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The people that are most important are the people that we're serving.
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We embody that, we tell stories around that, etc.
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And then we have our frontline associates who are the next ones that are touching and feeling all of our guests or our fans, customers.
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And then, you know, it's my job and other associates at the leadership level to provide an environment to make sure they have the resources, to make sure they have the strategy, to make sure that we create goals for them that are reasonable, etc. , and give them support.
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Hello everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world because of each and every single one of you.
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Thank you so much for taking out time out of your day, out of your evening to be here, to learn, and grow, and advance your thinking.
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And like you know, every week I try and find guests that I believe are going to ask us thought-provoking questions, give us deeper insights to ourselves, and give us so much experience, and abundance, and wealth of insight to learn from so that we can learn from their lives, their mistakes, their failures, their successes, and most of all, their wisdom.
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And today's guest is someone that I've been really blown away by.
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I've met him for the first time this week, but he just has this natural humility, his natural grace, he's extremely kind-hearted, and it really blows me away when extremely successful individuals are so deeply, genuinely grounded and wanting to do incredible things for the world.
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So as you know, this week I've been with the Arthur Blank Foundation.
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We've been at the West Creek Ranch here in Montana, and we've been discussing the state of well-being in America.
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And the person who's put this on is Arthur Blank himself, who is the best known as the co-founder of The Home Depot, and was named by Forbes as one of the world's 100 greatest living business minds and Sports Business Journals most 50 influential people in sports for the past 3 years.
1:53
His business portfolio currently includes the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, MLS Atlanta United, the retail PGA Tour Superstore, the Arthur M Blank Family Foundation, and many, many more ventures.
2:06
Arthur, I'm so grateful, honored, and humbled that you're doing this.
2:11
Thank you for being here.
2:12
Well, it's it's it's great to be with you.
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As I said to you the other night, I mean, you're the last person I see when I go to bed.
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And it's always very warming to hear your counsel and your wisdom.
2:24
So, thank you for sharing that with all of us. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much.
2:29
I was so touched to hear that you'd been watching my videos without me even knowing. I I have been. I and I I love them all.
2:37
They're they're great stories and kind of like you said the other day we're talking about Albert Einstein had the ability to take something that's very complex and has a lot of sides and edges to it and make it to where it's digestible and understandable by you know, by the majority of people.
2:51
And I think that's a that's a powerful asset that you have.
2:56
And one that I you know, that I try to remember as well to try to make things a little bit easier for people to understand and therefore you know, get you know, get through with the points you're trying to make.
3:05
You do it well, very well. Thank you so much.
3:06
That means so much to me coming from you and we're so happy and grateful to be in this incredible ranch this week.
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Your space here in Montana, we have this incredible view and even more amazing is the people that you've gathered and your team has gathered for this such an important conversation and cause. Yeah.
3:23
Could you tell us about where this idea for this week came for you and what the purpose was from your perspective?
3:30
Well, I think it it was it was you know, born out of a lot of years of my my journey in terms of wellness and well-being and and I was a very competitive runner for many years of my life and and that you know, that was great.
3:43
But you know, we transition out of that and I do a variety of other things to keep myself physically and mentally in shape now, but Um, know, we're living uh, in very troubled times and um, uh, and I'm talking about really on a global basis, uh, nationally as well as globally.
3:58
And despite um, our GDP, which, you know, we discussed the other day, is not being the real measure of happiness in a in a country, um, despite the growth of that, um, we've got a lot of a lot of issues that young people and older people are all struggling with.
4:16
The fact that you met Laurie Santos from Yale University in the corner of quarter of the student body of Yale, 300 to 18 years old, has has now taken was taking this course every year and had a had to deal with, you know, positive growth, had to deal with the stress in your life, etc.
4:29
Um, at Harvard they have over a thousand students every semester do a similar.
4:34
So, the the the reality is it's not only with folks my age that are, you know, why is the suicide rate double since 1996, uh, 30% I should say, um, but the young people today, thank heavens, are questioning uh, themselves, you know, what is my purpose?
4:51
Uh, what's my purpose myself, what's my purpose in serving humanity, what's my purpose in what I'm doing, how do I connect all these dots in my life journey together?
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And so, I I think the the idea was to bring together, uh, you know, the the best, the brightest, the smartest, we have them all, uh, starting with you, uh, and many others that have incredible, um, backgrounds and histories and bring such knowledge and wisdom, uh, to the room.
5:17
And the idea was to bring together for us as a funder and other funders as well, are there ways that we can help, um, move the ball down the field to use, you know, either of my football teams, American football or soccer, as a analogy, but is there ways that we can put our shoulder to the wheel and do more than what is currently being done?
5:37
Is there ways we can assist, um, and we do that within our own businesses and we can talk about that later if you'd like, but um, but beyond that, you know, what's the scale, what's the impact? talked about that.
5:46
Lord knows that if we make a difference in one person's life, that's a huge journey by itself.
5:53
But reality is that these issues are such scale, not only nationally, but internationally.
5:57
As we've heard from uh Dan Buettner, Blue Zones, and uh you know, and um uh And Ledu?
6:04
Yeah, uh Bob uh Bob Waldinger, I'm sorry.
6:07
And Bob Waldinger is from Harvard.
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I mean, these issues are being questioned, you know, throughout the world.
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So, they're they're um they're big-time concerns that we have to face. Yeah, absolutely.
6:16
And when I first received the invite and saw what the conversation was, I was just so happy and in awe that this was taking place. Yeah.
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I just thought, "Wow, there's someone out there who is so deeply invested and seems so genuinely caring about what the challenges of the world are."
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And then when I looked at the list of people coming, I was just like, "Wow, this is going to be so exciting for me."
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I got my notebook out, and I've learned so much this week. Yeah. So, thank you again.
6:41
And I want to help my audience understand your backstory because I think that's what really shows where people's purpose comes from.
6:51
It's very easy to look at you.
6:53
We're sitting in this beautiful So, tell us about Westbrook Alliance today. Yeah.
6:55
It's, you know, this beautiful property here, but you actually grew up in a one-bedroom apartment. Queens. Right. Right.
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And you didn't move out until you went to college and didn't live in a home till age 32. Right, that's correct. Yeah.
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And so, tell us about how formative that experience was and how what you learned from it.
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I think I think it was very important uh in my own life.
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My father was a pharmacist, but I I lost him when I was uh 15.
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He was 44 at the time, very young age. Uh my mother was 37.
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She took over my dad's business and ran it, but, you know, we always uh we always we didn't have very much.
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I mean, as I said, it was a one-bedroom apartment shared by all four of us.
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We had a single bathroom.
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I mean, we were living in a very, very modest way.
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And um but the one thing I remember clearly about my mother is that she it was never about money, it was always about making a difference and trying to uh give back and trying to be involved in the community, etc.
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I mean, I wear this the bracelet that she that I that I had made from our book it that it's inscribed you can't see it on here but I wear one every day it matches the color of what I'm wearing I try to match but it says you you uh you only pass through once make a difference.
8:05
So, and that was the title of the book that she wrote.
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So, I think that that became ingrained in me the notion of trying to make a difference, giving back, being connected to others in the community, uh and what have you.
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And we were not in a position to write checks then but, you know, writing checks is great but doing the work itself and getting connected to the individuals that that you're trying to serve um is is really the most rewarding part of philanthropy in my in my view.
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It makes it all come to life, makes it all real, gives it more purpose than just sitting and writing checks.
8:34
Checks are important, resources are important to make things happen and bring scale but I think it's uh it's important to have that background.
8:41
That I would say part of it and my faith uh I'm Jewish and uh you know, one of the expressions in uh Judaism is uh tikkun olam which means to repair the world uh or tzedakah mean giving and and and participating.
8:57
Uh so, those were ingrained in me even though I when I went to the services um you know, you don't think you absorb all that, you know, you obviously did became a monk at 18 but but you know a lot of the the you know, congregational meetings I went to etc.
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I wasn't sure exactly what but I was absorbing more so than I even really thought.
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So, I think those things are very important in terms of my childhood.
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Yeah, that's incredible and like regardless of how little you had, your mom was your mother was always trying to find time and energy to give to the community in different ways.
9:28
I think those are really powerful messages.
9:32
I think when I bought my first home it was, you know, $32,000. I was 30 32 years old.
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I remember telling my wife then, I said, "Look, I'm I'm not going to embarrass us.
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I'll pay off the mortgage.
9:42
I mean, I'll keep us current. Don't worry about that. I'll pay the bills.
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But, we're never going to pay this mortgage off completely.
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I just, you know, there's no way, you know."
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So, obviously that part of my life has changed.
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But, remembering that and remembering that experience and what it meant to not have the kind of financial success that we have today, going back to those days, I think was a very important part of my own molding, if you will. Absolutely.
10:03
I I think perspective is so important.
10:05
I remember when I was 9 years old, I visited India for the first time.
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And my father took me to the home that he grew up And he grew up in an area where they shared a bathroom with 30 other families.
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His home was as big as this room.
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And they had seven people living in this much space.
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And when I went outside, there were like bats and cockroaches and all this kind of stuff.
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And I was just like, I couldn't believe that that's where my dad grew up.
10:31
And compared to, you know, we didn't grow up in a huge house in England, but compared to his home, my home was huge.
10:37
And so, for me, it was so important, I feel, at 9 years old to see that.
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Because it start made started making me feel grateful for what I did have, rather than being ungrateful for what I didn't have.
10:47
Yeah, and I think, you know, just as your your journey brought you at some point at age 18, I think it was, when you decided to, you know, go on the journey of becoming a monk, you know, you're you're affected by your background, your history, all the connecting points in your life.
11:03
And sometimes they don't all seem to add up right at the moment, but there's a big puzzle going on in your head and in your heart and your spirit that actually brings those things together.
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And it's, you know, that moment of saying, "Aha, this is my purpose.
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This is really what I want to do.
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I feel at peace with this.
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I want to, you know, I want to go as far as I can down this road, take others with me, travel with others, etc."
11:23
So, I think it's been beautiful from my standpoint.
11:27
Yeah, and tell us how then, 5 years later at 37, you go from feeling tired of working at a regional hardware store to then going on to build Well, the biggest What is that process of thinking about it, making it happen, pushing forward look like?
11:44
Well, it was wasn't We really weren't tired of of doing it.
11:46
It was a company was called Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, which was then the most successful home improvement center company chain in the United States, but it was was owned by a larger company that was in financial difficulty.
11:58
So, when Bernie and I and my partner, who co-founded Home Depot, we we got fired, actually.
12:02
So, it wasn't like, "Oh, let's you know."
12:05
It was a lot of political reasons, and that's a whole 'nother story.
12:08
But, beyond that, it was our chance, really, to live our lives over again from a business standpoint.
12:16
And though those stores were the best run in the United States, we felt if we ever had to compete with a large no-frills down-market warehouse store, we really couldn't couldn't do it.
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So, we said if we couldn't do that, and we were running the best company in that sector at time, let's try to develop that and go with that.
12:30
And that that was the birth of Home Depot, and started in '78.
12:34
First stores were in '79. It's a long story.
12:37
When I left 23 years later, it was the second largest retailer in the world, second only to Walmart, which is a great company, and they have one of their senior executives here this week, as well, and trying to understand well-being and wellness, and how that relates to the the the associates that they have, and I don't even know what their number is today.
12:54
It's probably about a million and a half, maybe more than that. It's mind-boggling. That's insane.
12:59
What What gave you What I'm really interested in, Arthur, is that What gave you the courage Yeah.
13:05
and risk-taking after being fired at the age of 37 to do that?
13:08
Because I think today, and it's interesting because I was sitting yesterday at a table with Larry, with Robert, Yeah.
13:16
and we were discussing this, and what they were sharing with me is that so many students today, at some of the best institutions in the world, Right.
13:25
and all institutions in the world, Right. are so scared Yeah.
13:26
of doing anything that isn't the path.
13:29
And what I mean by the path is they believe that they go to Yale or Harvard, they continue and they have to get a job in what they're studying right now, and that they have to live that very narrow line.
13:42
And they said in their words, they said they know some of their students are doing things they hate just because it's the path. Yeah.
13:47
Where did you feel the confidence and the risk-taking approach to try something new?
13:52
And how can our audience and listeners today feel that they're not old?
13:56
Because today people think they're old at 25. Mhm.
13:57
And we think we're old at 28 to try something new.
14:02
I got married at 23 first time and I uh said, "Okay, this is 23 years old. I need to get married."
14:06
Today kids are getting married much later, but in any event, uh I think in my own case uh probably came from the experience that my um uh that my father passing away at an early age, him being an entrepreneur.
14:17
He was He was um uh working as a pharmacist.
14:21
He left several years before he he passed away.
14:23
Started his own uh wholesale drug company across America, drug stores, hospitals, nursing homes, et cetera.
14:30
And then when he passed away, my mother took that business over.
14:32
So, I had all these role models in my family of, you know, not giving up, of trying, trying something new, extending yourself, you know, going on that on that journey.
14:42
I've been connected with that with Bound for probably 40 years now, and their slogan is to serve, to strive, and not to yield.
14:47
And so, I very much believe in that and uh the notion that we all can do more than what we thought we capable of doing.
14:53
Um and doesn't mean you do it without, you know, uh you know, safety nets around you, but uh but you can do more than what you thought.
15:02
So, I would encourage and I do encourage people to uh as as Dr.
15:06
Dwyer uh would say, uh to find the music within you and um make sure it gets played.
15:11
Uh so, I think you know, a lot of us have to find that, you know, that music, if you will, that passion, that that that point of physical, mental, spiritual connection that makes us feel we're, you know, we're not getting up to work today.
15:24
We're getting up to to have not have fun, but to do God's work through our work do work with purpose. Service to others, etc.
15:31
So I think you know, you try to find and I encourage young people today to try to find don't worry about making money.
15:40
If you're good at what you're doing, you're going to be fine and money really is really not the main attribute to happiness is as you will know.
15:49
But I think doing what what you find a passion for serving others in some capacity and being part of the greater community not just of your family, which is obviously critical, but of humanity you know, brings you the joy and peace and I think if you can find a business that in one form or another provides that service.
16:08
I think you you you create a company expression I use to our managers that you want our associates to feel this company is really worthy of your life.
16:17
I don't mean that in disrespect to religion or whatever else may be, but they give you 8, 10, 12 hours a day, whatever it may be, but you want them to come to work and not have to think of it as work.
16:28
Think of it as you know, this is part of my mission.
16:30
I I love the the values of this organization. I believe in them.
16:33
I want to stand for them.
16:35
I want to participate in them.
16:36
I want to help articulate them.
16:38
I want to help share them with others who have to join our businesses.
16:42
And I think that that passion I think that commitment is what will bring bring a greater sense of joy and hopefully you know, I'm I'm thrilled really with you know, Bob Waldron and here and Lori Santos here as best examples and many of the universities, but there's tremendous thirst that our young people have who at the end of the day really are our future.
17:06
The young people have to find a greater purpose, find themselves personally and then find a greater connection to others in their community and humanity is is something that I applaud and that's why your work is so important because, you know, you're part of, you know, the voices that young people are that everybody's listening to.
17:27
I'm 76, so I'm not young, but but I mean but everybody is listening to today and trying to get some better guidance, broader guidance, more spiritual guidance, connecting guidance to everything inside of themselves than they would have had otherwise.
17:43
So, you know, I'm very optimistic about, you know, the direction that we're going in, but it's not going to happen by itself, it's not going to change by itself.
17:51
We need people like yourself, Jay, and all the people in the other other rooms that are doing incredible work and making sure that those messages get expanded and we're touching more and more people and find ways to bring bring that message of scale.
18:08
And I think it's one that that people when somebody has that feeling that I'm not really I mean this is this is purpose to me.
18:21
In the true sense of the word, what I'm doing every day has purpose.
18:25
It's like these, you know, young men you have here, you know, we're recording this.
18:30
I mean I assume I mean they love working with you, but they probably love, you know, hearing some of these stories and every day they exposed to, you know, some other thoughts that help them enrich their own mind and their own own thoughts. Yeah, absolutely.
18:43
And when I hear you speak from the first day when you led the introduction to even now, the words like purpose and values and spirit they're so deeply embedded in who you are.
18:52
And and one of the things I loved and we'll try and get a slide to put it onto the video version, but when you first started speaking, you showed us the two value diagrams that you have.
19:03
And one thing I loved is that there was an upside down pyramid and on the upside down pyramid, the person at the bottom of the pyramid was Arthur.
19:13
And and I loved that because and at the top was customers. Right.
19:14
And then you had the other circular one with innovation and all these other aspects of values.
19:19
I'd love for you to talk through some of those because I believe that we hear a lot of people say this stuff. Right. I know.
19:27
And and you've probably heard it more than I have. Mhm.
19:31
But from spending a bit of time with you and and seeing the success of what you've done, it seems like you've actually been able to to really do it. Right. Yeah.
19:38
Please share with us some of those values and how you constructed them specifically and and where that upside down pyramid and you at the bottom idea came from. Yeah.
19:48
So I I think Jay, all of our businesses um regardless of their um exactly what they're doing, you described them all well earlier, all at incredibly high very high success um portfolio and results, um they're all based on the same set of values.
20:07
And the same set of values is the wheel of six if you will, but they're all have to do with relationships, all have to do with community, all have to do with respect, all have to do with giving back.
20:17
None of those key values have anything to do with, you know, what's our maximum revenue, what's our rate of profitability, what's our return on sales, etc.
20:24
It's it's all has to do with behavior and how we treat uh the people that we're serving.
20:28
So whether we're serving guests here at Mountain Sky or at West Creek or whether we're serving customers in our PGA business or whether we're serving fans in our Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and our stadium which has been voted in the country the last two years, little plug.
20:42
Uh But um you know, everything we do is all about service to others.
20:51
So you know, we know if we do the right things for the right reasons uh in terms of the the tactical decisions uh but if we have this welcoming home, this welcoming feeling where we're more concerned about who we're serving than about ourselves, that comes across with a sense of trust and and caring.
21:07
So, an example would be just to demonstrate that in in the National Football League, 32 teams, the last 2 years the Atlanta Falcons were voted number one in the NFL for fan experience.
21:22
Major League Soccer, we're 24 teams, we're ranked number one in Major League Soccer in terms of fan experience, but and it may have a lot of has to do a lot of different things and food and beverage and our unique the strategy and
21:35
in that regard, but in the setting in the stadium, but beyond that, it has to do with the fact that every single person in any of these venues that we're talking about feels like they're an honored guest, feels like they are the reason we're there is to serve them. And I would say to you, I mean, our
21:52
And I would say to you, I mean, our associates are are compensated well, but having said that, their greatest compensation, in my view, is that, you know, they're seeing people smile every day.
22:02
They're making people's dreams come true.
22:04
They're making people's problems go away.
22:06
The sense of community, all of these things that we share and talk about, I mean, they they love all that.
22:13
So, our associates feel like, you know, I may have a tough day at home or a tough day some It may be when they come into work, though, and they're and they're confusing work with play and they're making the opportunity to serve right there is is very powerful in terms of enriching their own experience.
22:28
So, you know, that that's a key driver in everything that we do.
22:33
We also feel strongly in community and giving back and and you know, we do that with the service in the businesses themselves, but we do it in a broader sense in terms of our own philanthropy.
22:43
My family foundations, you know, 40 million dollars since 1995 and that'll probably, you know, double and triple in the next next 10 years.
22:51
And then each of our businesses have has an associate-led fund of themselves, which is very, very significant dollars, but the beauty of that is that these are not trained philanthropists. They're just associates.
23:04
They're not executives necessarily.
23:06
They're trained, you know, you know, to how to go through evaluations, etc. They make the decisions.
23:11
They're closest to the people they're serving.
23:13
They understand the communities they're living in.
23:14
They understand their industries incredibly well.
23:18
And so they make decisions about, you know, how much we're going to allocate in certain areas.
23:22
And they they do that work. And we support them. We don't guide them.
23:26
We just, you know, we give them X amount of dollars and they take care of it.
23:29
Um the beauty of that is that the associates feel a tremendous sense of pride then, not just in their work, quote unquote, which is having purpose in terms of serving others, but also they're part they're physically part of going out and doing site visits in a variety of settings and making decisions about, you know, well, you know, we've been blessed here.
23:48
Now, how do we help others?
23:50
You know, how do we how do we do this work and expand it?
23:53
So um to have that pride, that gives the associates even more purpose and more sense of that, you know, when our public said from my standpoint, whatever's left over, 98% of my state is going to be going back through philanthropy, family foundation, my kids foundations, these associate-led foundations.
24:13
Um because I, you know, I've I don't need any more clothing.
24:15
I don't need any more of anything.
24:18
I need more, you know, growth myself, but but I want to see, you know, I want to see the world a a better place than it is currently today and be part of that.
24:27
And our associates feel that way.
24:29
So the upside down pyramid, if you will, with guests, customers, fans on top and me on the bottom, reinforces the message that the people that are most important are the people that we're serving.
24:41
It's but I mean, it's not, you know, it's not a bunch of words. It's we embody that.
24:45
We tell stories around that, etc.
24:47
And then we have our frontline associates who are the next ones that are touching and feeling all of our all of our guests or our fans, customers.
24:55
And then, you know, it's my job and other associates at the leadership level to provide the environment to make sure they have the resources, to make sure they have the strategy, to make sure that we we create goals for them that are reasonable, etc. , and give them support.
25:07
So, um and your your question, which is probably the best question um that as a business person you ask, is that, you know, often an entrepreneur has a vision um and it's successful, but once they try to expand it, it becomes not successful.
25:26
So, you know, at Home Depot, we um we struggled with that as well.
25:30
When we had four stores, I remember meeting with the gentleman from uh Goldman Sachs, who was the most highly regarded banker on Wall Street in the retail space.
25:38
And uh um and he um he sat down with me at lunch.
25:44
He said, "Well, you have these four stores, you know, in Atlanta.
25:46
They're very successful and you have a unique culture, but you know, he didn't ask me a question."
25:49
I was only 37, so I was like, "Woo, meeting with this guy is a really big deal."
25:52
So, I you know, he said, "As you expand, you're not going to be able to maintain this culture.
25:58
You're just not going to be able to do it."
25:59
He said, "Cuz you're you guys are so physically involved, the level of training, the level of commitment, the level of the associates understanding your viewpoints and all this."
26:08
Um so, I it was troubling coming from here him cuz we had aspirations to become a national company, which obviously with 2,200 stores now and stores in Mexico, Canada, and the US, it's, you know, um it it's, you know, amazing story.
26:22
But, the key to that was not what's on a piece of paper, not the six core values that we live.
26:27
It was not really the inverted triangle, but it's the ability to make sure that what we would term in case of Home Depot was an orange apron.
26:36
So, it was orange, a lot of orange in our business.
26:40
That associates, you know, bled orange, if you will.
26:42
And what that means is that they understood the values.
26:45
We didn't make them write them down.
26:46
We didn't make them They weren't They weren't the same exactly in this order, but did they live them?
26:51
Uh could they articulate them in whatever words they wanted to, but most importantly, could they live them?
26:57
And and so we became very paranoid about succession planning, making sure that when people got promoted, that it's not the first question was not are they technically really good at what they're doing, whether it be in a store or a store support center, even our headquarters, if you will.
27:14
We always call them store support centers because they were there to support the stores that were supporting our customers.
27:21
But the key was, you know, do they understand it?
27:24
And so understand our value set and do they live it?
27:27
If they live it, they had a chance to move ahead, become a store manager, become a district manager, whatever it may be.
27:32
If they didn't, it didn't mean they were bad person, but we put them in another another area where their ability to affect, you know, large numbers of people was not going to be as great.
27:42
So that ability to understand and live our values and become a role model and lead by examples.
27:48
One of our core values, lead by example.
27:50
So you saw last night that I served pie.
27:52
So I mean, I'm, you know, this is maybe off the subject a little bit, but I mean, the example is it's important, it's not just important I do it at Mountain Sky as well.
28:01
Our our guest ranch opens to the public.
28:04
Because, you know, I want the guests that really see me in a position of service to others.
28:10
I want our associates to see that.
28:10
It's not just a bunch of words, actually leading by example is nothing that I wouldn't do to help.
28:16
Uh Last year at Mountain Sky, I was sitting in the bar area and having a drink and I heard somebody say, "Well, you know, our bathroom is not working and you know, it's over there."
28:27
I said, Yes, so I went and I fixed it myself and there was another one that wasn't working, I fixed it myself.
28:32
So, you know, I came back.
28:34
I I just, you know, that's kind of my nature, you know, it was not working, go fix it.
28:37
I don't it's not a matter of title or who I am.
28:38
I didn't ask anybody else to do it, I did it myself.
28:41
So the associates next day had come and say to me, "We heard that you actually were fixing toilets yesterday."
28:46
I said, well, yeah, man, it wasn't, you know, I mean, it's part of what we do is that we we have to lead by example.
28:51
And those storytelling, those examples, uh, and picking the right people behind that that understand those things and live those things, um, are are the way you expand a an organization over a broader scale.
29:08
If you have really bright people, they don't get what you're doing.
29:10
They don't get your purpose and your vision, then it's not going to work.
29:14
Doesn't mean they're not right.
29:15
Doesn't mean they're not good.
29:16
Doesn't mean they don't don't have a different purpose in life, but they're not going to be able to support your organization. Yeah.
29:21
So, um, you know, in much of what you're doing and expanding is so incredibly in the last 3 years, um, you know, you have to have the right people around you.
29:31
People who understand Jay Shetty, people who understand your value set.
29:34
I mean, they can have their own, but it has to be, in a certain sense, has to have sense of service and sense of purpose, uh, deeply ingrained as well. Absolutely. Absolutely.
29:42
And thank you so much That was a beautiful answer, by the way.
29:45
And amazing to hear that you were fixing toilets and definitely saw you at Pie yesterday. Yeah.
29:52
But no, I I I think it's I think it's amazing and I've definitely felt that with you personally this week, just how personal you are with everyone and how much you make sure and check in with everyone and making sure we're all okay, which is which has really been beautiful and very very amazing to see that as well.
30:06
And and and that answer was amazing because for me, that is what defines leadership.
30:10
When I meet someone, I'm most endeared by their humility and by their character more than how much money they've made or how successful they are.
30:20
And I think that's all of us.
30:21
We We remember people based on how they make us feel Right.
30:24
as opposed to what they have or what they say.
30:27
And I think the fact that you've been able to do that in an organization, tell me about a time, Arthur, where actually you may have made a mistake or a failure in an in the organization, and I'm sure there were many, but any that stand out to you where you really learned an important lesson that stayed with you that made you change everything.
30:44
Yeah, I hope there weren't too many, but but there were some.
30:46
I'll give you an example and this was one at Home Depot as an example.
30:49
We The only acquisition we made when when I was there and Bernie was there was a group of nine stores that were in our industry.
31:00
They had stores in Dallas and elsewhere in Louisiana and Mobile and Baton Rouge etc.
31:06
And this we acquired the stores and then what our decision was that we didn't want to lose the volume that they had.
31:12
It was a fraction of the volume that we had, but we didn't want to lose the volume.
31:15
We were very paranoid about losing volume.
31:16
Focused always on revenue.
31:19
And um So we decided to keep them open and change the stores.
31:23
So it really was kind of like changing tires on a car that's going, you know, even 30 miles an hour.
31:30
It gets very ugly, very difficult to do etc. etc.
31:32
So when we opened the stores we realized we had physically we had changed the stores.
31:37
They looked like traditional Home Depot stores, great stores.
31:41
But the the associates didn't really get us cuz we hadn't really put them through the kind of training and exposure and understanding that was critical to all of our associates.
31:50
So there was a separation there from, you know, our value set which drives everything to the people that were serving the customers who, you know, were well-intended but they didn't understand our priorities.
31:59
They understood the traditional priorities which was not as rigorous about customer service as ours was.
32:06
So we ended up closing those stores for a short while and, you know, putting everything on pause.
32:13
Taking all the associates, training them, doing everything we had to do etc. etc.
32:16
When they reopened they reopened as as our Home Depot stores.
32:18
So I I think that was an example of where we got a little ahead of ourselves.
32:24
And probably, you know, forgot to check certain boxes that we needed to check.
32:29
Another example and both in our PGA business today is a good example.
32:34
We're we're We're at about a million square feet in golf retail in the next uh next 5 years, which is there's nobody in golf retail expanding anywhere and people you talk to say, But we we we it's been extraordinary successful.
32:47
But the point is that those stores require a high level of service and the people understanding the industry, club fitting, ball fitting, you know, etc. etc.
32:57
and and relationships to customers, etc.
33:00
So, uh to our guests in the store.
33:02
So, you know, we take a lot of time now in moving a large group of people to the new store to make sure that we don't make that mistake again.
33:10
So, those number of people can train the additional 40, 50, 60 people that we're hiring and making sure that they get our culture.
33:18
Uh so, you know, culture really drives everything that we do.
33:22
I mean, everything we do.
33:23
Those value sets, they drive every everything that we do and uh you know, the body can only absorb change at a certain rate um and um pace at a certain rate.
33:33
So, I think it's it's important to be able to acknowledge that and make sure that, you know, whatever your culture is, it doesn't get diluted as you expand.
33:43
More often than not, it does happen.
33:46
Um I've had some experiences and, you know, one other example of that when we went uh at at Home Depot, uh we started to expand into the Midwest, um we went to Detroit with a group of stores and um we realized then we were opening up stores at we had store and a half store every day and a half and that uh we couldn't really sustain that rate of of growth.
34:06
So, we we went to the board, Bernie and I, and said, "Look at, we've decided we're going to maintain growth rate of no more than 25% a year."
34:13
It had nothing to do with financial modeling and everything.
34:17
It had to do with how many associates could we uh impact, you know, hire, impact, train, make sure they understood our orientation, became Home Depot fanatics, blood orange, you know, all those things we asked them to do.
34:30
Uh we said that's the most that we can possibly do.
34:32
So we we kept our growth down to a point that we can that we can still produce the kind of success um and deliver the kind of experiences in all of our businesses. Yeah.
34:43
But same thing happens out here at the ranches is that we've made some adjustments over the years.
34:47
We do it very slowly, very modestly because we don't want the experience to change and we want to make sure that everybody's ready for the change. Absolutely.
34:56
Absolutely and that's amazing advice for all of us, anyone who's listening or watching right now and is growing a small team into a larger one, an entrepreneur that's expanding their business.
35:07
Culture is that thing that's going to make sure that you succeed in the long run and it's so easy to hire fast and hire quickly and I know Alex and I and and with the businesses that I work with right now, we're actually some of the slowest hiring people in the world.
35:21
Well, it's it's it's you know, it's it's it's terribly important.
35:24
I mean I I had a CEO of a major competitor of ours meet with me once.
35:30
I was actually playing golf over at Augusta as a guest and he was there.
35:35
And he said to me, well, you know, if you you're here around lunchtime, I'm out on the putting green and you know, come over and say hi and I I knew him so I did.
35:44
So and he had left he had left the company at that point and he said, you know, we sent we probably visited 200 of your stores a year and at that that point in time we had stores in Chile as well.
35:55
He said but and we could copy everything.
35:56
We copied the size, the pricing, the assortment, the signing, I mean everything he said.
36:02
He said, we'd go around and ask people, you know, culture thing, value thing and no matter where we went, no matter who we spoke to, they all said the same thing in their own words, but they all were doing the same thing and we were not able to do that in our company. Wow.
36:15
And but that's because you know, we recognized the importance in that.
36:20
It was not a new message every single day.
36:22
It was the same message as over and over and over and over again to the point where people said, "Oh, boy, here we go again.
36:26
Listen to customer service."
36:31
And every example that we could find of great customer service, we celebrated that.
36:36
Um I mean, we had issues with, you know, that we had to struggle with as well as a company, but we celebrated uh the successes and particularly weren't successes in how many stores you opened up.
36:47
The fact that our earnings per share grew at 49% a year for 23 years, our stock grew that quickly.
36:50
We didn't talk about the stock market and how wealthy we're making people.
36:54
But we had a lot of pride in that because then we gave other people the financial capacity to make a difference in their own lives and have a financial purpose in their lives and taking care of their family, extended family, community, giving back.
37:05
But uh so it was it's a you know, it was a it's a beautiful model because it's um it's one where associates and who you're serving um all appreciate uh the investment you've made in doing the right things for the right reasons. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.
37:24
And like you said earlier, the Arthur M.
37:25
Blank Family Foundation has given $400 million over over since 1995 to so many incredible ventures and many of them have been in the space of childhood development, education and the arts, and parks and green space.
37:40
And I wanted to know why you specifically selected each of those three.
37:44
I mean, they're so beautiful in their own right, but I'd love to know from your own perspective as to why you believe those three areas are so important.
37:51
important. Well, I think, you know, anything and doesn't have to be in Montana, obviously, cuz most people don't live here, but you know, anything connected to green space, to parks, to nature, to getting outside, to finding
38:02
that solitude, that quietness, that place where you can uh reflect and a place where you actually you can uh you know, go with family and friends and experience things that that aren't driven by, you know, on my phone every every 3 and 1/2 minutes um or less. Uh so I think that, you know,
38:17
Uh so I think that, you know, that's an area that we've always felt very very strongly about.
38:22
Obviously, we involved in conservation here in Montana as well and elsewhere in the West.
38:26
So, it wasn't it's not just these two ranches which are we think are models in terms of ranches should operate.
38:32
Not just from a guest standpoint, but from you know, in terms of the the the actual act process that we have going on.
38:39
So, we've always felt strong about that.
38:44
Being outside, being connected to nature, being connected to people that you're outside with.
38:48
It opens up a different perspective on viewing the world and viewing each other.
38:57
And having that sense of community.
38:57
A sense of community is so important.
38:58
I was raised in apartment house.
39:02
And and as well the rest of my family.
39:03
But you know, what's interesting is that in those those apartment houses when it was during the summer when it was warm, even in the fall and spring was in New York City.
39:12
People would bring their little chairs downstairs and everybody would sit like outside the apartment because they had that you know, that need, desire for connection to others.
39:25
And I think that's true whether you're living in an apartment or whether you're living in a home or whether you're living So, we at our ranches, we don't promote the use of technology. Sorry, Jay. Apologize for that.
39:35
But I But I mean, you know, there are places where people can use technology because of conferences and other work.
39:40
But but we don't actively promote it.
39:41
We want people to get outside.
39:44
We want people to experience nature.
39:45
We want people to touch and feel things and that silence, that solitude and that you know, finding the quietness with themselves, that inner calm which they can do so beautifully in nature.
39:55
Public education has always been a big issue for me.
39:58
I went through public school my whole life.
40:03
Didn't I went to a didn't go to private school till I went to college.
40:05
I went to small business school, Babson College out of Boston.
40:10
And so, I feel like you know, you know, the more that we can do in terms of public education at a higher level, um, creates, you know, really unlocks, uh, minds of all of our young people.
40:23
Uh, that exposure, Thomas Friedman was right many years ago when he wrote his book The World Is Flat.
40:27
Um, and I think we're realizing that more and more and more over time.
40:31
The book's 25 years old, but reality is that we're seeing that every day.
40:34
It's becoming less curved and more flat and everybody's connected.
40:39
Um, and I think, you know, that's a wonderful thing.
40:41
Um, so I think, you know, public education, uh, because not everybody or very few people, uh, can afford, you know, private schools and, you know, and kind of an answer that's that's just works for a handful of people relatively.
40:55
Um, so that's always been very important to my family and, um, and my children as well.
40:58
Uh, they're very actively involved in that or that arena.
41:01
Um, so those are some of the things, uh, we do a lot of work, um, in areas of culture because we think culture is another way there's lot of times there's too much of an emphasis, in my opinion, on on book learning and what have you.
41:15
And some people learn differently.
41:16
They learn by expressing themselves through yoga, through arts, through athletics, through whatever it may be, music, drama.
41:21
Um, and so I think you have to let people kind of find themselves in that in those ways as well.
41:28
Sadly, within the public education area, a lot of those, um, opportunities for expression have been cut back and eliminated.
41:35
Uh, so we'd like to see more of that expanded over time cuz I think it's very healthy for everybody.
41:40
Yeah, I love that how you've chosen three things that encourage so much internal growth. Right.
41:46
Like I feel like your investment in parks and green spaces is about people finding internal calm.
41:50
And even this week we've had all these incredible outdoor activities that you've arranged and the team's arranged here for everyone to partake in and we've seen how people are bonding closer when they're out and about in green spaces and outdoors and going on these beautiful walks and riding or whatever else it may be.
42:06
And and especially what you're speaking about, the education system, of course.
42:09
And then I I think you're spot on when you talk about how arts and the arts allow us to express ourselves more effectively and how that's never always encouraged. Right.
42:21
And so your investment in that space I'm sure has made a difference.
42:23
Well, I think you know, as you know and many of our guests know that you know, that education, you know, the the book education is very important.
42:30
The life education is in many cases even more important and exposure and what have you.
42:35
It's one of the reasons we our foundation is just just started to invest on an international basis.
42:41
We're doing work in Africa, doing work in the Caribbean, etc.
42:45
But one of the reasons is is not because, you know, I mean, we don't have enough opportunities within the United States. We do. And must needs we do.
42:53
But I wanted to send important message, you know, to our family and to our associates is that, you know, not just talking about, you know, humankind being being connected, but actually demonstrate that.
43:06
So you know, case of Nigeria where 60% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, you know, we want people to be aware of that and you know, how how do we participate and support answers in those areas of the world.
43:19
So um I think that the notion that we are brothers' keepers, uh which is an integral part of our faith and the faith of, you know, part of everybody's faith, I believe, uh is very important and it's not just it starts maybe with your family, your extended family, your community, but it really has to include everybody on the face of the earth.
43:41
That's why the earth is important.
43:42
Uh you know, the earth is important cuz we all live here.
43:45
We got to take care of it a little better than we have been. Absolutely.
43:49
That that resonates so strongly with me because one of the reasons why I became a monk and one of our teachings was that you became a monk and you were free from your basic family responsibilities so that you could see the whole world as your family. Right.
44:01
And so that you could go and extend yourself even further.
44:02
And I think it's beautiful to see you do that.
44:06
I mean, you have six children and Six grandchildren. Six grandchildren. Six and six, right? Yeah, six and six.
44:10
What is your What is the legacy dogs.
44:13
A couple dogs as well, yeah. Amazing. And horses? And horses, yes. yeah.
44:18
Uh what are the What is the legacy that you're hoping that they're going to carry forward to the future generations as the foundation grows Well, I I don't you know, I think it's important for them to to find themselves.
44:29
Um you know, they need to climb their own mountains.
44:31
They need to explore themselves.
44:32
They need to you know, fall down, pick themselves up.
44:36
They're to need to learn deal with adversity and growth, uh both uh physically and personally.
44:44
Uh so, our older children um are all involved in our family foundation.
44:46
Um and we're actively involved in a variety of areas that we've talked about and many we haven't, but they're involved in all of them.
44:56
Uh in addition to that, they're all each one is starting their own foundation now.
44:59
Much smaller, but I want to see make sure they know how to evaluate, make sure they know how to do their work, etc.
45:05
because uh when you're giving, you're giving, you're always getting more.
45:10
I mean, makes no difference whether it's physical work or financial, whatever it may be, the more we give, the more we get back.
45:17
That's just kind of the way the math of the world works, the universe and our and our soul uh works.
45:23
So, uh the younger children have um uh age age-appropriate exposure to philanthropy.
45:29
One 22 to her 18, so they're they're younger, but they're getting exposed to it mostly by doing, uh not by writing checks, but by doing things and being connected in service in a variety of ways.
45:39
Um and they're interested in all of our businesses as well, but you know, bringing them along very slowly, making sure they understand our values, that nothing is going to be given to them.
45:49
Whatever they get has to be earned and earned primarily through understanding these values, living these values, being a great role model, caring about community, caring about others, caring about service, caring about purpose.
46:02
And um you know, my my hope, my desire as a parent uh is that, you know, the children will grow when I'm long gone and they will have their own, you know, their own set of values, the values hopefully they've learned from their mother and mothers and their father.
46:16
And they'll continue to do, you know, work that we're doing today and expand it.
46:20
I mean, I I don't I don't have a written set of of things that these are the seven things we're going to do after I'm gone.
46:28
So, I'm not going to manage my foundation from my grave.
46:31
Um I have enough faith in my children and uh they'll make the right decisions based on uh the passions they know their father has.
46:40
Their own passions, which are critical.
46:42
So, they they're really feeling they're doing the work that's important to them.
46:46
And that they uh are doing work that's important in terms of the times that we're facing.
46:50
So, this well-being, you know, wellness well-being notion is is at a critical mass, you know, today in our in our country uh if not the world, but certainly in our country.
47:00
Uh whether it be the rate of suicides, which continue to climb at dramatic rates, which affect, you know, the veteran population, a very young population 10 to 14, and uh is double what it is on a national basis.
47:13
So, they're you know, those serious issues we're facing today.
47:17
They'll have other maybe issues in the in the future.
47:19
And so, whatever they are, you know, they should feel, you know, the passion, the drive to want to make a difference in those areas and put themselves and resources in place to help others, you know, come to a better conclusion that that whatever it may be. Absolutely.
47:35
And I've read that your favorite quote on a t-shirt is that there is no finish line.
47:40
The Wi-Fi here is called Finish Line. No finish line, too.
47:45
What does that mean to you?
47:45
And also, what is the personal work you're doing right now in that regard?
47:50
What are the internal things that you're working on at this stage in your life?
47:54
Um Well, I think, you know, it came came to me uh primarily from my my running initially.
48:03
Uh I ran competitively and um Nike had this t-shirt so there is no finish line.
48:08
There was a guy running in the woods and couldn't find another one of them. I saw it some place.
48:11
I Phil Knight was kind enough from Nike was kind enough to get me one of the shirts and you know, and I think uh in virtually all areas of my life um I understand that, you know, um you know, the the next day isn't necessarily the end.
48:26
There's always more to do and etc. etc.
48:29
And I think you have to have the ability to deal with adversity, grit, bounce back, you know, and uh continues putting one step in front of the other.
48:39
I got that from my long-distance running.
48:41
You probably got that from your mom code and and maybe athletics as well and other other areas of your life, but um you know, the ability to understand that these problems that we're facing are are not you know, you're not in and out in 5 or 10-15 minutes. It's not a transaction.
48:56
It's about relationships.
48:58
All our businesses are that way.
48:58
It's never about the transaction.
49:00
It's always about the relationship.
49:01
So these causes, these issues that we have today in our country and worldwide uh are not going to go away tomorrow.
49:08
So we have to have the wisdom to understand that.
49:11
We also have to have the uh tenacity to say we're going to make a dent and we're going to make a difference just as my mother said in the bracelet I'm wearing, but we're going to make a difference and every day we're going to continue to strive to move forward and to make a difference in that area.
49:24
So I think um you know, it's important I think my oldest daughter would say, "Dad, that you know, I I love the expression and love the feeling, but you know, um which brings me back to myself a little bit."
49:37
He said, "But at some point, you know, in your life you need to, you know, uh you need to be able to say that I'm kind of at a you need to be at peace with where you are."
49:47
And that's where I think um my version of wellness and well-being has changed cuz it used to be running 7 days a week.
49:55
If I didn't do that, you know, that was that was my design around fitness and well-being.
50:00
In many ways, you know, physical fitness is important.
50:03
But I think the whole notion of trying to dig deeper and really understand myself and my real purpose and uh you know, are we connecting the dots as well as we can, taking time for myself to every day to do meditation.
50:21
I need to get back on that horse again.
50:23
Did it for a number of months with you know, I got encouragement by by Deepak Chopra, but I need to get back on and do it again cuz I saw the value of that, you know, for a very long period of time.
50:33
The work I do in terms of yoga and just the quietness living in a quiet space and taking time to reflect and that's one of the reasons I love Montana.
50:42
We come out here and we walk, we hike, whatever it may be, horseback riding and uh and see this beautiful scenery, but it's quiet time.
50:50
So, the ability to be calm, the ability to reflect, the ability to build into my life every day where I'm not kind of a gerbil on the wheel, which is constantly running.
50:58
The ability to get off that off that, you know, that cycle and uh pause, reflect, you know, understand, build back my strength, my my vision.
51:07
Um I think that's been an important part of my own personal growth.
51:12
That part of it didn't take place until, you know, probably just maybe 4 or 5 years ago, I think, when I I began to think more about, you know, in a broader sense, a deeper sense purpose and and and service to others.
51:25
A good example of um how we can connect you know, a great business to doing the right things for the right reasons.
51:35
We built our new stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, voted the best sports facility in the United States in the last 2 years and maybe in the world.
51:45
But it's built in downtown Atlanta, which is magnificent today.
51:47
But it's a part of downtown Atlanta, the west side of Atlanta, which is the birthplace of Dr.
51:52
King, birthplace of many civil rights leaders, um that has gone, you know, downhill for the last 30 years.
51:59
Unlike most other areas in Atlanta, when I moved there, there were a million people.
52:02
Now there are over 7 million people living in Atlanta.
52:05
And so we set out from the very beginning with saying, "Look, we're going to build the best stadium in the world that's designed around the people that we're serving, the guests that are in the stadium."
52:14
There's no question we're going to be 100% successful at that.
52:19
And I met with a lot of people uh from the religious community who said, "You know, I said, "Well, how do we help How does this create a situation where we can create a rising tide will float all boats, uh all these communities that are connected to our stadium but have fallen fallen backwards, uh slid backwards, um and they say, "It's not about buildings, it's about, you know, human capital."
52:41
So we spent 3 years uh actually uh cuz one of our key components of our values is to listen, you know, to listen and respond, listen and respond.
52:49
Whether it be people we're serving in our businesses or people that we're serving with through the foundation.
52:53
So we walked the streets of the of the west side, uh met with neighborhood groups, and, you know, basically didn't say very much.
53:02
We just said, "Look, we're going to build this magnificent stadium.
53:05
We want it to be a positive force in your lives. We're done talking.
53:06
Now you tell us what is it that's important to you?
53:11
What's important to your community?
53:12
What's important to your family? Etcetera, etc."
53:15
And, you know, it it's it it wasn't a list of 100 things.
53:18
It was a list of four, five, six things that were really critical to them.
53:23
And so we made it clear from the very beginning that, you know, will the stadium project will take us 7 years from the design, you know, the thinking about the structure, etc. , building it.
53:32
But this is going to be a 20-30 year process.
53:34
That's where there is no finish line kind of filled filled in as well, fits in as well.
53:37
Um and so we uh we spent a great deal of time listening and then responding.
53:44
And one of the good examples is a program called what what West Side Works.
53:49
One of the things that everybody said in the community, we need jobs. We don't have jobs.
53:54
Uh and that affects us in a whole variety of ways.
53:55
Uh So, we we trained we had over half the people living in those zip codes applied for this program called West Side Works.
54:06
We've we've taken in probably close to a thousand have been trained.
54:09
Um and the training really is to give them the life skills and the work skills so they can be successful. Not just on one project.
54:19
So, whether it be in construction or food or baking or nursing or IT, whatever whatever it may be, whatever their interest was, we did all that training.
54:29
Um and then we put them to work.
54:31
So, a lot of these training programs where they fall down is that they train them, but they don't they don't make the connection to it.
54:36
They need a job, you know, I really need a job.
54:38
So, our notion was every single person who graduated this program was going to actually have a paying job and what have you.
54:46
So, you know, when whoever it may be went back in their house and it was one individual I remember his name was Lloyd.
54:51
It was a great story about he was a he was a tattoo artist and um he had three children, uh single father.
55:01
And uh you know, because of the nature of what he was doing, he wouldn't be home in the evenings.
55:04
So, his kids would go to school, come home, he was not home.
55:08
He was out, you know, doing his doing his trade.
55:11
And so, he went through this, became part of the construction crew that helped build the stadium and now was working with construction, variety of other areas, but he had a regular job, came to work at 8:00 in the morning, worked till 4:00, 3:00, 5:00 in the afternoon, whatever may be.
55:24
Then he was home in the evening. So, he was making money.
55:27
He was walking in the door, his chest was, you know, out, his shoulders were back, smile on his face.
55:33
His kids said, you You that they it's not just financially, but his ability self-confidence and his ability to say, you know, I can make a difference not only in my life, but now in their lives.
55:44
That story was told probably a thousand times over on the West Side.
55:46
Um, and that's, you know, we understand it's a long journey.
55:50
We understand human capital and human capacity takes time to nurture and help grow.
55:56
Um, but we're equally committed to that.
55:58
And that's true with all this community work that we that we do.
55:59
We try to identify not what we see, you know, as the needs is where the what the needs are by the people that are living these communities. Yes.
56:08
Sometimes foundations make a mistake and they, you know, they operate, let's say, from Atlanta and they throw Scud missiles here, there, and elsewhere.
56:14
Good good works, I should say, here, there, and elsewhere, but they don't really understand the pulse of the on the ground, what's actually happening.
56:21
What does it mean to live that way?
56:23
Um, and so we spend a lot of time, most of our time, in uh starting our evaluation work by understanding what is it that the people that we're serving, what is it that they're saying, not what we're saying, what are they saying?
56:37
What do they feel that they need help and support?
56:41
And obviously we're trying to, you know, teach people to fish versus, you know, giving them fish and and uh So, that's one example of of a beautiful story that about business model that was fabulously successful, but a community involvement that's been, you know, incredibly successful as well.
56:59
Um So, we make emphasis there on education, on health, on their financial services to understand, you know, what loans mean, how do you pay them off, how do you do a variety of things, financial planning, etc.
57:09
So, um that's just one example, but there are many, many other examples of that.
57:13
But, uh and it's this connection of between uh it's and that those kind of things give our associates a tremendous sense of fulfillment and purpose in their own lives cuz they see, I'm part of an organization, it's not just about how many metals, how many awards, how many wins, how many this kind of whatever it may be.
57:34
It's about how How do we win the Super Bowl of life every year, which I tell our football players.
57:40
So, you got 11 guys on the other side of line.
57:42
You may not win the Super Bowl every year or the MLS Cup every year, but we can win the Super Bowl of life every year because nobody is on the other side of line, you know, defending us from doing that.
57:51
So, we see the opportunities, players, coaches, staff, organization, and they have a tremendous sense of pride in that. Yes.
58:00
The whole issue of social justice in the NFL today, which is been incredibly important.
58:08
We've been very heavily engaged at both of the legal level but at the club level.
58:11
So, at the club level, we have 12-15 players who we spent, you know, 3 months with them listening to them telling us, "Look, this is what is going on in my communities.
58:21
This is what I had to live with as a child.
58:22
This is what I had to overcome.
58:24
This is what my parents still live with, my siblings, whatever it may be."
58:27
And so, then we responded, you know, in terms of our engagement with them.
58:31
So, it's not like us doing for them, it's us doing alongside them, connected to them, shoulder to shoulder, where they feel like, you know, we're in this together.
58:42
And that's a beautiful thing to happen.
58:44
And I think, you know, we want our associates to feel that sense of pride and feel that sense of this organization really has a heart and a soul and a purpose to it.
58:56
And the beauty is you do all these wonderful things behaviorally and you're going to produce the right financial results.
59:02
I mean, it's, you know, it's important to do that because in my case, because we want to continue to fund things that we see opportunities for. So. That's phenomenal.
59:10
Thank you for sharing that.
59:13
Well, thank you Chase for asking.
59:13
Thank you for listening, you know. of course. Absolutely.
59:18
I could get more to the point as as you do so beautifully in a lot of your messages, yeah.
59:21
No, but it's it's powerful what you're doing the work.
59:23
I think detail's great when people are able to see how deeply intention how deep the intention is. Right.
59:28
In the sense that I feel like when you're explaining something, you're not just explaining what you're doing, you're explaining why you're doing it and how you're doing it.
59:35
It's going to take longer.
59:37
So I mean the the the what is is you know is the easiest part.
59:40
It's the why I mean that's what's sustainable in the heart and in the spirit and the soul is that when we understand it, our foundation, our associates, all of our businesses understand why we're doing the things we're doing.
59:54
It makes a difference in their lives as well and and they feel like because this whole estate's being recycled back, they're working not only to have purpose in terms of who we're serving, but they're working in terms of having purpose in building the foundation which will be you know recycled in a positive way. So Absolutely.
1:00:11
It's a beautiful circle that's very very tight and there really no really no breaks in it. Yeah.
1:00:16
Um so it's it's a beautiful thing to be part of.
1:00:21
Amazing Arthur, you've been incredible.
1:00:22
We end every interview with what we call the final five quick fire rapid fire round.
1:00:27
So you can only answer the questions with one word Okay. or maximum one sentence.
1:00:33
a glass of water for that. Yeah. Yeah.
1:00:35
And so what I've done is we've created considering your name is Arthur Blank, we've we've done this final five as fill in the blanks. Mhm.
1:00:41
So I'm going to ask you So I can ask you I'm going to ask you to fill in the blank at the end of the sentence.
1:00:51
thing for me is the one word if you know now. Yes.
1:00:53
I tend to give a wrong answer. Right.
1:00:55
So that's why this this section is for that.
1:00:56
So the first question is the best advice I've ever received is blank. So what would it be? Um Finish the sentence.
1:01:07
The best advice I've ever Be true to my values. Okay, wonderful.
1:01:09
The second question is the worst advice I've ever received is blank.
1:01:16
I would say you know focus the focus on um you know productivity, the focus on financial metrics, you know, as being the goal versus, you know, all the other things in terms of behavior uh and um and changing people's lives in a positive way and seeing that joy in that, you know, that's been great. Great answer.
1:01:40
Okay, question number three.
1:01:41
Three things I'm grateful for uh blank.
1:01:46
Well, I have to start my family, you know, um you know, six six great children, six great grandchildren, and and a great, you know, I've been married multiple times uh unfortunately, but I have a great relationship with all of my ex-wives and they're all wonderful people and uh
1:02:03
so I'd say my, you know, my my family and my relationships, I think uh my um ability as a result of our business success to try to have uh an opportunity to expand, you know, what service means of others, create that with our associates and who we're serving in all of our different businesses. Yeah. Yeah.
1:02:25
Do this one blank thing and it will change your life.
1:02:28
What would you put into that blank?
1:02:33
What would that one thing be? Find your passion.
1:02:37
Because I think when somebody Can I add another word or two? Yeah, please.
1:02:42
Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
1:02:45
You know, because I think when when people find their passion Yes.
1:02:49
and their purpose um you know, financially they're going to do as well if not better than they ever would have done doing anything else.
1:02:58
And, you know, their years uh here uh which are, you know, limited, they're measured, if you will um are going to be much more enriched cuz they're going to feel like what I'm doing what I'm really doing has purpose for me and purpose for others that I'm trying to serve and uh so I think finding purpose which is not always easy.
1:03:21
I mean sometimes people wander around a bit.
1:03:23
You You did You described your journey. Definitely. Um and myself as well.
1:03:27
I had my own, you know, journeys there.
1:03:30
Um but when you find it, uh you need to, you know, stop and honor it and then to move with it and and uh all good things come as a result of that, you know, in terms of quality of life. Absolutely.
1:03:42
And the fifth and final question is the one thing that you're hoping this beautiful 4 5 days we've had here in Montana will result in.
1:03:52
Well, I think there are two There are two things if I expand the question a little bit.
1:03:55
One is that, you know, the great connections that you have made with so many other people here uh and they've made with you and with each other.
1:04:02
I think so I just I think those physical connections, emotional It's one thing to know somebody, but when you spend 4 days together uh in this setting, you get a deeper deeper understanding of people's perspectives and their views and how can we work together two and two equals eight and 10 instead of just four or five and myself.
1:04:21
So I think that has been very invaluable.
1:04:23
The other thing is is that I think will be a big focus for our foundation and in, you know, Jordan other foundations and other institutions that care about these things.
1:04:33
Um you know, some really good ideas to help support the expansion of the notion of well-being and wellness and give exposure to that to other populations that don't necessarily have that or see that uh and to uh uh you know, to not, you know, have this widen this gap that we have in America today is just too extreme in my in my viewpoint.
1:04:54
And I think, you know, we need to do more of this and bring people together not necessarily, you know, economically as equals cuz that's not reality in a capitalistic world, but, you know, to bring people together in terms of their well-being and their happiness and their ability to feel fulfilled in life.
1:05:11
Uh so we want to, you know, get in the canoe and paddle along with everybody else and paddle as hard as everybody else and know we can make a difference uh and uh and try to earn, you know, the respect and the opportunity.
1:05:23
It's an honor really having everybody here.
1:05:24
It's from out my standpoint, it's an overwhelming honor to have um not just the intelligence in the room, but the the commitment and the uh sense of purpose and the sense of trying to reach out and make a difference in the world uh is incredible to me.
1:05:41
So anything we can do supporting the collaborations, supporting the partnerships, uh new ideas, expanding ideas, scaling up ventures, etc.
1:05:50
, which is much of what I know your your uh concern is going forward.
1:05:55
How do we impact more people? Which is great.
1:05:57
Uh we want to be part of that.
1:05:59
So it's been an honor for me, truly an honor for me to be here this week and to uh just be part of this.
1:06:04
It's um experience of my lifetime I'll never forget.
1:06:08
I've gotten a great deal out of it.
1:06:10
Much more than, you know, I've gotten much more out of it than we put into it.
1:06:13
And that's the beauty of of when you do things with service and purpose, you really do get more out of it than what you give.
1:06:19
Yeah, well, I want to thank you on behalf of me and all the other participants because I think you've allowed us to form such deep amazing relationships.
1:06:27
There's many people in this room that I would have loved to connect with or meet and you're so right that when you go away with people for three, four days, you go so much deeper, so much quicker than you would if you met at a conference or a one-day event or whatever it may be.
1:06:40
So I just want to say thank you from from me.
1:06:44
Thank you for all your kindness.
1:06:45
Thank you for your encouragement.
1:06:45
Uh you've given me so many wonderful votes of confidence this week and just sharing so much support and encouragement for the work I do, which has given me so much conviction.
1:06:55
And I'm very grateful for that. Thank you.
1:06:58
Well, the work that you do is is incredible and it's it really has, you know, tremendous purpose to it and and uh and high degree of success.
1:07:04
So I I want to do everything we can do um to help support you and support, you know, uh the people you're touching and trying to um help with their life journeys.
1:07:16
So, um I think, you know, this is a great place to do it because when you spend time outdoors, you realize, you know, you're kind of dwarfed by nature and by things that have been here for thousands and thousands of years.
1:07:28
And also, everybody puts on their pants the same way.
1:07:31
It's a level playing field. Nobody's wearing suits. Nobody's wearing ties.
1:07:35
Everybody's just, you know, being themselves and they're opening themselves up.
1:07:38
And in this kind of environment, uh it's easier to do that.
1:07:43
And so, that's the reason we want to do continue to do this work here. Absolutely. Thank you again, Arthur.
1:07:48
Thank you everyone who's been watching or listening back at home or wherever you've been.
1:07:52
Make sure you go and follow the Blank Foundation on Instagram and on Twitter and on the social media platforms as well.
1:07:57
If you want to find out about the great work, not only we've been doing, but all the other incredible work that the Arthur M.
1:08:02
Blank Family Foundation does.
1:08:04
Uh please check out this podcast.
1:08:06
Share it with other people that you feel are going to benefit from this incredible presence around service, incredible presence around giving and doing through our work.
1:08:15
And for anyone who's aspiring to be an entrepreneur out there, what better values than the ones that have been talked about in this show.
1:08:22
Make sure you share those on Instagram so that I can share them as well.
1:08:25
I'm always looking through what you're learning so that that helps me ask better questions and serve you better.
1:08:31
Thank you so much for listening and watching.
1:08:32
Arthur, thank you so much. Thank you, Jay. Great to have you again.
1:08:36
It's an honor to be here. Thank you very much.
1:08:37
Hey everyone, my name's Jay Shetty and welcome to my YouTube channel.
1:08:39
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1:08:49
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1:08:51
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