Persistence Pays Off

Great leaders are persistent. They don't take no for an answer. they keep positive pressure on the A Players they want until they get them. From the first sourcing call to the last sales call, they never let up.

Example

John Howard, the CEO of BSMB, told his own story about a famous dealmaker who purchased a consumer products company. It is another wonderful illustration about how the persistent pursuit of A Players can pay off. Howard began by describing how the dealmaker approached a newly acquired property that was quickly going downhill ー a disaster. He knew he had to change management and try to figure out how to get the best guy in the industry. He identified the number two guy in a good competitor. He romanced him by flying down to meet him one-on-one. He got personal with him. He built a relationship. He wanted him because he was someone who had grown up in the business and the dealmaker knew he could turn around the business quickly. He was the man.

But the question was how to get the guy. The deal maker has a house near where the guy lived, so every time he flew down, he would meet with him. The candidate was making, like, $175K ー I don't know if that is exactly right ー and the dealmaker kept offering more and more and more money. He had offered more than double what the candidate was making, but the guy was still reticent. He was a small-town guy and was intimidated by New York. While he'd never graduated from high school, he was the smartest guy I had ever met. The dealmaker kept after him, and more and more the guy's wife came up as a reason for not coming on board, but it was not clear if it was real or an excuse. The dealmaker finally asked him to come to New York with his wife. By this time, the dealmaker had offered three or four times the guys present salary. He flies him up in his private plane. He takes them to a fancy co-op overlooking the river. He has this penthouse on top, and he took them up and said, this is where you would live, care of the company. This would be taken care of. Everything was windows all around, and all you are seeing is New York. Everything is glowing. It's possible the dealmaker waited until night to make the view even better than during the day.

Then they go downstairs and there is a Porsche 911. He said this would be your car if you came to this company. Then they go out to dinner at the fanciest French restaurant the dealer maker could find, which he knew they would like because he knew the CEO candidate and his wife were foodies he has this big box on the table and says to the CEO candidate's wife, I know you were concerned about New York and how it can be cold in the winter. He takes a chinchilla coat out of the box and says, you can keep this. Whatever you decide, this is my gift to you. He finally got up to like $850K in salary, plus the apartment and the car and the coat, and the candidate accepted. Within one year, he had totally turned around the company. The reason I know this was because we bought the company from the dealmaker a few years later and delivered him a great return. We also made a great return on our investment. We held the company for four years and made 20 times our money in that time. The moral of the story, Howard told us, is this, you've got to do whatever it takes when you were sure you have identified the right person. You do whatever you can. You might not be hiring out of level that justifies a penthouse or a new car. But at any level, persistence pays off.

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