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  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Hello, everyone.

  • Welcome, fellow Googlers, and guests.

  • I'm very excited today to introduce

  • an incredibly inspiring person, author, and speaker,

  • Joe Plumeri, who is here today to share

  • a bit about his new book, "The Power of Being Yourself-- A

  • Game Plan for Success by Putting Passion

  • into Your Work and Life."

  • Joe Plumeri is the former CEO of Willis Group, and Citibank

  • North America.

  • He now serves as the Vice Chairman of First Data

  • Corporation, and a member of its board of directors.

  • His passion, honesty, and sense of purpose

  • flows through the pages of his book, as well as his speeches.

  • So please join me in welcoming Joe Plumeri.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • JOE PLUMERI: Thank you.

  • Thank you very much.

  • Thank you all for coming.

  • I appreciate it very much.

  • First of all, I should tell you why I wrote this book.

  • I am not a writer.

  • I don't do that for a living.

  • But I have passion, and I have a point of view about things.

  • And a couple years ago, I started

  • to think about-- as you all do-- about life in general,

  • and how things are going.

  • And I said to myself, you know, it's interesting

  • how we all celebrate authenticity in this country.

  • We think authenticity is great.

  • We see people who are genuine, and we

  • say that person is really a real person.

  • And then we see everything's filtered today

  • through emails, texts, Instagrams, Twitters,

  • LinkedIns, and by the time you get through all of that stuff,

  • you wonder what's true, and what's false.

  • I see in companies, people send emails

  • because they don't want to be there when people are

  • reading it on the other end.

  • And I think about how unfamiliar we've become with each other.

  • I watch television, and I see people read off

  • of teleprompters.

  • And I ask myself, did they really write that?

  • Do they really feel that way about the subject,

  • or does somebody else feel that way?

  • I see people on television get choked up, and begin to cry.

  • And they apologize immediately for crying.

  • And I ask myself, why are they apologizing

  • for being themselves, and being genuine about who they are?

  • And I think about our society, and are we

  • being disconnected with how we really feel about things?

  • And so I wanted to write this book.

  • I had in my head to do it for all of those reasons.

  • And then a couple years ago, my son-- my now-oldest son

  • was running in the Boston Marathon.

  • And it was the day of the terrorist attack in Boston.

  • And you'll read about it in the book.

  • And it's really what motivated me

  • to write the book, when I saw people's emotions that day.

  • I saw them caring for each other.

  • I saw people helping each other.

  • I saw people terrorized.

  • And I said, why do we have to wait for an occasion?

  • Why do we have to wait for a wedding, a funeral,

  • or a catastrophe for people to really show who they are?

  • Why can't we be that way every day?

  • So what I did was to set about stories in the book

  • about being yourself, either my stories,

  • or other people's stories.

  • And I didn't do it by virtue of chapters.

  • I did it by virtue of principles, things

  • that I believed in.

  • So that when you read the book, it's

  • not something you put back on the shelf and say,

  • OK, I read that book.

  • But it's something that you could use every day.

  • And something that you could remind yourself all about.

  • And I tried to be-- and I know I was-- as transparent

  • as you possibly could be.

  • Because otherwise, the book would not have integrity.

  • I'm just going to talk to you about a few of the principles.

  • One of the principles is, we all got the same plumbing.

  • Now you're asking me, what is that all about?

  • What that's about is, is I've traveled

  • throughout the whole world.

  • And what I found out was, is that whether you're from Asia,

  • or whether you're from Indianapolis,

  • or whether you're from South America,

  • or wherever you're from, everybody

  • feels the same feeling that we all do.

  • And that if we understood that better,

  • maybe the world would be a little bit nicer, and more

  • peaceful.

  • Because I have traveled the world.

  • I was the CEO of a British company for 13 years.

  • And you would think when everybody

  • talks about the British and being stiff, and stiff

  • upper lip, and they don't laugh a lot,

  • they don't do all that kind of stuff.

  • I found the direct opposite of all of that.

  • But you hear that, and you begin to think that people really

  • don't understand what other people are all about.

  • When I got to this company-- it was called the Willis Group--

  • it didn't make very much money.

  • Didn't make any money at all.

  • So I had to do something to get everybody

  • engaged in the company.

  • And so what I did was-- and I didn't know this--

  • but I created these little pins that everybody

  • could wear with Willis on it.

  • And I thought that if everybody wore a pin

  • they'd become sort of like part of the company.

  • And everybody would start to feel a sense

  • of being a part of things.

  • And I didn't know the British don't like wearing pins.

  • Nobody told me that.

  • As a matter of fact, they're really disgusted with the pin.

  • But they knew that when I showed up,

  • if they didn't wear the pin, that I

  • would give them a hard time.

  • Which I never did.

  • I just stared at their lapels to see if they had a pin on.

  • So when people would walk down the hall,

  • I always knew that they didn't have a pin on,

  • because a woman would go in the men's room,

  • and a man would go in the women's room

  • so they wouldn't confront me.

  • And so one day-- and I knew that this happened in the company--

  • they felt that when they confronted me

  • they'd have to know what was going on.

  • They'd have to have a reason to not have their pin on.

  • So I get the one guy, and I look at his lapel,

  • I don't say anything to him.

  • And he says, "Oh, Mr. Chairman, I'm

  • sorry I don't have my pin on.

  • I left it on my pajamas."

  • When you think about that, and you

  • think about that kind of humor, you

  • wouldn't think that would come from what

  • your perception is of a Brit.

  • We dedicated a building in London a few years later.

  • Made the company successful.

  • Became a global company.

  • And I built a building in London right

  • across from Lloyd's of London.

  • So I have to dedicate the building, and they say to me,

  • "Who are you going to have to dedicate the building?"

  • I said, "Me.

  • I'm going to dedicate."

  • But apparently in London, you don't dedicate buildings

  • unless you have royalty in these buildings.

  • So a friend of mine says, I can get you some royalty.

  • I said, who could you get?

  • He picks up the phone, and he talks to Prince Andrew.

  • Now, I come from a neighborhood in Trenton, New Jersey.

  • I don't know royalty from Adam.

  • But he gets the prince to show up for the dedication.

  • Now in advance of the dedication,

  • I get a long list of things that you're not

  • supposed to do when you're around royalty.

  • One of them is, you don't touch royalty.

  • You just put your hands, and you don't touch them.

  • So I said, this makes me nervous, because I'm a toucher.

  • Like I did with all of you, I said hello when you came in.

  • It's just the way I am.

  • So I meet him outside the building.

  • And interestingly enough, he drives up

  • with his own Range Rover.

  • There's no entourage.

  • He just drives up by himself.

  • He gets out of the car.

  • So I feel more comfortable with him.

  • And it's going to be like three or four

  • hours before the two of us dedicate the building.

  • So I take him around and so forth.

  • And I said to him, I gotta tell you.

  • I'm a little bit nervous.

  • He said, what are you nervous about?

  • I said, I'm nervous because there's

  • this long list that says I'm not supposed to touch you.

  • So I want you to know in advance,

  • before I'm arrested, that I might touch you.

  • I'm sorry, I don't mean it.

  • So we dedicate the building.

  • And during the ceremony, I give a speech.

  • And during the speech, I read a note

  • from my mother, who was alive at the time.

  • And the note said something to the effect,

  • thank you to Prince Andrew for being nice to my son

  • Joey-- my mother's from Italy.

  • And she appreciates it very much.

  • And he's very honored, and he's very nervous.

  • So please take care of him.

  • Something along those lines.

  • So I read the note, everybody applauds.

  • I get a standing ovation.

  • And as I turn around, the prince is there,

  • and he gives me a hug.

  • And everybody's astounded that the prince is giving me a hug.

  • And I said to myself, again, isn't it interesting

  • when you have a perception that people don't

  • do those kinds of things, that really we're more alike

  • than anything else.

  • I've never gone around the world, any place--

  • because I'm pretty enthusiastic, as you see-- where I've

  • said to somebody, nice job, good job,

  • and they've said to me, stop telling me

  • I've done a nice job.

  • I'm tired of hearing that.

  • Or they said to me, you're too enthusiastic.

  • Don't be so enthusiastic.

  • We all got the same plumbing.

  • I've never heard anybody, any place in the world,

  • tell me otherwise.

  • So if you understand that as you're dealing with the world--

  • the message in that principle is that you're

  • dealing with the world.

  • We may look different.

  • We may talk different.

  • But at the end of the day, we've all got the same plumbing.

  • We all got the same insides.

  • We all got the same heart.

  • And it's really important that we

  • begin to get in touch with our heart,

  • even here, where it's the center of information.

  • Here at Google, there's one thing you can't do.

  • I google all day long.

  • I got a piece of information I want, I take my cell phone out,

  • and I google it.

  • But one thing that you can't do, and you ought to try it,

  • is try googling your heart.

  • Or try googling my heart.

  • And you'll get the lyrics of a song.

  • You'll get the way the heart is shaped.

  • And what I'm talking about is your feelings,

  • and how you express yourself, and how

  • you relate to each other.

  • Which is really, I think, important

  • in a society today that is lacking that.

  • And is lacking the risk-taking, and everything else

  • that you need to do.

  • So that is the first principle.

  • And it's really interesting stories.

  • And there are other stories about people who have

  • the same plumbing in the book.

  • Another principle I talk about, which is really interesting,

  • is make your heart your teleprompter.

  • Now you'll ask me, what's that about?

  • I go to speak at the Georgia Dome one year.

  • And usually when you go speak, they

  • want you to test the microphone, or to test whatever.

  • And the guy said, let's work on the teleprompter.

  • And I said, I don't use the teleprompter.

  • He said, well, what do you use?

  • I said, I brought my own teleprompter.

  • He said, nobody brings their own teleprompter.

  • What are you talking about?

  • I said, I brought my own.

  • He said, where is it?

  • I said, my teleprompter is right here.

  • It's my heart.

  • I speak from my heart.

  • I don't read from a speech.

  • I don't read from notes.

  • I speak from my heart.

  • And what I mean by that in that principle

  • is that today nobody takes any risks.

  • Nobody goes out and does anything

  • unless a poll was taken.

  • Nobody does anything unless a survey is taken.

  • Nobody does anything unless there's a consensus.

  • And then it's OK, and it's safe to do.

  • Instead of going out and actually doing

  • what's in your heart that you think is right.

  • And I tell a couple of stories in the book about that.

  • One of the stories I tell is in 2000,

  • when I became chairman and CEO of Willis.

  • The first thing you do when you become a CEO is you

  • look at all the things that happened in the company.

  • And the company wasn't doing well.

  • So I wanted to see everything that was going on.

  • So I looked at the benefits policy.

  • And the benefits policy did not include

  • benefits for domestic partners.

  • And I thought, that's not right.

  • I think benefits should be given to domestic partners.

  • I think everybody should be treated equally.

  • Now if you go back to 2000, that wasn't fashionable.

  • Nobody made me do it.

  • There was no polls and surveys, or rants

  • and raves about everybody being given equal rights domestically

  • in benefits in companies.

  • I just thought it was the right thing to do.

  • So I changed it without anybody asking me to do it.

  • Because in my heart, I thought it was the right thing to do.

  • In the company is a guy by name of Bryan Eure,

  • who is a broker at Willis.

  • And eventually he gets married to Bill White,

  • and they have a big wedding at the Four Seasons restaurant

  • in New York City.

  • I had no idea why this guy was at Willis until that night.

  • And he gets up to give the speech at his wedding.

  • There's 700 people there.

  • And he gets up to give his speech, and he says,

  • I want to thank Joe Plumeri, because without Joe

  • Plumeri being at Willis, I would never be here tonight,

  • or marrying Bill White.

  • It was right after New York changed the law

  • to be able to be married.

  • And he went on to say, when he was looking

  • for a job in New York City, he found that the only insurance

  • broker in New York that he could find

  • that gave benefits to domestic partners was the Willis Group.

  • And I want to thank Joe Plumeri for changing that benefit.

  • Or I wouldn't be here tonight.

  • Up until that night, I had no idea why the guy was at Willis.

  • And he announced that in front of 700 people.

  • That just moved me so much.

  • Because I said to myself, if I hadn't done what I thought

  • was right, he wouldn't be here.

  • He wouldn't be getting married, wouldn't be in New York City.

  • And I wonder how many people are holding back

  • from doing what is right and in their heart,

  • and being themselves, rather than waiting for a survey,

  • or conventional wisdom to tell them what to do.

  • You'll see in the book, there's a forward from a man

  • by the name of Joe Califano, who none of you have ever heard of.

  • But you notice these days that not many people smoke much

  • anymore.

  • If I ever told you that people wouldn't

  • smoke in pubs in Ireland, or places like that,

  • you'd be amazed.

  • Because that's what they do.

  • They were born doing that.

  • Well, who's Joe Califano?

  • He was the domestic adviser for Lyndon Johnson in the '60s.

  • And you might have read about the Great Society, which

  • is where Medicare and Medicaid come from.

  • So if you want to know where Medicaid and Medicare came

  • from, it was the Great Society that

  • was written by Joe Califano under Lyndon Johnson.

  • He was the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare

  • under Jimmy Carter.

  • In 1978, he declared that smoking

  • be prohibited in federal buildings, and in airplanes.

  • And there were such an outcry that he

  • was fired by Jimmy Carter, because

  • of banning smoking in 1978 in federal buildings,

  • and airplanes.

  • And after he was fired, he dedicated himself.

  • Because the headline said that Joe Califano called

  • smoking slow-motion suicide.

  • So if you're wondering where the nonsmoking thing started.

  • When if you see television series

  • that go back to the '50s and '60s, and everybody smokes.

  • If you're asking yourself, where did it start?

  • Who started this whole thing with no smoking in buildings,

  • and here, and you can't do that, and you can't do this.

  • It was Joe Califano.

  • All because in his heart, even though he

  • knew he would be fired, he thought

  • it was the right thing to do.

  • How many people today, knowing that they're going to be fired,

  • do that?

  • People don't do that today.

  • They do what's politically correct today.

  • They know that I got to do what my boss tells me to do,

  • even though it's not the right thing to do,

  • or what society tells me to do.

  • But that's where the whole nonsmoking thing started.

  • So to me, he didn't need a teleprompter

  • to tell him what to say.

  • His heart told him what to say, even

  • though he knew he would be fired.

  • And the forward of this book is written by him.

  • And I am proud that that's the case.

  • There's another principle in the book

  • called, let sadness teach you.

  • Which is one that I share and want to share with you.

  • It's about my relationship with my son

  • Chris, who passed away six years ago because of drug addiction.

  • At 13 years old, he was anorexic,

  • as it turned out because of a self-esteem problem.

  • My relationship with him from the period

  • of 13 years old until when he died at the age of 40,

  • was obviously contentious, and one

  • where I tried very hard to rebuild my relationship

  • with him that hadn't been built before he was 13 years old.

  • And I tell as transparently, and as truthfully,

  • and in a raw way, what my relationship with him

  • was all about.

  • I did all of the conventional things that you should do.

  • Send him to hospitals, send him to therapists,

  • send him to every place that you can send people

  • to go to be rehabilitated.

  • But we never regained the kind of a relationship

  • that we should have.

  • Because I think as I was starting my meteoric rise,

  • if you will, to the top of the corporate world,

  • I wasn't the parent that I should have been.

  • The reality was, is that I neglected my own son,

  • even though I did the cosmetic things that you're

  • supposed to do to get him help.

  • Maybe, I say to myself, I should have taken a year off of work

  • rather than worry about the next board meeting.

  • And I tell that story.

  • Interestingly enough, I remember,

  • the company I was running was owned by American Express.

  • And he was arrested for credit card fraud

  • and went to jail for 18 months.

  • And I went to visit him every weekend.

  • But I could never seem to repair the damage that

  • had been done because of the neglect that had happened.

  • I tell that story.

  • And I tell that story not only to parents,

  • and I tell that story not only to children of parents--

  • it goes both ways.

  • Is that I think one of the most important things in life

  • are the relationships that you have.

  • Don't neglect them.

  • If you're a parent, the most important thing you have to do

  • is to make sure that you're close to your children.

  • When you see them, hug them, tell them that you love them.

  • If you're a child, and you're listening to me now,

  • and you're talking to your parent, hug them,

  • tell them that you love them.

  • Because at the end of the day, the last thing you want to do

  • is feel the regret of not having that relationship.

  • I talk about the pain of discipline,

  • and the pain of regret.

  • When you think about life, it really

  • gets down to those two things, doesn't it?

  • You either have the pain of discipline,

  • which is the short-term pain that you have

  • because you've got to do something.

  • But when you think about it, it doesn't last very long.

  • It's just short-term pain.

  • But the pain of regret, when you've ever felt regret,

  • lasts longer, and it just never goes away.

  • And it's those kinds of things in life

  • that I think are important.

  • And I think about my son.

  • And I think about the regret that I had with regard to that.

  • And it's something that never goes away.

  • And I think about it over, and over, and over again.

  • And the same thing relates to friendships that you have.

  • If there's somebody that you haven't

  • talked to in a long time.

  • Or somebody that you're meaning to call.

  • Where you're running something, yeah, I've

  • been meaning to call you.

  • I got to tell you, do it.

  • Before it's too late to do it, and you

  • regret not having done it.

  • By the way, that same reason, this whole idea of neglect

  • not only applies to children, and parents, friends,

  • but also applies to clients.

  • For people that are listening to me with regard to business,

  • the number one reason you lose a client is neglect.

  • You could make all the mistakes in the world that you want,

  • but the one mistake you can't make is neglect them.

  • Because they'll go someplace else where they feel

  • there's love.

  • It's a wonderful principle for you to read.

  • And when I say, let sadness teach you,

  • I tell it so other people don't go through the same thing I do.

  • And the last principle I'll talk to you about is called,

  • look up, not down.

  • We're all going to have adversity in life.

  • I was running Willis in 2008.

  • For those of you who remember, the world fell apart in 2008.

  • We had the Great Recession.

  • The banks were closed.

  • No credit.

  • Couldn't buy anything.

  • Terrible time to be around, frankly.

  • So in 2008, I made the decision to buy a company

  • for $2 billion, which is a lot of money

  • not only in 2008 but at any time.

  • It's supposed to close in October of that year.

  • The problem is, between June and October, the world fell apart.

  • So all the financing that I was supposed to get,

  • I got, but only for a short period of time.

  • Instead of it being permanent, it was temporary financing.

  • That's in October, and the deal closes.

  • In November, my son passes away.

  • So between October and November, I

  • don't know what worse could happen to me.

  • It's the time when I could-- two choices.

  • I could go dig a hole and jump in it.

  • Or I could get up in the morning and go attack my problems,

  • which I think you should do.

  • You should always attack your fears,

  • because your fears are your limitations.

  • If you don't overcome your fears,

  • you're going to be limited by them all your life.

  • And so I had to go attack them.

  • I talk about that.

  • It turns out that after I made this acquisition,

  • this other company, Hilb Rogal & Hobbs,

  • had five offices in Chicago.

  • And what I needed to do was to merge the five offices they had

  • and the two offices that I have so that they

  • could be more efficient.

  • We can grow one culture rather than

  • have all these offices spend more money,

  • and not have the same culture.

  • So I looked to see in Chicago where

  • there was a lot of buildings with that room,

  • with that space.

  • And the one place where they had a lot of space

  • was the famous Sears Tower in Chicago.

  • You all heard of the Sears Tower in Chicago?

  • Which is no longer called the Sears Tower in Chicago,

  • and I'll tell you that story.

  • Tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Nothing like it.

  • The problem was, is that it was less than 70% occupied.

  • And the reason was is when the tenants' leases came up,

  • they were all afraid that the next terrorist attack was going

  • to be the Sears Tower, because it was the largest building

  • in the Western Hemisphere.

  • So as soon as the lease came up, they got out of there.

  • So there was a lot of empty space.

  • So I thought I had a great opportunity

  • to negotiate with the owner a good deal.

  • Because he had a lot of empty space.

  • The banks were not lending money.

  • The credit markets were closed.

  • What a great opportunity, that I could turn adversity

  • into something that's really terrific and positive.

  • So I meet with the owner, and I say to him,

  • I need 250,000 square feet-- which is, by the way, about 3%

  • of the building.

  • And he says, I have a lot of space.

  • I could do a good deal for you.

  • I knew I could.

  • And he says to me, so what would you like to pay?

  • I said, well, what's the average rent in the building?

  • He says, $35 a square foot.

  • So I said, I don't want to tell you what I pay.

  • I don't want to insult you.

  • He said, tell me what you want.

  • It's OK.

  • Tell me.

  • I said, no I don't want to insult you.

  • He said, no, tell me what you want.

  • I said, $10.

  • He says, you insult me.

  • So I got up to go away.

  • And he said, no, he says, let's do something.

  • I'm making a long story that's a wonderful story in the book.

  • We arrive at $14.50 a square foot.

  • Now for anybody who's in the real estate business,

  • or even renting, you know that $14.50 a square foot is like

  • nothing.

  • I mean, I don't know what it is a square foot here.

  • This is like hallowed ground, where I am now.

  • I mean, you're talking-- I'm serious-- 100s of dollars

  • a square foot.

  • This is $14.50 a square foot in the middle of Chicago,

  • the largest building in the Western Hemisphere,

  • $14.50 a square foot.

  • He says to me, do we have a deal now?

  • I said, not exactly.

  • He says, what do you want now?

  • I said, you know what the problem with this building is?

  • It's a jinx.

  • I says, it's a jinx, because the Sears name

  • connotes that a terrorist attack is going

  • to-- you need a positive name.

  • He says, what name should I put up there?

  • I said, Willis.

  • Nobody knew who Willis was.

  • They thought it was that little kid on television.

  • You know, what's up, Willis?

  • And he says, Willis?

  • Nobody knows Willis.

  • So I said, you put Willis up there,

  • I said, you'll get a new positive name rather than

  • the old Sears name on the building.

  • So he says, I got to think about it.

  • I don't know if I could do that.

  • Comes back the next day, he says, I could do it.

  • He says, but I gotta tell you, I gotta charge you.

  • Now we've been negotiating now for days.

  • He said blue, I said black.

  • He said white, I said green.

  • We never agreed on anything until he says that.

  • And I say to him, OK.

  • He's startled that I agree with him.

  • He says, you'll do it?

  • I said, absolutely.

  • He says, do we have a deal?

  • I said, not exactly.

  • He said, what do you want now?

  • I said, I'll give you a million dollars

  • if you give me a million dollars worth of business.

  • Because we're not your client, and you

  • need to insure the building.

  • So you give me a million dollars,

  • I'll give you a million dollars.

  • I says, you do that?

  • He says, if I do that, do we have a deal?

  • I said, not exactly.

  • He said, why not?

  • I said, your partners who are not my clients,

  • you've got to get them to give me the business.

  • So we finally decide on the deal.

  • And we rename the building the Willis Tower,

  • which is what it is today in Chicago.

  • I only took 3% of the building.

  • I don't own it.

  • I didn't own it.

  • I used to wear my pin, and people would say to me,

  • are you the guy that bought the Sears Tower?

  • And I said to myself, I got a long story and a short story.

  • The long story is too much to tell.

  • So I said, yeah.

  • Sure.

  • I bought it.

  • It's interesting, the night we dedicated the building,

  • Brian Williams-- the famous Brian Williams--

  • says to me, how after all these years it's been called Sears--

  • and by the way, Sears hadn't been in that building

  • since 1993.

  • How is it you show up and change the name?

  • I said, I asked.

  • Now, strange as that sounds, see what

  • it's all about is, you've got to wake up every morning

  • with a core belief.

  • Whatever you want to believe, you believe.

  • I believe anything's possible.

  • If you believe anything's possible, you're going to ask.

  • We live in a world where the possibilities are

  • less, and less, and less, rather than more, and more, and more.

  • And I tell you that story, and I want you remember it,

  • because don't be afraid to ask.

  • Don't be afraid to feel that anything is possible.

  • By the way, today, the Willis Tower in Chicago

  • is now almost 100% occupied.

  • Not because the economy came back.

  • But after Willis moved in and they changed the name,

  • United Airlines moved 2,200 people into the building.

  • And then six months to nine months later,

  • United Airlines and Continental Airlines

  • merged to become the largest airline in the world.

  • And where's their headquarters?

  • The Willis Tower in Chicago.

  • So after all that adversity, and after all

  • of that upset with the economy, my son,

  • you've got to be positive.

  • You've got to believe anything is possible.

  • And you have to face adversity, and face your fears.

  • And as you look at that tower, when you see it on TV--

  • and you will.

  • Or somebody mentions it-- and they will.

  • Just remember the story, anything's

  • possible you gotta ask.

  • And so the book, and I offer you those principles,

  • as just some idea of what's in there.

  • Some examples of what's in there.

  • Going to make you cry.

  • It'll make you laugh.

  • That's good.

  • That's what we're all about, is to cry, and to laugh,

  • and at the end the day feel better about life,

  • and feel better about yourself.

  • OK?

  • Thank you very much for listening, everybody.

  • I appreciate it.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • JOE PLUMERI: Shall I do Q&A?

  • Anybody have any questions?

  • AUDIENCE: Hi, Joe, thanks for the talk, very inspiring.

  • JOE PLUMERI: Thanks for coming.

  • AUDIENCE: Yes.

  • I'd like to know how many books you have written,

  • and what inspired you to write about this book

  • and share with all of us?

  • JOE PLUMERI: As I said in the beginning,

  • I've always felt that, I think technology

  • is a wonderful thing.

  • And I'm standing in the center of the mecca of technology.

  • But I think technology should not be instead of people,

  • it should be on behalf of people.

  • And I think that we overuse our sense of connection

  • and information, and our communication with each other.

  • And our society has become more mechanical than it should be.

  • I don't write about it in the book, but maybe I should've.

  • But when I took over Citibank, I noticed that all people

  • did all day was email.

  • This was back in 1995.

  • So I shut the email system off.

  • And I don't know why I didn't write about it.

  • I shut the email system off, and they thought I was crazy.

  • Because I saw people weren't talking to each other.

  • And they were emailing each other

  • in the same floor, when they could be talking to each other,

  • and saying, hi, how you doing?

  • Because again, I go back to so many people

  • send things because they don't want to be there

  • when somebody reads it.

  • And they don't want to feel the emotion on the other side.

  • And I think that if you look at history,

  • and you look at what's moved this country, what's

  • moved the world, is people's emotions, their courage,

  • their sense of invention, their sense of creativity.

  • Look where I'm standing.

  • The creativity and the invention that took place here,

  • because people had the sense to take risks.

  • And I want people to sit around the dinner table

  • by virtue of this book and kind of reconnect to each other.

  • And that's why I tell these stories.

  • And if I could start that conversation and have people

  • start to communicate a little bit more

  • than we do now, and start the narrative with regard to that.

  • I got to tell you, you're looking

  • at a guy that cries a lot.

  • I don't mind telling you I cry a lot.

  • I've been the CEO of a lot of companies.

  • And nobody ever told me I was a weak guy.

  • Nobody ever told me that I cry, so therefore they

  • didn't think I was tough.

  • I was tough.

  • But that doesn't mean I can't show who I am.

  • And I think the more that we do that, the closer our society

  • becomes, and maybe there's less Fergusons in the world today.

  • So that's what inspired me to write this book.

  • Did that answer your question?

  • AUDIENCE: Yes.

  • Is that the only book that you have written?

  • JOE PLUMERI: Yes.

  • I'm not a writer.

  • I'm just an Italian kid from New Jersey.

  • I'm not a writer.

  • I don't do that for a living.

  • I just had the inspiration to want

  • to create the dialogue with people

  • about what's in their heart.

  • And hopefully more people will be inspired

  • to use their heart more.

  • I think that it's really important in our society.

  • AUDIENCE: So you've talked a lot about how you used your heart

  • as your teleprompter.

  • And I was wondering if you could comment

  • on your own personal preparation process?

  • Because obviously when you have an hour

  • to speak with all of us, there's some points

  • that you want to make.

  • But at the same time it's important to be

  • genuine in your delivery of it.

  • JOE PLUMERI: That's a great question.

  • Because you would have thought that I prepare.

  • As you can see, I'm just talking.

  • Friends of mine, my wife is in the back, they're laughing.

  • Because I've never read a speech in my life.

  • I never have.

  • Because I know the subject.

  • I know what I want to say.

  • There's eight principles in the book,

  • and I just picked a few that I thought you'd relate to.

  • And there's lots of others that are fun to talk about.

  • But the preparation is the intensity of my thinking.

  • I don't think you ever stop thinking

  • about what you're doing.

  • Lots of times my wife, Susan, who's here with me

  • today, she sees me staring into the abyss,

  • or staring at a wall.

  • And she says, what are you doing?

  • And she knows I'm processing in my mind what

  • I want to say to you guys.

  • But at the end of day, it starts here,

  • but it comes out over here.

  • So the filter is not a big one.

  • But if you feel it inside of you, and it's what you are,

  • and who you are, then the integrity shines through.

  • You can tell whether I'm a fake or not

  • by virtue of the way I do it.

  • So that's the way I process it.

  • AUDIENCE: Thanks.

  • JOE PLUMERI: OK?

  • AUDIENCE: So much of our schooling

  • is focused on mathematics, and that sort of preparation

  • for the business world.

  • Do you think it's important to instill

  • this relationship-building and other things in kids early on?

  • And if so, what is the appropriate mechanism to do so?

  • JOE PLUMERI: Thank you, Angela, that's a very good question.

  • In my day, they called that liberal arts,

  • versus the sciences.

  • I think it's really important.

  • I think not only when you're a child.

  • And today the sense of competitiveness,

  • a sense of striving.

  • Browning said, your reach should exceed your grasp,

  • or what's a heaven for?

  • And we seem to be breeding in a society today

  • a class of children, or people, where average is good.

  • I don't think that's good.

  • I don't think the people who founded this place sought

  • to be average.

  • I think they sought to be different, and extraordinary.

  • So I think as kids are in school,

  • it's really important to instill in them a sense of who they

  • are, allow them to speak the way they think they should speak,

  • and what they feel.

  • When you go to business schools today,

  • and I speak at business schools, there's

  • very little taught about what it really takes to run a company.

  • You got to know about balance sheets,

  • and you've got to know about income statements, and taxes,

  • and all that kind of stuff.

  • But I really think what's important is inspiring people.

  • And they don't teach inspiration.

  • They don't teach motivation.

  • There's a principle in the book, show the way

  • to grandma's house.

  • And grandma's house is a metaphor for vision.

  • That as a child you went on a trip with your parents

  • someplace for a long distance.

  • And eventually, you got impatient.

  • And eventually you asked, when are we going to get there?

  • Everybody goes through it.

  • And the parent usually responds by making up

  • something that gives you a vision of how exciting it's

  • going to be when you get there, if you'd just

  • be patient, and settle down.

  • So in a way, that's a vision for the future.

  • Companies should do that for employees.

  • People like me should get up and say, let

  • me tell you where we're going.

  • Let me tell you my view of grandma's house.

  • This is where we're going.

  • And it's going to have cake, and ice cream, and candy, and toys,

  • and all the things that are nice.

  • Or put that in terms of business.

  • And the reason that's important is

  • so you could endure the trip.

  • Why do you show up every day?

  • What's your participation, or contribution

  • for what you do to make the place better,

  • to get to grandma's house?

  • And I don't think they teach that anymore in school.

  • People just show up.

  • And you get paid, hopefully well.

  • But there's no sense of really what

  • do I have to do with what happens when we get there?

  • So I am a big proponent.

  • I've said that business schools, I've said that at universities.

  • I think we need to do more and more to instill

  • that in our children.

  • Frankly, I have a granddaughter who's 13 years old.

  • And there's a lot of conversation

  • that goes on with a machine, and very little

  • that goes on with the talking.

  • And so when you sit down and you have dinner,

  • and there's no machine, it's very difficult

  • to converse when you're not used to doing that.

  • Because you could say a whole bunch of things.

  • And somebody says a whole bunch of things back.

  • And believe me, I am not anti-technology.

  • I just don't think it should be instead of people.

  • That's all.

  • And I think we need to reinstill that back into our society.

  • AUDIENCE: Joe, thanks so much for joining.

  • Your thoughts, sharing them has been great to hear.

  • The optimism, and dynamism heard from your story,

  • from what you shared.

  • So my one question was, I wonder if there's maybe

  • a certain point, kind of a specific time, or place,

  • or an experience where it all kind of clicked for you.

  • And you felt that having the optimistic path to life

  • is the way to go, as opposed to maybe being

  • a little more realistic, or being a bit more

  • pessimistic about things.

  • Or maybe you were always like that?

  • JOE PLUMERI: You're asking me a very good question, which

  • makes me think whether there was any defining moment, which is

  • what I think you're asking me.

  • And I don't think I had a defining moment.

  • I had a defining father.

  • This guy thought that nothing could ever go wrong.

  • When you're hanging around role models

  • like that that are positive, it's really infectious.

  • And he just never believed-- it's in the book,

  • by the way-- that's why I can't tell you the whole book,

  • then you won't read it.

  • But it's in the book how positive he was.

  • But I'll tell you a story, and it talks about what he did.

  • And when you read that, you'll see where it comes from.

  • Because all my life, I watched him.

  • And I watched him engage with people.

  • And I watched him be optimistic.

  • And I watched him just be such an influence just

  • by hanging around him.

  • So there was no defining moment for me.

  • But there was just like a whole bunch of time

  • that I saw him be positive.

  • There's a piece in the book where he used to come and watch

  • all my ball games.

  • I played sports.

  • And one of the stories I didn't tell in the book,

  • so I'm going to tell you.

  • And the guy who helped me write the book,

  • Steve Kettmann's in the back.

  • And I think of all these things now.

  • I played football in college.

  • And you can tell how good I was.

  • And how good the team was.

  • We went to play the University of Virginia.

  • And they had lost 27 games in a row, or something like that.

  • And if we beat them, they would have set the NCAA record

  • for consecutive losses or something.

  • And so we went to Charlottesville to play them.

  • And I had such a terrible day.

  • I fumbled.

  • It was just everything wrong.

  • And they won because of me.

  • And so I get in the locker room, and my head was down.

  • And I saw these shoes show up in front of me.

  • And it was my father's shoes.

  • And he said, why's your head down?

  • And I looked up, I said, I didn't play well-- or something

  • like that.

  • And he said, what do mean?

  • You had a great day.

  • I said, what are you talking about?

  • He says, 40,000 people now know who you are.

  • When you have that kind of influence-- and you'll

  • see that we owned the baseball team.

  • And I remember one time-- and again, I

  • didn't put it in the book.

  • Our team, it was a minor league affiliate of the Yankees.

  • I don't know, we lost 16 to nothing.

  • And he'd always go into the clubhouse

  • after the end of each game.

  • And he would say, great game.

  • Great game.

  • We lost 16 to nothing.

  • And the coach would say, how could you

  • say we had a great game?

  • He'd say, Oh, everybody tried hard.

  • Everybody did the best they could.

  • That was the kind of guy he was.

  • So when you hang around that all your life,

  • which goes to another message.

  • Hang around people that are positive influences.

  • Stay close to people who can be helpful to you,

  • and not drag you down, but pick you up.

  • You got those choices.

  • And I think that's where I got mine from.

  • AUDIENCE: So it sounds like it's almost kind of this tendency

  • to resilience, which maybe you cultivated just

  • from seeing your dad, and going through that.

  • JOE PLUMERI: Yeah, and again, I think

  • you are a product of something.

  • And I was a product of what I saw.

  • And I was lucky enough-- I could have

  • seen something else that would've

  • been not as productive.

  • But I had the privilege, and the good fortune

  • of seeing somebody that had a positive influence.

  • The guy just wouldn't give up.

  • He just kept bouncing back up again.

  • AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

  • JOE PLUMERI: Yeah, and so that's why I think it's important.

  • And there are subtle messages.

  • And you'll see, cut a path is the principle in the book which

  • talks about my father and my grandfather,

  • and the legacy in my family of always cutting a path.

  • There's choices you have in life.

  • I gave you one of them, pain of discipline, pain of regret.

  • The other one is, cut a path and leave a trail.

  • Or let somebody else cut the path, and you follow them.

  • In business, first to the market wins.

  • In life, I think you just go cut a path,

  • and then wait for everybody else to want to follow you.

  • They're not the ones that are the winners.

  • This place is a great example of that.

  • So he was always a person that cut a path, and left a trail.

  • And I've always been the same way.

  • And in business, it's called be the first to the market,

  • and you win.

  • Same thing with your customers.

  • If you have a customer, you don't sell them, you help them.

  • It's subtle things like that make

  • you feel and want people to do better, and they're positive.

  • AUDIENCE: So my question is, you mentioned

  • that you kind of regret not having spent more time

  • with your son before he passed.

  • After he did pass away, did you see

  • a change in kind of the amount of time

  • you spent with either family, or time you took off,

  • or in terms of how much you worked

  • as a learning out of that?

  • And then what kind of things you recommend for people these days

  • to kind of--

  • JOE PLUMERI: The answer is yes.

  • I have.

  • And frankly, when I was on a plane last night,

  • I asked my wife.

  • He had a daughter, who's now 13, who my ex-wife and I adopted.

  • And her name is Elizabeth.

  • And so I'm the father, and the grandfather.

  • And I worry that I don't spend enough time with her.

  • I mentioned that to my wife last night.

  • I said, I gotta spend more time with Elizabeth.

  • I don't know that I could even ask that question

  • before the tragedy.

  • I wouldn't have even asked it.

  • I think I'm pretty close to my other children,

  • but I get paranoid that I'm not.

  • Because when you go through something like that,

  • you're constantly questioning whether you're

  • doing the right thing or not.

  • Whether you said the right thing or not.

  • But I think it's healthy.

  • I think it's healthy that I constantly question,

  • am I doing this right?

  • Or I constantly question, am I spending enough time

  • like I should?

  • All because of the experience that I had.

  • And as long as I keep questioning myself,

  • I think that's healthy.

  • So my recommendation would be, don't

  • go through what I went through.

  • But keep questioning everything that you do personally

  • with your friends, or with your family.

  • And question whether or not the relationship

  • is as tight as it should be, and as heartfelt as it should be.

  • AUDIENCE: Just really quickly, on the subject

  • of questioning yourself.

  • How do you balance questioning yourself versus confidence?

  • JOE PLUMERI: Questioning yourself versus confidence?

  • I go back to swagger.

  • You know the word swagger?

  • Everybody always says, that guy's got swagger.

  • That lady has swagger, right?

  • And there's something cool about swagger.

  • And so I always try to think about what swagger

  • would be if you defined it.

  • And this is what swagger is.

  • You ready?

  • North of confident, and south of arrogant.

  • You've got it?

  • You want to be around confident people,

  • but you don't want to be around people that are arrogant.

  • Right?

  • You want to be around, this is a confident person

  • who has a sense of class, style, and has respect for people.

  • And so you want to stay south of arrogant, north of confident,

  • and that land right there is where you want to be.

  • And that's swagger.

  • And always keep asking yourself, did I

  • do something that was confident?

  • Or did I go above the line of arrogance?

  • OK?

  • Got it?

  • North of confident, south of arrogant

  • is the swagger you want to have every day, when

  • you think anything's possible.

  • OK?

  • I want to really thank you guys for coming today.

  • It's really been a lot of fun.

  • I appreciate it.

  • I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk to you,

  • and spend the time with you.

  • Thank you.

  • [APPLAUSE]

FEMALE SPEAKER: Hello, everyone.

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ジョー・プルメリ:「自分であることの力」|Googleで講演 (Joe Plumeri: "The Power of Being Yourself" | Talks at Google)

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