I thought my purpose was to provide a living for my family so we would never be in poverty again,” he says. “I got fired because I was so self-absorbed.” A company executive who saw White’s potential had the young man shadow him for six months to learn about leadership. “That was a major transformation,” he says. He realized that his ‘why’ was to “create a table of prosperity for as many people as possible.”
White was leading Colgate-Palmolive’s toothbrush business when a TCI recruiter contacted him in 1996. “At the time, TCI was only offering analog video, and they wanted to get into phone, get into internet.” He was sold on the prospect of leading thousands of people in a young industry.
After AT&T purchased TCI, White became senior vice president of the new organization’s Atlanta cluster, but he was losing interest in the cable business. When AT&T Broadband merged with Comcast in 2002, the company’s vision for what the industry could become inspired White anew. He advanced in operations leadership to become president of Comcast’s West Division. After 18 years with the company, he was named president, special counsel to the CEO of Comcast Cable with responsibility for supporting the company’s diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives; leadership programming and development; and advancement of digital equity.
White believes his success is the result of investing in others and helping them reach their potential. He attributes much to those who gave him “a hand up, not a handout – people who allow you to put your talents fully on display. The reason I’ve been given these opportunities,” he says, “is to help make a path for others to make a difference.”
