Episode 45: James Keyes- Leadership through adversity

The One Percent Project- Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Resilience

About James Keyes:
My next guest on the One Percent Project is James W Keyes. James served as the Chief Executive Officer of 7-Eleven and chairman and CEO of Blockbuster. James graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree from the College of the Holy Cross. He also obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1980. James is the founder of the 'Education is Freedom' foundation

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In this conversation, he talks about:

1. How curiosity and adversity have helped him lead organisations such as 7-Eleven and Blockbuster?
2. The need for entrepreneurial thinking within a corporation.
3. The art of negotiation and its tenets.
4. How has 7-Eleven been able to keep itself ahead of the curve, and why others have not been able to replicate its growth model.
5. Why did he choose to join Blockbuster?
6. Would Blockbuster be a different company if it had accepted to buy Netflix?
7. Are the principles of leadership being disrupted by the new generation of leaders?

Some Key Highlights:

• When you are hit by adversity, you can respond in two ways: You can have your head down and become the victim, or keep your head up and say I'll get through this and get to the other side. Most of the time, there's hidden learning, and there's a strength that comes from knowing that you were able to make it through to the other side. This gives you the quiet advantage over someone who hasn't had to endure the adversity.

• The idea of a corporate entrepreneur is almost an oxymoron. Unfortunately, many corporate cultures believe in conformity and force people into a norm, discouraging the outliers. The very definition of an entrepreneur is someone who sets out on their own as an individual and breaks the norms. In contrast, the definition of a corporation is coming together as one; it's a body, not an individual.

• Leadership is about adapting to change, and change happens every day. So whatever you learned about leadership last week, you might have to change it next week based on a new set of facts, people or circumstances.