Friday, August 25
The Salt Lick, Keith Ferrazzi, and Papa Red
Orientation week is about to wrap. I've got a little break here in the afternoon before the whole class heads to The Salt Lick, which is supposed to be the quintessential Austin BBQ joint. Whoa. I just checked out their website and learned that The Salt Lick is so named because "a Salt Lick is something where all the animals congregate. There is something good, something essential about it." Deep.
So, in addition to the drinking that took place all week, we also had a number of non-drinking events that kept us busy. Two of the more intellectually stimulating events were speeches and their follow-up Q&A's. The first speaker, Keith Ferrazzi, spoke to us on Wednesday. If you haven't heard of Keith (and I hadn't previously), he became Chief Marketing Officer and the youngest partner in the history of Deloitte & Touche at age 28, later wrote the New York Times best-seller Never Eat Alone, and is now considered at age 40 to be one of the most “connected” people in the world. His personal story and insights on relationship-building, expanding your network, and taking advantage of opportunity were fascinating. He also dropped his email address, so if you wanna get in touch with Hillary Clinton, Richard Branson, or Bill Gates, let me know and I’ll start greasing the wheels.
The other rather interesting speaker we heard this week was Red McCombs, the namesake of the McCombs School of Business. [Several years back, “Papa Red” (a name I coined today), gave the business school at the University of Texas $50 million with no strings attached. In appreciation, the regents voted to rename the b-school after him. Seems like the least they could do.] Red gave a rundown of his personal story, his longstanding affinity for UT, some anecdotes from his business experiences, and spoke of the importance of expecting to win, preparing to win, and then, finally, well... winning.
Papa Red has had a wide-ranging business career. Among other things, he:
Crap. I’m running low on time and I haven’t talked about bats at all, have I? Hmm... I better change the title of this post. Hold on.
Ah. That’s better. We’ll talk bats next time. Promise. Try not to soil yourself in anticipation.
So, in addition to the drinking that took place all week, we also had a number of non-drinking events that kept us busy. Two of the more intellectually stimulating events were speeches and their follow-up Q&A's. The first speaker, Keith Ferrazzi, spoke to us on Wednesday. If you haven't heard of Keith (and I hadn't previously), he became Chief Marketing Officer and the youngest partner in the history of Deloitte & Touche at age 28, later wrote the New York Times best-seller Never Eat Alone, and is now considered at age 40 to be one of the most “connected” people in the world. His personal story and insights on relationship-building, expanding your network, and taking advantage of opportunity were fascinating. He also dropped his email address, so if you wanna get in touch with Hillary Clinton, Richard Branson, or Bill Gates, let me know and I’ll start greasing the wheels.
The other rather interesting speaker we heard this week was Red McCombs, the namesake of the McCombs School of Business. [Several years back, “Papa Red” (a name I coined today), gave the business school at the University of Texas $50 million with no strings attached. In appreciation, the regents voted to rename the b-school after him. Seems like the least they could do.] Red gave a rundown of his personal story, his longstanding affinity for UT, some anecdotes from his business experiences, and spoke of the importance of expecting to win, preparing to win, and then, finally, well... winning.
Papa Red has had a wide-ranging business career. Among other things, he:
- owned the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, and Minnesota Vikings at various times
- co-founded Clear Channel Communications
- created an auto dealership empire that once formed the 6th largest auto conglomerate in the U.S.
- was one of the very few people to successfully sell Edsels
- created companies in real estate development and the exploration of oil and gas
- did a number of other kick-ass things of which I have no knowledge
Crap. I’m running low on time and I haven’t talked about bats at all, have I? Hmm... I better change the title of this post. Hold on.
Ah. That’s better. We’ll talk bats next time. Promise. Try not to soil yourself in anticipation.
Labels: bbq, sex boat scandals
# posted by white rob @ 4:16 PM 
