In this episode, Dave is excited to welcome friend and longtime mentor, John Mariotti. John is the former President of Huffy Bicycles during some of its most successful years. He also held positons as a group president at Rubbermaid and then Chairman of the Board for World Kitchen before retiring. He is now the president and CEO of the Enterprise Group - an advisory and consulting group to CEOs, Presidents, & C-suite level execs.

John is also a highly published author winning numerous awards including “Top Books for Small Business.” He also contributes regularly to Forbes, Fortune, Industry Week, the Wall Street Journal and many others.

You can learn more about John at www.Mariotti.net

You can also view John’s books at His Book Page on Amazon

John’s story spans over 4 decades of leadership, but it was how he reinvented himself as an entrepreneur at age 53 after being a CEO, President, etc. that is really interesting. We spend time talking about many subjects including the secrets of how to keep your success sustainable and going for decades. John gives his best wisdom and insight across topics from leadership to sales, and building an organization.

One of the most important strategies John shares is the simple secret formula for creating a world class, high performing organization that you can remember with the 5 fingers on your hand. He breaks it down into these things:

1. Quality
2. Speed
3. Service
4. Cost
5. Innovation

John shares many examples of how to implement this strategy.

We also discuss lessons John has learned from some of the greatest business leaders of our time, such as Sam Walton of Walmart, and what it means to “Think big and try small.” John shares his top thoughts on Negotiating, Sales, Managing People, Optimizing an organization’s operations, Service, and Leadership. We also discuss his mentors in life and the lessons learned from them, as well as some of his biggest mistakes and lessons learned.

 

Best Quote:  "Waste nothing.  You only have 3 resources in business - time, talent, and money. Waste none of them.  If a product isn't in the hands of a consumer or client, its useless.  Everything you spend from where its made to where the consumer or client can use it is waste. Eliminate as much as you can of it!"

 

John's Misfit 3

1. People – People are most important to your success, but they do not change and you cannot change them. Make sure you seek out and really make sure you have the right people working with you on your mission. And if you don’t, do them and you a favor, and help them onto something else. Do you have the right people with you on your journey? Is there someone you know should be with you? Get them on board!
2. Priorities – The hardest thing in life is to decide what to work on. You have to work on the right things. For a business or entrepreneur, its Quality, Service, Speed, Cost, and Innovation. What can you do today to improve any one of these areas in your work?
3. Passion - Your passion, enthusiasm, and attitude will directly impact those around you in all areas of your life, give purpose, and directly impact your level of success. Make the decision of how you want to be perceived in your passion and be that person.