00:00:02another edition of maalula masters I
00:00:04believe that the fastest and most
00:00:06effective way to grow your business is
00:00:08to model the strategies of people who’ve
00:00:09already done where you’re trying to do
00:00:11so today we’re going to look at how
00:00:13young man whose early ambitions was to
00:00:15be earning ten thousand dollars a year
00:00:17went on to become a billionaire one of
00:00:19Canada’s wealthiest entrepreneurs this
00:00:22is the story of Jerry Schwartz and
00:00:23enough three lessons that you can learn
00:00:25from his success Gary Schwartz is a
00:00:29Canadian businessman in 1977 he
00:00:32co-founded can us global communications
00:00:34followed by onyx in 1983 the report on
00:00:37business ranked Schwartz is one of the
00:00:3930 wealthiest Canadians with a network
00:00:41that exceeds 1.5 billion dollars in high
00:00:45school he said he wanted to be an
00:00:46executive and to have a big job that
00:00:48would pay at least ten thousand dollars
00:00:50a year I thought $10,000 was a big deal
00:00:53he said he learned about business from
00:00:55his father putting the shorts I can’t
00:00:58remember a day going up without my
00:00:59father talking about business if he
00:01:02bought real estate he’d explained how
00:01:03and why today his investment firm onyx
00:01:07as over 235,000 employees and Schwartz
00:01:10continues to look for opportunities to
00:01:12buy struggling companies turned him
00:01:14around and sell them for a handsome
00:01:15profit he was named ernst & young’s 2005
00:01:18entrepreneur of the year and was also
00:01:20made an officer of the order of canada
00:01:22in 2006
00:01:27by listening to his father’s advice and
00:01:30by keeping his eye open for
00:01:31opportunities jerry shorts was able to
00:01:33become a billionaire to help you find
00:01:36your opportunities here are three action
00:01:38items you can learn from Gary Schwartz
00:01:40action item number one keep your team
00:01:43together if you want to grow your
00:01:45business it’s important not only to find
00:01:47good people to work for you but also to
00:01:49keep them on board high employee
00:01:51turnover hurts productivity and morale
00:01:53and will limit how far your company can
00:01:55go people love working for Jerry
00:01:58Schwartz because he gives some
00:01:59opportunities and respects their
00:02:00opinions every Monday morning Schwartz
00:02:03gathers his top executives and decision
00:02:05makers in the onyx boardroom to discuss
00:02:07the merits of transactions and
00:02:08strategies both new and old if one of
00:02:11his key team players is unable to be at
00:02:13the meeting in person shorts make sure
00:02:15they are brought in by telephone one by
00:02:18one shorts goes around the table and
00:02:20let’s each and every one of his staff
00:02:21have their say it with a future
00:02:23direction of the company and they do not
00:02:25have to go along with whatever shorts
00:02:27proposes if one person raises a doubt
00:02:29about a proposal on the table the team
00:02:32may still proceed but with greater
00:02:33caution if two executives razor
00:02:36dissenting voices then the deal is
00:02:37dropped right then and there according
00:02:40to shorts collectively we make onyx I
00:02:42dynamic and collegial place to work one
00:02:45of the hallmarks of onyx is that since I
00:02:47started the company in 1983 every
00:02:50professional who has joined the company
00:02:51at our Toronto head office is still here
00:02:53we’ve had no turnover
00:02:58action item number to take risks being
00:03:02an entrepreneur involves taking risks
00:03:03you’re often venturing out into the
00:03:05unknown and you have to be willing to
00:03:07take that leap of faith even when you
00:03:09don’t have all the information or
00:03:10resources that you might need to be
00:03:12successful there’s no such thing as high
00:03:14returns without risk and among
00:03:16investment bankers shorts a skinny
00:03:18reputation for being willing to stick
00:03:20his neck out take that risk he continues
00:03:23going for the long shots for companies
00:03:25that others haven’t thought about
00:03:26acquiring and if the deal doesn’t work
00:03:28out short says he takes it personally
00:03:30but he dusts himself off and comes back
00:03:32again for another try according to
00:03:35Schwartz I’m still a long distance from
00:03:37smart but I’m also a long distance from
00:03:39dumb the hardest lesson that I’ve
00:03:42learned has been not to repeat the dumb
00:03:44mistakes I’ve made over the years which
00:03:46are too numerous to list
00:03:50action item number three look for new
00:03:53opportunities business growth always
00:03:55comes from seizing new opportunities as
00:03:57they come up around you you’ll have to
00:03:59make tough decisions if you pursue the
00:04:01opportunities or not make sure you take
00:04:03the time to really think about it and if
00:04:05it’s going to work out instead of
00:04:06jumping on board every opportunity that
00:04:08comes by over as long career shorts has
00:04:12come to recognize that they’ll always be
00:04:13another deal success however only comes
00:04:16from investing in the ones that he’s
00:04:18really researched and dug down deep to
00:04:21make sure that it’s a good deal because
00:04:23of his reputation onyx is now informed
00:04:25whenever any major company comes up for
00:04:27sale anywhere in North America shorts
00:04:30and his team then inspect the books of
00:04:31each company and the respective markets
00:04:33to see if it’s worth buying shorts is
00:04:36also keen on finding his own potential
00:04:38acquisitions one that have yet to be
00:04:40advertised and that are hiding within a
00:04:42larger parent company according to
00:04:44Schwartz every decision onyx makes is
00:04:46made on the basis of creating long-term
00:04:48value our philosophy is to operate like
00:04:51a forever owner of an asset we take an
00:04:54excruciating length of time to buy an
00:04:56asset we did nothing in the late 1980s
00:04:59because of all the pressure to do deals
00:05:00that’s not our game investments are like
00:05:03trains and if you miss one don’t worry
00:05:06because another one will come down the
00:05:07line
00:05:11so remember keep your team together take
00:05:15risks and look for new opportunities to
00:05:17finish up this video I wanted to share
00:05:20one of my favorite true stories about
00:05:21Gary Schwartz and some of his best
00:05:23quotes in nineteen-sixty-nine when
00:05:26shorts of pursuing his MBA at Harvard
00:05:28the school was offering an introductory
00:05:30course on computers it was a popular
00:05:32course but Schwartz didn’t sign up for
00:05:34it quoting the Schwartz I thought I’d
00:05:36have assistants to do that stuff for me
00:05:38which is why I missed the value of the
00:05:40digital error in so many ways you can’t
00:05:42understand the power of technology
00:05:43unless you use it shorts might have
00:05:46missed out on the computer course at
00:05:48Harvard but what he calls his ridiculous
00:05:50attitude towards computers changed after
00:05:52trip to Bill Gates’s house he gave me a
00:05:55Palm Pilot I got on a plane from Seattle
00:05:57to Florida a five hour flight and
00:05:59started on the instruction book I
00:06:01couldn’t figure it out but a time
00:06:04Schwartz had landed back home he was
00:06:06only on section 3 of 15 in the
00:06:08instruction
00:06:09I said that’s it recall Schwartz I
00:06:11decided to learn from that day forward
00:06:14I’m existed onyx be on the leading edge
00:06:16of information technology
00:06:20thank you for joining me for another
00:06:22edition of modern masters if you enjoyed
00:06:25the video please give a thumbs up I’d
00:06:26also love to hear your thoughts and
00:06:28feedback if you want to leave a comment
00:06:29below the video and stay tuned to the
00:06:31next episode
”