Entrepreneurial Leadership
Business Leader, Stan Silverman
The post Entrepreneurial Leadership Listenup Show 033 Stan Silverman on Startup Entrepreneur Podcast first appeared on mitchellchadrow.com
You’re listening to the listen up show podcast show 033 today we’re talking with business leader stand Silverman one effective leadership and entrepreneurship stand Silverman is the former President and Chief Executive officer of PQ Corporation which is
involved in chemicals and engineering class materials and operates in North America South America Europe and AsiaPacific he is vice chairman of the board of trustees at Drexel University a member of the Drexel Close School of entrepreneurship advisory board Stan writes a weekly guest column on effective leadership for the Philadelphia Business Journal he is a former chairman of the board at Drexel University’s College of Medicine
and a former chairman of the soap and detergent Association he has served as a guest lecture on executive leadership at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and at the lebow college of
business of Drexel university where he holds the position of executive in residence friend your business it’s your family if you’re like let’s get started.
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2:30ok we’re here today withstand Silverman
2:32welcome to the listener podcast show
2:35stand it’s it’s great to have you on
2:37it’s great to be here thank you Michael
2:40oh that’s great hey can you can you tell
2:42me about a time where there was actually
2:45poor leadership I mean how are you able
2:47to turn it around and the lessons that
2:49you actually learned from it because i
2:51know that you you have a website on
2:55leadership and that’s what you do and so
2:59if you could tell me a little bit about
3:00maybe a time when you saw poor
3:04leadership and what you did to actually
3:06turn it around and the lessons that you
3:07learned from it that would be that would
3:09be a big help to the audience i think
3:11the most important trade in any leader
3:13is tone at the top and the kind of
3:16culture that leader establishes within
3:19your organization and serve the number
3:21of boards and I’ve seen leaders who are
3:26very very effective and those who are
3:28less so and the other leaders that are
3:30most effective have a very strong tone
3:32at the top and a very strong culture
3:34which sets the direction for the people
3:37below in the organization and basically
3:41sets the course for the company
3:43yeah you know that that tells us a
3:45little bit about you know what good
3:47leadership is but i think just as
3:50instructive as good leadership is it’s
3:53good to be able to sort of you know look
3:56back on a career and and basically point
3:59out maybe sometimes when there was a
4:02struggle with leadership and what had to
4:04be done to basically change it and and
4:08and lessons that were learned from it i
4:10think that would be very instructive as
4:12well let’s take one that has appeared in
4:15news most prominently over the last
4:17couple of months and that’s the
4:18situation Wells Fargo where for the past
4:22five years under John stunk the former
4:25CEO within the consumer banking division
4:28there was a huge number of the huge
4:31amount of pressure when the people
4:33working at the bank branches to create
4:36funny accounts for their customers and
4:40sell the products that they really
4:42didn’t need all to generate fees and
4:46revenue and this 11 in order for quite
4:49some time and finally I it became public
4:53when they were fined I I think upper 286
4:57million dollars and mr. stuff appeared
5:01in front of Congress and he was
5:03ultimately asked to step down by the
5:05board so this one order for quite some
5:08time and I can only imagine how the
5:13people down within the organization felt
5:15when he was making all these great
5:17statements about the term culture within
5:19the the back and in fact i realistically
5:23are actually I it just didn’t exist so
5:26that that was a very very toxic culture
5:28within the bank and they’re going to
5:30have some some issues and some a lot of
5:34work to do to turn the culture and the
5:35turnaround you know it’s really
5:38interesting because I do a lot of
5:39financial services litigation where we
5:43represent class actions and represent
5:46plaintiffs so how do you get how do you
5:48build that leadership culture where you
5:51actually have a high degree of trust and
5:54a true sense of teamwork among and
5:59between you know various departments and
6:01and and teams within a culture
6:04well it starts at the top of the CEO
6:07level and it goes down to the CEOs
6:10direct reports down through the
6:12organization and the leadership just
6:16should not tolerate anyone who violates
6:19the tou
6:20and the culture that set by the CEO and
6:23of course that’s overseen by the board
6:25and the board needs to hold the CEO
6:27accountable not only for financial
6:29results but also pretend at the top and
6:31for culture
6:32I’m I’ve seen a lot of examples in my
6:35career where the financial results they
6:38look very very good but if the tone and
6:40culture isn’t there it’s not sustainable
6:42and that CEO is it was eventually not
6:47going to going to fail and that’s the
6:50will leave and we’ll get somebody else
6:52but you actually get the bloody board
6:55needs to hold the CEO accountable for
6:56culture and for tune you know before we
6:59jump into our next question the startup
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7:29ok now i read here that you were
7:32involved in a family business called PQ
7:35corporation and it was actually a seven
7:38generation company dealing in chemicals
7:41and engineered glass materials and
7:44you’re actually the former chairman of
7:46the soap and detergent association so
7:49can you can you tell us a little bit
7:51about that personal story with with both
7:55of those organizations
7:57yes certainly I’m I’ve been very
7:59fortunate in my career and I was given a
8:01lot of opportunity to do things which
8:04are new and different and which helped
8:08the company i try to differentiate
8:09myself
8:10these are the what I brought to my job
8:13into the company always trying to
8:14improve
8:15and that was recognized by management
8:18and i was promoted fairly quickly up
8:20through the ranks when i joined the
8:22company i never intended to stay there
8:24but I kept on getting promoted and going
8:27to cut them take me more money so
8:29eventually I was made president of our
8:31Canadian cessary outside of the in
8:35Toronto and three years later I came
8:38back to corporate headquarters as the
8:40president of industrial chemicals and
8:43then make CEO shorts or sea ice or ice
8:45co short time after that so I had a very
8:49very interesting and satisfying
8:51rewarding career at PQ corporation you
8:55know a lot of the entrepreneurs were for
8:59startups or people that are trying to
9:01start something new are trying to come
9:04up with that business idea and when i
9:08take a look at what PQ corporation was
9:10involved with chemicals and engineer
9:12glass and you know being involved with
9:15soap and detergent you know it’s kind of
9:19like how do they come up with good ideas
9:22and and sometimes things that you
9:25wouldn’t necessarily think of can be you
9:28know some of your best ideas I mean it
9:30could be styrofoam that could be paper
9:32products one of our guests was a
9:34manufacturer of envelopes so can you can
9:38you talk to some of the entrepreneurs
9:40out there that are deciding to sort of
9:43get involved but maybe they just can’t
9:45quite come up with that business idea
9:47and talk to them a little bit about how
9:50there might be things you know that they
9:52can sort of do that you know could be is
9:56as basic as soap
9:58well we didn’t make so we made the
10:01ingredients for soap we sold our
10:04products to proctor and gamble too
10:06clever to Colgate and all the surfers
10:09and then fix that make detergent
10:12for the consumer and for the industrial
10:15market and the way you ideas come from
10:18everywhere they don’t come from the
10:20largest the lab will come from just the
10:22people in development they come from
10:24customers our sales reps or
10:27developmental people were trained to
10:29speak with our customers about what they
10:31saw coming down the pike with respect to
10:33the needs of the industry and what the
10:35next trends would be we worked very very
10:39hard to translate that into products and
10:43into ideas and i can i can speak of one
10:47very very successful initiative which
10:50did not involve the industry of all the
10:52cattle industry we produced a product
10:55called the sodium aluminum silicate
10:58which was a type of detergent feel like
11:00they replace phosphates in all the boxes
11:04of tide and various products like that
11:06and there was a need to use for
11:09catalytic see lights in addition to
11:11detergency like so we spent quite a time
11:15in our laboratory developing catalytic
11:18type z light switch or adventure we
11:20shall chemical run number of refineries
11:24all over the world and our first product
11:26was a hydro cracking catalyst that we
11:28tested out in the shell refineries and
11:32then we got efficacy data we went to the
11:35merchant market place and we became a
11:39very very strong supplier of catalytic
11:43z-lite worldwide in that in that market
11:46which was very very beneficial to to the
11:49company into shell that to adventure is
11:51very successful working together with
11:53with a partner
11:54neither of us could have developed the
11:56product individually but together we we
12:00made a great partnership and we’re very
12:02very strong and in that market so it’s
12:06learning how to not only create teamwork
12:08within the team with inside the company
12:10but also partnerships and joint ventures
12:14and and knowing how to deal with other
12:16companies outside your organization you
12:19know a lot of the entrepreneurs that we
12:21work with are focused here in the United
12:24aight and from what I heard from you as
12:25you were involved up in Canada I know
12:27that PQ had operations you know outside
12:31the united states as well as Africa and
12:34South America can you talk to us a
12:36little bit about your dealings
12:37internationally because i think you know
12:40that that’s that that’s quite
12:41interesting to to our audience to to
12:43learn more about sure absolutely
12:46uh today PQ operates in 19 countries
12:49with approximately 55 point locations
12:52around the world when i joined the
12:54company we operated just three companies
12:56three countries the u.s. common in
12:58Mexico and over the years we built out
13:02our presence across the globe what we
13:06have a very very good name that well
13:09recognized many people who want to buy
13:10from us and partner with us and that
13:13opened up opportunities for us to grow
13:16internationally to add product lines and
13:19so that’s exactly what we did and today
13:22to be a top competitor in your in your
13:27space you need to be almost global for
13:29the kind of businesses we were in that’s
13:32not necessarily true for a bunch of the
13:34doors developing products today but
13:36within your geographic locality but for
13:40us it was absolutely necessary control
13:42because the companies we were competing
13:43with our global and our customers were
13:46global so in other words you know if
13:49you’re supplying them and us your
13:50comments that they would say well can
13:51you supply us in in Thailand and
13:54supplies in in japan and korea and can
13:58you supply the South America Mexico and
14:00that’s what we did
14:02so it was necessary for us to go global
14:04I not only because of the opportunity I
14:07to to establish ourselves around the
14:10world but also because our customers
14:12required us to do that in our
14:15competitors were doing the same thing he
14:17and and tell us a little bit about the I
14:21mean obviously this is a family business
14:22and when we say it goes back seven
14:25generations can you can you talk to us a
14:27little bit about that because you know
14:31no businesses come in all shapes and
14:33sizes summer public summer private
14:35summer summer generational like this one
14:38and I think you know it’s quite unique
14:42especially how large it’s become over
14:45over the generations can you can you
14:48talk to us about the family company from
14:50their shirt first of all I didn’t
14:52operate like a family company we were
14:54all professional I we had a role that
14:57was put in place by family members by
15:01the senior family members back in the
15:03seventies that no employee I’m sorry no
15:07family member would be an employee of
15:08the company
15:09I that the only representative
15:11representatives of the family would be
15:13with serve on the board and they did
15:16that because if you’re competing against
15:19the best in the world you have to
15:21attract talent that’s the best in the
15:23world and sometimes it’s difficult to
15:26attract the best talent in the world if
15:28they feel that they’re not going to a
15:30level playing field for from the
15:34promotional opportunities because the
15:36family members so we chose or i should
15:38say we but the the owners chose to go
15:42completely / professional and that’s
15:46what we did we had a very professional
15:47boy we operate in a board just like you
15:49were doing a public company except we
15:51didn’t have the reporting requirements
15:52that public company would have but we we
15:56operated very very close to two to a
16:00public company type structure in terms
16:03of how we operated ar-ar-ar plants how
16:08we attracted talent how we went to
16:12market with our products I it was very
16:15very difficult to tell the difference
16:16now you were a guy there over the course
16:20of 35 years and and looking at your bio
16:23it says here that not only were you
16:25involved in engineering but operations
16:28planning marketing sales you name it you
16:32know you pretty much have have done it
16:35at that company and so what what advice
16:38do you have for the entrepreneur out
16:40there who’s starting up who might have
16:42limited resources
16:44who needs to sort of bring in other
16:47types of talent whether it be from a
16:50sales perspective or someone who has a
16:51technology perspective or someone who
16:54has an engineering background and
16:57doesn’t have all of these skill sets
17:00what type of resources are available to
17:03them that they can leverage maybe maybe
17:05talk to them a little bit about that
17:07well i would say that the first thing in
17:09the entrepreneurial does need they need
17:11to get an advisory group of folks
17:13advisory board a very very experienced
17:16people in a lot of different disciplines
17:17within their industry to give that to
17:20them advice and when I speak with a lot
17:24of entrepreneurs and I i do I speak in
17:26front of a lot of classes for of
17:27entrepreneurs and I speak in front of a
17:29lot of business classes and you take a
17:32joyride
17:34twenty-three-year-old entrepreneur
17:36that’s a year to out of school for
17:37example and that person is developing an
17:41idea and they start have to have to
17:43start staffing their company that person
17:46that they hire person number one and
17:48pulling number one is critically
17:49important to them they can make or break
17:53their future progress based upon that
17:56one individual yet they don’t have any
17:58experience hiring people are managing
18:01them so they’re going to need a lot of
18:02advice and so that that individual
18:07entrepreneur is going to be facing
18:08management challenges and people
18:10challenges way beyond and we earlier
18:13then somebody because they graduate
18:16Business School those to work with
18:17goldman sachs and works five or six
18:19years basically 441 that the principles
18:24and doesn’t have any managerial
18:26experience or opportunities to get it
18:28until their way into the careers of a
18:30number of years into the career as an
18:32entrepreneur has to do that right off
18:34the back
18:35very early one so they need they need
18:38guidance from experience people and
18:40there’s there’s a lot of them out there
18:42they’re more than willing to help and
18:44make a difference in that person’s life
18:46and business the very satisfying thing
18:48to do so they’re out there you can find
18:50them
18:51I but they need to get advice and
18:53guidance until they build their own
18:56experience base
18:57I and you know you can’t buy experience
19:01you can only get experience through time
19:03and a lot of entrepreneurs don’t have
19:05that time there are often running very
19:07very quickly so that’s something that’s
19:09very very important for them to remember
19:11get advice from experienced smokes to
19:14help you especially in the beginning you
19:16know you’re involved in so many
19:18different things that’s why i was so
19:19excited to have you on because you know
19:23you’re not just involved with you know
19:25running a business I mean you’re also a
19:28business advisor to the private equity
19:31and venture capital and you know you’re
19:33evaluating potential acquisition
19:35candidates so what what are some of the
19:37main things that you’re looking at when
19:40deciding to say you know what I want to
19:42take a chance on this particular
19:43entrepreneur or I want to go with this
19:45particular business idea what are what
19:48are some of the things that you’re
19:49looking for
19:50well that that’s really a great question
19:52so I speak with a lot of CEOs of
19:55companies that perhaps we would like to
19:57buy and you know I asked a very
20:00important question it’s really kind of
20:02an elementary question I say why do
20:04people buy from you lie to customers buy
20:07from you and you’d be surprised at the
20:11percentage that just have to think about
20:12that for a moment
20:14others kind of answer perfectly in a
20:16then we almost immediately and they’re
20:18the ones who you want to talk to more
20:19you want to speak with a lot more
20:22basically what i’m looking for is I want
20:25to know how the the company that we may
20:28consider by differentiates itself from
20:31the rest of the people in the market
20:34what do they create
20:35that makes them a preferred supplier and
20:38in fact the best thing you can do is if
20:41you’re running a company you want to
20:43become the preferred supplier to your
20:45markets which means that everything else
20:47being equal customers want to come to
20:51you to buy your product or your service
20:53ok they want to come to you to buy your
20:56product or service before anybody else
20:59so then the question becomes well how do
21:01you do that how do you become the
21:03preferred purpose supplier to your
21:05market and it’s almost the Holy Grail
21:07it’s almost the holy grail of any
21:09business you want to be the preferred
21:11preferred supplier to your to your
21:13market of your product or service so the
21:15first thing you got to do is you got to
21:17offer high quality reliable products and
21:18services so that there’s never a problem
21:22it’s always reliable and it’s going to
21:25do exactly which you claim it’s going to
21:27do and it’s going to outperform what a
21:31competitor can provide the only thing
21:32you need to do is you need to provide a
21:34great customer experience so you want to
21:38you want people to feel that when they
21:40come to you you’re giving him such a
21:42great customer experience and not going
21:44anywhere else and this applies to every
21:47business whether you’re a physician
21:49whether you’re whether your hospital
21:52providing medical care whether you’re a
21:54builder whether you’re an accounting
21:57firm
21:58it doesn’t matter you want to be the
21:59preferred supplier and you want to give
22:01your customers or clients great customer
22:04experience you want to light them which
22:07means that you want to solve other
22:08problems so i used to ask customers how
22:12we doing and they would say well you’re
22:15doing fine because they never had any
22:17complaints for my people that’s exactly
22:18what i want i want to buy from people
22:20that we have no complaints about you
22:23will be trustworthy people will do
22:26business with people that they trust if
22:29they don’t trust you you’re not going to
22:30do business with them they’re not going
22:32to do business with you
22:33you don’t want to be arrogant i would
22:36love when I was CEO of PQ Corp I would
22:40love to go up against an eric American
22:42competitor we would be them every time
22:44America competitor is arrogant to their
22:47customer
22:48yes they know what they know best they
22:50know best they tell the customer while
22:52you really need to do it this way this
22:53way this way we don’t really care what
22:55you think but we know best worker that
22:57we just haven’t convinced you that that
22:59that were right yet
23:02well that’s arrogance we don’t do that
23:04anyway I love to go up against this
23:05guy’s gonna beat him every time in the
23:07competitive competitive marketplace and
23:11the other thing you need to do is you
23:12need to be on a journey to be the best
23:13in the world at what you do
23:15which means that you need to
23:16continuously improve your processes your
23:19products every which way you do business
23:21and you want people who are dedicated to
23:24the velocity content of continuous
23:26improvement and you will empower them to
23:29improve their part of the business and
23:31have a sense of ownership what they do
23:34within the business and you want to give
23:37them expectations and you want to come
23:38loosing let them do their stuff and when
23:41you do that the folks that are very very
23:43good great things happen and then you
23:45don’t have to worry about them you worry
23:46about other things and so really with
23:49the universal principle that everybody
23:51can take away from that is a you want to
23:54build that competitive advantage and
23:55really be you want to become the
23:58preferred provider in the market in the
24:00space and you really want to listen to
24:03the the cut the customer obviously and
24:06be confident but not cocky or arrogant
24:08right and and you want to be when a
24:10journey to be the best in the world and
24:12what you do which means you need to be
24:15committed to a process philosophy of the
24:18continuous improvement and you need to
24:21empower your people to deliver those
24:23results to improve sure you know I saw
24:27that you were involved with ben franklin
24:29technology partners which is which is
24:32local here in Philadelphia but really in
24:34the tri-state area and they’re just a
24:37wonderful organization you’re actually
24:39chairman of the audit committee and then
24:41you also have another organization
24:43called horizon
24:45intergroup so can you tell us how you
24:47got involved with both and and what you
24:50do for each and and maybe just an
24:52example of you know a success story that
24:55you’ve been working on with with each
24:57group sure I while I’m no longer on the
25:00board have been present technology
25:03partners i stepped out a year ago I was
25:05choking and get ready for four-year
25:07that’s just a phenomenal organization
25:11they make investments in early-stage
25:14companies and they have the talent
25:16within your organization to help those
25:18folks new forward and there’s a huge
25:21number of success stories
25:23Rose a residence hall is the is the CEO
25:26of that organization she does a great
25:28job with her staff horizon Venture Group
25:31is my family’s LLC it’s a to accompany
25:36that we put together to make private
25:38equity investments when I left PQ and we
25:42made a number of investments have been
25:44very very well some habits which is what
25:46you would expect and it’s it’s a way
25:50that i can invest the funds and
25:54resources of my family and in private
25:56equity and that’s what that is you know
25:58you do a lot of writing i know for the
26:01Philadelphia Business Journal also
26:03american city business journal and we
26:07just had a an entrepreneur on from the
26:10drexel close school who recently
26:12graduated it has a company called Bruce
26:14linguistics that provides like a text
26:17editor for writers and so what are some
26:19of the technologies that you’re using as
26:21a writer and how did you get involved
26:23with the Philadelphia Business Journal
26:25because there’s a lot of writers out
26:27there who want to get published
26:30they want to get started using the
26:32different technology out there and so
26:34may be hearing from you since since you
26:37obviously do quite a bit of it and
26:39already involved with with some really
26:42good reputable you know journals on it
26:46would be interesting i’m sure to the
26:48audience as to help to get started in
26:50that endeavor
26:52well nearly three years ago I was
26:55invited to go out too
26:56silicon valley in San Francisco with the
27:00staff of the closest school of
27:01entrepreneurship and 16 students and I
27:05tagged along as vice chairman of the
27:09board of dress the University and we
27:12visit Apple your paypal all these
27:14accelerators and incubators in San
27:17Francisco we talked with dozens and
27:18dozens of entrepreneurs and I got us a
27:22chance to really watch our students
27:25drexels close school in action and I was
27:28just so very impressed with what they
27:30were working one as well as what the
27:32entrepreneurs out silicon valley and san
27:34francisco working on its own flying back
27:36from the red-eye from san francisco back
27:39to Philadelphia and I’m thinking you
27:41know the last time I was really
27:42challenged to do something new is when I
27:45was appointed chairman of the board of a
27:46college of medicine attraction where I
27:48learned the business of medicine and
27:50that was three years before that and I’m
27:52thinking all these young people are
27:54doing all these great things i need to
27:55do something different in great also
27:58and so it took me awhile but I figured
28:00out that i would start to I was very
28:01glad it’s a very good writer
28:03I’ve always been a very good writer and
28:06leadership was an area that I really
28:09focused on during my career so I started
28:13writing articles on leadership and
28:14highland published on linkedin and then
28:17I felt that I actually I needed a bigger
28:19more formal audience so I went to the
28:20publisher then for business journal in
28:24cromer who I had met and said would you
28:26like that somebody like me right for you
28:28have a ton of experience and a pretty
28:31good writer
28:31I said you would you look at my articles
28:34on linkedin she said of course so week
28:36later I speak with her and she says you
28:38know we just may would may want you to
28:41write for us but you need to meet Craig
28:44I the editor-in-chief of the business
28:45journal he makes the final decision of
28:47what gets in so she introduces me to
28:50Craig and we have lunch and
28:53I everyone in our promise only one
28:55conversation I say Craig two questions
28:59all my friends are right pretty pretty
29:01well but they’re my friends
29:03smiles i said well it’s what i write any
29:06good and would you like me to write for
29:08your business really said yes and yes
29:09just like that he said you can write
29:12once every two weeks 12 months i said i
29:14want to write once a week I want to
29:16establish myself as a thought leader in
29:18area of leadership and he said okay well
29:21that’s a lot of work if you want to drop
29:23back you just let me know but he says
29:25you need to get another or two so I went
29:26higher to drexel students who work for
29:30the the newspaper at the drexel the
29:32triangle was editor-in-chief and I
29:35started to write and they were reading
29:37my mind material and I didn’t use any
29:39technology except the word processor so
29:42yes I mean I mean I you know I i I’m
29:45pretty good at that and as of the week
29:49before Christmas I don’t require and 20
29:51articles published within the business
29:54journal or the american city business
29:55journal which all that is the parent
29:57company of the Philippine business
29:58journal so about five months ago the
30:02business journal syndicated me across
30:04the country so i’m in addition to the
30:06four business journal i’m in 42 sister
30:10publications in major cities across the
30:12country every monday morning
30:14Wow into and I write I write more
30:16articles and my editors no longer Craig
30:18I Philadelphia it’s that states down in
30:22charlotte and he had its knees very good
30:25both of them are very very good to be
30:27alive advice i’m going to tell you what
30:29I’m going to let you know we going we’re
30:31going to certainly link to all of the
30:33the show notes from today show but i
30:36want to also let you know that I’ve read
30:38quite a number of your articles on
30:40linkedin and I thoroughly enjoy reading
30:43them i’m not just saying that because
30:45you’re on the show today and you you
30:47have no idea how many many students
30:50young entrepreneurs that are just
30:53getting started there you know
30:54greengeeks is one of our sponsors you
30:56know if they do web hosting and you know
30:59they want to get started they want to
31:01set up a blog they want to write content
31:03they want to write good
31:05packed full content where it’s going to
31:06be people to their website and they’re
31:09always constantly asking me what’s the
31:11best way to get started and so that was
31:14one of the reasons why i also wanted to
31:16have you on because again on this really
31:19kind of hits home to a lot of a lot of
31:22students and a lot of entrepreneurs who
31:24you know what it want to get started and
31:26and become successful at it like
31:28yourself
31:29yeah well I right or am i right or
31:30leadership entrepreneurship and
31:32corporate governance and I interview
31:34people I review and I write about them i
31:38read about situations such as the wells
31:40fargo or the Volkswagen situation where
31:42they were cheating on their mission
31:44control equipment i right about very
31:48successful entrepreneurs such as the the
31:52young entrepreneur that star started a
31:54pity veg I don’t know if you happen i’d
31:56just i just read that article law just
31:59the other day actually and moving a calm
32:01our key now she was the keynote speaker
32:03at startup day at the drexel close
32:05school event about a month or so ago and
32:08and I also i get a lot of commentary and
32:11a lot of questions and a lot of requests
32:13by students to see me and I see them if
32:16a student wants to talk to me I’ll have
32:19coffee with him that at starbucks and
32:21restless campus for half an hour 45
32:23minutes so I never turned a student down
32:25who want to advise my purpose in life
32:27today is to help other people be
32:31successful and to make a difference in
32:33this world that’s all I do you know what
32:35I i I’m I’m excited that were having you
32:38on because you know i started to listen
32:41up show in the startup entrepreneur
32:43podcast to really also give back to the
32:46to the student entrepreneurs to the
32:48young serial entrepreneurs and we’ve of
32:51course interviewed a number of our
32:53clothes school entrepreneurs and we also
32:56had of course Damien Sallis on the Dean
32:58of the clothes school and we’ve also
33:00reached out to Donna be careless who
33:03were also going to be having on
33:05later this month so we’re really
33:07thankful that were able to have you want
33:10are you able to stick around and answer
33:12just a few additional questions here as
33:14we as we move into our next round of
33:17course great no no I i really appreciate
33:19that very much
33:20you know one of the things that I was
33:22also going to bring up and you would
33:23also mention was being that you were
33:26involved with um you know not only as
33:29being vice chair of the board of
33:30trustees here at drexel but that you got
33:33involved in in the college of medicine
33:36and so you have to learn a whole new
33:37area and and some of our entrepreneurs
33:40obviously are doing that as well they’re
33:42learning new areas you had mentioned
33:44that you were very impressed with all
33:45the young talented entrepreneurs and
33:48students but one of the things that I
33:50was very impressed with when i was
33:51reading about your bio was the leaving a
33:55legacy and the importance of that when I
33:58actually read that you actually donated
34:02two million dollars to the clothes
34:05school of entrepreneurship i was so
34:08impressed by that because it truly is
34:12giving back and sort of walking that
34:15walk-in talking that talk so you know i
34:18think that that says volumes for who you
34:20are and you know where we’re really
34:23thankful that you that you decided to
34:25come on answer a few questions
34:27the fastpitch round which is our next
34:29section is sponsored by audible we learn
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34:35favorite at mitchells book club back at
34:38Mitchell Chad row.com with auto ball you
34:40can listen up to your books while you’re
34:43on-the-go by going over to Mitchell
34:46chatter dot-com / audible that aud I ble
34:50Mitchell chatroulette.com / audible
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34:56of the listen up show get one free
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35:18inspired listen up and get a lot of
35:21wisdom from those audiobooks again at
35:24Mitchell Chad row.com / audible these
35:27are just really fast questions with fast
35:30answers so Stan can you tell us the best
35:33business advice that you’ve ever
35:35received the best business advice
35:38differentiate yourself be different than
35:41everybody else because that’s what’s
35:44going to get you into the next interview
35:46I make sure your resume reflects that
35:48and so don’t be like everybody else
35:50would be different be different
35:53only the largest something funny that
35:55you that you’re working for because
35:57that’s what your next employer is going
35:58to buy when they are you can you tell us
36:01some bad business advice that’s being
36:04given to students entrepreneurs today
36:06remember what i look out for their
36:10business advice okay if you’re an
36:12entrepreneurial you need to look you
36:13look out for two things as your as
36:16you’re bringing one investors you need
36:19to watch for dilution and for being
36:22preferenced out so that’s not a real
36:24problem when your company is is doing
36:27very very well in every round up around
36:29I but if your company is lagging in
36:32terms of performance and you have to
36:34raise money the next investor is going
36:37to require you to concede conceit some
36:41things that you may not want to concede
36:43with respect to a control and with
36:45respect to ownership and so you just
36:48need to be aware of that
36:49how about a quote or a mantra or
36:52something that you would put right up
36:54there on a billboard that kind of
36:56motivates and inspires people
36:59that’s an easy one who is the enemy of
37:02great which is the first six words in
37:05Jim Collins is book good to great
37:08which means that if your organization
37:09thinks that they’re good enough to never
37:11become great and you never want to claim
37:14that your organization is great because
37:16then people will believe that you’re
37:18great and you have no place to go but
37:20down
37:21you are never great you’re always
37:23working towards greatness and suffering
37:25supports up to third parties to say that
37:26you’re great and your response should be
37:28well we’re not quite there yet working
37:30on this and we’re working on this when
37:32that never claimed that you’re great
37:34well I’ll tell you what you kind of
37:36stole my Thunder on the next question
37:38but maybe you can give us a wi was going
37:40to ask you a very good whether it be a
37:42business book or personal book that you
37:44can recommend
37:45that’s a terrific book I knew exactly
37:47where you were going with that arm but
37:50maybe you know maybe mention something
37:52you know another book that you can throw
37:53out there that kind of helped you
37:55through business and it could be
37:57business family or life to god I’m gonna
38:01have to think about that for a moment
38:02hit me with the next question that
38:04that’s fine how about an app that helps
38:07you in business family or life again
38:09it’s something that could maybe help you
38:12productively or you know that you find
38:15that has been very helpful to a nap
38:20I’m i have a lot of apps which allowed
38:24me to read about what’s happening around
38:25the world social social and political I
38:29actually like it i’m sorry why I really
38:33I really probably 10 or 12 newspapers a
38:35day on my iPad and I do that through the
38:37apps of for example the obviously New
38:41York Times The Wall Street Journal ones
38:43and top financial i read papers in the
38:47middle east i read people the papers
38:49from the UK i repeat papers from
38:50Australian from canada and it gives me a
38:53just a window on the world you use one
38:59aggregator to sort of bring them all
39:00together because you’re dealing with so
39:02many different sources now i just have
39:06the absolute my the icons in the heat
39:09one individually
39:10yeah yeah and what that dazzle because
39:12me a break it just kinda rest your mind
39:15and you can’t focus one business all the
39:18time
39:18sure is in a drive your body yes I
39:21literally do you need so the way I rest
39:23in the way icon relaxes by reading about
39:26what’s going on in the world
39:27how about how bad how about a an item
39:31under a hundred dollars that has been
39:32the most impactful to you under a
39:35hundred dollars
39:36I can’t think of any other hundred
39:39dollars you know obviously my iphone and
39:40ipad of the most valuable things that i
39:43carry along by communication equipment
39:45and that that’s extremely valuable to me
39:49and I where I am in the world
39:50I’m plugged in and so and let me make it
39:53really just kind of share something with
39:55you I’ve been in China I’ve been in
39:58Korea I’ve been in Europe over the last
40:02three years and I’ve never missed
40:04communicating with my editors or I’ve
40:07never miss the deadline submitting an
40:09article to the business journal for
40:11publication no matter where i was in the
40:13world because all my communication gear
40:15is top notch up to snuff and so before i
40:19go anywhere I just make sure that i can
40:21communicate with the world every every
40:23moment if I have to the weather through
40:25your iphone and you’re in your ipad my
40:28iphone ipad on my laptop
40:30the world doesn’t stop just because you
40:32happen to be in Shanghai or in Seoul
40:35Korea or is it a small city in Belgium
40:39the world doesn’t stop and so I just
40:42feel I need to be connected and I’ve
40:44never missed a deadline because of that
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42:25again that’s Mitchell Chad row.com /
42:28napa and start your plan today stand how
42:33can people stay in touch with you
42:34because we we thoroughly enjoyed this
42:37and it sounds like you really give back
42:40to the community that you serve and I
42:43know that there’s a lot of entrepreneurs
42:46out there that are either struggling or
42:48they don’t know exactly the next step
42:50and I know that they’re going to get a
42:52lot out of this interview and certainly
42:54wanted to to stay in communication with
42:57you let me see let me suggest let me
42:59suggest that they read more articles
43:03each week one LinkedIn you can just find
43:05easily understand Silverman and you will
43:08some probably the first second one that
43:10comes up I and read more articles and
43:13that’s a good way to stay in touch with
43:15what I’m thinking if you really want to
43:17have a conversation send me an email
43:18through lincoln and i’ll respond i
43:20always respond to emails great and we’re
43:24going to have a wall of that all those
43:26links and everything back at the at the
43:28website and and standing closing can you
43:31leave us with three main lesson
43:34takeaways that people can take away from
43:38what you can provide
43:41on one yeah I number number one be
43:47passionate about what you do too many
43:49people in this world that for the next
43:5140 to 45 years after graduation they
43:54don’t like what they do and they never
43:56make a change and so be sure about what
43:59you do be sure that what you do is fun
44:02for you also don’t be afraid to take a
44:05risk and step out into something new and
44:09different you may fail but so what
44:12you pick yourself up and you’ll you’ll
44:14try again
44:15I and if you never fail you’ve never
44:18really done anything you’ve never really
44:20done anything and the last point number
44:22three is always differentiate yourself
44:25your company and so people will we need
44:29when you go and make a sales call to
44:30sell a service or product the potential
44:34customer clients gonna say why should i
44:36buy from you and then you have to have
44:38that answer and the answer is your did
44:42you differentiate yourself for those
44:44things that are important to your
44:45customer your client and you’re always
44:46on the journey to become the preferred
44:48supplier or provider of the cover
44:51service or the the product that you want
44:54for the marketplace stand Silverman
44:57there were so many value bombs in this
45:00interview you are a true mentioned we
45:03just want to thank you so very much for
45:05coming on to listen up show the startup
45:08entrepreneur podcast again thanks again
45:11and you’re always welcome to come back
45:13and stay in touch real soon
45:15you know thanks for i appreciate that ok
45:17you take care now bye
45:19sign up for our listen up email less get
45:22all the latest resources advice
45:24practical tips and show notes by heading
45:28on over to Mitchell chatter dot-com /
45:32sign up if you’ve been a regular
45:34listener of the listen up show we want
45:37to thank you very much for all of your
45:39support please consider giving us a
45:42written review on iTunes by heading on
45:44over to Mitchell Chad row.com / itunes
45:49it really does help encourage inspire
45:52and motivate others to start up and
45:55allows them to also find the resources
45:58and advice that they need to get started
46:01so again that’s Mitchell chatter dot-com
46:05/ itunes it literally will take you two
46:08minutes to give us a written review and
46:11we really appreciate it
46:14[Music]
46:21your life
46:23[Music]
The post Entrepreneurial Leadership Listenup Show 033 Stan Silverman on Startup Entrepreneur Podcast first appeared on mitchellchadrow.com
