#8 Built to Last, 110 Years of Innovation w/ Paul Darley, CEO & President of W.S. Darley & Co Ditch Digger CEO with Gary Rabine

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"To stay innovative, I ask every manager, if I gave you ten million dollars what would you invest in?" - Paul Darley Paul C. Darley is Chairman, CEO & President of W.S. Darley & Co. Under his leadership, sales have increased over 1000% to over $185 million in 2016. He began in pump sales in 1985 and was named Vice President for the Fire Pump Division of W.S. Darley & Co. in 1990. In 1997, he became President and COO and was appointed President & CEO in 2003. He was named Chairman in 2011. Founded in 1908, W.S. Darley & Co is a fourth generation family business, led by Paul and an executive team that has transformed this 110 year old company into a world leader in the firefighting industry with ISO 9001 certification and an electronic catalog of more than 10,000 items. Paul earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Paul has traveled to 80 countries in his 25-year tenor, and has made over 500 industry speaking engagements. He is involved with numerous charitable and service organizations including Past Chairman of the Chicago Windy City Chapter of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization). Paul recently released his book “Sold! The Art Of Relationship Sales” that spells out the theory that companies run by CEOs with a sales background outperform peer companies with CEOs who come up through other disciplines. You can find out more about the book here https://www.edarley.com/book-sold/ Paul is married to his high school sweetheart and together they are raising three daughters in Elmhurst, IL. Shownotes: 5:00 Intro to Gary and Pauls friendship 9:00 What friends do you want to speed 80% of your time with? 11:00 If your life is below a 7 out of 10 you’re going to have to talk about it 14:00 Grit is how you are able to survive for 110 years 25:00 The challenge of running a family business."Still go to classes at Northwestern every year and work outside of business for 3-5 years" 28:00 Growing from $12 million in 1997 to $200 million 29:00 60% of profits come from products we didnt have two years ago 32:00 How do you identify the right innovations to pursue? 33:30 Creating a work environment that gives millennials everything they need to succeed 39:00 Tell me about your education and how it benefited your business? 42:00 Where to look for great mentors 45:00 "No harder to go after a big deal than a small deal" 46:00 Questions to ask that help build rapport 49:00 Taking your business to the 5th generation 53:00 Profit sharing plan has created a lot of millionaires. 56:00 How to be world class through differentiation. 1:01:00 What are the most important causes? 1:05:00 When to start corporate responsibility 1:06:00 What did you want people to get out of your book? 1:12:00 Could you have built this company in any other country? 1:16:00 Advice to 34 year old Paul CEO