george grombacher 0:00
Come on. Strong the powerful Mitzi Perdue has returned to life blood. Welcome back, Mitzi.

Unknown Speaker 0:17
Oh, what a joy to be back. I love this.

george grombacher 0:19
So excited to have you back on is a business woman. She is an author, a Master, master storyteller, a speaker, philanthropist. Her father was the co founder of Sheraton hotels, really, her late husband was Frank Perdue of Peru farms. She is an expert on helping people to make their family businesses last. Mitzi tell us a little about your personal life’s more about your work and why you do what you do.

Mitzi Perdue 0:44
why I do what I do, I can’t help myself. No, but I’ll give a more serious answer to that. I got really influenced by a biblical story of the talents. And basically that we, if you can’t, we should, how to put this the good that we can do, we must do. And that and that if you have some talents, you really ought to use them.

Unknown Speaker 1:12
That’s that is a one of my favorite sayings is is is along those lines. It’s it’s what I can be I must be that’s essentially the same thing. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 1:23
I mean, actually, my wish for humanity should everybody gets to be all that they can be. Because I think they’re in launch happiness. I think people are happier if they’re contributing. And, and part of happiness is using your skills at their highest level.

Unknown Speaker 1:40
Using our skills at our highest level.

Unknown Speaker 1:44
And by the way, that doesn’t happen all the time. But when it does, it’s great.

Unknown Speaker 1:48
That’s that’s sort of thinking, right? It’s it’s difficult. Why is that difficult to figure out? Do you think?

Unknown Speaker 1:57
How? I think an awful lot depends on luck. But then I’m also in favor of putting yourself in the way of luck. And I just finished a book, which it will come out probably in 10, for Christmas. But it has to do with putting yourself in the way of luck.

Unknown Speaker 2:14
So tell me a little bit about that.

Unknown Speaker 2:17
Thank you, I was just itching for you to know, I’ve just been writing a book and it’s been accepted I, you know, like maybe 80 seconds before coming on your show, I pressed click to send the information for the back cover of it. So that’s how hot off the press. It is nice. But it’s a it’s about Frank Perdue and things that I got to watch up close and personal of how he achieved success. And the conclusion, I’ll tell you, I mean, you don’t even have to read the book. Here’s the bottom line of the whole thing, except you do have to read the book. Know that the bottom line of my analysis as fresh produce widow, the chicken men was it he developed a tremendous talent stack, he learned to do each each part of the talent stack was probably pretty easy to do. But when you put them all together, it meant that he grew a company from no employees to 20,000 employees. And he built a fortune 500 sized company. And he did it not because he was extraordinarily outstanding in any one thing. But when you put together all the averages of a party didn’t do it, it helped create success on a spectacular scale.

Unknown Speaker 3:46
What was it about about Frank that allowed him or forced him or drove him to, to stack talent.

Unknown Speaker 3:57
I think I think I invented the word but it probably exists elsewhere, it’s called informed before. And that means where you devour knowledge. And by the way, listening to podcasts would certainly be something that he would have endorsed. He always felt that one good idea can change your life. And if you have a whole assortment of good ideas, it can take you farther than you ever dreamed. And yet some of the things that I write about in in my book on his on his success was like here’s one that absolutely everybody can do. And in theory, it’s easy, except that I try it all the time and I flunk right and left. But nevertheless, here’s what it is. I used to notice, yeah, during our entire marriage, that he would listen 90% of the time and top 10% of the time. And there are huge advantages of that because you’re gonna learn a lot and you’re gonna make If the other person feel important, and the more knowledge you have, the better decisions you can make. So I endorse for absolutely everybody. Listen much more than you speak. And either way had listened to people at all levels. I mean, he could be listening to a college intern, or the President of the United States. He was saying, and when he was listening, it was full on 100% listening, it wasn’t just what am I going to say next? No, if you’re the entire focus of his universe, at the time that he was talking to you, or with you, to you, with you.

Unknown Speaker 5:41
Over I think that our undivided attention is one of the greatest gifts that we can give another human being. And it sounds like sounds like Frank was excellent.

Unknown Speaker 5:52
Yeah, I used to notice that. I mean, it was as if he was enveloping you in a forcefield of his positive attention. And I think that would be extremely motivating for person because it makes you feel important when somebody is listening to you. I mean, it was it was just a great skill to have. And as I said, I flunk right and left by try.

Unknown Speaker 6:17
Damn, well, amen to that. And that’s probably talking about put yourself in the way of luck. It’s not going to work out for you a lot of the time, maybe it’s only going to work out a small percentage of the time, but consistently doing it, then you’re positioning yourself for that potential success and luck.

Unknown Speaker 6:35
Yep, you know, another thing that he was just really good at was, give make people feel important. And part of that importance, you know, comes from listening. But you know, another thing that he did, which I recommend everybody he was for the people who worked with him, and they were 20,000, at the end of his days, for the people who worked for him, or worked with him as he would put it. But at every level, if somebody was critical or had negative information, you have stuff that he probably wouldn’t want to hear. Those were the people he listened to most. And the people who advanced farthest in the company, were the ones who would resist him or give him bad news. Because he had no use for Yes, men. if, if, if you wanted to get ahead with Frank, be real, be honest. And what he was good at was listening to when somebody would tell him, you know, an unpleasant truth. He was just plain good at that. And I think it’s such a danger for people to listen only to the things that they want to hear you I think you’re much closer to making reality based decisions, if you’re really good at hearing the people who disagree with you.

Unknown Speaker 7:54
And I certainly I agree with that. And whether it’s true or not my perception right now with what’s going on in the country and around the world is that I’m only interested in hearing the things that I’m interested in hearing and then seeking out the information that confirms what I already believe in think, how would you

Unknown Speaker 8:13
respond to that? Because that was also something that is Frank’s widow would know that number be? Sweet? No, that’s and we’re talking probably decades ago, where there was a politician that I just absolutely couldn’t bear and would hit Come on the screen. My instinct was to run away so I wouldn’t have to hear this awful person breaks reaction was you shouldn’t be voting unless you listen to both sides. You know, as as a citizen, you have to hear both sides. And I’ve noticed now both in what he had listened to on the air, but also the newspapers he read, it would be exposing all sides. And yeah, that’s something that I aspire to. And again, I flunk right and left, because I think I’m as guilty as anybody you could name of wanting to hear this stuff that makes me feel good, and that agrees with my worldview. But I think he was probably a lot closer to reality, which means you make better decisions than the person who all hears one side.

Unknown Speaker 9:19
We all have the same amount of of time, obviously in a day. And I like to think about or I think, a good amount about how to be a good steward of our time and our attention. And I imagine that Frank was isn’t was was excellent at those.

Unknown Speaker 9:41
Yes, but something else about Frank again, that is his wite out. No, he had a different relationship with time from the rest of the world as far as I can tell. Because I’ll give you just one example of, of how I wouldn’t be surprised if there are many people in the world who Somebody could honestly tell this story about. I used to notice that say when we had an appointment of some sort. Yeah, he would be there pretty much to the second. In fact, since I’m kind of, I’m really big on being trying to be prompt. So that part wasn’t surprising. But here’s a story that just absolutely rings true. It’s not my story. It’s a guy who’s a trucker. And this guy had a meeting with frac. The guy was at the office headquarters. And Frank called him to say, I’ll be there in seven minutes and 30 seconds. The trucker told Frank’s executive assistant yet he’s kidding this. Nobody’s accurate to the second. And Elaine Barnes said, No, you’ll see, he will walk through the door, seven minutes and 30 seconds from now. And lo and behold, seven minutes and 30 seconds. Frank walks through the door. Tell me if there’s anybody who calibrates their time to the second, or at least to the 32nd.

Unknown Speaker 11:03
I don’t think that I know anyone. So what’s what’s what’s the trick slash secret?

Unknown Speaker 11:10
Oh, I’m not trying to tell the what I guess what I’m going to say is that, that he valued time, more precisely, and I think got more out of the 24 hours than most people do, because he was calibrating it, you know, to, to half to half a minute, at 30 seconds. That’s, but that was absolutely consistent with him our whole life together. And I think, you know, if I weren’t fairly conscientious about time, we couldn’t have had a happy marriage, because time was just so important to him.

Unknown Speaker 11:48
Oh, interesting, right. I read about how how the average human being, their mind wanders half the time. And so if you feel like you don’t have enough time in the day, well, maybe just dig into the time you actually do have and be a little bit more cognizant of what you’re thinking about and and how you’re spending happen.

Unknown Speaker 12:07
Oh, I can shame responses. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 12:15
All right. So from zero to 20,000 employees to fortune, hundreds of companies. Being being real, being honest, being an excellent listener, being somebody who really appreciated and valued his time precisely. What are some of the other big takeaways?

Unknown Speaker 12:36
Well, if you had asked him the secret of his success, yeah, one of the things he just tell you right off is, it’s not me. It’s the people who who I work with that I’m blessed to be surrounded by smart, brilliant, hardworking people. But to my mind, that raises the question, well, what did you do to influence them to want to go the extra mile for you and stay with you for life, which generally they did. And I even listed some things that I saw, that made people feel important, because part of leadership is getting people to see things your way. But it’s a two way street, you have to show them a lot of respect, and value them. And yet one of the things that I noticed he did, and again, I’m going to be saying something that’s Do as I say, not as I do, but because what I’m going to share is it’s something to aspire for, and I try for it, but I sure don’t succeed at Frank’s level, learn people’s names, one would visit a factory. And during the time for marriage, there were 16, processing plants, wherever would go. The number of names he knew was just simply staggering. I bet he knew 1000s and 1000s of names, but even better, it often knows something about the person like now delcious been with us for 32 years, Norton son just got into college, you know, he would call people by name, and it introduced me to them. And it tells me something about them. And you have the amount of mental effort that goes into that kind of memory. I mean, he was naturally gifted at it, but but he’s short used it. And by the way, I noticed that, that Jim Perdue, who now heads the company has that gift also the number of names he knows, is spectacular. And I think I’ve improved over the years watching Frank’s example, because it means so much to people it there’s there’s a quote from a famous psychiatrist from like 120 years ago named William James, William James said, and this is really important. The deepest principle of human nature is the craving for appreciation. And when you showed somebody that you know their name, you’re giving them appreciation. But he He did have the things that would make people feel important and, and valued and treasured. Like something that we did that I thought was just magnificent. And I don’t know of any other company the size of a fortune 500 size company, we had from the beginning of our marriage, the goal of entertaining, every single person who worked for the company, to have them have dinner at our home, would would have them 100 at a time, usually three times a month. And at these at these dinner parties, it was a buffet, Frank would often stand behind the buffet line and serve his employees. I mean, imagine the humility of that, the egalitarian ism of that the you’re important, and I totally value you, and you’re worth my time, if you have a message that would communicate to people. And I’m not guessing, because they would tell me and I even I’ve been at funerals for the next of kin would tell me that one of the most meaningful things in the deceased life was being entertained for dinner at Pratt produce home. Cool,

Unknown Speaker 16:09
amazing stories about human beings who are able to do that, who are able to remember not just a face, but also a name, and then details about the person that That to me is just astonishing. And

Unknown Speaker 16:23
well, but it does take effort. I mean, they’re sure. And he was willing to make that effort.

Unknown Speaker 16:30
Yeah, recognizing what you’ve been talking about is our craving for appreciation, our craving of being recognized and, and wanting that amazing. A what is not a small effort on on on his part, but a smaller effort had potentially this massive impact where people are coming up to you at a funeral and saying, you know, this, this, this small interaction, or coming to dinner was one of the biggest events that that he or she had ever been a part of what a powerful thing.

Unknown Speaker 17:03
Yeah. And we have people from, from throughout the company. I mean, it could be truckers, it could be veterinarians, it could be administrative assistants, I mean, everybody. I mean, it was just so cool. At the end of these dinners, Frank would stand up in front of his employees. And he had tell them what was going on in the company, you know, the good, the bad, and the ugly, you know, that we lost the such and such contract, we gained this such and such contract what it or this genetic research has gone wonderfully. And imagine what it means if you’re an employee, we call them associates. Imagine if you’re an associate and you hear from the big boss, the guy whose name is on your paycheck, the inside stuff of what’s going on in the company. I mean, I think it increases your sense of engagement. And Frank was really good at that.

Unknown Speaker 17:54
Yeah, amen. Well, Betsy, I know that another one of your passions is philanthropy, and you’re working on human trafficking. Tell me a little bit about that.

Unknown Speaker 18:04
Okay, I expect to spend the rest of my days doing everything that’s within my power to help combat human trafficking. The United Nations has set us a goal that by 2030, that we eliminate human trafficking. Well, how do you do it? And I have a somewhat different approach from what I mean, the United Nations recognizes 20,000 organizations that are fighting human trafficking. And I guess I should back up for a second and say, how serious the problem is. There 40 million people who are enslaved today through human trafficking. I mean, it’s just unthinkable it’s more than in at the height of the, at the horrible Atlantic slave trade. Am I talking 200 years ago, there were 15 million people. Today, it’s 40 million people. And it’s the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. Also, how do you fight it? And the organization that I founded, and I hope people, if you’re listening, get a pencil ready, because I want to give you something to text. Our approach is, how do you how do you prevent it to begin with? Well, it’s $150 billion a year industry. And to sort of cut the head off the snake, how can you make it less profitable? And here’s how anti money laundering and money laundering is. I’m going to guess some people aren’t familiar with it, because I sure as heck wasn’t when I first started getting into this. But with money laundering, if you have illegally obtained money, like you’re trafficking for girls in Manhattan, and you’re making a million dollars a year, you can’t spend that cash, you just can’t. You’ll come to the attention of the feds if you spend $10,000 in cash. So you have to launder dirty money and turn it into clean money. And there are a vast number of ways doing that. But anytime you can stop it or slow it down, or as I call it, put sand in the gears, you can make trafficking less attractive as a career. And so that’s what win this fight is doing. And if anybody would like to know more, I’m going to invite them. Thank you, Mr. Ms listener, please text to 55312 text win wi n. So text wi n 255312. And that will take you to my website. And it’s also going to invite you to donate $5 however, you don’t have to, I care more that you come to the website and learn what we’re doing and what you can do. And just the extent of the problem, I care a lot more about that than the $5. On the other hand, sure, like your $5.

Unknown Speaker 21:00
For sure, that is a that is a staggeringly massive problem that I know, too few people are aware of. So I’m certainly grateful for your work.

Unknown Speaker 21:10
Thank you so much.

Unknown Speaker 21:11
Mitzi, thank you so much for coming back on. Where can people pick up a copy of the book? Tell us a little bit about more, more about that, and then give us the give us the way to connect with when this fight again?

Unknown Speaker 21:24
Okay, oh, the book isn’t out yet. But they’re, they’re rushing it because they want it to be available in time for Christmas. So how do I, if you’ll, if you’ll go to win this fight.org it will tell you when the book is out. And and I think, you know, I wrote it to be helpful to people, I want to give people like a shortcut to success. And they’re probably like, I think they’re probably at tips in it. The things that Frank had as part of his top talent stack. And if somebody will do even one of them, they’re gonna be ahead of the game. They do all of them. They’ll be the Frank Perdue, but for how to get hold of me win this fight.org or text, WI n win. 255312

Unknown Speaker 22:17
perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show MIT’s your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to win this fight.org and text win 255312 and donate $5 for goodness sakes. Thanksgiving, Mitzi,

Unknown Speaker 22:36
thank you so much. I’ve loved being your guest. And

Unknown Speaker 22:39
until next time, keep fighting the good fight because we’re all in this together.