Arthur Blank ON: How Successful People Build Their Life & Business Based on Service

You love On Purpose because it inspires your life. Have you tried Jay’s Genius workshops and meditations to access even deeper well-being? Learn more at https://shetty.cc/OnPurposeGenius Arthur Blank wears the same bracelet everyday with the inscription: “You Only Pass Through Once, Make a Difference.” On this episode of On Purpose With Jay Shetty, Jay talks to Arthur Blank, the founder of Home Depot and an incredible businessman and philanthropist about living a life built on service. They speak about what it means to work in a way that is “worthy of your life” and how to make service to others the most important part of any business and career. Check out Arthur’s new book, Good Company! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

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• 0:44Jay Shetty?

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• 1:27Jay Shetty?

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• 1:49Speaker 01

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• 2:20Speaker 02

  So the ability to be calm, the ability to reflect, the ability to build into my life every day, where I'm not kind of a gerbil on the wheel, which is constantly running, the ability to get off that, you know, that cycle and pause, reflect, you know, understand, build back my strength, my vision. I think that's been an important part of my own personal growth. That part of it didn't take place until, you know, probably just maybe four or five years ago, I think, when I began to think more about, you know, in a broader sense, a deeper sense, purpose and service to others.

• 3:00Jay Shetty?

  Hello, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world because of each and every single one of you. Thank you so much for taking out time out of your day, out of your evening, to be here, to learn and grow and advance your thinking. And like you know, every week, I try and find guests that I believe are going to ask us thought provoking questions, give us deeper insights to ourselves and give us so much experience and abundance and wealth of insight to learn from, so that we can learn from their lives, their mistakes, their failures, their successes, and most of all, their wisdom. And today's guest is someone that I've been really blown away by. I've met him for the first time this week,

• 3:43Jay Shetty?

  but he just has this natural humility, his natural grace. He's extremely kind hearted. And it really blows me away when extremely successful individuals are so deeply, genuinely grounded and wanting to do incredible things for the world. So as you know, this week, I've been with the Arthur Blank Family Foundation. We've been at the West Creek Ranch here in Montana, and we've been discussing the state of wellbeing in America. And the person who's put this on is Arthur Blank himself, who is the best known as the co-founder of The Home Depot and was named by Forbes as one of the world's 100 greatest living business minds and sports business journals' most 50 influential people in sports for the past three years.

• 4:26Jay Shetty?

  His business portfolio currently includes the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, MLS Atlanta United, the retail PGA Tour Superstore, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and many, many more ventures. Arthur, I'm so grateful, honored and humbled that you're doing this. Thank you for being here.

• 4:44Speaker 02

  Well, it's great to be with you, as I said to you the other night. I mean, you're the last person I see when I go to bed. And it's always very warming to hear your counsel and your wisdom. So, thank you for sharing that with all of us. I appreciate it.

• 5:00Jay Shetty?

  No, thank you so much. I was so touched to hear that you'd been watching my videos without me even knowing.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  I have been. And I love them all, the great stories. And kind of like you said the other day, we're talking about Albert Einstein, how the ability to take something that's very complex and there's a lot of sides and edges to it, and make it to where it's digestible and understandable by, you know, by the majority of people. And I think that's a powerful asset that you have. And one that I, you know, that I try to remember as well, to try to make things a little bit easier for people to understand and therefore, you know, get through with the points you're trying to make. You do it well, very well.

• 5:38Jay Shetty?

  Thank you so much. That means so much to me, coming from you. And we're so happy and grateful to be in this incredible rite this week, your space here in Montana. We have this incredible view. And even more amazing is the people that you've gathered and your team has gathered for this such an important conversation and cause. Could you tell us about where this idea for this week came for you and what the purpose was from your perspective?

• 6:02Speaker 02

  Well, I think it was, you're born out of a lot of years of my journey in terms of wellness and well-being. And I was a very competitive runner for many years of my life. And that, you know, that was great. But, you know, we transitioned out of that. And I do a variety of other things to keep myself physically and mentally in shape now. But, you know, we're living in very troubled times. And I'm talking about really on a global basis, nationally as well as globally. And despite our GDP, which, you know, we discussed the other day, is not being the real measure of happiness in a country. Despite the growth of that, we've got a lot of, a lot of issues that young people and older people are all struggling with.

• 6:47Speaker 02

  The fact that you met Laurie Santos from Yale University in a quarter of, a quarter of the student body of Yale, 318 years old, has, has now taken, was taking this course every year on how to, how to deal with, you know, positive growth, how to deal with the stress in your life, et cetera. At Harvard, they have over a thousand students every semester do a similar. So the, the reality is, it's not only with folks my age that are, you know, why is the suicide rate double since in 1996, or 30%, I should say. But the young people today, thank heavens, are questioning themselves, you know, what is my purpose? What's my purpose myself? What's my purpose in serving humanity? What's my purpose in what I'm doing?

• 7:29Speaker 02

  How do I connect all these dots in my life journey together? And so I, I think the, the idea was to bring together, you know, the, the best, the brightest, and the smartest, we have them all, starting with you, and many others that have incredible backgrounds and histories, and bring such knowledge and wisdom to the room. And the idea was to bring together for us as a funder, and other funders as well, are there ways that we can help move the ball down the field, to use, you know, either of my football teams, American football, soccer, as a analogy, but as a ways that we can put our shoulder to the wheel and do more than what is currently being done, as a ways we can assist. And we do that within our own businesses, and we can talk about that later if you'd

• 8:14Speaker 02

  like, but, but beyond that, you know, what's the scale? What's the impact? We've talked about that. Lord knows that if we make a difference in one person's life, that's a huge journey by itself. But reality is that these issues are of such scale, not only nationally, but internationally, as we've heard from Dan Buettner of Blue Zones and, you know, and.

• 8:35Jay Shetty?

  And Lido?

• 8:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, Bob Walden, I'm sorry, Bob Walden from Harvard. I mean, these issues are being questioned, you know, throughout the world. So they're, they're, they're big time concerns that we have to face.

• 8:47Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. And when I first received the invite and saw what the conversation was, I was just so happy and in awe that this was taking place. I just thought, wow, there's someone out there who is so deeply invested and seems so genuinely caring about what the challenges of the world are. And then when I looked at the list of people coming, I was just like, wow, this can be so exciting for me because I have my notebook out and I've learned so much this week. So thank you again. And I want to help my audience understand your backstory because I think that's what really shows where people's purpose comes from. It's very easy to look at you. We're sitting in this beautiful West Greek ranch today. It's, you know, this beautiful property here, but you actually grew up in a one bedroom

• 9:32Jay Shetty?

  apartment in Queens.

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 9:34Jay Shetty?

  And you didn't move out until you went to college and didn't live in a home till age 32.

• 9:38Speaker 02

  Right, that's correct, yeah.

• 9:39Jay Shetty?

  And so tell us about how formative that experience was and how, what you learned from that.

• 9:44Speaker 02

  Well, I think, I think it was very important in my own life. My father's a pharmacist, but I, I lost him when I was 15. He was 44 at the time, very young age. My mother was 37. She took over my dad's business and ran it. But, you know, we always, we always, we didn't have very much. I mean, as I said, it was a one bedroom apartment, shared by all four of us. We had a single bathroom. I mean, we were living in a very, very modest way. And, but the one thing I remember clearly about my mother is that it was never about money. It was always about making a difference and trying to give back and trying to be involved in the community, et cetera. I mean, I wear this bracelet that she, that I, that I had made from our book.

• 10:27Speaker 02

  It's inscribed, you can't see it on here, but I wear one every day. It matches the color of what I'm wearing. But it says, "You, you, you only pass through once to make a difference." So, and that was the title of the book that she wrote. So I think that that became ingrained in me, the notion of trying to make a difference, giving back, being connected to others in the community and what have you. And we were not in a position to write checks then, but, you know, writing checks is great, but doing the work itself and getting connected to the individuals that, that you're trying to serve is, is really the most rewarding part of philanthropy in my, in my view. It makes it all come to life, makes it all real. Gives it more purpose than just sitting and writing checks. Checks are important. Resilience are important to make things happen and bring scale.

• 11:10Speaker 02

  But I think it's it's important to have that background. That I would say part of it and my faith. I'm Jewish and you know, one of the expressions in Judaism is to kona lom, which means to repair the world or sadaka, I mean, giving and participating. So those were ingrained in me, even though when I went to services, you know, you don't think you absorb all that, you know, you obviously did, became a monk at eighteen. But but, you know, a lot of the, you know, congregational meetings I went to, etc., I wasn't sure exactly what, but I was absorbing more so than I even really thought. So I think those things are very important in terms of my childhood.

• 11:52Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's incredible. And like regardless of how little you had, your mom was, your mother was always trying to find time and energy to give to the community in different ways. I think those are really powerful messages.

• 12:03Speaker 02

  And I think when I bought my first home, it was, you know, thirty two thousand dollars. I was thirty thirty two years old. I remember telling my wife then, I said, look, I'm not going to embarrass. I'll pay off the mortgage. I mean, I'll keep us current. Don't worry about that. I'll pay the bills. But we're never going to pay this mortgage off completely. I just, you know, there's no way, you know. So obviously, that part of my life has changed. But remembering that and remembering that experience and what it meant to not have the kind of financial success that we have today, going back to those days, I think was a very important part of my own molding, if you will.

• 12:35Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. I think perspective is so important. I remember when I was nine years old, I visited India for the first time and my father took me to the home that he grew up in. And he grew up in an area where they shared a bathroom with thirty other families. His home was as big as this room and that's seven people living in this much space. And when I went outside, there were like bats and cockroaches and all this kind of stuff. And I was just like, I couldn't believe that that's where my dad grew up.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:02Jay Shetty?

  And compared to, you know, we didn't grow up in a huge house in England, but compared to his home, our home was huge. And so for me, it was so important, I feel, at nine years old to see that.

• 13:12Speaker 02

  Right.

• 13:13Jay Shetty?

  Because it start made, started making me feel grateful for what I did have rather than being ungrateful for what I didn't have.

• 13:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I think, you know, just as your your journey brought you at some point at age eighteen, I think it was when you decided to, you know, go on the journey of becoming a monk. You know, you're affected by your background, your history, all the connecting points in your life, and sometimes they don't all seem to add up right at the moment, but there's a big puzzle going on in your head and in your heart and in your spirit that actually brings those things together. And it's, you know, that moment of saying, aha, this is my purpose. This is really what I want to do. I feel at peace with this. I want to, you know, I want to go as far as I can down this road, take others with me, travel with others, et cetera. So I think it's been beautiful from my standpoint.

• 13:58Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. And tell us how then, five years later, at 37, you go from feeling tired of working at a regional hardware store to then going on to build the biggest. What does that process of thinking about it, making it happen, pushing forward, look like?

• 14:15Speaker 02

  Well, it wasn't, we weren't tired of doing it. It was a company that was called Handyman Home Improvement Centers, which was then the most successful home improvement center company chain in the United States, but it was owned by a larger company that was in financial difficulty. So when Bernie and I, my partner, who co-founded Home Depot, we got fired, actually. So it wasn't like, well, let's, you know, it was a lot of political reasons, and that's a whole nother story. But beyond that, it was our chance, really, to live our lives over again from a business standpoint. And although those stores were the best run in the United States, we felt if we ever had to compete with a large, no frills, down-market warehouse store, we really couldn't do it. So we said, if we couldn't

• 14:57Speaker 02

  do that, and we were running the best company in that sector at that time, let's try to develop that and go with that. And that was the birth of Home Depot. And started in 78, first stores were in 79. It's a long story. When I left, 23 years later, it was the second largest retail in the world, second only to Walmart, which is a great company. And they have one of their senior executives here this week as well, and trying to understand well-being and wellness and how that relates to the associates that they have. And I don't even know what their number is today. It's probably about a million and a half, maybe more than that. It's mind-boggling.

• 15:33Jay Shetty?

  What I'm really interested in, Arthur, is that what gave you the courage and risk taking after being fired at the age of 37 to do that? Because I think today, and it's interesting because I was sitting yesterday at a table with Laurie, with Robert, and we were discussing this. And what they were sharing with me is that so many students today at some of the best institutions in the world, and all institutions in the world, are so scared of doing anything that isn't the path. And what I mean by the path is they believe that they go to Yale or Harvard, they continue and they have to get a job in what they're studying right now, and that they have to live that very narrow line. And they said, in their words, they said, they know some of their students are doing

• 16:18Jay Shetty?

  things they hate just because it's the path. Where did you feel the confidence and the risk-taking approach to try something new? And how can our audience and listeners today feel that they're not old? Because today, people think they're old at 25, and we think we're old at 28 to try something new.

• 16:34Speaker 02

  I got married at 23, first time, and I said, okay, I'm 23 years old, I need to get married today, the kids are getting married much later. But in any event, I think in my own case, probably came from the experience that my father passing away at an early age, and being an entrepreneur, he was working as a pharmacist. He left several years before he passed away, started his own wholesale drug company across America, drugstores, hospitals, nursing homes, et cetera. And then when he passed away, my mother took that business over. So I had all these role models in my family of not giving up, of trying, trying something new, extending yourself, going on that journey. I've been connected with Outward Bound for probably 40 years now, and their slogan is

• 17:19Speaker 02

  to serve, to strive, and not to yield. And so I very much believe in that, and the notion that we all can do more than what we thought we're capable of doing. And doesn't mean you do it without safety nets around you, but you can do more than what you thought. So I would encourage, and I do encourage people to, as Dr. Dwyer would say, to find the music within you and make sure it gets played. So I think... You know, a lot of us have to find that, you know, that music, if you will, that passion, that, that point of physical, mental, spiritual connection that makes us feel we're, you know, we're not getting up to work today, we're getting up to, to have, not have fun, but to

• 18:00Speaker 02

  do God's work, do our work, do work with purpose, service to others, et cetera. So I think, you know, you try to find, and I encourage young people today to try to find, don't worry about making money, if you're good at what you're doing, you're gonna be fine. And money really, is really not the main attribute to happiness, as you well know. But I think doing what, what you find a passion for, serving others in some capacity, and being part of the greater community, not just of your family, which is obviously critical, but of humanity, you know, brings you the joy and peace. And I think if you can find a business that in one form or another provides that service, I think you, you, you create

• 18:44Speaker 02

  a company, expression I use to our managers, that you want our associates to feel this company is really worthy of your life. I don't mean that in disrespect to religion, or whatever else it may be, but they give you eight, 10, 12 hours a day, whatever it may be, but you want them to come to work and not ever think of it as work, think of it as, you know, this is part of my mission, I, I love the values of this organization, I believe in them, I want to stand for them, I want to participate in them, I want to help articulate them, I want to help share them with others, with the join our businesses. And I think that, that passion, I think, and that commitment is what will bring, bring a greater sense of joy. And hopefully, you know, I'm, I'm thrilled, really, with, you

• 19:27Speaker 02

  know, Bob Walding and here in Laurie Santos here as best examples, and many other universities, but this tremendous thirst that our young people have, who, at the end of the day, really are our future, the young people have to find a greater purpose, find themselves personally, and then find a greater connection to others in their community and humanity is, is something that I applaud. And that's why your work... Is so important because you know, you're part of, you know, the voices that young people, everybody's listening to. I'm 76, so I'm not young, but, but I mean, but everybody is listening to today and trying to get some better guidance, broader guidance, more spiritual

• 20:11Speaker 02

  guidance, connecting guidance to everything inside of themselves than they would have had otherwise. So, you know, I'm very optimistic about, you know, the direction that we're going in, but it's not going to happen by itself. It's not going to change by itself. We need people like yourself, Jay, and all the people in the other, other rooms that are doing incredible work and making sure that those messages get expanded and we're touching more and more people and find ways to bring, bring that message of scale. And I think it's one that, that people,

• 20:46Speaker 02

  you know, when somebody has that feeling that I'm not really, I mean, this is, this is purpose to me. And in the true sense of the word, what I'm doing every day has purpose.

• 20:59Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. And when I hear you speak from, for the first day when you led the introduction to even now, the words like purpose and values and they're so deeply embedded in who you are. And, and one of the things I loved, and we'll try and get a slide to put it on to the video version, but when you first started speaking, you showed us the two value diagrams that you have. And one thing I loved is that there was an upside down pyramid.

• 21:25Speaker 02

  Right.

• 21:25Jay Shetty?

  And on the upside down pyramid, the person at the bottom of the pyramid was Arthur.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  It was me.

• 21:29Jay Shetty?

  And, and I love that. And at the top was customers.

• 21:32Speaker 02

  Right.

• 21:32Jay Shetty?

  And then you had the other circular one with innovation and all these other aspects of values. I'd love for you to talk through some of those.

• 21:38Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 21:39Jay Shetty?

  Because I believe that we hear a lot of people say this stuff.

• 21:43Speaker 02

  Right, I know.

• 21:44Jay Shetty?

  And, and you've probably heard it more than I have, but from spending a bit of time with you and, and seeing the success of what you've done, it seems like you've actually been able to, to really do it. Please share with us some of those values and how you constructed them specifically and, and where that upside down pyramid and you at the bottom idea came from.

• 22:04Speaker 02

  So I, I think, Jay, all of our businesses, regardless of their, exactly what they're doing, you described them all well earlier, all that incredibly high, very high success.

• 22:18Speaker 02

  Portfolio and results are all based on the same set of values and the same set of values is a wheel of six, if you will, but they all have to do with relationships, all have to do with community, all to do with respect, all to do with giving back. None of those key values have anything to do with, you know, what's our maximum revenue, what's our rate of profitability, what's our return on sales, etc. It's all has to do with behavior and how we treat the people that we're serving. So whether we're serving guests here at Mountain Sky or West Creek, or whether we're serving customers in our PGA business, or whether we're serving fans in our Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, and our stadium, which has been voted number one stadium in the country the last two years, little plug. But, you

• 23:01Speaker 02

  know, everything we do is all about service to others. So, you know, we know if we do the right things for the right reasons in terms of the tactical decisions, but if we have this welcoming home, this welcoming feeling where we're more concerned about who we're serving than about ourselves, that comes across with a sense of trust and caring. So, an example would be, just to demonstrate that, in the National Football League, 32 teams, the last two years, the Atlanta Falcons were voted number one in the NFL for fan experience. Major League Soccer, 24 teams, we're ranked number one in Major League Soccer

• 23:43Speaker 02

  in terms of fan experience, but it may have, a lot of it has to do with a lot of different things in food and beverage and our unique, the strategy in that regard, but in the setting in the stadium. But beyond that, it has to do with the fact that every single person in any of these venues that we're talking about feels like they're an honored guest, feels like they are, the reason we're there is to serve them. And I would say to you, I mean, our associates are compensated well, but having said that, their greatest compensation, in my view, is that, you know, they're seeing people smile every day, they're making people's dreams come true, they're making people's problems go away, the sense of community,

• 24:24Speaker 02

  all of these things that we share and talk about, I mean, they love all that. So, our associates feel like, you know, I may have a tough day at home, or a tough day some, maybe when they come into work, though, and they're confusing work with play, and they're making the opportunity to serve right there is very powerful.

• 24:43Speaker 02

  In terms of enriching their own experience. So, you know, that's a key driver in everything that we do. We also feel strongly in community and giving back. And, you know, we do that with the service and the businesses themselves. But we do it in a broader sense in terms of our own philanthropy. Our family foundations, you know, $400 million since 1995. And that'll probably, you know, double and triple in the next 10 years. And then each of our businesses has an associate-led fund to themselves, which is very, very significant in dollars. But the beauty of that is that these are not trained philanthropists. They're just associates. They're not executives necessarily. They're trained, you know, to how to go through evaluations, etc. They make the decisions.

• 25:28Speaker 02

  They're closest to the people they're serving. They understand the communities they're living in. They understand their industries incredibly well. And so they make decisions about, you know, how much we're going to allocate in certain areas. And they do that work. And we support them. We don't guide them. We just, you know, we give them X amount of dollars and they take care of it. The beauty of that is that the associates feel a tremendous sense of pride then, not just in their work, quote unquote, which is having purpose in terms of serving others, but also their part, their physically part of going out and doing site visits in a variety of settings and making decisions about, you know, well, you know, we've been blessed here. Now, how do we help others? You know, how do we do this work and expand it?

• 26:10Speaker 02

  So to have that pride, that gives the associates even more purpose and more sense of that. You know, and I've publicly said from my standpoint, look, whatever's left over, 98% of my state is going to be going back through philanthropy, family foundation, my kids' foundations, these associate-led foundations. Because I, you know, I don't need any more clothing. I don't need any more of anything. I need more, you know, growth myself. But I want to see, you know, I want to see the world a better place than it is currently today and be part of that. And our associates feel that way.

• 26:46Jay Shetty?

  Even if the holidays look different this year, it doesn't mean you have to miss out on one of the best parts of the season: the music. This holiday season, my wife and I have gotten in the spirit by playing one of the many holiday music playlists from Amazon Music on repeat in our home. We are big fans of the softer classical playlists like The Nutcracker Suite, and more that are peaceful, festive, and make our home feel like it's a winter wonderland. I've heard Radhi say, "Alexa, play The Nutcracker more times than I can count this last month", and I couldn't think of a coziest soundtrack for our home this season. Listen at home or wherever you are, your holidays will be merrier with fun festive tunes. Remember, for a limited time, new subscribers can get three months off Amazon Music Unlimited

• 27:31Jay Shetty?

  for free. Go to amazon.com/onpurpose. That's amazon.com/onpurpose to get your first three months of Amazon Music free. It starts at $7.99 a month after that. New subscribers only; terms apply. Offer expires 11th of January 2021.

• 27:58Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. I know how important every hire is for a business. If you need to make the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed Sponsored Jobs helps find quality candidates when you need them most. You can reach who you need based on whatever criteria you're looking for, like skills, certifications, or location. In fact, people are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. That's indeed.com/podcast.

• 28:43Jay Shetty?

  Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Value can be found anywhere, even in the clothes sitting untouched in our closets. That's where Vinted comes in. Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app where you can sell clothes you no longer want and get more value out of them. Whether you're running out of space, moving, or simply updating your wardrobe. Listing items is a quick and simple process, and once something sells, Vinted creates a prepaid shipping label for you. And the best part, there are no seller fees, so you keep what you earn. It's a simple way to clear out your closet, be less wasteful, and maybe make some extra money along the way. And if you've been thinking about a wardrobe refresh, this can make it feel a little more worthwhile.

• 29:28Jay Shetty?

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• 30:13Speaker 02

  So the upside down pyramid, if you will, with guests, customers, fans on top and me on the bottom, reinforces the message that the people that are most important are the people that we're serving. I mean, it's not, you know, it's not a bunch of words. We embody that, we tell stories around that, et cetera. And then we have our frontline associates who are the next ones that are touching and feeling all of our guests or our fans, customers. And then, you know, it's my job and other associates at the leadership level to provide the environment to make sure they have the resources, to make sure they have the strategy, to make sure that we create goals for them that are reasonable, et cetera, and give them support.

• 30:54Speaker 02

  So, and your question, which is probably the best question that as a business person you ask. Is that, you know, often entrepreneur has a vision and it's successful, but once they try to expand it, it becomes not successful. So, you know, at Home Depot, we, we struggled with that as well. We had four stores. I remember meeting with the gentleman from Goldman Sachs, who was the most highly regarded banker on Wall Street in the retail space. And, and he, he sat down with me at lunch, he said, well, you have these four stores, you know, in Atlanta, very successful, and you have a unique culture. But you know, he didn't ask me a question. I was only 37. So I was like, woo, meeting with this guy was a really

• 31:37Speaker 02

  big deal. So I, you know, he said, as you expand, you're not going to be able to maintain this culture. You're just not going to be able to do it. He said, you guys are so physically involved, the level of training, the level of commitment, the level of their associates' understanding, your viewpoints and all this. So it was troubling coming from here, him, because we had aspirations to become a national company, which obviously with 2,200 stores now and stores in Mexico, Canada, and US, it's, you know, it's, you know, amazing story. But the key to that was not what's on a piece of paper, not the six core values that we live. It was not really the inverted triangle, but the ability to make sure that what we would term, in case of Home Depot, was the orange apron. So it was orange, a lot of

• 32:22Speaker 02

  orange in our business, that our associates, you know, bled orange, if you will. And what that means is that they understood the values. We didn't make them write them down. We didn't make them, they weren't, they have to say them exactly in this order, but did they live them? Could they articulate them in whatever words they want to, but most importantly, could they live them? So that ability to understand and live our values and become a role model and lead by examples, one of our core values, lead by example. So you saw last night that I served pie. So, I mean, I'm, you know, this is maybe off the subject a little bit, but I mean, the example is, it's important, it's not just important. I do it at Mountain Sky as well. Our, our guest ranch opens to the public. Because, you know, I want the guests to really see me in a position of service to others.

• 33:08Speaker 02

  I want associates to see that. It's not just a bunch of words. It's actually leading by example is nothing that I wouldn't do to help. Last year at Mountain Sky, I was sitting in the, in the bar area and having a drink and I heard somebody say, "Well, you know, our bathroom is not working and, you know, it's over there." I said, "Yeah, so I went and I fixed it myself." And there was another one that wasn't working. I fixed it myself. So, you know, I came back. I just, you know, that's kind of my nature, you know, it's not working, go fix it. It's not a matter of title of who I am. I didn't ask anybody else to do it. I did it myself. The associates, the next day, I had a couple say to me, "We heard that you actually were fixing toilets yesterday." I said, "Well, yeah, man, it wasn't, you know." It's part of what we do is that we, we have to lead by example and those storytelling,

• 33:52Speaker 02

  those examples, and picking the right people behind that, that understand those things and live those things are, are the way you expand a, an organization over a broader scale. If you have really bright people, they don't get what you're doing. They don't get your purpose and your vision and it's not going to work. Doesn't mean they're not bright, doesn't mean they're not good, doesn't mean they don't have a different purpose in life, but they're not going to be able to support your organization. So, you know, much of what you're doing and expanding it so incredibly in the last three years, you know, you have to have the right people around you. People who understand Jay Shetty, people who understand your value set. I mean, they can have their own, but it has to be, in a certain sense, has to have

• 34:36Speaker 02

  sense of service and sense of purpose deeply ingrained as well.

• 34:44Jay Shetty?

  When I meet someone, I'm most endeared by their humility and by their character more than how much money they've made or how successful they are. And I think that's all of us. We, we remember people based on how they make us feel.

• 34:58Speaker 02

  Right.

• 34:58Jay Shetty?

  As opposed to what they have or what they say.

• 35:00Speaker 02

  Right.

• 35:01Jay Shetty?

  And I think the fact that you've been able to do that in an organization. Tell me about a time, Arthur, where actually you may have made A mistake or a failure in the organization, and I'm sure there were many, but any that stand out to you where you really learned an important lesson that stayed with you that made you change

• 35:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I hope there weren't too many, but there were some. I'll give you an example, and this was one at Home Depot as an example. The only acquisition we made when I was there and Bernie was there was a group of nine stores that were in our industry. They had stores in Dallas and Elswood, Louisiana, and Mobile, and Baton Rouge, etc. And so we acquired the stores, and then what our decision was that we didn't want to lose the volume that they had. It was a fraction of the volume that we had, but we didn't want to lose the volume. Very paranoid about losing volume, focused always on revenue. And so we decided to keep them open and change the stores. So it

• 35:56Speaker 02

  really was kind of like changing tires on a car that's going, you know, even 30 miles an hour. It gets very ugly, very difficult to do, etc., etc. So when we reopened the stores, we realized we had, physically, we had changed the stores. They looked like traditional Home Depot stores, great stores. But the associates didn't really get us because we hadn't really put them through the kind of training and exposure and understanding that was critical to all of our associates. So there's a separation there from, you know, our value set, which drives everything, to the people that were serving the customers who, you know, were well-intended, but they didn't understand our priorities. They understood the traditional priorities, which was not as rigorous about

• 36:36Speaker 02

  customer service as ours was. So we ended up closing those stores for a short while and, you know, putting everything on pause, taking all the associates, training them, doing everything we had to do, etc., etc. When they reopened, they reopened as our Home Depot store. So I think that was an example of where we got a little ahead of ourselves and probably, you know, forgot to check certain boxes that we needed to check. Another example, and both in our PGA business today is a good example, we're expanding at about a million square feet in golf retail in the next five years, which is, there's nobody in golf retail expanding anywhere, and people you talk to saying, "Oh." But it's been extraordinarily successful.

• 37:20Speaker 02

  But the point is that those stores require a high level of service and people understanding the industry, club fitting, ball fitting, you know, et cetera, et cetera, and relationships to customers, et cetera. So to our guests in the store. So, you know, we take a lot of time now in moving a large group of people to the new store to make sure that we don't make that mistake again. So those number of people can train the additional 40, 50, 60 people that we're hiring and making sure that they get our culture. So, you know, culture really drives everything that we do. I mean, everything we do, those value sets, they drive everything that we do.

• 37:59Speaker 02

  And, you know, the body can only absorb change at a certain rate and pace at a certain rate. So I think it's important to be able to acknowledge that and make sure that, you know, whatever your culture is, it doesn't get diluted as you expand. More often than not, it does happen. I've had some experiences and, you know, one other example of that, when we went at Home Depot, we started to expand into the Midwest. We went to Detroit with a group of stores and we realized then we were opening up stores at a store and a half, a store every day and a half, and that we couldn't really sustain that rate of growth. So we went to the board, Bernie and I, and we said, "Look, we've decided we're going

• 38:44Speaker 02

  to maintain the growth rate of no more than 25% a year." It had nothing to do with financial modeling and everything. It had to do with how many associates could we impact, you know, hire, impact, train, make sure they understood our orientation, became Home Depot fanatics, blood orange, you know, all those things we asked them to do. We said, "That's the most that we can possibly do." So we kept our growth down to a point that we can, that we can still produce the kind of success. And deliver the kind of experiences in all of our businesses. Same thing happens out here at the ranch is that we've made some adjustments over the years. We do it very slowly, very modestly. Uh, because we don't want the experience to change and we want to make sure that everybody's ready for the change.

• 39:29Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely, absolutely. And that's amazing advice for all of us. Anyone who's listening or watching right now and is growing a small team into a larger one, an entrepreneur that's expanding their business. Culture is that thing that's gonna make sure that you succeed in the long run. And it's so easy to hire fast and hire quickly. And I know Alex and I and with the businesses that I work with right now, we're actually some of the slowest hiring people in the world.

• 39:54Speaker 02

  Well, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's terribly important. I mean, I, I had a CEO of a major competitor of ours, um, meet with me once I was actually playing golf over to Augusta as a guest and he was there. And he said to me, well, you know, if you're here around lunchtime, I'm out on the putting green and you know, come over, say hi. And I, I knew him, so I did. So, and he had left, he had left the company at that point. And he said, you know, we sent, we probably visited 200 of your stores a year and that, that, at that point in time, we had stores in Chile as well. He said, and we could copy everything. We could copy the size, the pricing, the assortment, the signing, I mean, everything. He said, he said, we'd go around and ask people, you

• 40:36Speaker 02

  know, this culture thing, value thing, and no matter where we went, no matter who we spoke to, they all said the same thing in their own words, but they all were doing the same thing. And we were not able to do that in our company. And, uh, but that's because, you know, we recognized the importance in that. It was not a new message every single day. It was the same messages over and over and over and over again, to the point where people said, oh, boy, here we go again. Listen to customer service. And every example that we could find of great customer service, we celebrated that. Um, I mean, we had issues with, you know, that we had a struggle with as well as the company, but we celebrated, uh, the successes and particularly it weren't successes in how many stores you opened up.

• 41:19Speaker 02

  The fact that our earnings per share grew at forty-nine percent a year for twenty-three years, our stock grew that quickly, we didn't talk about the stock market and how wealthy we're making people, though we had a lot of pride in that, because then we gave other people the financial capacity to make a difference in their own lives and have a financial purpose in their lives and taking care of their family, extended family, community, giving back. But, uh, so it was, it's a, you know, it's a, it's a beautiful model because it's, um, it's one where associates and who you're serving, um, all appreciate, uh, the investment you've made in doing the right things for the right reasons.

• 41:55Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely.

• 41:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:57Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. And like you said earlier, the Arthur and Blank Family Foundation has given four hundred million dollars over since nineteen ninety-five.

• 42:05Speaker 02

  Right.

• 42:06Jay Shetty?

  To so many incredible ventures and many of them have been in the space of childhood development, education in the arts and parks and green space. And I wanted to know why you specifically selected each of those three.

• 42:17Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:18Jay Shetty?

  I mean, they're so beautiful in their own right, but I'd love to know from your own perspective as to why you believe those three areas are so important.

• 42:24Speaker 02

  Well, I think, you know, anything, it doesn't have to be in Montana, obviously, because most people don't live here, but, you know, anything connected to green space, to parks, to nature, to getting outside, to finding that solitude, that quietness, that place where you can, uh, reflect and a place where actually you can, uh, you know, go with family and friends and experience things that, that aren't driven by, you know, on my phone every, every three and a half minutes, um, or less. Uh, so I think that, you know, that's an area that we've always felt very, very strongly about. Uh, obviously we're involved in conservation here in Montana as well and elsewhere in the West. Uh, so it wasn't, it's not just these two ranches, which are, we think are models in terms of ranches should operate, not just from a guest standpoint, but from, you know,

• 43:09Speaker 02

  in terms of the, the, uh, the actual ag process that we have going on. Um, so we've always felt strongly about that, being outside. Being connected to nature, being connected to people that you're outside with. It opens up a different perspective on viewing the world and viewing each other. And having that sense of community, that sense of community is so important. I was raised in an apartment house and, and as were the rest of my family. But, you know, what's interesting is that in those apartment houses, when it was during the summer and it was warm, or even in the fall and spring, it was in New York City, people would bring their little chairs downstairs and everybody would sit like outside the apartment because they had that, you

• 43:53Speaker 02

  know, that need, desire for connection to others. And, and I think that's true whether you're living in an apartment or whether you're living in a home or whether you're living. So we, at our ranches, we don't promote the use of technology. Sorry, Jay. Apologize for that. But I, but I mean, you know, there are places where people can use technology because of conferences and other work, but, but we don't actively promote it. We want people to get outside. We want people to experience nature. We want people to touch and feel things and that silence, that solitude and that, you know, finding that quietness with themselves, that inner calm, which they can do so beautifully in nature. Public education has always been a big issue for me. I went through a, a public school my

• 44:34Speaker 02

  whole life. Didn't, I went to a, didn't go to private school, but I went to college. I went to small business school, Babson College out of Boston. And so I feel like, you know, you know, the more that we can do in terms of public education at a higher level, creates, you know, really unlocks minds of all of our young people, that exposure. Thomas Friedman was right many years ago. He wrote his book, The World is Flat. And I think we're realizing that more and more and more over time. The book's 25 years old, but reality is that we're seeing that every day. It's coming less curved and more flat and everybody's connected. And I think, you know, that's a wonderful thing.

• 45:15Speaker 02

  So I think, you know, public education, uh, because not everybody or very few people uh, can afford, you know, private schools and, you know, and kind of an answer that's, that's just works for a handful of people relatively. Um, so that's always been very important to my family and, um, and my children as well. Uh, and they're very actively involved in that arena. Um, so those are some of the things. Uh, we do a lot of work, um, in areas of culture because we think culture is another way. There's a lot of times it's too much of an emphasis, in my opinion, on, on book learning and what have you. And some people learn differently. They learn by expressing themselves through yoga, through arts, through athletics, through whatever it may be, music, drama. Um, and so I think

• 45:57Speaker 02

  you have to let people kind of find themselves in that, in those ways as well. Sadly, within the public education area, a lot of those, um, opportunities for expression have been cut back and eliminated. Uh, so we'd like to see more of that expanded over time because I think it's very healthy for everybody.

• 46:13Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I love that how you've chosen three things that encourage so much internal growth.

• 46:18Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:18Jay Shetty?

  Like, I feel like your investment in parks and green spaces is about people finding internal calm. And even this week, we've had all these incredible outdoor activities that you've arranged and the teams arranged here for everyone to partake in. And we've seen how people are bonding closer when they're out and about in green spaces and outdoors and going on these beautiful walks and riding or whatever else it may be.

• 46:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, right.

• 46:39Jay Shetty?

  And, and especially what you're speaking about, the education system, of course. And then I, I think you're spot on when you talk about how arts and the arts allow us to express ourselves more effectively and how that's never always encouraged.

• 46:53Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:53Jay Shetty?

  And so your investment in that space, I'm sure has made a big difference.

• 46:55Speaker 02

  Well, I think, you know, as you know, and many of our guests know that, you know, that education, you know, the, the book education is very important. The life education is in many cases even more important than exposure and what have you. It's one of the reasons we, our foundation has just, just started to invest on, on an international basis. We're doing work in Africa, doing work in the Caribbean, et cetera. But one of the reasons is, is not because, you know, I mean, we don't have enough opportunities within the United States. We do. And must needs we do, but I wanted to send an important message, you know, to our family and to our associates is that, you know, not just talking about, you know, humankind

• 47:36Speaker 02

  being, uh, being connected, but actually demonstrate that. So, and you know, the case of Nigeria where 60% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, you know, we want people to be aware of that. And, you know, how, how do we participate and support, uh, answers in those areas of the world? So, um, I think that the notion that we are brothers keepers, uh, which is integral part of our faith and the faith of, you know, part of everybody's faiths, I believe, uh, is very important. And it's not just, it starts maybe with your family, your extended family, your community, but it really has to include everybody on the face of the earth. That's why the earth is important. Uh, you know, the earth is important because we all live here, uh, because we got to take care of it a little better than we have been.

• 48:21Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. That, that resonates so strongly with me because one of the reasons why I became a monk and one of our teachings was that you became a monk and you were free from your basic family responsibilities so that you could see the whole world as your family.

• 48:34Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 48:34Jay Shetty?

  And so that you could go and extend yourself even further.

• 48:36Speaker 02

  Right, yeah.

• 48:37Jay Shetty?

  And I think it's beautiful to see you do that. I mean, you have six children and

• 48:40Speaker 02

  Six grandchildren.

• 48:41Jay Shetty?

  Six grandchildren.

• 48:42Speaker 02

  Six and six, right?

• 48:43Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, six and six. What is your, what is the legacy?

• 48:45Speaker 02

  Several dogs, a couple of dogs as well, yeah.

• 48:48Jay Shetty?

  Amazing. And horses?

• 48:49Speaker 02

  And horses.

• 48:50Jay Shetty?

  And horses, yeah. Uh, what are the, what is the legacy that you're hoping that they're going to carry forward to the future generations as the foundation grows?

• 48:58Speaker 02

  Well, I don't, you know, I think it's important for them to, to find themselves, um, you know, they need to climb their own mountains. They need to explore themselves. They need to, you know, um, fall down and pick themselves up. They need to learn, deal with adversity and growth, uh, both physically and personally. Uh, so our older children, um, are all involved in our family foundation, um, and all actively involved in a variety of areas that we've talked about and many we haven't, but they're involved in all of them. Uh, in addition to that, they're, each one is starting their own foundation now, much smaller, but I want to see, make sure they know how to evaluate, make sure they know how to do their work, et cetera, because, uh, the

• 49:41Speaker 02

  When you're giving, you're giving, you're always getting more. I mean, it makes no difference whether it's physical work or financial, whatever it may be, the more we give, the more we get back. That's just kind of the way the math of the world works, the universe and our soul works. So the younger children have age-appropriate exposure to philanthropy, one twenty-two to or eighteen, so they're younger, but they're getting exposed to it mostly by doing, not by writing checks, but by doing things and being connected in service in a variety of ways. And they're interested in all of our businesses as well, but you know, bringing them along very slowly and making sure they understand our values, that nothing is going to be given

• 50:22Speaker 02

  to them, whatever they get has to be earned, and earned primarily through understanding these values, living these values, being a great role model, caring about community, caring about others, caring about service, caring about purpose. And you know, my hope, my desire as a parent is that, you know, the children will grow when I'm long gone and they will have their own, you know, their own set of values, the values hopefully they've learned from their mothers and their father, and they'll continue to do, you know, the work that we're doing today and expand it. I mean, I don't have a written set of things, these are the seven things we're going to do after I'm gone. So I'm not going to manage my foundation for my grave. I have enough faith in my children

• 51:06Speaker 02

  and they'll make the right decisions based on the passions they know their father has, their own passions which are critical, so they're really feeling they're doing the work that's important to them, and that they are doing work that's important in terms of the times that we're facing. So this well-being, you know, wellness, well-being notion is at a critical mass, you know, today in our country, not the world, but certainly in our country, whether it be the rate of suicides, which continue to climb at dramatic rates, which affect, you know, the veteran population, a very young population, ten to fourteen, and is double what it is on a national basis. So there are, you know, those serious issues

• 51:50Speaker 02

  we're facing today, they'll have other maybe issues in the future. And so whatever they are, you know, they should feel, you know, the passion, the drive to want to make a difference in those areas and put themselves and resources in place to help others, you know, come to a better conclusion, whatever it may be.

• 52:12Jay Shetty?

  I've read that your favorite quote on a T-shirt is that there is no finish line. The wifi here is called no finish line too. What does that mean to you? And also, what is the personal work you're doing right now in that regard? What are the internal things that you're working on at this stage in your life?

• 52:33Speaker 02

  Well, I think, you know, it came to me primarily from my running initially. Ran competitively and Nike had this T-shirt, so there is no finish line. There was a guy running in the woods and couldn't find another one of them. I saw it someplace. Phil Knight was kind enough from Nike was kind enough to get me one of the shirts. And, you know, I think in virtually all areas of my life, I understand that, you know, the next day isn't necessarily the end. There's always more to do and et cetera, et cetera. And I think you have to have the ability to deal with adversity, grit, bounce back, you know, and continue putting one step in front of the other. I got that from my long distance running.

• 53:18Speaker 02

  You probably got that from your monkhood and maybe athletics as well and other areas of your life. But, you know, the ability to understand that these problems that we're facing are not, you know, you're not in and out in five or 10, 15 minutes. It's not a transaction. It's about relationships. All of our businesses are that way. It's never about the transaction. It's always about the relationship. So these causes, these issues that we have today in our country and worldwide are not going to go away tomorrow. So we have to have the wisdom to understand that. We also have to have the tenacity to say, we're going to make a dent and we're going to make a difference, just as my mother said in the bracelet I'm wearing. But we're going to make a difference and every day we're going to continue to strive to move forward and to make a difference in that area.

• 54:01Speaker 02

  So I think, you know, it's important, I think. My oldest daughter would say, Dad, that, you know, I love the expression, I love the feeling, but you know, which brings me back to myself a little bit, as you said, but at some point. You know, in your life, you need to, you know, you need to be able to say that I'm kind of out of, you need to be at peace with where you are. And that's where I think my version of wellness and well-being has changed. Because it used to be running seven days a week. If I didn't do that, you know, that was, that was my design around fitness and well-being. In many ways, you know, physical fitness is important. But I think the whole notion of trying to dig deeper and really understand myself

• 54:47Speaker 02

  and my real purpose and, you know, are we connecting the dots as well as we can? Taking time for myself to, every day, do meditation. I need to get back on that horse again. Did it for a number of months with, you know, I got encouragement by Deepak Chopra, but I need to get back on and do it again, because I saw the value of that, you know, for a very long period of time. The work I do in terms of yoga and just the quietness, living in a quiet space and taking time to reflect. And it's one of the reasons I love Montana. We come out here and we walk, we hike, whatever it may be, horseback ride and, and see this beautiful scenery, but it's quiet time. So the ability to be calm, the ability to reflect,

• 55:30Speaker 02

  the ability to build it into my life every day, where I'm not kind of a gerbil on the wheel, which is constantly running. The ability to get off that, off that, you know, that cycle and pause, reflect, you know, understand, build back my strength, my, my vision. I think that's been an important part of my own personal growth. That part of it didn't take place until, you know, probably just maybe four or five years ago, I think, when I, I began to think more about, you know, in a broader sense, a deeper sense, purpose and, and service to others.

• 56:08Jay Shetty?

  Amazing, Arthur, you've been incredible. We end every interview with what we call the final five quickfire rapid fire round. So you can only answer the questions with one word or maximum one sentence. And so what I've done is we've created, considering your name is Arthur Blank, we've done this final five is fill in the blanks. So I can ask you, I'm going to ask you to fill in the blank at the end of the sentence. So the first question is, the best advice I've ever received is blank. So what would it be? The best advice I've ever received?

• 56:39Speaker 02

  Be true to my values.

• 56:41Jay Shetty?

  Okay, wonderful. The second question is, the worst advice I've ever received is blank.

• 56:48Speaker 02

  I would say, you know, focus, the focus on, you know, productivity, the focus on financial metrics, you know, as being the goal versus, you know, all the other things in terms of behavior and changing people's lives in a positive way and seeing the joy in that, you know, that's.

• 57:11Jay Shetty?

  Great answer. Okay. Question number three. Three things I'm grateful for are blank.

• 57:18Speaker 02

  Well, I have to start my family, you know, six, six great children, six great grandchildren and great, you know, I've been married multiple times, unfortunately, but I have a great relationship with all of my ex-wives and they're all wonderful people. So I'd say my, you know, my, my family and my relationships, I think my ability as a result of our business success to try to have an opportunity to expand, you know, what service means of others, create that with our associates and who we're serving in all of our different businesses.

• 57:57Jay Shetty?

  Do this one blank thing and it will change your life. What would you put into that blank?

• 58:03Speaker 02

  Find your passion. Because I think when somebody, can I add on another word or two?

• 58:09Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, please. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. I'm gonna, absolutely, please, please, please.

• 58:13Speaker 02

  Because I think when people find their passion.

• 58:16Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 58:17Speaker 02

  And their purpose.

• 58:20Speaker 02

  You know, financially, they're gonna do as well, if not better than they ever would have done doing anything else. And, you know, their years here, which are, you know, limited, they're measured, if you will, are gonna be much more enriched because they're gonna feel like what I'm doing, what I'm really doing is purpose for me and purpose for others that I'm trying to serve. And so I think finding purpose, which is not always easy. I mean, sometimes people wander around a bit, as you did, you described your journey.

• 58:53Jay Shetty?

  Definitely.

• 58:54Speaker 02

  And myself as well, I had my own journeys there. But when you find it, you need to, you know, stop and honor it and to move with it. And, and all good things come as a result of that, you know, in terms of quality of life.

• 59:09Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. And the fifth and final question is, the one thing that you're hoping this beautiful four or five days we've had here in Montana will result in?

• 59:20Speaker 02

  Well, I think there are two, there are two things, if I expand the question a little bit. One is that, you know, the great connections that you have made with so many other people here, and they've made with you and with each other, I think so. So I think those physical connections, emotional, it's one thing to know somebody, but when you spend four days together in this setting, you get a deeper, deeper understanding of people's perspectives and their views, and how can we work together, two and two equals eight and 10, instead of just four or five for myself. So I think that has been very invaluable. The other thing is, is that I think we'll be able to focus for our foundation and, and, you know, drawing other foundations and other institutions that care about these things. You know, some really good ideas to help support

• 1:00:04Speaker 02

  the expansion of the notion of well-being and wellness, and to give exposure to that to other populations that don't necessarily have that or see that. And to... You know, to not, you know, have this widen this gap that we have in America today is just too extreme in my, in my viewpoint. And I think, you know, we need to do more of this and bring people together, not necessarily, you know, economically as equals, because that's not reality in a capitalistic world. But, you know, to bring people together in terms of their well being and their happiness and their ability to feel fulfilled in life. So we want to, you know, get in the canoe and paddle along with everybody else and paddle as hard as everybody else and we can make a difference and try to earn the, you know,

• 1:00:49Speaker 02

  the respect and the opportunity. It's an honor really having everybody here. From my standpoint, it's an overwhelming honor to have not just the intelligence in the room, but the commitment and the sense of purpose and the sense of trying to reach out and make a difference in the world is incredible to me. So anything we can do, supporting the collaborations, supporting the partnerships, new ideas, expanding ideas, scaling up ventures, et cetera, which is much of what I know your, your concern is going forward. How do I impact more people? Which is great. We want to be part of that. So it's been an honor for me, truly an honor

• 1:01:31Speaker 02

  for me to be here this week and to just be part of this. It's an experience of my lifetime I'll never forget. I've gotten a great deal out of it. Much more than, you know, I've gotten much more out of it than we put into it. And that's the beauty of, of when you do things with service and purpose, you really do get more out of it than what you give.

• 1:01:49Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. Well, I want to thank you on behalf of me and all the other participants because I think you've allowed us to form such deep, amazing relationships. There's many people in this room that I would have loved to connect with or meet. And you're so right that when you go away with people for three, four days, you go so much deeper, so much quicker than you would if you met at a conference or a one day event or whatever it may be. So I just want to say thank you from, from me. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your encouragement. You've given me so many wonderful votes of confidence this week and just sharing so much support and encouragement for the work I do, which has given me so much conviction and I'm very grateful for that.

• 1:02:27Speaker 02

  Thank you. Well, the work that you do is incredible and it's, it really has. You know, tremendous purpose to it and, and, and high degree of success. So I, I want to do everything we can do to help support you and support, you know, the people you're touching and trying to help with their life journeys. So I think this is a great place to do it because when you spend time outdoors, you realize, you know, you're kind of dwarfed by nature and by things that have been here for thousands and thousands of years. And also, everybody puts on their pants the same way. It's a level playing field. Nobody's wearing suits. Nobody's wearing ties. Everybody's just, you know, being themselves and they're opening themselves up. And in this kind of environment, it's easier to do that.

• 1:03:12Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 1:03:12Speaker 02

  And so that's the reason we want to do, continue to do this work here.

• 1:03:16Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. Thank you again, Arthur.

• 1:03:17Speaker 02

  Thank you, Jay.

• 1:03:18Jay Shetty?

  Thank you, everyone who's been watching or listening back at home or wherever you've been. Make sure you go and follow the Blank Foundation on Instagram and on Twitter and on the social media platforms as well. If you want to find out about the great work, not only we've been doing, but all the other incredible work that the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation does, please check out this podcast. Share it with other people that you feel are going to benefit from this incredible presence around service, incredible presence around giving and doing through our work. And for anyone who's aspiring to be an entrepreneur out there, what better values than the ones that have been talked about in this show? Make sure you share those on Instagram so that I can share them as well. I'm always looking through what you're learning so that that helps me ask better questions and serve you better. Thank you so much for listening and watching, Arthur. Thank you so much.

• 1:04:03Speaker 02

  Thank you, Jay.

• 1:04:04Jay Shetty?

  So great for having you.

• 1:04:04Speaker 02

  It's an honor to be here. Thank you very much.

• 1:04:06Jay Shetty?

  Thank you.

• 1:04:15Jay Shetty?

  This podcast was produced by Dust Light Productions. Our executive producer from Dust Light is Misha Youssef. Our senior producer is Juliana Bradley. Our associate producer is Jacqueline Castillo. Valentino Rivera is our engineer. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. And special thanks to Rachel Garcia, the Dust Light Development and Operations Coordinator.

• 1:04:45Speaker 03

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