The Way to the Top Read online

  The trust needed was on a personal level, not a business level. The key to developing such trust in a working relationship is directly tied to how you interact one-on-one with others. If you maintain a defensive posture, you immediately raise questions about your self-confidence. This is a warning bell to anyone trying to believe that you can handle business issues. My style of challenging my boss was making him uneasy about my ability to handle complex, multifaceted problems. Even though I knew I was ready and fully capable of handling these situations, I clearly needed to work on how I was conveying my capabilities to my boss.

  While my instructor’s comment surprised me, I immediately recognized that, in fact, he was right on the money. I worked on modifying my style to portray confidence and balance, not challenge and conflict. Within two years, not only did the board promote me to the position of Treasurer, but relationships with many of my peers and superiors in executive management also took a dramatic turn for the better. It was certainly the most important turning point in my career.

  Develop trust

  Del SMITH

  Founder and Chairman of Evergreen International Aviation, Inc.

  Soon after my 1930 birth in Seattle, I was placed in the Sacred Heart orphanage. Mr. and Mrs. Smith adopted me when I was almost two years old. Tragically, my father died shortly following the adoption, leaving me and my adoptive mother penniless. As a result, “Grandma Smith,” as I lovingly called her, raised me on her own. Growing up poor just made me more ambitious. I used my struggles as a launching pad, building on a strong religious value system that the devoutly Christian Grandma Smith instilled in me.

  My mother taught me about work ethic, success, honesty, faith, leadership, and perseverance. Integrity and honesty are so important. I think you have to be honest with your maker, honest with the people you deal with, and honest with yourself. Over the years many MBA students have asked me whether you can be successful in the business world and still be honest. My response is always the same—you have to be honest or you won’t make it.

  Be honest

  Frederick W. SMITH

  Chairman and CEO of FedEx Corporation

  Mr. Abe Plough, the founder of the outstanding company that bore his name, pointed out to me that “the secret of having a good business is to be in a good business!”

  Choose a workplace wisely

  Robin B. SMITH

  Chairman of Publishers Clearing House

  Many years ago, I was working at Doubleday as a Group Product Manager in the Book Club. I received a call from a recruiter about a job at Charter Communications (then the holding company for The Ladies’ Home Journal, Greenland Studios, Hamilton Mint, and an in-house ad agency) that involved running the mail-order properties, including the house agency.

  My interview was with Ed Downe. During the interview, Mr. Downe said to me, “Your problem is that you think like an employee, not an owner. You need to think like an owner.”

  As it turned out, I didn’t take the job because Doubleday countered with an offer to make me President of the Book Clubs, but I have thought of Mr. Downe’s words often.

  Think like an owner

  Carmine N. STELLA

  President and CEO of Capital Beverage Corporation DBA Diversified Distributors Network

  Do your homework. It sounds like a parent talking to his child, but good business is as basic as that concept. Before you make a decision, proper due diligence on the subject is the most effective tool in business today. People tend to exaggerate, manipulate, and downright lie about the subject at hand. You need to research your position thoroughly and evaluate your next move. Then, most important, you need to make a decision. You may not always be right in your decision, but you will be more right than wrong.

  Do your homework

  Thomas G. STEMBERG

  Chairman of Staples, Inc.

  In 1985, when I was debating whether to start an office superstore chain or buy a grocery chain with Leo Kahn, I had an update meeting with Walt Salmon, my mentor and a marketing guru at Harvard Business School.

  He asked whether I thought I could execute groceries better than Northeast industry leaders Shaws or Stop & Shop. I danced around the answer.

  He stopped me and said something profound: “Tom, why don’t you find a category that is underserved by modern distribution channels? Ideally one that is big and growing and one you could apply your distribution expertise to? Much like Home Depot and Toys “R” Us have done.”

  I responded, “Well, Walter, as luck would have it, I have been working on an idea. . . .”

  My idea was Staples, and the office-supply superstore was born.

  Tap underserved, unexplored markets

  John J. STOLLENWERK

  President of Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corporation

  Advice is only as good as the person divulging it. My mentor, Don Schuenke, is a great person with great advice.

  Don told me, “You know, John, in business and in life, you’re never done. You can never just sit back and rest on your laurels.” And at sixty-three years old, I still live by that advice every single day—with the way I run my company and how I approach life in general.

  One of the ways to continually advance a business is to take risks. And this can be a daunting prospect. But one must be able to take risks and try new things and even fail sometimes. Some of the most bountiful lessons actually do come from failure. If we don’t keep challenging ourselves and each other, continue pushing the envelope, we run the serious risk of becoming stagnant. A company that is stagnant will eventually fail and a person in a state of torpor isn’t experiencing life to its fullest. After all, who wants to sleepwalk through life? So while the advice may seem simple, it’s actually predicated on continually choosing to do those things that are often most difficult.

  Always keep reaching and risking

  Thomas C. SULLIVAN

  Chairman of RPM International Inc.

  My father once said this: “Go out and get good people, create the atmosphere to keep them, and let them do their job.”

  Hire and cultivate talent

  William H. SWANSON

  CEO and President of Raytheon Company

  My dad always told me, “When you were born, you were given a good name. Return it the way you got it.” I always urge Raytheon’s program managers to lead their programs with the same care, as if their names were on their programs. Our customers notice this; they feel the commitment.

  I also picked up several other valuable pieces of advice along the way that I have pressed into service many times:

  1. “Look for what is missing. Many know how to improve what’s there, but few can see what isn’t there.”

  2. “Learn to say, ‘I don’t know.’ If used when appropriate, it will be often.”

  3. “If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.”

  Guard your reputation

  Patrice TANAKA

  CEO and Creative Director of Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc.

  “Share your cookies and toys” was my mother’s strongest admonition when I was growing up. Her words ring as true for me today in the boardroom as they did on the playground. Whatever success I’ve achieved in business is the direct result of sharing my cookies and toys with the five cofounders/co-owners—who have all worked together since 1990—and with the amazing employees of our New York–based public relations agency.

  Together, we have built an agency that is known for creating great work, a great workplace, and great communities that work (i.e., healthy, sustainable communities). Our efforts have resulted in Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc. being recognized as the “#1 Most Creative” and the “#2 Best Workplace” among all PR agencies in the nation (Inside PR, 1998) as well as the “#1 Most Esteemed PR Agency” in New York (Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research, 2000).

  Share your cookies and toys

  W. R. TIMKEN, Jr.

  Chairman of The Timken Company

  Family wisdom is everything. My grea
t-grandfather, Henry Timken, told my grandfather this: “Above all, don’t set your name to anything you will ever have cause to be ashamed of.”

  Two generations after Henry Timken, my father, W. R. Timken, told me this:

  “Hire the most capable people, develop them well, and let them work you out of a job.”

  Listen to your ancestors

  James S. TISCH

  CEO of Loews Corporation

  Too often business people feel a need to take action where no action is necessary. Likewise, they often feel the urge to invest even though the time may not be appropriate. Out of this sometimes destructive pattern of reflexive action has arisen our maxim: “If there is nothing to do, do nothing.”

  The corollary with respect to investing is: “When there is nothing to buy, make sure you have asbestos-lined pockets so that money will not burn a hole in them.”

  Inaction is sometimes the best action

  Preston Robert TISCH

  Co-Chairman of Loews Corporation and Chairman and Co-CEO of New York Football Giants

  Since my brother and I started working in a family business, we learned as we went along.

  We found that communications—keeping an open flow of ideas in an atmosphere of absolute candor—is most important to successfully manage people. There are few impediments to good management more serious than the universal human tendency to conceal or ignore negative information. Our goal has always been to develop mutual trust and a feeling of confidence among our employees, which would enable them to feel comfortable sharing the negative as well as the positive information with us immediately.

  We believe it is the first responsibility of corporate management to establish and maintain an atmosphere that invites maximum response from the employees. You cannot command people to be resourceful and imaginative—and yet, those are the qualities we need most in operating management. We need to develop people who have the confidence and courage to act effectively and decisively on their own—managers who go way beyond what they are told, who act on their own sense of what can be accomplished. Motivating and involving employees is essential to building a successful business.

  Encourage and involve employees

  Robert I. TOLL

  Chairman and CEO of Toll Brothers

  In the Apologia by Plato, Socrates says, “It is a wise man who knows his own ignorance.”

  The other best advice I got was from my father, who admonished me that we are already rich, the idea was not to die poor. If you never lose any money, you’ll die stinking rich.

  Die rich

  John M. TRANI

  Chairman and CEO of The Stanley Works

  Execution is 80 percent of the game. That’s not generally taught in business school, or in any school for that matter. In school, one learns that the grand strategy, the overarching insight, the study of the landscape will yield true business success. Yet, when examining those companies that win versus those that don’t, that learning rings hollow. It reminds me of the Green Bay Packers in the Vince Lombardi era. The team ran what was termed the Green Bay sweep over and over again. The opponent knew that the play was going to happen several times a game. It didn’t matter. What did matter was the execution of the play: the people doing it and the process utilized. For the same reason, business models are difficult to duplicate. That’s why those who learn the art of execution win, and those who do not fail.

  Execution equals success

  William F. TYREE

  President of The Tyree Organization

  Never forget that it is always easier to say no to a vendor than it is to say no to your bank.

  Remember who controls the purse strings

  Charles J. URSTADT

  Chairman and CEO of Urstadt Biddle Properties, Inc.

  Stock prices are opinions, but dividends are facts. So like Sergeant Joe Friday said, please just give me the facts.

  Get the facts

  Jack VALENTI

  President and CEO of Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.

  When I was sixteen years old and a newly hired rookie in the advertising department of Humble Oil Company, the boss of the department, Garner Allen Mabry, talked to me. Mabry, a Shakespearean scholar known as “Pop,” said, “Jack, remember this: Never take a job just for the money, for soon, like every living organism, you’ll live beyond your means and you’ll probably be miserable in your job. Always strive to take a job doing something you truly love to do. If it’s money you seek, it will come to you in barrels-full, because if you love what you do, you’ll no doubt do it very well and folks who want the best will beat your door down to employ you.”

  I’ve followed that advice, which is why in my entire working career I have always been ready to wake up in the morning eager to start the day. I love what I am doing. It’s been a great life and only getting better.

  Don’t follow the money. Money will follow you.

  Lillian VERNON

  Founding Chairman of the Lillian Vernon Catalogs and www.lillianvernon.com

  It wasn’t just the wisdom that my father imparted to me, it was the way he lived his life that left an indelible impression. He was my mentor, my role model, and my inspiration. I owe a large part of my success as an entrepreneur to his belief in my talent and abilities.

  My father took pride in owning his own business from the time I was a little girl growing up in Germany, when he was a successful entrepreneur. He had the insight to move our family to the United States just before the onset of World War II—a move that ultimately saved our lives. With little money, few contacts, and limited knowledge of the English language, he started a small leather-goods manufacturing company in Manhattan and made a good living. Unlike other men of his generation, he welcomed having women work by his side and he didn’t believe that a woman should stay home if she wanted to work. My mother assisted him in his factory all day, and when I was old enough, he asked me to help. My father sensed that I had a flair for fashion and he knew I loved to browse through the many interesting shops that lined the streets of New York City. He was developing a line of leather accessories for young women like me so he sent me on shopping excursions in search of new designs. The leather bags and belts I chose became best-sellers. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my father was nurturing my talent for merchandising. Thus the seed was planted for what was to become my mail-order entrepreneurial venture several years later.

  In 1951, when I placed my first ad in Seventeen magazine for a personalized handbag and belt, it was my father’s encouragement that inspired me, despite the doubts of others. I was newly married and expecting my first child, and my husband couldn’t understand why I wasn’t content being a wife and mother. Although my mother worked, she felt that I should devote myself solely to my family and concentrate on raising my child. I was growing apart from my friends, who were traditional stay-at-home housewives, since we had little in common. Through it all, my father’s faith in me never faltered.

  My father told me I had talent and a good idea for starting a business and I should never let anything get in the way of fulfilling my dream, or I would regret it for the rest of my life. It didn’t matter to him that I was a woman about to give birth. He believed I had to be happy, and if that meant starting a company so I could put my skills and energy to good use, then I should do it. My father also warned me that starting a business as a woman would be difficult, but I would learn and grow stronger each day. Giving up wasn’t an option because he knew I wasn’t a quitter.

  I made a pact with myself never to disappoint him. His advice and support are among the reasons my life has been blessed with success and good fortune.

  So don’t let challenges, setbacks, or detractors defeat or discourage you. If you believe in yourself and think positively, you will succeed!

  Believe in yourself

  Alberto VILAR

  Founder and President of Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc.

  I have spent the last three-plus decades investing i
n emerging electronic and health care technologies, both as a venture capitalist and as an investor in the first few years of the public stock market life of new companies. Over the years, I was a very early investor in a good number of the most successful companies technology ever generated, such as Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, AOL, and Amgen. Because the technology of each of these companies was new and unproven when I invested, and because there were no real markets for the new technologies at the time the investments were made, I had to learn the hard way, which was by experience, as opposed to through advice. Over the years, I learned two principles of technology investing. First, be very early in investing in a new sector; and second, initiate a major investment and stick with it through all the walls of worry young companies are forced to climb due to market uncertainties, gossip, regulation, and economic cycles. Real money is made by identifying key new industrial sectors at a very early stage and then proceeding to invest in the companies likely to gain a dominant share of that sector’s market. (In the 1990s my investments in Cisco and AOL increased 1,200-fold.)

  Invest early and stick to your choice

  Seth WAUGH

  CEO of Deutsche Bank America

  I was once told that when making a controversial or complex decision, one should always apply the following test: what would your mother’s reaction be if she read about it (and your involvement) on the front page of the Wall Street Journal ? Would she be proud, ashamed, intrigued, confused, happy, sad? This test has become even more relevant in light of the recent crisis of confidence that the public has in business leaders—and it must be applied across one’s entire organization. Any and all decisions should be able to stand up to the light of day, following the golden rules of common sense, decency, and fairness. Decisions that compromise those principles inevitably end up bearing a cost. This might be financial loss, the loss of reputation, or the loss of a relationship—and is frequently all three. Clients have often told me that they want two fundamental things from a relationship: Trust and Consistency. Any decision that destroys the first or undermines the second may be a decision you spend your life trying to get beyond.