The Hero Factor

How Great Leaders Transform Organizations and Create Winning Cultures

Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, Jim Eber

• Publisher: Entrepreneur Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780978440749, 9781599185743
• eBook ISBN: 9781613083956
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

This book is for everyday heroes. The leaders whose fortunes do not equal the GDP of several countries combined, who rarely grab headlines, who run businesses built on more than advertising slogans and spin that hide corrupt cultures who fail to value people over profits.
Leaders who go beyond the free coffee in the office and give 10 percent of proceeds to charity. This book is for those leaders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who understand what Henry Ford meant when he said "a business that makes nothing but money is a poor business."

• Will target the existing and new members of Jeffrey Hayzlett's "The Hero Club", an entrepreneur group for CEOs 400% growth in membership since 2017
• Features contributions and case studies of high-profile companies like Tesla, CVS, Salesforce, and 1-800-Flowers focusing on the moves and skills that make leaders at all levels, from small business to C-Suite, build a mission-based culture
• Supported by author-directed website including complementary material and content in different media formats (broadcasted video and podcasts)
• Author has a large network of support with an estimated indirect reach in the tens of million and an estimated direct reach of 1.5 million

PART I

THE CALL TO HERO LEADERSHIP AND THE HERO FACTOR

As you read this book, you’ll find that hero leadership is a choice—a choice to be more than good, more than great, no matter the circumstances. Hero leadership does not choose you. It is a conscious choice leaders and companies make: to decide what they value and to hold themselves accountable to live those values consistently and sustainably in everything they do. This is where our Hero Factor journey begins. In this first part, I’ll walk you through what that call to leadership might look like for you (every origin story is different, after all). Then we’ll create a working definition of your Hero Factor and learn how you can measure it.

Let’s go.

CHAPTER 1

THE CALL TO HERO LEADERSHIP

Meet Bubba. Things aren’t going so well for him, until one day he passes a billboard for the lottery and sees it’s at a record jackpot. If he could only win the lottery, he thinks, that would solve all his problems.

So Bubba gets down on his knees and prays: “Lord, please let me win the lottery; please let me win the lottery; please let me win the lottery …”

Every day, Bubba gets down on his knees and prays. He also makes sure to live his best life. He does good deeds. He goes to church. He tells everyone that God will provide. He knows it! He feels it! But when Saturday’s drawing comes, Bubba doesn’t win. Next week, the same thing. And the following week. And the following week. Week after week, the jackpot grows, but Bubba never wins.

Finally, someone else claims that record prize. Upon hearing the news, Bubba finally breaks down, falls to his knees, and cries out, “God, why didn’t I win? I’ve been a good soul and a good citizen. I’ve prayed and gone to church. I felt you would provide. Why?”

And to Bubba’s surprise, the Lord answers him.

“Bubba, you got to buy a ticket.”

Not even God can help you if you don’t make the choice that leads to what you want. Hearing the call is one thing. Choosing to answer it is another.

But this is not a book about God. Or the lottery. But it is about Bubba, in a way. Because in a book about hearing and answering the call to hero leadership, I’m not just starting with a joke about Bubba. I am Bubba. Or at least I started out that way. I literally took a call to hero leadership and then refused to buy my ticket.

In 2009, Randy Garn, a founding partner of Hero Partners, invited me to attend their annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Hero Partners was a nationwide invitation-only entrepreneurs’ club for leaders from fast-growth companies who pledge themselves to hero leadership and who collaborate to revive the spirit of American entrepreneurialism. These were people and companies I knew and/or admired. It was an honor to be considered as a guest, let alone be invited to join. Randy and the other members must have seen something in me that aligned with their vision of Hero Partners’ future.

So of course, I said no. (Just call me Bubba.)

In all fairness, the future was uncertain for me and the country at the time. As America struggled to recover from the Great Recession, I was entering what would be my final year at Kodak as its CMO. But the following year, I had left Kodak, and Randy called again. I still said no. Next year, the same thing. And the next year. One year he even put Rudy Ruettiger on the phone to help recruit me—the Rudy from Notre Dame, the guy who inspired the film Rudy (one of my all-time favorite sports movies). It was amazing to talk to him, but still … nope.

For seven years Randy called me, and for seven years I said, “No.” No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

But the eighth time, I not only answered Randy’s call to become a Hero Partner, but to borrow a legendary phrase from Victor Kiam, I loved it so much I bought the company. Well, part of it: The Hero Club, a nationwide organization of business leaders who pledge themselves to hero leadership. We have expanded well beyond Jackson Hole to host hundreds of leaders in cities across the country who genuinely care about leading and serving others. We unite to collaborate, communicate, and inspire hero leadership in one another and in and through our companies.

My work with The Hero Club inspired me to write this book, but it also forced me to reflect on why I resisted Randy’s call for so long. I wasn’t really Bubba. I made a conscious choice not to buy my ticket to Hero Partners. But I was seeking to understand what changed in me, so I could explain it to you and the other members of The Hero Club. Because I felt different. So different that I made it part of my business, not just how I do business. So why did I wait so many years to buy my ticket?

Was it because committing to hero leadership is hard? No, I’ve never been afraid of hard work, and I know leading the right way requires grit, determination, and focus.

Was it because I didn’t have the time? Time is a precious commodity, but I make time for the things that are important to me.

Was it because I didn’t understand what it meant to be a hero leader? Maybe, but I had a good idea what it meant, and certainly respected Randy and the other people who attended.

Was it because I didn’t want to challenge the status quo? Come on, have you met me? I love a challenge as much as I like disrupting the status quo.

None of my “becauses” answered my “why.” But as I started to write this book, I looked in the mirror and realized I still saw a Bubba who wasn’t ready to be a hero, who didn’t understand what it meant, and who didn’t know why it was important. In other words, I still didn’t think I was a hero.

Sure, I had what I thought were hero qualities. I demand authenticity from myself and those who work for me. I have always tried to be the best “me” I can be and encourage that in others. I am clear on what my values are and how they reflect the values of the company. I push to break free from antiquated leadership models. I strive to be an inclusive, strong, decisive yet open leader and to set a good example for my people and other leaders so I can earn their trust. I encourage people to be themselves, not another version of me. Heck, I’ve already written three books on business leadership in addition to leading businesses of all sizes.

But did all that add up to being a hero? The answer was no. I was a good—sometimes great—leader at a good—sometimes great—company, but a hero? I wanted to be one, but I wasn’t there yet. I’m nowhere near perfect, and the idea of calling myself a hero was, at the very least, uncomfortable. I wish I was as good as the others with whom I have surrounded myself.

This revelation became a mirror moment for me—a kind of business confessional to myself. “You hypocritical son of a bitch,” I said to my “reflection.” How many times had I not done all those things I just said? Disappointed people? Disappointed myself? Done something unheroic when I knew better? Missed the point? Got stuck in the past? Ignored a problem I knew was happening? Failed to listen? Not made time for people or fully followed through on something? Failed to attain the operational success I wanted and needed? Walked around with what I call Johnny Vegas Syndrome like I knew better than everyone else?

These “mirror moments” of genuine vulnerability have a way of actually making you stronger. As I asked and answered this exhausting list of questions, I realized that I wasn’t just ready to make that choice and invest in myself and The Hero Club. I was ready to explain why it mattered. I was ready to own it as part of my purpose—what Simon Sinek would call my “why.”

And why was I doing this? Because I felt something changing, not just in me but in the country I love. I believe we are at a crossroads where we have a chance for real change in the way we do business. All those people looking for purpose and direction ask: Who will lead? Who will propel innovation, change the culture of the workplace to be more inclusive, and drive the evolution of this country?

The answer: the heroes.

Entrepreneurialism is America’s spirit. Hero is America’s destination.

We need hero leaders and companies to reclaim the best parts of the American spirit of free enterprise and entrepreneurialism. We need to abandon the scarcity mentality (for me to win, you or someone else has to lose) for an abundance mentality that is win-win for all. But if we as a nation are going to do this, organizations and their leaders need to light a collective fire. And to start this fire, we need catalysts: more leaders and companies that are choosing the path of hero leadership. That’s where we start: by making a choice.

IT’S TIME TO PICK A SIDE

I believe we are entering the age of hero businesses and leaders. This may sound strange in the era of #MeToo, when people we thought were our heroes are being exposed for decidedly unheroic acts and attitudes. But that’s the point! Hero is a destination, one you choose to drive to and hold yourself accountable for once you get there. It’s not a place you can automatically or accidentally end up—even if you win the lottery. We have had enough of leaders who beat each other down and fail to build futures for us, our children, and our children’s children. Now is the time for hero leaders to transform their organizations and reclaim what has been lost or stuck in the status quo. The door is open for hero companies and leaders to build that better tomorrow.

Are you ready to answer that call to hero leadership?

I’m ready, and I’m putting my size and my mouth—and those of you who know me know that both are quite large—behind answering that call to hero leadership and helping you feel it so you answer it, too.

But first, let’s talk about what exactly I mean by the word “hero.” When I say “hero,” for our purposes here I’m not talking about the first responders, police, firefighters, and the men a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Origin Story
• Part I: The Call to Hero Leadership and the Hero Factor
• Part II: Hero Intensity: Your Values
• Part III: Hero Intensity: How You Value Others
• Conclusion: Heroes Step Up: What Will Your Legacy Be?
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Index
• Think Big, Act Bigger: The Rewards of Being Relentless