Walsh X Talk - DBA Candidate Christopher Naidoo
Summary
TLDRThe speaker draws inspiration from Theodore Roosevelt's 'Man in the Arena' speech, emphasizing the importance of resilience and adaptability in entrepreneurship. Through personal anecdotes, the narrative illustrates the challenges faced during the 2008 financial crisis, the strategic pivot into LED lighting, and the necessity of a Plan B. Lessons learned include the need for empathy, the importance of making calculated bets, and the power of resilience in overcoming setbacks.
Takeaways
- 🏋️♂️ Persistence in the face of adversity is crucial for success. The speaker emphasizes the importance of continuing to strive despite setbacks and failures.
- 💡 Entrepreneurs must be willing to take risks and embrace change to keep their businesses relevant and growing.
- 🔄 Pivoting is essential for survival in business. The speaker shares personal experiences of adapting to new circumstances to avoid stagnation.
- 🏭 The 2008 financial crisis had a significant impact on the automotive industry, leading to a drastic drop in sales and forcing the speaker to rethink their business strategy.
- 💡 Innovation and diversification can help businesses survive economic downturns. The speaker transitioned into the LED lighting business during the 2008 crisis.
- 🛠️ Having a Plan B is vital for resilience in business. The speaker highlights the importance of having backup plans to mitigate risks and failures.
- 🔄 The need to pivot again in 2016 when the industry shifted towards onshoring, leading to the establishment of a new factory in Michigan.
- 🏗️ The importance of strategic planning and foresight in business expansion, as demonstrated by the speaker's acquisition of a neighboring property for future growth.
- 🔧 The harsh reality of business is that even with the best planning and execution, external factors can still lead to failure, as seen with the speaker's decision to shut down the Michigan factory.
- 🌐 The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, requiring businesses to prioritize employee safety and adapt quickly to new working conditions.
- 👨👩👧👦 Empathy and support for employees during crises can strengthen a company's culture and resilience, as the speaker did by providing resources and support during the pandemic.
- 🎯 The value of making strategic bets on growing industries, as the speaker did by investing in a South Korean company that saw significant growth.
Q & A
What was the main theme of Theodore Roosevelt's speech mentioned in the script?
-The main theme of Theodore Roosevelt's speech was the importance of striving and taking risks in the face of challenges, rather than being a critic or avoiding failure.
What does the speaker suggest is essential for an entrepreneur to do in order to keep their business growing and relevant?
-The speaker suggests that entrepreneurs must embrace change, think of new ideas, and be willing to take risks by constantly pivoting and trying new things to ensure business growth and relevance.
What major event impacted the speaker's business in 2008?
-The major event that impacted the speaker's business in 2008 was the financial crisis, which led to a significant drop in sales and the bankruptcy of major automotive companies like General Motors and Chrysler.
How did the speaker respond to the financial crisis in 2008?
-The speaker responded by cutting work hours and days, focusing on practical measures to survive, and pivoting to a new business in the LED lighting industry to diversify and reduce reliance on the automotive industry.
What was the speaker's strategy when facing the decline of the LED lighting business in 2016?
-The speaker's strategy was to seek advice from a board of advisers, who suggested focusing on one business at a time. This led to the decision to shut down the dream plant and develop a plan B from the beginning.
What was the speaker's approach to building a new factory in Michigan in 2016?
-The speaker's approach included researching the risks, investing in state-of-the-art equipment, hiring seasoned sales staff, and even purchasing the neighboring property to position for future growth.
What challenges did the speaker face when trying to attract customers to the new Michigan factory?
-The challenges included a lack of customers willing to be the first to use the new facility, despite its modern and clean appearance, and the need to increase the win rate to sustain the business.
How did the speaker handle the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020?
-The speaker ensured the safety of employees by providing masks and sanitizers, pivoted IT infrastructure for remote work, continued shipping as an essential supplier, and adopted safety protocols for those who needed to work in the office.
What measures did the speaker take to support employees during the COVID-19 pandemic?
-The speaker allowed mothers to stay home with their children, provided meals to employees' homes, and prioritized the well-being of families, which ultimately made the company a stronger employer.
What was the outcome of the speaker's investment in a growing company in South Korea in 2019?
-The outcome was positive, as the business increased more than five times in three years, demonstrating the speaker's resilience and ability to take risks.
How does the speaker describe their resilience and ability to overcome setbacks and failures?
-The speaker describes their resilience as a result of learning from failures and using them to strengthen their resolve, ensuring survival and the ability to continue taking risks and facing challenges.
Outlines
🏋️♂️ Embracing Challenges in Entrepreneurship
The speaker begins by quoting Theodore Roosevelt, emphasizing the importance of striving and taking risks in the face of challenges, rather than merely criticizing or pointing out failures. This sets the stage for the theme of resilience in entrepreneurship. The speaker shares personal experiences, starting with the 2008 financial crisis, which forced a pivot in business strategy. Despite initial success, the crisis led to a significant drop in sales and the need for immediate and drastic measures, such as cutting work hours and days. The speaker also discusses the importance of having a backup plan, as demonstrated by the decision to enter the LED lighting business during the crisis, which helped the company survive and adapt.
🛠️ Pivoting to Survive: Lessons from Business Setbacks
In this paragraph, the speaker recounts the story of opening a new factory in Michigan, which initially seemed like a strategic move but later faced challenges due to a lack of customers. Despite investing heavily in state-of-the-art equipment and a skilled workforce, the business struggled to attract clients. The speaker learned the hard way about the importance of having a Plan B, which in this case involved selling the factory to a customer who needed a new site after a fire. This experience reinforced the lesson of resilience and the need to be adaptable in the face of business setbacks.
🌐 Global Adaptation and Empathy in Crisis Management
The speaker discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business, highlighting the importance of empathy and proactive measures to ensure employee safety and business continuity. By pivoting IT infrastructure to enable remote work and maintaining essential operations, the company was able to weather the storm. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of supporting employees during this time, including providing meals and allowing flexibility for parents. This approach not only helped the company survive but also strengthened its position as an employer.
🚀 Resilience and Growth through Strategic Risk-Taking
In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on the importance of resilience and strategic risk-taking in business. Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks, the speaker remained committed to growth and innovation. A key example is the investment in a South Korean company, which paid off significantly over three years. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the role of resilience in leadership, using failures as a means to build strength and prepare for future challenges.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Critic
💡Man in the Arena
💡Resilience
💡Pivot
💡Risk
💡Emotional Armor
💡LED Lighting
💡Offshoring and Onshoring
💡COVID-19
💡Empathy
💡Plan B
Highlights
Theodore Roosevelt's famous 'Man in the Arena' speech emphasizes the importance of striving and taking risks, rather than just criticizing or pointing out failures.
Entrepreneurs must constantly embrace change, think of new ideas, and take risks to keep their businesses growing and relevant.
In 2008, the speaker's business faced a major challenge when the financial crisis led to a significant drop in car sales, impacting their automotive industry.
The speaker had to pivot their business by cutting costs and exploring new opportunities, such as entering the LED lighting industry, to survive during the crisis.
Having a Plan B is crucial for business resilience, as demonstrated by the speaker's decision to shut down their dream plant when it was no longer viable.
In 2016, the speaker took the risk of opening a new factory in Michigan to meet the industry's demand for local suppliers, despite the challenges.
The importance of having a strong advisory team was highlighted when they helped the speaker make the difficult decision to shut down the struggling factory.
Empathy and prioritizing employee well-being were key during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the speaker ensured safety measures and support for their team.
The speaker's business was able to pivot again during the pandemic, adapting their IT infrastructure for remote work and continuing to operate as an essential supplier.
Investing in a growing company in South Korea in 2019 allowed the speaker's business to diversify and grow, despite setbacks in their core industry.
Resilience is a key trait for leaders, as demonstrated by the speaker's ability to bounce back from failures and continue striving for success.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of not giving up, even when faced with numerous challenges and setbacks throughout their career.
Building emotional and business resilience is crucial for long-term success, as it enables leaders to withstand and recover from difficulties.
The speaker shares their personal story of resilience, highlighting the lessons learned from various challenges and failures in their entrepreneurial journey.
Adapting to change and being willing to pivot are essential for businesses to survive and thrive in a constantly evolving market.
The speaker's experiences underscore the importance of taking calculated risks and being prepared to pivot when necessary to ensure business survival.
Transcripts
on April 23rd
1910 in saborn Paris Theodore Roosevelt
said it is not the critic who counts nor
the man who points out how the strong
man
stumbles or where the do of Deeds could
have done them better the credit belongs
to the man who actually in the arena
whose face is marred by dust and sweat
and blood who strives valiantly who HS
who comes up short again and again
because there's no effort without error
and
shortcoming but who does strives to do
the deeds and who knows great
enthusiasms the great devotions who
spends himself in a worthy
cause who at best knows in the end the
Triumph of high achievement and who at
worst if he fails at least fails while
daring greatly so that his place shall
be neither with those cold and tumid
Souls who know neither Victory nor
defeat as an entrepreneur you face daily
challenges it is not for the faint of
heart each day you must Embrace and you
must think of new ideas just to keep the
business growing and for it to remain
relevant for the next few years you must
get into the arena you have to
constantly pivot and try new things or
you face the risk of decline there's no
guarantee that those risks will be
successful using your gut and your
appetite for risks you keep trying and
you get into the
arena daily you are delivered a blow or
you ride high on a
pedestal however what is important is
how you deal with those blows do you let
those blows your armor or do you
use those blows to strengthen that armor
making you battle ready and more vital
for the next attack how do you build
this emotional and business
resilience here is my
story lesson number one pivot or perish
in 2008 5 years after I had started my
business I ran out of space I was in a
high I was thinking what could go wrong
business was
booming I needed a bigger space so I
contacted an agent and spent many happy
hours scouting for new
locations finally I found the perfect
space and I signed the leas
and I was positioned for growth I was
ready for the next era in my
entrepreneurial
Journey however a few months later we
started hearing about trouble on Wall
Street Layman Brothers banks financial
institutions and companies we had never
ever heard of all started failing
companies were declaring bankruptcy and
people were defaulting on their
mortgages would it hit us in the midwest
more importantly how would it affect my
business
our automotive industry which I just was
5 years
into with anxious days we waited and
then we started to see the trickle down
effect cars were not selling General
Motors and krysler were going into
bankruptcy settled with Legacy costs and
high pension obligations they needed a
bailout the industry was too big to fail
what did it mean for us what did it mean
for my staff how will ever get
paid how do we manage a 75% drop in
sales I didn't know what to do I needed
a board to advise me or someone I could
call on but neighbors and friends were
all losing their jobs and they were
defaulting on their mortgages Banks were
jittery and they wanted out of the
industry our bank just announced that
they wanted to leave the manufacturing
industry what do I do in my mind I said
I left to parted in South Africa and I
could always return home and start
fresh with this fresh mindset it freed
me from the shackles of focusing on loss
it allowed me to think about growth we
immediately started with practical
things that we could do things like
cutting work hours cutting days and
fortunately we were classed as a
critical supplier so we were guaranteed
to be paid by our bankrupt
customer then I started getting to grow
mode and I started thinking what can I
do to Pivot how can I start a new
business oil at that time was $145 a
barrel and the US was going to war to
protect itself in the Middle
East what could I do to take advantage
of this I knew I wouldn't be a Pioneer
but I'll be at the bottom of the growth
curve I'd already knew how to take
advantage of the global system and was
able to buy stuff from Farr countries so
using this knowledge I decided to get
into the LED lighting business this new
technology promised 75 to 80% Energy
savings if only every household would
adopt this we would lose our dependence
on foreign fossil fuel lo and behold I
started a new business amidst this
crisis this ensured that we were yet to
survive another day and we were not
heavily reliant on one
industry after the government bail out
the industry started to slowly come back
and sales were increasing and the new
business that I had started was starting
to make some sales thankfully aided by
some of my MBA classmates whom I had
hired to work for me my armor was batted
and Tor but I survived to see yet
another
day lesson number two always have a plan
B in 2016 after offshoring for many
years the industry decided that it
wanted its suppliers to onshore and
build in America I researched the risk I
measured the upside and decided it makes
sense for us to put a factory in
Michigan I was fortunate enough to find
a factory that needed a little bit of
TLC and I was able to buy it at a
relatively good price I pumped in a
massive amount of money to make this
into a state-of-the-art facility
everyone who visited was mesmerized by
its modernness modernness and clean look
I even thought ahead and went ahead and
bought the neighboring property I was
positioning myself for growth I did all
the right things I had seasoned sales
stuff bought the latest and greatest
Capital Equipment and one had one of the
best Factory
managers however more was needed to
attract new customers everyone who came
in loved the place but no one wanted to
be the first customer we coded and we
coded and our win rate wasn't sufficient
to stop the bleeding I was sinking large
amounts of money into this facility and
at the same time this new lighting
business that I started in 08 was also
starting to
falter we needed to catch up the
lighting demands and changes however
this time fortunately I had a great set
of advisers and they sat me down one day
and they said to me very candidly son
you cannot sit on two toilets at the
same time the message while painful was
clear and loud to me I needed to stop
the bleeding and shut down my dream
plant fortunately when I made the
facility when I bought the facility I
also looked at what I could do in case
this business failed in other words I
had developed a plan B from the
beginning once I made the decision to
shut down the Plant I quickly made the
announcement it takes a lot of work to
sell a large industrial facility however
as Lu with Havard one of our customers
that very night had a fire in their
plant and needed a new site to move into
within a month they would move in and
they would maintain the staff that I had
hired my armor and this time my ego was
dented but not pierced I was starting to
strengthen my
resilience lesson number three empathy
first in January 2020 new of the
pandemic called covid-19 started
trickling in the USA reported its first
case of Novel Corona virus 19 we were
never prepared nor could could we
predict the full impact of this pandemic
in March
2020 the US started to shut down its
economy shuttering businesses and
telling all non-essential workers to
stay at home to Halt the spread of
Corona virus sales ground to a halt new
cars were not not being produced what do
we do this seem like 2008 all over
again the first thing we did was we had
to ensure the safety of our employees
and their families so we got large
stocks of masks and sanitizers and made
these available to our team we then
pivoted our it infrastructure to ensure
their employees could work from home and
once again fortunately we were labeled
as an essential Supply so we had to
continue
shipping this ensured that we still had
revenue and it also meant that some of
our employees needed to work in the
office so we adopted safety protocols we
ensure that mothers could stay at home
and be with their kids during covid-19
school year we also had meals shipped to
our employees homes for those who didn't
have access to food we put Families
First and during the pandemic which
ultimately made us a stronger employer
this time I was better prepared to deal
with this catastrophe we turned lemons
into
lemonade lesson number four always make
bets after stumbling and falling a few
times in 2019 we pivoted again I was not
afraid to take risk this time
recognizing a decline in our industry we
invested in a growing company in South
Korea with good for Fortune this
business over 3 years increased more
than five
times without resilience we could have
given up multiple times and would never
have enjoyed the success that we have
today despite setbacks and failures we
did not give up today drive any Korean
vehicle and chances are you'll find a
product which we
manufacture throughout my career I had
many chances to give up I was
bruised battered defeated deterred
disappointed despondent and
disillusioned I could have packed up and
given up at any time however the
resilience that I had built up over the
years and the lessons that I had learned
from my failures strengthened me for the
storms failure was not in my vocabulary
Reser I was my armor was beaten but
never pierced we as leaders should use
failures to cultivate our
resilience this will ensure that we
survive another day just so that we can
get back into the ring thank you
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