Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton To Business Leaders: ‘Never Stand Still’
Fran Tarkenton played professional football for 18 years, mostly with the Minnesota Vikings. During that time, he reinvented the position of quarterback by honing the craft of scrambling with the ball rather than allowing himself to be sacked by opposing defenders. Today, the 81-year-old CEO, who has founded some 20 businesses, hasn’t slowed down one bit.
In fact, he is still scrambling, only now he does so with his brain rather than his legs. “It would be easy for me to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got my fastball. We’re building businesses and doing great things,’ but you know what…I want to learn something every day. It doesn’t matter who you are, everybody should want to be mentored—or else you’re just missing out.”
As an 18 year-old redshirt sophomore at Georgia, Tarkenton might have missed out playing both college and professional football had he not taken it upon himself to tweak the status quo and enter a game against Texas without his coach’s consent. The brazen (and now legendary) act of self-creation led to a badly needed touchdown against Texas as well as Hall of Fame careers at Georgia and Minnesota.
Like all players of his generation, Tarkenton didn’t make big money playing football and endorsing products, so he reinvented himself as an entrepreneur whose main focus was serving small businesses. In this podcast, Tarkenton offers key lessons he has applied from football to entrepreneurship. These include:
• The business lesson he learned from being redshirted at Georgia.
• How Tarkenton bowled over an IBM team at a client meeting.
• Why he values curiosity above all other leadership qualities.
• The surprising football failure that continues to fuel his drive for business success.
Listeners to the podcast can plan on skipping their second round of morning coffee. Tarkenton brings enough energy to light up any recording studio he enters. Have a listen and find out for yourself.
Chief Executive Group exists to improve the performance of U.S. CEOs, senior executives and public-company directors, helping you grow your companies, build your communities and strengthen society. Learn more at chiefexecutivegroup.com.
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Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
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Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
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General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
