2-time CEO credits 6th grade teacher for his success: 'She created a safe space for all students to learn'

CNBC

23-07-2025

David Royce has seen his share of success.
In the past 17 years, Royce founded and co-founded three companies in the pest control industry and was an owner of another before that. Most recently he founded Aptive Environmental, a provider of environmentally responsible pest control solutions.
But Royce's success didn't come easy. His ADHD went undiagnosed for decades, and Royce struggled in his early years in school. It wasn't until 6th grade that he was able to see his own potential and began to apply himself. That's in large part thanks to his teacher, Lynn Luft, who created the kind of supportive environment he needed to shift his mentality.
"Lynn taught me a lot of things," Royce says, "but what stuck with me the most wasn't a particular subject like math or English, but the leadership lessons and the culture she built in the classroom."
Here's why Luft's leadership back then was so critical to Royce's success later in life.
In elementary school, Royce didn't always have the most supportive teachers. He remembers a moment in 5th grade in which some of his classmates were laughing at him. "[The teacher] actually started laughing at me with them," he says.
It was not an environment that inspired confidence. But Luft offered the opposite. "She created a safe space for all students to learn," he says, "and was quick to lovingly correct anyone who teased another."
That helped shape his understanding of how to treat others. "She taught me the importance of not just being respectful," he says, "but actively searching out ways to make others feel good about themselves."
That attitude was one he carried into his leadership as a CEO. Among his companies' core values was one called "elevate the tribe," he says, "to emphasize the importance of lifting up others and creating an environment where everyone felt good about themselves."
Luft also went above and beyond to ensure Royce found success in his studies.
"Everyone learns at a different pace, certainly myself," he says. "And on numerous occasions, Lynn took extra time with me, both in class and after class, tutoring me to ensure I understood the material."
That, too, was a lesson he carried into his career.
"When I began training hundreds of salespeople," he says, "I spent countless nights after our offices had closed working with sales reps to help them practice and hone their sales techniques."