IAM078 – TV Host & Global Business Celebrity Builds His Network of C-Suite Leaders

Jeffrey Hayzlett is a primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives on C-Suite TV, and business podcast host of All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett on C-Suite Radio. He is a global business celebrity, speaker, best-selling author, and Chairman and CEO of C-Suite Network, home of the world’s most trusted network of C-Suite leaders. Hayzlett is a well-traveled public speaker, former Fortune 100 CMO, and author of three best-selling business books: Think Big, Act Bigger: The Rewards of Being Relentless, Running the Gauntlet, and The Mirror Test. Hayzlett is one of the most compelling figures in business today and an inductee into the National Speakers Association’s Speaker Hall of Fame.

• CEO Hack: Membership at C-Suite Network
• CEO Nugget: Go faster. Quit worrying about what people think.
• CEO Defined: Being a leader that's open and approachable. Is also responsible.

Website: http://hayzlett.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyHayzlett/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JeffreyHayzlett
Books: https://amzn.to/2NTAEFO 

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jeffrey Hayzlett of C-Suite Network. Jeffrey, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 0:37

It's good to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

No problem, no problem. And what I want to do is read a little bit more about Jeff so you can learn a little bit more about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Jeffrey is a primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives on C-Suite TV, and business podcast host of all business with Jeffrey Hayzlett on C-Suite Radio. He is a global business celebrity speaker, best-selling author, and Chairman and CEO of C-Suite Network, home is the world's most trusted network of C-Suite leaders. Hayzlett is a well-traveled public speaker, former Fortune 100 CMO, and author of three best-selling books, Think Big, Act Bigger: The Rewards of Being Relentless, Running the Gauntlet, and The Mirror Test.

Hayzlett is one of the most compelling figures in business today and an inductee into the National Speakers Association’s Speaker Hall of Fame. Jeffrey, are you ready for the I AM CEO community?

Jeffrey Hayzlett 1:33

I am ready. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 1:35

No problem. Thank you. And the first question I have was just to learn a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

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Jeffrey Hayzlett 1:41

I got started with a number of buttons and sold over 250 businesses in my career about 25 billion in transactions. I've been working my way up all the way up to a Fortune 100 Officer at one point but you know, as a small business owner, I got started by just I was working for the American Diabetes Association years ago as an Executive Director in South Dakota. And I was about to get canned. That was a true story. I had run a file with the Board of Directors. I got a headstrong young kid at that time, I think it was 20 24 25 You know, and thought I knew everything and thought I knew how to do everything.

And I remember the Chairman of the Board, Mike McMillan, a very good friend of mine who has since passed. But Vietnam vet great guy, a doctor and came to me and said the want the resignation letter or the fire letter. And that is a true story. And that was Christmas Eve day. And that night, I went out and got an IBM PC Jr. and I started Hayzlett associates the very next day, which is Christmas Day. And then after Christmas, I started looking for clients and mail my very first client, which was a medical school, you know, to help them and so that's how I got started.

So you know, necessity, but even with necessity, I always had the business bug and so that led me to then go off and you know, build that company up in the multi-millions and, make my first million by the time I was 26. And then and then. And then I went out and started buying up companies and getting involved with them and helping other people buy up companies getting involved with them. And that took me all the way to where I'm at today.

Gresham Harkless 3:18

Nice, nice, nice. Obviously, that's a great story and to be able to kind of laugh at, you know what happened years ago and be able to say, hey, it worked out best for you sounds like.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 3:27

Yeah, I'm not, you know, look, we can't be bitter about stuff like that I'd be there was a great opportunity. And it got me to where I wanted to go. So you know more, and be honest with you deserve to be fired. So there you go.

Gresham Harkless 3:39

Yeah, so that makes perfect sense. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about everything you're doing with C-Suite Network, and you tell us a little bit of what you're doing and how you're helping serve the clients you're working with.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 3:48

Yeah, one of the best things I ever learned when I was in the Fortune 100 space, was that it's a very small community. And when you think about even Fortune 1000, there's only 5000, you know, five officers per company on average. So, if you think about that, you know, major officers of a company, it's like 5000 people. So it's a very small community, even at a worldwide level, very small, we all know each other. And then so then expand that out to you know, more and more businesses only. There are only so many 500 businesses in North America that are over a billion hours.

So it's not a lot of businesses that are in that mega category. But one of the things I learned is that I started to look for people who I could trust, you know, a trusted network, and I found them, you know, by size or by their position for the most part because if you're in a billion dollar company, if you want to do business with a billion dollar company, and you because they understand your trials, tribulations, problems, opportunities, you know, strengths, weaknesses, and so, I looked for things like that, and so that's what gave me the idea once I got out of there was how do I keep that going?

I used to pay a lot of money like 50,000 hours a year just to go to a meeting three times a year, just to be with other people like me, and have that insight and of course, it would save my company hundreds of millions by doing that.

So it was a very small, investment to get something back because, you know, who do I turn to? Who can I go and ask? Who can I have a, you know, just like on this podcast, you know, you built this tribe of people who listen to and same thing. And so I just wanted to think that we could do that.

So we have C-Suite Community, we have a membership, we have meetings, we have education, we have CCTV, C-Suite Radio, C-Suite book club, you know, we have our Hero Club, which is for our high-level CEOs, entrepreneurial CEOs, that we asked to sign a pledge to run their business like a hero company, I mean that you know, these are the things that we do and do every single day.

Gresham Harkless 5:43

Awesome, awesome. And it sounds like you're very, you know, dialed in to obviously, the needs of what it is that community actually needs and wants. And you have created all these products and services based on that.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 5:52

Absolutely. So we got a lot of things that like what, you know, our highest level membership has preceded where we call C-Suite Black, and just like a black card. And so what you know, for $1,000, you can be a member and you get all these benefits is up to about you know, over 10,000 hours with the stuff you get to come to the meetings for free, you get a digital electronic, digital system or AI assistant who listens in on every single meeting takes notes of the century cording to send you the eight action items that you just discussed, we have MD live where I can find out feeling well I hit a button and I'm talking to a doctor and 15 seconds live on camera, we give you things like clear.

So you can go to the airport, you don't have to wait because your C-Suite, you know, you know that's what we try to do is help build and help give you the kinds of, of services that you wish you need in order to be more valuable to your company. That's what that's all about.

Gresham Harkless 6:50

Absolutely, it makes perfect sense because those are the pain points that they have. But you're providing that solution for exactly what it is that they're looking for. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your organization. But the idea is something that makes you unique or distinguishes you as your business and organization.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 7:06

Being relentless, I'm relentless, if I get on to something, whatever it is, I'm going to do, we're going to do it, sooner or later, it's going to get done. So that you know you have to have that's one of the things I think makes up our hero CEOs is that they're also relentless in the ability to go after what they want, and focusing in on the key thing. So that's mine, it's relentless, I'm relentless. You will not beat me, you will not beat me. I go to bed at night hoping I'll hurry up and sleep so I can get going the next day.

Gresham Harkless 7:35

That makes perfect sense. And is that something that you feel he developed? Or is it something that was already kind of in place? How do you develop that relentless gene, so to speak?

Jeffrey Hayzlett 7:43

I think it's partly it's there, it's it was always there, just a little bit crazy and a little bit sane. So you know, I think all of us, we all have something like that. It's just, it's just I recognized it more than others, you know, and I just think those are things that we come to as we get older, or we get smarter, hopefully, we get more awareness about who we are. And what we do is that you can start turning these things on a lot faster. And the faster you can identify those things in you or around you, the better.

And so I've got to you know, that's the other thing is I got a good sense of who I am and what I like and what I don't like, and when I want to do and not do that. I don't I don't have to debate about those things. And I think that's a real mark of a great leader too. You know, it's like my wife will ask me, where do you want to go for dinner? And I'll answer right away. And she goes, you didn't even think about it. Yeah, I did just I think a lot faster. And it's not to be derogatory to my wife in any way, shape, or form because she's the boss. But you know, my point is that no, I did think through those things. And I went through all the permutations. That's still where I want to go.

Gresham Harkless 8:46

Awesome, awesome. Well, I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And CEO hack could be a resource, like a book or an app, or it might even be a habit that you have, but something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 8:59

Well, I mean, I'm gonna tell you right now, it's the membership stuff that we have at C-Suite Network. And the reason I say that is because that's what we do for CEOs, we go find all those. So we go find the AI assistant, we go find the doctor's app, we go find, you know, all you know, the strategic tools and everything else that you want to have in place.

So you don't have to when I was a CMO of a major company, when I stepped out of a tradeshow out of the hotel, to go to a trade show in the morning, there were three people waiting for me somebody with my coffee, someone with the egg sandwich, someone with a calendar, or you know, the schedule, to go over the schedule for the day. And that was at seven o'clock. I mean, I stepped out of my boom, seven o'clock they were there when someone was rushing ahead to go push the elevator button, so we don't have to wait. Right? That's the kind of service that we try to do at the C-Suite. Same thing. Your time is valuable, your knowledge is valuable.

And so what we try to do is just like you go to a fine restaurant, and they know what you'd like to drink, and when you sit down there's your favorite Scotch or your favorite Wine or whatever you might like to have. It's there. Well, that's what we try to do too. That's my favorite hack.

Gresham Harkless 10:01

Yeah, I love that. And I love the concept and the idea because time is something you cannot get back. So being able to say that no matter how small it might seem, it all starts to add up and you can get a lot more done.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 10:11

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 10:13

Awesome, awesome. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or it might be something that you might tell your younger business self. So do you have a CEO nugget for us?

Jeffrey Hayzlett 10:23

Yeah, go faster, go faster, quit worrying about what everybody else thinks go faster. So you know, we listen to other people, sometimes when we should listen to our inner voice a little bit more just says go faster, which ended up faster.

Gresham Harkless 10:34

I love it. I love it. I love it. And now I wanted to ask you, and we're hoping to have different CEOs on this podcast and hopefully kind of looking at exactly what the word CEO means. And what that kind of how people actually define that. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jeffrey Hayzlett 10:48

Being a leader, you know, it's being a leader, a very open, approachable leader, who is responsible for lots of people, lots of customers, lots of customer satisfaction, that you know, the buck stops here when it comes to that. So you know, I don't look at it as just I run a business, I run a big family and a family of customers, a family of vendors, a family of partners, a family of employees, and I really look at it like that.

Gresham Harkless 11:14

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate you, Jeff, for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do was pass the mic to you, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get a hold of you.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 11:25

Well, you can find me anywhere, just go to Jeffrey Hayzlett. There are a few of us with that name, but only one of me. And so you just search that and then search anything with C-Suite. C-Suite Radio, C-Suite Book Club, C-Suite TV, and certainly you'll find this on the C-Suite Network. And if you're inclined about making a difference as a CEO, and you want to be a value-based CEO, check out the hero club but reach out to me directly and I'll be glad to talk to you.

Gresham Harkless 11:50

Awesome. Sounds good. Well, thank you so much, Jeffrey, for everything that you're doing and all the impact that you're making upon the world. I appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 11:58

All right. Cheers, my friend.

Outro 11:59

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