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We've been talking with John Williams and we've been talking about the subject of visions
and dreams and how to make those a reality. John, thank you so much for being with us
today. There's one thing that we haven't talked about that I think is terribly important for
us to at least spend a couple of minutes with and that is this concept of entrepreneurialism,
envisioning something big, maybe bigger than ourselves and then actually making it a reality.
Sort of the operational function, if you will. I know there are schools of thought that hold
that an entrepreneur is great at getting things started and getting sort of the passion and
the enthusiasm inbred into the project, but they're not necessarily the best at running
and making it an operational success. You are the entrepreneur, but for the last 40
years you've also been the operator. Tell me what your philosophy is from your unique
advantage point. Well, knowing that story and the practicality
of it was always a threat to me. My drive is to create. Once I create something new,
then I've got to change and create something else, but in the meantime, I know that I have
to train other people, get a structure in place and be willing to turn over the operations
to other people and my 40 years has been a constant process of setting the next dream.
As a matter of fact, I'm working on a new one right now as we speak and in the last
few years...and you know something about our company. In the last few years, several of
our newest services are projects that I led the creation of the next dream.
It's safe to say then that entrepreneurs do run the risk of being so entrepreneurial that
they can outdistance the foundation or the structure of an organization to actually make
their dreams and their visions a reality. I think that's fair.
Okay and you said in your organization, for 40 years now, you have continuously been the
entrepreneur, but you've also been the – what – the mentor, the coach, the person who
has brought people up to that, created that structure so that then you can go out into
that realm of entrepreneurialism again and find new products and services and new markets
to conquer. I don't know that that opportunity would exist
in every kind of business. I've been blessed by the fact that I've been in the computer
business and serving banking and banking has changed dramatically over the 40 years and
technology, as you mentioned earlier, has changed dramatically and those two forces
have created opportunities to set new visions. Some businesses might be more stable and static
and not have those challenges. We currently have 29 locations around the country in 20
states and opening new locations had a variety to it or building new products or new services
that kept the entrepreneurial spirit going. There is one more thing that, again, the things
you're talking about are interesting to me and, hopefully, to our viewers as well, but
as you talk about revisiting the entrepreneurial vision and building the structure, there's
also a focus of lifelong learning in there to use a catch phrase that's common and familiar
to many of us. Tell me about training. Tell me about education. Tell me about this process
of lifelong learning. Not only in your business and what you try to communicate to your people,
but in you, yourself, how do you approach lifelong learning?
Well, I want to first say and give credit to where it came from. In my senior year in
college, I had several professors tell the class within five years you're going to be
stale and out-of-date because of the turnover of knowledge. That was motivational in itself.
So I've spent an entire career...I'm a vociferous reader. I read a lot and I take classes regularly
freshening up in a number of areas and I encourage my people to do the same thing.
What would you say to those people who are somewhat hesitant or in my business I sometimes
encounter folks who say, “Well, but I've only got seven more years or eleven more years
until I retire.” What would you say to those people to help them to get the vision, if
you will, of the importance of continuous learning?
Well, I'm not so sure everybody needs to have that priority because I think that there is
a category of positions in most companies for people to operate and continue to operate
in the same way as opposed to creating the new. It's the people who are going to look
for opportunities to create the new who need to be exposed. I think everyone should, but
I don't want to put that burden on those who don't plan to be doing something different
next year than they are now. It's been official for some, but critical
for others. That's fair.
Okay, alright. Let's talk about folks who are watching this and saying, “Okay, I'm
at the front end of a 40-year dream. I know what I would love to do. I would love to do
blank,” and they fill in the blank. They're watching you and listening to you. What advice
would you give to someone that is just now toying with an idea, a dream, a vision to
actually take that next step? What practical thing could you say to them that would help
them know that it's okay to venture off into the unknown?
I don't know that I have anything practical to say.
Okay. I guess it would be more motivational. I think
all of us have far more capacity than we ever tap. We've been given that blessing by God,
the brains to do something, the educational resources to learn new things. What we need
is courage. We need the courage to set that vision, the courage to spend the time planning,
build that internal desire to make something different happen and the world becomes a better
place as a result. Well, courage and brains sounds a whole lot
like maybe a revisiting of the Wizard of Oz there. All we need is a little heart there
and we're good to go. One more question before we, unfortunately, have to end our time together
today. Forty years – we've focused on that number a lot in our conversation, but we've
been looking to the past. Let's look to the future 40 years. What's the next 40 years
going to look like for John Williams? Not CSI. I'm sure it's in good hands and well-established,
but for John Williams the entrepreneur, the thinker, the learner. What do you envision
the next stage of your life to be like? Well, I don't expect it to be 40 years. That
would be far more than I should be blessed with, but I now want to plan on one year at
a time. I'm still creating new products or services as fits the team's priorities within
our business. I'm increasing my amount of time in civic activity. My wife tells me that
I should not plan to sit down in the rocking chair and retire, that I will fail retirement.
So I've got to continue to set new goals and those will increasingly be civic types of
goals to kind of pay for my rent for my place on earth.
The opportunity to give back. Right.
John, you've given to us great lessons here today. I count it a privilege to have the
opportunity to sit and talk and to learn with you and to explore some of these ideas. Thank
you so much for our time together and I'll say to you stay tuned. We'll be back for some
parting comments in just a moment.