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A graduate of Yale who built a billion-dollar business from the ground up, Greg Lindberg has learned a great deal throughout his life. However, nothing compares to the lessons he took away from his time behind bars in federal prison for a wrongful conviction. In fact, this experience was so astonishing and remarkable that he had to tell his story in writing.
His new book, 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership, details Greg Lindberg’s prison experience in his own words. “With the launch of this new book, I hope to empower people to take their lives and their well-being into their own hands,” says Lindberg. “If there’s any setting where that seems impossible to do, it would be prison. I hope my story will prove to readers that there are no circumstances too grave to prevent them from turning the most difficult of circumstances into opportunities to achieve greatness.”
The founder of the international private investment conglomerate Global Growth, Greg Lindberg built a billion-dollar business from a small company he launched during his sophomore year at Yale University. Established as Home Care Week in 1991, this producer of health insurance compliance and reimbursement newsletters evolved over time into a group of over 100 companies under Lindberg’s leadership.
As he continued to expand and diversify his business over the years, Greg Lindberg became engaged in politics, supporting candidates who upheld his values of fairness, equality, and opportunity. In 2016, Greg Lindberg was the top supporter of the losing candidate for North Carolina insurance commissioner, creating an enemy out of the victor of the race, Mike Causey.
Almost immediately upon taking office, Causey set his sights on Greg Lindberg and his company. When an internal investigation turned up empty, Causey turned to the FBI and offered to wear a wire to get Lindberg to say something illicit. After dozens of conversations, Mr. Causey finally asked Lindberg, “What’s in it for me?” From there, the case fell into the hands of the Department of Justice, which accused Lindberg of bribery.
With the cards stacked against him, a United States District Court in Charlotte, North Carolina, found Lindberg guilty of bribery and wire fraud in March 2020. Obeying court orders, he reported to Alabama’s Federal Prison Camp — where a jail cell bunk room and a small bathroom with 21 other inmates awaited him — in Montgomery on Oct. 20 to begin serving a sentence of seven years and three months.
Greg Lindberg’s legal team, however, was hard at work to make things right.
Nearly two years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit determined that Lindberg’s Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights had been violated during his initial trial, and his conviction was overturned. Then, 633 days after he began serving his sentence, Lindberg walked out of Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery on July 15, 2022.
Although he missed his family dearly and worried about the companies he’d worked so hard to build, Lindberg’s deep-seated work ethic and unquenchable thirst for knowledge persisted.
As he completed menial prison work assignments such as scrubbing toilets, Lindberg was reminded of his love for “the daily grind.” This drove home simple but essential elements of success such as approaching each task with discipline and taking pride in one’s work. This ultimately paid dividends for Lindberg. He received a work assignment promotion to teach goal setting and career planning to his fellow prisoners, a position he now ranks as one of the most satisfying he’s ever held.
He’s even dedicated his book to them, writing, “To my fellow prisoners at FPC Montgomery, I thank you every day for your generosity, humility, friendship, and perseverance. I am lucky to have met you.”
Greg Lindberg found a great deal of inspiration in his cellmates, or “cellies.” His fellow prisoners were incredibly supportive and served up regular doses of striking wisdom. Beyond listening closely to all they had to say, Lindberg learned even more from how they steadfastly supported one another. “That is one of the most important rules in prison,” he writes. “Inmates stick together. The support goes both ways: If you help an inmate get through a bad day, they will be there for you when your bad day comes.”
Throughout 633 Days Inside, Greg Lindberg tells his story with the style and flair he honed for his first book, Failing Early & Failing Often: How To Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage. Customers can order 633 Days Inside on Amazon.com or download the book at www.greglindberg.com.
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This content is brought to you by Hannah Madison.
Photo provided with written permission from Greg Lindberg.
