**Summary of Jerry Stead's Interview on "The Hustle by Hanna"**

Jerry Stead, a seasoned corporate leader and philanthropist, shared insights from his extensive career and personal journey. With experience on 37 public company boards and leadership roles at major corporations like Honeywell, Square D, NCR, and Ingram Micro, Stead emphasized a "head coach" leadership style focused on empowering people, aligning with purpose, and maintaining performance-driven integrity. Key lessons include treating everyone with dignity, fostering teamwork, and helping great people achieve great things, which he applied consistently across his corporate roles.

Stead's career began humbly, living in a small trailer with his wife, Mary Joy, while working and studying. His early role at Honeywell, managing 400 people at age 22, taught him the value of listening and collaboration, leading to significant operational successes. At Square D, he transformed the company by burning outdated policies, fostering unity, and driving teamwork. At NCR, he turned around a struggling company, growing revenue from $8 billion to $11 billion while navigating tough layoffs with a commitment to support affected employees. At Ingram Micro, he took the company public with a $1 salary, relying on stock options, and grew it to a $32 billion enterprise, becoming the fastest-growing Fortune 500 company at the time.

Alongside his corporate achievements, Stead and Mary Joy have invested over $455 million through the Stead Family Foundation, focusing on medical research, mental health, and children's hospitals, notably the Stead Family Children's Hospital at the University of Iowa. Their philanthropy emphasizes strategic investments over traditional donations, aiming for sustainable impact, such as funding innovative research at Banner Alzheimer's Institute and creating the Stead Scholars program.

Stead views technology, particularly AI, as a transformative tool for entrepreneurs, urging them to embrace it to enhance their ventures. He advises founders to surround themselves with skilled leaders to complement their vision, noting that many fail due to reluctance to delegate or collaborate. His philosophy centers on setting clear goals, maintaining values, and fostering environments where people can thrive, both in business and philanthropy.


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She said "we didn't know what we couldn't do, so we did." -- Mary joy.
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Today's guest is Jerry Stead.
Over the course of his career, Jerry has served on 37 public company boards and LED some of the world's most recognized corporations.
He's known as the head coach type of leader who transforms organizations by focusing on people, purpose and performance.
0:17
But Jerry's story doesn't stop with corporate leadership.
Together with his wife, Mary Joy, he has given more than $400 million through the Stead Family Foundation.
Their investments have changed lives at the Stead Family Children's Hospital at the University of Iowa, at Banner Alzheimer's Institute, and across medical research and mental health initiatives worldwide.
0:38
Jerry is someone who blends business discipline with deep generosity and who believes his job each day is to help great people do great things.
Today we talked about the lessons from decades in leadership and how he's using his expertise to make the world permanently better.
0:53
This is "The Hustle by Hanna" ( channel or site name ).
Let's get into it.
You know, every day when I get up, the first thing I do is how do I help great people do great things today, that's my life.***
Think about all the lives you can help make a difference for.
Then a lot of fear of being the one goes away too, including technology because eventually you look at it as a tool to help others.
1:18
Great people do great things and that's helped me a lot.
Early this morning, I have to get up still about 3 hours a day.
I was stuck in the hospital for 16 days.
I'd wake up and I couldn't do anything.
I just, it was awful.
But the minute I got home, I was back in that model.
1:36
But I was thinking, and that's my best thinking time.
I get up, I say prayers, I meditate and now can go back and be reviewed.
All of the companies that were supporting and I was thinking, you know, 7 or 8 of them are going to change the world.
1:51
And that's so exciting.
Look, Eric's disease is going to be cure.
I look now at the businesses that we're supporting and we've given a little over 400 million, about 455,000,000, but we don't give, we invest.***
It's so incredible to do that.
2:12
And some of the words you mentioned, I've written down integrity, purpose, faith, people first, the last one, a refusal to compromise on values and it's everything you just said.***
I also want to talk about your professional life before you started giving back and how you let companies and maybe a little bit of your journey through that.

2:32
As you know, we got married the day we turned 19. 63 years later there we are.
But we went through college together.
We had both kids in college, not quite planned, but at work we lived in a 40 foot by 44 by 10 foot trailer.
2:48
I work 40 hours a week during eighteen hours of classes.
Mary Joy said it so right.
She said we didn't know what we couldn't do, so we did.***
And I've always thought about that.
I remember we were talking about that with them in the trailer because we were living $3000 a year.
3:07
But yeah, we gifted 250 a year because we always, both of us grew up with that.
Me, our belief that we had to do that.
When I was graduating from college, I had a lot of job offers because I was a straight A student and I worked 40 hours and I was married and we ended up taking the job at Honeywell and I'm so exciting to start.
3:31
I was going to be in a high talent pool, people that were going to be in future leaders and so I could get to see every department in the company.
So it was great and exciting I actually turned down jobs with more money because of that.
3:46
My logic was the more I can learn about everything, the better I'll be.
So I started still remember June 14th 1965. On July 5th 1965 they said you're done. 
You're now the foreman of the downtown plant and floor.
4:03
Well I named good luck.
We literally so I'm 22 I told Mary Joy I went over that bike.
We were thinking of us having lived for 3 1/2 years in a 400 square foot trailer and then now living in a massive 1100 square foot for us condo and we were looking to buy a new out to build a house.
4:27
And I went home that night and I said let's I don't know how this is going to work.
Let's wait.
So the next day I had 400 people and, and that three shifts for once turned down and worn, I think I was the 5th person to have that job in two years because it was a job that people didn't like.
4:45
So I got to this was Teamsters local M45 got the, they had group leaders, which were also union members, but they were leaders in the organization and they got, I don't remember $0.20 an hour more something.
5:01
So I got them all together and I said I had no clue what I need to do.
But what I do know is if you tell me what we need to do together, I'll do my best to help you be have fun and be successful.
And they looked at me like first of all in 22, right?
5:17
And they looked at me and I can still remember very coolly who was the 3rd shift guy.
Years later, I've had him working for me way out of the unions.
He was the head of the Labor Relations department for me because he was that good.
5:33
But I still remember, probably by the third week of doing listening and trying to fix everything they brought up, they started to believe me.
And a year later we won the best performance there was, a program called Earned Hours.
5:51
In other words, the more less hours you use, the more efficient you get done with projects you've got.
That was so funny.
We had twice a week computer running before you had to fill in cards then send the men to get the schedules back.
6:07
That was a big deal then and a huge breakthrough.
I figured out what the team I'm so remember this one Gal Shorty was her name said we could shortcut a lot of this if we didn't have to worry about this nonsense.
So we did that and that ended up being spread other places.
6:25
What I learned, by the way, we went ahead and what that was, in July, we bought and built a new house and moved in Thanksgiving because I knew we were going to make it.
But that was always the same thing.
Like Mary Joy had said, if you don't know we can't do it, we'll do it.
6:43
What you don't know, you can do it.
You can believe anything.
And so it was clear to me because I've run survey clues during college, a lot of more teachers quite the old of my but again, I've done the same thing in a much smaller like 10 people here.
6:59
I did it was 400 and it was clear to me that treat every person with equal, dignity, respect, ask them to do things that they've never had a chance to do together before and then spend all your energy help with great people do great things.
We moved all over the world.
7:15
That was with Honeywell 1985.
It was Honeywell's 100th anniversary.
I was group executive come back from living in Europe and Spencer was our CEO and it was 100th anniversary of Honeywell.
7:32
So I was chairing a team of people he picked to tell the board where the next 100 years was going to be, which and nine sets were in front of you because if you think about what's going on from 1985 to 2025.
7:49
But we did.
And one when the board approved and one of the things they approved was acquisitions of some companies to compliment Honeywell.
One happened to be the Square D company number one in the world's electrical product manufacturing.
So I went down to Chicago, we're living in Minneapolis, talked to the CEO at that time who was an interim CEO at Square D and ask you and they were public and pretty good company and said would you be interested in Honeywell acquire and he said absolutely not.
8:20
I said, OK, so that was that.
And I get a call from guy named Don Clark, CEO of Household International, and he was chair, Chair of the Executive Committee for Square D. And he said we'd like you to come next flight to Chicago and talk to us because we want to stay in attendance, but we really would like you to think about taking the job as CEO.
8:43
And I said by 1 of #3 at Honeywell, why would I do that?
He said, you just come to talk.
So the next time I was at Chicago, I did.
And that was 3 amazing people.
Dave maker, Freak Morgan and Dan Clark, just three great guys. **** ( need to confirm the names)
And that I'll never forget that day at lunch, Don said, Jerre, what you got to figure out because you want to be one of the top 3-4 at Honeywell or do you want to be #1 at Square D now?
9:08
And I remember flying by thinking, never thought about it that way.
So got home.
I still remember saying to Mary Joy, I think we're going to leave Honeywell.
Well, she said, OK, that's she didn't even ask why.
It's just if that was the case.
9:23
So we did, went there.
We flew down. The interim CEO Don Canals wonderful guy and his wife and he handed me the contract and I said I've never had a contract.
I don't need one.
I trust each other and he said, well, anything in this document won't change again because we want you.
9:44
So I looked at it, handed it back to him and said we got a deal.
Sure, Canals, and that's how we got started.
I've never had a contract in any of the companies.
I've seen you all because I believe the only reason you have them, you weren't being a role model for others.
10:01
The only reason you had them was to protect yourself if you fail because that's the only thing a contract would really do. *** ( very interesting point of view )
So never had them in any of the companies that have and was very public about it.
The second thing I did at Square D that was of consequence.
10:16
So we made a great company from a new company.
I burnt in the parking lot all the policies and procedures.
Everybody needs guidelines, but they were weapons.
It was over 400 pages and I did it as just an on lesson.
10:36
Do you remember an example?
What happened, there was so many full seasoned procedures.
There was a blue lock in the Gray book.
Gray book was research, development, manufacturing.
Blue block was marketing and sales.
And that's what I it was clear to me there.
That's why I burnt.
10:52
And I said we're going to have one set and we're going to share them and they're going to be together and that's what we're going to do as a team.
Now, what happened was hilarious.
I said it wasn't hilarious, but someone took a photo of me burning them in the parking lot and I ended up in business week with a young new CEO Burns and some of my older board men lately thought I'd lost my mind.
11:17
But when I explained to him for exactly what you just said, he said, well, we never thought about it that way.
And I said, yeah, this is team.
It's got to be team effort.
And the only way I'm going to do it is I remember Charlie Denny was manufacturing and Dekavian, was sales and marketing.
11:34
They didn't even like each other because they were taught what happened is resources got spent one side instead of together.
And we changed that company like that.
And the lesson I had that was again, every day, how do I throw myself with the very best people?
11:52
How do I help them be successful and have fun doing it?
I always say work is a play with the purpose and I believe we need to do our very best to create that environment.
So I did it there and then went on to lead all the other companies over time.
12:09
What I learned in that 25 years with my wallets for Square D was amazing about how to lead, be coach.
I even gave business cards head coach so that people would know that my job was to help you as a team be successful.
12:27
And then I carried that floor with our company on the land.
When I got to NCR, 125,000 people working there and they were losing $260 million a month.
I said to Mary Jane, this is far tougher job than I ever thought I'd have, but I'm going to fix it.
12:47
I like to grow things.
I don't like to cut things.
I did both at NCR.
An amazing lesson because I removed 23,000 people over three years promised and we'd do our very best to place every one of them because not their problem, that was our problem.
13:05
We created the problem and I grew in the meantime the business from 8 billion to 11 billion in that time.
Equally importantly, we became very profitable compared to where we've been.
But the lesson there was in the 1st 30 days with customers, listen first outside in understand what we're doing, they like, what they don't like and what we need to do different.
13:30
And then parallel that first 30-60 days talk to everybody you can touch inside the organization.
So you'll figure out together what's the best thing you can do.
And that one was turned out great, worked out great.
13:47
NCR turn out to be very good company.
That was the toughest one I went through though, because I realized we fixed things that had to be fixed.
But it was so expensive with humans.
I mean, we tried our very best to place every one of them.
14:02
But think about that. 23,000 people around the world.
I can remember I told our leadership team and the board I was going to go every place and personally tell the people.
I wanted them to know I'm not going to hide about it.
I wanted them to know we'd spend every cent we could to retrain or help them find a job.
14:24
And we shut a factory down in Germany, southern Germany and I went there.
I felt so bad because it was tough.
But I mean, we were hand assembling laptops and in the meantime in Germany very expensive, so it wouldn't go.
14:41
And I still remember the pizza guy for Germany told me.
He said you don't, you just told people we're going to find jobs for him.
I said we are, we're going to have to, we have replaced 97% of them on that year.
That's so honorable, which was so good.
14:58
He, it's still so funny.
He was selected as the HR top executive in Germany.
So it proves the point again, treat every person.
I think that's in respect.
I had made-up my mind though.
I've hired a great guy during place made once we fix most things.
15:17
I said I never wanted a job again where I had to cut like that.
I want to don't, don't, don't.
So it was funny when I was there Mary Joy had a very strong opinion that I should take a holiday or something and I said I got to do one more in bid.
15:33
Great one.
I went to Legion and I took her to work.
It was also on for her and I thought that's the future of the world.
We had the number one operating software for systems in the world.
We were the only one that could do cross-platform.
This is 1996.
But your mindset is so different.
15:52
How did they trust you in the beginning?
Yeah, it was very different because they had acquired 3 companies and put it and they were operating with them separately.
And I said I'm going to come in and I'm going to agree them all.
So we're number one in the world.
I told them I'm going to get bigger for operating software than IBM.
16:10
So it was my goal because I always set those goals and work backwards from there.
I do the hardware side backwards with Honeywell and Square D and NCR Square D was the number two operating company in the world from factory automation.
So it was always high technology.
16:27
So a guy named Charles Wang from Computer Associate CA and said I'm going to do a hostile takeover, I'm going to take over the company.
How long had you been there?
For four months, I still remember him saying we thought you were just another guy coming on.
16:44
You're going to get you out of the way because you're going to cause problems for us and I said well I'm not going to do if you do a hostile takeover how build them more because that's not going to work and we ended up reaching the agreement was so funny. Three things no price increase to customers for two years, golden parachutes for every one of our employees and Legion which if you cut them if computer associates cut them. they get in yours salary and bonus and no integration at the expensive customers on any of our existing products with products that aren't that good and they reach we reach agreement with it.
17:21
We're the only operating software company that could do cross platforms.
Yeah.
And so Gerstner was CEO and I know him from when he was AT&T board.
When I was there, Lou called me and he said we want to buy Legion.
17:37
I said that'd be great, but I don't think you're going to be able to because you've got 70% of the market, but I've got 20% of them.
And of course that's what happened.
Then we got approval from the government to merge with CA Computer Associates.
17:53
With that lesson to me was customers, employees and shareholders first.
Every company with the exception of Legion and I was able to make it work. 
that one I wanted to be there for three or four years and I would have made it.
18:09
We'd have been a best operating software company that was ever created.
So that was, to me, a failure against the gold I had.
Yeah.
And that's so it was a great lesson for me though, because I realized if I was tough enough with the negotiation, I could take care of the customers, I could take care of my people, and I could take care of the shareholders, even though I didn't like doing what I had to do because I owe all of them that 

Mary Joy could tell you by September, it was over done, closed, and I had people coming for job offers all over the world because of the stuff I'd done.
18:50
But I didn't feel good.
I felt satisfied that I did under the circumstances for the very best I could, but it wasn't where I'd gone.
I had a vision of what that was going to be that I never got to take out.
I ended up being interim Dean of the School of Business at Georgetown for seven months.
19:10
Had you always had this idea to go back to academia?
No, I had done guest lecturing there and the Father, it's a Jesuit school, great one.
The guy that was the Dean at business had pancreatic cancer and he asked me if I'd step in because they just needed someone as an interim.
19:28
He also said, I think you'll help our whole university.
So I stepped in.
I did brown bag lunches for any professors in any of the Georgetown once a week.
And it was a wonderful education for me about two things.
One how warped the mind of how Wilson professors thought corporations were terrible.
19:50
We were CEOs were bad people.

It was a new version of principles and procedures, having to change the way that the people that you worked with thought.
Better said yeah, it was so fun because we owed end up with 80-90 people for lunch and just talked and I learned pretty quick I'd say OK today.
20:11
What something would the world of business do you want to talk about?
So it was really a great experience, but I promised Mary joy because I'd broken promised kind of with Legion that I'd take a year off.
And so we did.
It was just fun being interim Dean and helping people.
20:28
And I also taught a class, an executive MBA class.
That was a great blessing because I had to build the whole thing from scratch.
There was no textbook.
I mean, I had to do a curriculum memory thing.
So it's a great lesson.
I still have 3 or 4 of the people that we're in that class, so I still help 30 years later.
20:48
So I got a call from Mrs Ingram and we were actually in Sweden visiting a friend and her husband had just died.
And the guy that was there as a CEO, they wanted to take the company public and they didn't kind of chip had no, which was true experience.
21:06
So they wanted me to take the job and I did.
But I promised Mary Joy that I wouldn't be a CEO for a year.
So I was a consultant for a couple months and then I took them public as a CEO.
And couple things that were interesting there.
21:23
I wanted to prove to the outside world how much I believed in Ingram Micro because there were an $8 billion company when I took them public.


So I took $1.00 salary and all the rest was stock options.
Are you one of the first people to do that?
I was the first in the fact you can go back and look at New York Times.
21:41
They were in a picture of me with the big Chuck behind me for $1.00 a photo.
When I got there, I knew the technology stuff and what was going to be great, but I was fascinated with distribution and services outside.
I'd still remember going bringing the top 200 together.
22:00
Probably that was September of 96, saying we're doing 8 billion, we're going to be a $30 billion company in four years and here's why and here's what we got to do that future working backwards.
And I think half of them thought I would, maybe 2/3 thought it was crazy.
22:17
And we did.
We did 32 billion in four 4 1/2 year fastest growing Fortune 500 company in history and it was by again by a goal base and then organizing everything where all my energies were helping great people do great things.
22:35
Two critical things happened there.
One Mary Joy fell off our roof here, 25 feet new upper right leg almost died and had five vertebrates fracture.
So I was going back and forth between because she it all happened here, I couldn't travel.
22:53
She had nine different surgeries.
So really most stressful times for me and my wife because she's first, then I was trying to make sure everything was OK with her as well as leading a really fast growing company.
And at work we got it done.
23:10
I was lucky, my youngest brother who was a professor, I was on sabbatical and he came and stayed with Mary Joy so I could do that.
But it changed the way I thought about honestly, business has been 1st and she'd always supported me in a wonderful way.
23:26
Now it was time for business to be second and life supporting her because I almost lost her.
So that's when I met your dad actually, because I'm looking at Ingram Micro and I hear about this guy with right point and I thought I got to put these two together.
23:43
I mean, think what we'll do then.
And that's How I Met him.
I love what he was doing.
I love the thoughts.
Was great to be with him.
And he made clear he didn't want to be the choir.
And he said I've got a big bigger independent.
And I said, well, someday we'll see how that plays out.
24:00
But someday, I think the two bond together only because then you create a machine that nobody in the world's done or ever will do again.
Outside of him, did people you would coach listen to your ideas and trust everything that you said?
No.
And what happened?
The more successful I was publicly, then the more you all went you have one success.
24:21
And so that's what happened.
Made the decision at the 99 and so I found a guy foster a new replacement Ingram Micro for two years and I stayed as non executive chair and then the guy I'd hired could then take over the company.
24:38
So we put that all on place then and I came home.
I stepped down end of December 2000 was here and I, I had been on a lot of public boards and then a private board that I was on TBJ, Tisa Delania group. Tisa called me.
24:55
We were at Thanksgiving actually here in the living lining room and he said, Jerre, I need some help.
I think things are bad at IHS and would you take a look at it?
I said, of course.
So turned out it was bankrupt and I promised Mary Joy wouldn't be CEO.
25:12
So I was executive chair and we had to put that whole thing together.
In the meantime, I was still celebrating because it was so fun.
Ingram Micro did 31 billion.
The euro said they did 30.
They were up, up and away acquisitions.
25:28
I couldn't have been prouder of anything.
It just it was so fun to see it all happen.
The other thing with Ingram Micro was so interesting.
The industry had far more capacity than it needed and so I knew we were number one in the world.
I knew two or three were going to go Bankrupt, maybe 4 actually went bankrupt.
25:49
So it ended up with tech data and us was the two giants and tech data tried to buy a great point and I was hoping don't do that because that wouldn't be good.
Still remember this the day we publicly announced I was going to step down as CEO of Ingram Micro.
26:04
Your dad called me the next day and he said I want you to join our board, and I tucked the world of your dad.
I thought he was a great entrepreneur, very coachable and young guy, but I'd love the way you thought and acted.
So I said, yeah, I'll do that soon as I get things cleaned up and I can do it.
26:20
I said, you got to help me get through all of this.
And that's when I met Bob Metlin because he was the outside counsel.
And we ended up getting rid of most of that for having to rebuild it.
Then we built that board together and of course, I was lead independent director and loved every minute of it because your dad, when I love him as a person.
26:40
But his attributes were in many ways like mine and it was just so fun to see him flourish and see what happened.
Of course, I laughed at the end of the day when he finally sold the Ingram Micro, that was 10 years later.
And so it made all the sense in the world.
26:56
I was on 36 public boards, everyone I was on.
And by the way, a question you asked earlier, was there places that just didn't have the right values?
Six of those I left because again, I had learned a lesson.
Don't waste your time on ones that aren't working.
Spend your energy on the ones that do.
27:14
And it turned out to be a really good decision on my part by doing that was six of them.
They just didn't have the long term values.
I know we did.
And what was bright point and it's so fun to help your dad with the acquisitions were you know I've done 230 plus acquisitions over my career IHS I did 86 of them and we build a machine that when quit when I took that over, we took IHS public and November of 2005 when we took that public market cap was 835,000,000 while we sold the S&P global was 44 billion, so 835 to 44 billion.
27:55
Great success for robbery Boyd, he continued to be and that was great fun.
And then it was clear to me because of all the experience I've had with the public law, if we're going to take it public with the stigma, as I haven't been a bankrupt company, I've had to be the CEO because my track record showed I did that for NE Thiessen(?) and his family and.
28:20
What were you coming back to after so much success?
Was it the challenge?
You know, I've got 79 people I know of that have been our CEOs that have worked for.
And that's the dream.
That's a dream I've always had to see our values.
28:36
Values like you and I multiply 100 times or so.
And then the next person becomes the coach about making the switch from corporate to focusing on philanthropy.
Philanthropy all the way.
Mary Joy did huge amount of that , but no all the way.
28:52
We gave again investment.
That's a really important part.
Like you said, you took your business principles into your philanthropic giving and focused on investments instead of donations.
The other thing I strong opinion on a lot of nonprofits want the 10 million to put away in the bank and then they use 5% earnings a year.
29:13
Aren't interested here.
I never believed doing that.
I believed in if I'm going to finance you as a nonprofit and your growth, I'll pay every year or what you need so we can make it successful.
It gets the handcuffs off instead of being stuck at a 5% level, maybe you need to be to grow maybe I think 5,000,000 1 year and two million another.
29:37
So that's what I did.
Almost every one of the nonprofits.
I'm a huge believer in that.
Then you've got annual targets, you've got annual performance reviews, and you've got a chance to demonstrate great success and growth in the nonprofit world, just like the for profit.
29:54
Is there one specific philanthropic investment that made an impact beyond what you could have imagined?
It was the University of Iowa, the Stead Scholars and the medical school and provided funding for four scholars each year, the $135,000 a fees and they got three years of that.
30:13
So 400,000 on new projects.
And that's become a model that's used almost every place today.
I was just on last week with the gal that now runs the University of Iowa Hospitals Medical School and research and Denise and I were talking about it because that's changed the game entirely.
30:33
She now can have track for constitution, state of whatever and Iowa said it because the Spitz Scholar program allowed them to do something they maybe never get to do elsewhere.
And then what happened?
Because both of our sons were born Doctor Woo.
30:49
We are very, very dear.
Friend came in as the head of the operation of a medical school and he told me his dream was to build a Children's Hospital there.
Of course, we built the Stead Fund Children's Hospital and that was so exciting one because the kids were born, both sons were born there.
31:08
But more exciting to me was a chance to build something because I'm not a Brexit border guy.
This was different.
This was to create an environment that I've never been there.
Every room, they're big rooms because when your child's really sick, you can move into that room.
31:25
As an example, we did things that somebody never done before that are not followed that way.
Coincidentally, it was spelled looking over the University of Iowa football field and so on the 12th floor the kids got to go every Saturday.
The wave, which has become famous all over the world.
31:43
It's at the end of the first quarter for every homes game, everybody and the players, the coaches, the referees, everybody turns and waves to the kids.
I am got to give a cry.
It's famous all over the world to college.
Two Young ladies wrote to me saying we've got this idea of making the kids feel better doing free work there at the hospital.
32:05
So we were really lucky.
That head football coach who's still there, his wife was the president of the Children's Hospital support organization.
So we talked to her, got put in place.
That was 11 years ago now.
It's famous all over the world.
32:22
And some Big 10 schools, they even do the wave even though they're at Nana I will fail fields, They do the wave to the kids.
So it makes you feel good.
Biggest problem I have this personal issue, but when I go up there, I feel 70% of these kids have cancer.
32:41
It's so hard for me because I want, I want them all to beg successful and it breaks my heart.
But we're doing everything we can to make it better.
But that's the one that has changed the world.
Is that what motivates you to keep giving to medical research 
when you see that?
33:04
That and it's interesting because there's plenty of money being given for cancer, as you know today.
What we've tried to do with that is these University Bible hospitals is an example of sharing all that research and said that you're 1 pharmaceutical on one pharmaceutical and trying to get them to cooperate.
33:25
We've done that better with the fresh truck from Banner Alzheimer's Institute.
We actually have them coordinating.
Do you bring in aspects of your technology background to help guide their future strategy?
Yeah, I have to.
It's a great question. 2 examples.
33:42
When we started Banner Alzheimer's Institute, we had three goals.
One was to find a prevention drug before the end of a generation happens to be next year. 2 was to create the best environment you can possibly create for teaching the patients which have Alzheimer's and their families how to handle it and how to do things.
34:03
So 3 was to force, to have the best of our ability, cooperation with all the pharmaceuticals to beat the drug, beat the disease.
And we've been able to do that now.
I could see it other places we've done.
It's almost the same thing now with the ALS, got total cooperation because when you think about it, it's crazy.
34:23
It's part of the world of capitalism, which is good news and bad news.
In this case, that was bad news because hundreds of millions were being spent on finding a prevention, a cure for all others.
We're now able to actually have two prevention drugs will come out by this time next year because we got them to cooperate and changed the world for the better.
34:44
I was on a plane three years ago coming back from Chicago and a couple were sending across from the inside our jury step and I said God, they were parents and a couple kids and college Children's Hospital and they said you're a legacy.
And I said, well, I hope I'm a living Legos because I got more to get done.
35:03
But that's actually what it's made me think about is if you learn that way to be a legacy, if you want to do it while you're there.
It's your defining goal and you're working on it in a way that's shaped how it's going to help others be successful in the same way.
35:19
It works once a week, every Sunday night just before I go to sleep.
I think one of the three things I got to get done this week, and that's not the job stuff.
It's above and Beyond and then I measure myself against those.
What do you think that entrepreneurs tend to look past or why do you think that they fail?
35:38
Two things a lot of founders have brilliant ideas aren't the kind of leaders that you need to be successful.
Bob Lakin was a great example of both.
There's very few like him.
So what I've learned is that what the founders, if I can help them because they're great, brilliant people, but if I can get in early enough, I can help them by providing the leadership on the business side that improves their chancing 50% are better of being successful.
36:06
Flip side is most of them don't like that.
So that's it.
And I think what happens is I think we have millions of great ideas that are out there and universities and other places because of it, they never get picked up.
And the more we teach the founders, entrepreneurial people that you're brilliant, you're special, great people, but surround yourself with people that will help you do the skill set you don't have.
36:31
And I see that more and more now.
We get incoming startups, probably Tiffany and I probably get 10 a week.
Wow.
And what do you look?
For.
We look for the idea and then the person.
The idea has a glimmer of hope.
Then we look if the person and see because we can build the business, we know how to do that.
36:50
But most importantly is what the entrepreneur does he or she really want to make it happen by not holding it and not being willing to let it.
And a lot of them they don't like, oh, I so want to communicate about great.
37:06
Brilliant entrepreneurs have to trust, have the trust that they're going to find people that help them be successful.
And I see the reluctance to let go with things and it's a real valve for versus what it could be.
If I can get there and talk to them and demonstrate again, here's all the things we've done and here's how they're successful, let me help you, then we can do it.
37:30
Do you think outside medical innovation and focusing back on technology, the best course of action for entrepreneurs today is to go all in on AI?
And the fact the better as a tool, the more the better of all the technology stuff.
I think of what I've lived through.
37:46
I mean, I've lived through three generations of technology.
Everyone I thought was more exciting than before.
This is by far, the biggest breakthrough I've seen and it's different major technology changes by like this one's like this.
It's the most exciting thing I've ever seen.
38:04
And the more people can embrace it as a positive tool to help make things better.
It's so critical.
Like I said, I've never seen equivalent this one.
If you think about the root laws way back to semiconductors and how they got started and where they are today and how they speed up, that's nothing compared to what's happening today.
38:25
I love what you said and I think that's a great place to end it.
Rather than framing it as fear or anxiety of the future.
It really is an opportunity for growth in a way that we could have never imagined before.
And again, does it with the speed that we've never had before.
So critical.
38:41
And that's why I always push.
Never more than three things at once.
Set three goals and stick to it.
Thank you, this has been a wealthy.
Just sooner.
It's happy to see you check.
So proud of you.
Thank you.