 Hey everybody, David Chang here with the art of thinking smart, where we're going to learn to think smarter and live smarter, and I'm very excited today about our guest, and I've known our guest for a number of years, his name is Michael North, and I'll let him explain that some of his marvelous background, but he's one of those few guys who has created what's known as a unicorn. A unicorn is a company that started up in his garage and built it to a billion dollar business. He's got dozens of different projects and he has worldwide experiences and actually has managing some of these non-profits. Also I'm very just blessed that he's working with us and as a business executive with Wealthbridge Inc. So Mike, thank you for coming to the show, I really appreciate it. Good to see you today. And so today we're going to be talking about five keys to management success. And part of what we talk about on our show is, you know, thinking smart, you can learn everything you can in the past, but it's how do we use it for the future so that we can continue to make smart decisions with today's economy, things go so quickly. And with your experiences, maybe just take a couple minutes to just give us a background of how you were able to create a company like that, then the other multiple serial entrepreneur organizations and companies that you have done as well. Well, I guess the effort that I'm best known for is North Communications. Started in the mid-80s and we began with the idea that it's possible to interact with a computer without using a keyboard and using images and sound. At that time this was pre-windows and the Mac was just black and white. So the idea of a computer doing anything other than a blinking cursor and text was rather new. The graphic user interface. Yes. Okay, got it. So we designed some graphical user interfaces but using video and sound well before there was the internet, which came in around 91, 92, and our emphasis was on public access. At that time the legacy computer systems, the big mainframes as they called them, contained all the wealth of information that was necessary for people to run their lives. So the Social Security Administration, for example, was one of our clients. And their problem was getting information out to people, getting information back from people in a secure way that everybody could understand. So we developed a touchscreen system that went out, well the first one went out to malls and senior centers, community centers, health centers, libraries, all around Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is a very multi-ethnic, multi-lingual community. So we had people speaking English, Spanish, Navajo, and Vietnamese on that touchscreen explaining the Social Security benefits and how to get your Social Security statement. Because the Social Security Administration at that time was paying millions every year to bail out all of these statements. So now with that system, which ultimately was adopted by the U.S. Postal Service as a federal standard, for that it was possible to get your statement on a touchscreen touching in your Social Security number and getting a printout. And this is how you actually invented the touchscreen for ATM machines. Well, that was our idea. That was our company's idea. And I filed a patent on it. There was a big team involved with actually inventing it. Got it. A lot of engineers, software and hardware. And yeah, we ran both the hardware systems and the network operating systems. We designed the user interface. We hired the actors to do all the taping and so on. And we ran some security protocols in the background in conjunction with the Social Security Administration data center in Baltimore so that everything came back logical and correct and secure person to person. Got it. So it was the touchscreen for government. And one of our first big statewide systems was here in Hawaii. OK. Yeah, shortly after Governor Wahe came into office in the late 80s, he had some really visionary people and IBM folks who brought us in to say, let's build Hawaii access. So to this day, when I know Governor Wahe is one of our hosts here at ThinkTech, to this day, if you ask Governor Wahe, what are the things that you're the most proud of in your time, in your two terms as governor, he'll talk about Hawaii access. OK. Well, that's pretty cool. So we don't have enough time to go through all the other different types of companies you've helped. But at least I want to explain you can go to our blog, artupthikismart.com, and you can find more information on Mike, you know what he's done. But I want to come back to let's talk about these five things that you've mentioned for anybody to be able to use these principles and whether they are in management or not, develop these skills that I really liked what you said of being successful. And I want to start by saying, what is your definition of success and your definition of being smart? Everyone has different ones. And I think that's the first thing that people need to define for themselves. So I would like you to define what yours is. OK. My definition of success is peace of mind. OK. My definition of being smart is you have an equal percentage of situations that you anticipate intelligently of crises that you deal with in an appropriate way because you couldn't anticipate them. Got it. And of adaptation to learn from what you've seen and to improve. So there's a continuous cycle, and that's being smart. OK, got it. No one can control the universe. No one can anticipate everything. And if you set your standard, like I have to be perfect and I have to anticipate everything, then you'll blow yourself out. You won't be able to do anything. Got it, OK. So adaptability, intelligence, foresight, those are the keys. So now your five things are about how you can get peace of mind and be able to be smart. So let's start with the first one. What is that? The first one is passion. OK. I think you could feel, when I was talking a moment ago about North Communications and the program that we did in New Mexico and the different languages, you could feel a little spark coming back off of that. And that was a program that we did almost 30 years ago. But I still have that spark. I still have that enthusiasm. I can tell you about we were the first to have a touchscreen information system at the Super Bowl in Arizona. I think it was 1990 or something in Phoenix. And that was exciting. We were the first to put out a touchscreen voting system in a county that piloted it in Northern New Jersey. Not in Florida during the 2000 election. No, no, no. This was prehistory, like 1989 or so. But can you feel the passion coming off of me even now? So when you're looking at your profession and when you're looking at how you work and your daily rhythm, find a way to center your energy on your passion as much as possible. I can't tell you the number of times that it would get to six or seven o'clock at night. Everybody's left. I'm still there working. And what's going to keep me going until eight or nine to finish that last bit of proposal, to put a little bit of extra polish, to send it to another person to ask their advice? What's going to keep me there till 10 o'clock, still full of energy, right? And not sacrificing myself metabolically. It's the passion. Absolutely. And you know that from your business, for sure. And one of the best that finishes a passion I ever received is that you know you're doing something you're passionate about is you feel guilty for it being paid. Because you do it for free anyway, because you love doing it so much. And that's where it does keep you doing. Life is short. And that's why I always encourage people to pursue their passion. As long as they can make sure that it will still feed themselves and their families in that sense. So that's great. You feel like a passion being one of them? And what is the second? Oh, by the way, one of my mentors, John Kluge, said, I never worked a day in my life. That's passion there. That's passion. So you either live to work or work to live. The conventional version, the conventional definition of work is something that you gotta do. You gotta finish it. You gotta get paid and then you go home. So by that standard, he never worked a day in his life. Got it, got it. Got to do it versus get to do it, yes. All right, so what's the second key that you would say? Second one is people. Okay. And I think of, when I think of the things that I'm most proud of in the work that I did, one of them is a young lady that I hired just out of college at age 19 to come in and be our very first receptionist. We'd just gotten to the point where we were 12 people, 15 people, and we needed somebody to handle the phones. And she was smart. She was bright. She was hardworking. She got the passion. She was the most passionate receptionist you'll ever meet. She was excellent. And she picked up on my passion for the work that I was doing and absorbed it for the work that she was doing. And that's really... Is it available? She's, yeah, she is. Oh, is she really? Yeah, she's in LA. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my joy was promoting her from being receptionist to being a marketing assistant, to being an operations assistant, to being head of all operations, to ultimately being a vice president of the company. You know, after 10 years, each time she got a bump in pay and each time she got more excellent. And so people are extremely important. The relationships that you have with the people that you build, you invest in them each day in your business. So many of us look at, so many of us in management look at people as sort of being interchangeable cogs. I'll switch this one here. I'll switch that one there. I'll fire this one. I'll hire this one. Some of that is necessary because you need to keep things moving and you need to make decisions efficiently. But really the heart needs to take primary place. And that kind of presence communicates itself to all the other people. And everybody talks. Right. And I like that. I think that's important. I like the fact that I still get phone calls, I still get tweets, I still get Facebook hellos from people that I worked with 30, 35 years ago. And they invite me to their parties and their reunions and so on wherever they're taking place. And just going off of people, you can't build a great organization without great people. And that definitely goes on to your second point. And even there's that famous proverb, you are your closest five friends, family members. And that's why having a good inner circle, good group of people that you are with, that's who you become. That's why I think people are such an important thing. So what's the third key to success? Okay, the third one really builds on that one and that's partnership. So I'm seeing a trend here. We got three P's now, right? Yes, yes. So we got passion people. I try to make it simple. Now the third P again is? Partnership. Partnership, got it. Okay, these are special kinds of people that you meet. They may not work for you, but there are people that you develop a professional relationship with. And you look for partnership rather than domination, rather than just purely small W winning, you want a win for everybody. I remember working with an IBM executive who was head of all operations for IBM out of Sacramento. So his main client was the state government of California. Huge, bigger than most countries, right? He had one of the highest revenue lines of any IBM executive in the world, right? And excellent at what he did. And at first we entered work in a kind of competitive position with him because we were working with another vendor. But there was a respect that got built up between us until we finally decided that we were gonna ally directly with IBM. And that's great. And I wanted you to continue that story. You are listening to the art of thinking smarts on Think Tech Hawaii and we'll be back after a short break. Aloha. This is Reg Baker with Business in Hawaii. We're a show that broadcasts every Thursday at two o'clock. We would love to hear from you and you can reach us in several different ways. We have a hotline that you can call in at 415-871-2474 or you can email us at thinktechhawaii.com or you can tweet us at Think Tech H.I. Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you on our next show. Aloha. Hi, my name is Kim Lau and I'm the host of Hawaii Rising. You can watch me every other Monday at 4 p.m. Aloha, my name is Danelia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We are the co-host of Keys to Success which is live on Think Tech Live Streaming Network series weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha. Hey, welcome back for the Art of Thinking Smart where we're talking with Michael North on the five keys to Managed to Success. And so now we were talking about partnership being the third one and your relationship that you had. So please, if you wanna explain a little bit further of how that kind of helped you along. Well, that helped us along in a very key way because we grew with IBM in our work with the state of California for several years until he was at the point where he had an opportunity to move up in IBM. But he came to me and he said, I'd like to work with North Communications. Oh, wow. I'd like to, I have some ideas. I wanna take the company in this direction and I know that we can take this product. I know we can open up this new territory. If you're willing to give me this salary and these benefits, which I took a big gulp because he was asking for twice what I was earning at the time. But I went to our investors and I said, That's part of the people. Yeah. This person, we've known him now for several years. He's always delivered and now he can work with us. So, Arthur Lippers is another example of somebody that I met in the course of things. We were at one time adversaries. Got it. But is he a pattern there? Yeah, yeah, interesting. But you go out for a drink afterwards and friendship blooms. And after now 20 years, I'm still friends and partners with Arthur and you know the project that we're doing with. Right, got it. So, okay, so now we have, so passion, we got the people, we got the partnerships and I like that. Adversaries into partners who end up becoming good people, who become a passionate for whatever you're working on. So I like how that leads for others. Look for a good adversary. And turn them into a good partner. Interesting. People usually think of the opposite. Hey, I look for an adversary that you can beat. That I can crush. Right. But... That's a different style and you know, it worked for Steve Jobs. It's not my style and it made me other people's style. I wanna emphasize these are not absolute rules. But that's part of being smart is knowing when to do what. Sometimes maybe you wanna be an adversary if it's your company or their company survives. But if there's a way to, hey, why don't we work together, merge? So we see Office Max and Office Depot, they merged recently because they realized, you know what, the competitive edge that they had against each other, all they were doing was just price cut, price cut, no profits. So adversaries now become partners. So I think that's a very good point. So even Steve Jobs, he wanted to crush Microsoft. And they became partners for a bit. Ultimately. Right, right. But he was always partner with Adobe from the very beginning. Interesting. So he was able to operate on both bandwidths flexibly. So what is the next key to success? Okay, I think the next key to success is participate in the broader world. Have a mission that's larger than just the success of your own company. When you become successful and you're sustainable and you can keep rolling, you can keep growing, you can keep investing, find a way to give back. That not only builds the people and the sense of a spree to core and so on, that'll build the passion. It reinforces the other piece, right? And it's the right thing to do. So, you know, I've long worked with the Hawaii Forgiveness Project. I take two or three weeks out of every year to be to produce that annual event that takes place in the first. It happened very recently. Yeah, it takes place on the first Sunday of August and it's all about forgiveness and being able to change and it brings in social, cultural, psychological, political, judicial people, and a lot of native Hawaiians and so on to consider how can we foster a culture of forgiveness. And so all the people that I work with are in one way or another part of that. They're invited to be part of it. The partnerships, it's all in together. And so we're giving back. And so people know that there's a bigger frame around this picture than just this one guy. I wanna talk about that, just a side note. Forgiveness, what does that mean to you and why did you pick that topic? Why do you think that one is important? You know, it's a word that doesn't, it's not freighted with a lot of other meanings that we have to overcome. Like, if you say that you're in favor of peace, there's a whole set of judgments and reactions that come to that, right? If you say that you're in favor of nonviolence or that you're in favor of compassion, those all bring sort of reactions. I found that the name forgiveness is something that everybody says, yeah, that's a good thing to be able to do. More people are willing to accept that as no preconceived notions. It's a good vehicle into people's thinking about how to change. And that's really the fundamental of forgiveness is it's not forgetting, right? It's actually remembering. If there's something that either in your own personal or in your family background causes you pain, causes you regret, shame, or causes you to feel that towards other people, then it holds you back from being who you are. It locks up a piece of your energy, right? It takes part of your passion, the first P, and drains it off. So don't drain it off, you know, bring it in and profoundly remember what happened and you can redefine your relationship with what happened. So it's learning to forgive yourself and learning to forgive others. Yeah, I think of a Holocaust survivor who was a young boy in the ending stages of the Holocaust. He saw his entire family slotted in front of his eyes and he escaped. There was no Germans left to keep him and ran through the forests of Europe for two years like a wild animal. Just in a total ferocious stupor. And finally emerged and he found a way after 20 years of inner struggle, he found a way to forgive even the Nazis for what they had done. And to let that go in his heart. He ultimately moved to America, took up residence near Cape Canaveral in Florida and started a motel in which a lot of the astronauts back in the 60s and 70s used to stay before going up. So he became a super American patriot and amazing, amazing man. When you hear the story of where he began and where he ended up, you see the power of forgiveness. Oscar, I think that's important. Part of his success is not just what we do with others, but how we see ourselves and how the perception that people have of us and making sure that forgiveness, I think that's a very powerful word. We're starting to do that in Wealthbridge, right? We're just at the point where we can foresee that we're gonna be making some good money and we're starting a nonprofit organization, a foundation to support the people who can't afford the services that we provide, can't afford to pay for the full. So we'll make it possible to make contributions to that. Right, giving back. That supports me as well. I wanna be a strong supporter of that Care for Life Foundation. That's great. So now we got four P's now. So now what is the fifth P on keys to success? Okay, peace. Peace, okay. Yeah. I've known a number of people who have followed and I've followed their career right to the very end, to the place where they pass away. John Kluge being one of them. And John Kluge for people that don't know, he was actually the richest person in America for a number of years before Bill Gates overtook him and just fantastic bio. I wish you were alive today. He was the founder of Metro Media and you might recognize that as they were the original company behind Fox. They sold assets to Rupert Murdoch who built the Fox network but it was the spine of independent television stations that John Kluge started in all the major centers, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Miami that he sold to Rupert Murdoch which ultimately came Fox. Got it. So his passion, then his people skills, who he was, the partnership with you had the mentorship that he gave you and participating. And so I would like to learn more about the piece that you saw from him. What I learned from him, he said to me two months before he passed away, he said, when I go, I'm not gonna regret that I didn't work another day or that I didn't do another deal or that I didn't make another buck. When I go, I'm gonna want one more minute with my wife. I'm gonna want one more touch from my sons and my daughters. I'm gonna want one more sunset, you know? So we have those opportunities now every day to spend time with our wives, with our children, with our parents and to watch a sunset, right? That's the real wealth. All the other bits and pieces of wealth that we build up from business, which consist of money and property and so on, they just support our ability to have a moment of peace. And what is peace to you if you want to find that? I have a very Chinese kind of approach to peace. Got it. Stillness. Okay. Stillness. And that's the inner stillness as well as how we deal with others at peace. You can communicate stillness to others simply by being it yourself. So the less you say, the better with peace, you know? The core, my wife is Chinese and I've learned a lot from her and been forced to China a lot. The core of Chinese culture and I think a core of human psychology itself is Wu, which means nothingness. Got it. Like it's the center of the wheel that doesn't move, that makes it possible for the wheel to turn, right? It's the window in the wall, which is empty, which makes the wall relevant to exist, right? So there needs to be a strong core of stillness in our lives for everything else to revolve around and return to. So we've got about a minute left. How do you want to now put everything together on these five keys? Passion, people, partnership, participate, and peace. If we just have those five ideas, you'll see how they all build on each other and the last one, peace, which is stillness, leads directly around to the ultimate action of passion. So you have to have both, you have both. And I think one of the great privileges of living in America is having the ability to start and work in a business that is creative, that builds something new out where there was nothing, like literally from your kitchen table. And those of us who have the privilege of being here, who have life and liberty and we have resources, we have time, we have safety, we have food, let's never forget how much we've been given the blessings to be in this country at this time of history. I would not trade any other time in history or any other place for where we are right here right now. Well, that's great. And I think definitely we're gonna have to have you back on. There's a lot of other awesome things that I want to expound upon. And I know we just barely scratch a service on your experiences, but definitely at least for our viewers out there, our listeners, you can go to our blog, artofthikiesmart.com to get more information about what Mike has talked about and how you could use these five Ps for you and your life. I want to thank you for joining us. I'm really excited as we continue to journey together on our smart journey so we can continue to learn to think smarter and live smarter. So until next time, thank you very much and look forward to seeing you again.