Da Pratt

Normally I don't put pictures of old white men (i prefer athletic black men :P) on my blog but gotta give props to Da Pratt aka Richard Pratt, CEO of VISY Industries. I just come home from a Meet The CEO function at UNSW where they kinda interviewed him in front of a large audience. This dude is king of the papers, or more correctly the cardboard kingpin. The owner of the largest privately held packaging, paper and recyling biz.

What was really cool about this dude, was that even though a large part of the success of his empire is due to him and he's worth billions, he was so humble and down to earth. He kept saying his success was due to the best machines that he bought, the opportunites that he gave people, the talent around him. Rarely did he say it was "me, me, me".

I walked away feeling inspired and motivated. Not to be like him but took away his reasons for his success. He kept it simple. It's about persistence and determination. Talent can only get you so far, but it was sticking to what he knew best and persisting. And taking risks.

It's very hard these days for us uni folks to actually be like that though. We get trained to analyse. Critique. Break a problem down. At the end of this higher learning process, we become conservative and unwilling to take risks. What's really lacking for most of us is the creativity and the risk taking - the hallmarks of entrepreneurs.

Also, I got to show him some love for his priorities. It was family first and then business second. Everything else comes after that (although he did fail to mention a few marital indiscretions...). No matter how successful you are, you've got to keep it in perspective - because in this trife life, all the money in the world can't buy you love.

And the look on his face when the interviewer asked him about the recent price fixing scandals? Priceless. He had this smirk on his face and I knew what was up and so did half the audience.

I really dig his approach to people - he looks after them like they're his la familia. If they're sick, he'll take care of them til the day they die. If they've got money problems, he'll loan em money. It might not be the most commerical thing to do but his from the old skool era - when we used to care about the people that worked for you.

This man is different to most kingpins. He actually does care about society - he has views about population growth, contributed $3million to water desalination, and preaches corporate social responsibility. I'm down with that - a man that gives back to society - not because it makes him look good, but he genuinely cares about the world around him.

PEACE.