”You may be successful, but will you matter? Success is doing for yourself. Mattering is doing something for someone else. Your success is someone else’s miracle.”
“Epic!” “A powerful morning!” “My team and I loved Jeff!” “An incredible program – the best yet!”
These were just some of reactions of our CEO Think Tank® community to global entrepreneur Jeff Hoffman at our Fall Strategic Execution Workshop last week.
To quote Eileen Wainwright, one of our Senior Advisors and CEO Roundtable Facilitator, “Jeff captivated and inspired, posing thought-provoking questions that we should be asking ourselves not just about our businesses and our lives, but also about our role in the world.”
For those of you who don’t know him, Jeff is perhaps best known as a Founder and CEO in the Priceline.com family of companies where he led the development and launch of Priceline’s consumer company, Priceline Yardsale. For the past six years, he has taken his commitment to doing good work in the word beyond our borders, traveling the globe to help support entrepreneurs, young people, women’s groups and other leaders to have a positive impact.
I saw Jeff for the first time at the Scaling Up Coaches’ Summit in Denver almost a year ago, capturing some of his most inspiring quotes about entrepreneurship and the power of Brand and Focus in the blog I wrote then.
Jeff speaks on many topics, ranging from Strategy and Growth, to Narrow-cast Marketing, how to develop Customer Intimacy and creating a Gold Medal Brand.
My favorites for CEO’s, though, are also two of Jeff’s – creating a World-Class, Values-based Culture to attract and retain Talent and Leaving a Legacy. So following his most recent talk, I wanted to share just some of my takeaways on those two subjects…
Here’s hoping that they inspire you to do good things with your business and your life, with the people who matter most to you, and whatever you do to make a difference your community and the world.
“Anything is possible, but there’s a bunch of stuff you’ve got to get right.”
On Talent and the Power of Culture
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The scarcest resource in the world isn’t money. It’s talent.
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Creative genius and inspired determination win every time.
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You are only as strong as your weakest link. It only takes one bad employee to ruin the customer’s entire experience.
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You can’t build greatness on the backs of average people. You may like someone on your team, they may be a nice person, but you’re not running an adult day-care center. In business performance matters.
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Your job is to hire people smarter than you and then get out of their way. Spend time building a workplace and a culture that no one wants to leave.
On Leaving a Legacy
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Your first Legacy is to yourself. To look back and say, ‘I used my time well’ in my life.
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Don’t chase dollars. Chase excellence.
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What are your goals and dreams? Write them down where you can see them often. The bathroom mirror is a great place to start.
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What will your company’s legacy be? Remember: There is no they. There is only we.
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Leave a legacy for your employees by understanding what motivates the members of your team. Ask each one, “Tell me one thing you want to do with your life that would make it epic, so that you could look back and say, that was a life well-lived.”
An Enlightened Leader, an inspiring speaker, an accomplished entrepreneur, and an amazing human being. Here’s a quick 11 minute video “hit” to learn a little more from Jeff and here’s one of my favorite quotes from Jeff’s talk in Denver.
“If you want to change the world, unleash an army of entrepreneurs. 10X Growth doesn’t have to be about “business growth”. Think about it as making an Impact, making a Difference in the World.”
Finally, be sure to mark your calendar for our next event, our 14th Annual Growth Strategies Breakfast featuring Susan Packard, co-Founder of HGTV and the author of “Fully Human”. Coming March 12th at the Union League of Philadelphia. More info coming soon!
Susan Packard