Dr. Nido Qubein came to the United States as a teenager with limited knowledge of English and only $50 in his pocket. Today, as President of High Point University, he has led the school through extraordinary transformation and increased revenue from $40 million to $350 million. Qubein shares his inspiring story with Host Greg Muzzillo and the steps to achieving success.
The circumstances in which we find ourselves today do not define where we end up, they only determine where we start.
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Dr. Nido Qubein came to the United States as a teenager with limited knowledge of English and only $50 in his pocket. Today, as President of High Point University, he has led the school through extraordinary transformation and increased revenue from $40 million to $350 million. Qubein shares his inspiring story with Host Greg Muzzillo and the steps to achieving success.
The circumstances in which we find ourselves today do not define where we end up, they only determine where we start.
Chapter Summaries
Resource Links
If you enjoyed this episode, click here to watch/listen to more from Million Dollar Monday.
Subscribe and receive updates when new episodes are available.
You know, the four major steps for life, right? You have to have a clear vision, solid strategy, employ practical systems and, have consistent execution. We all agree that you're going to have a million ideas, but if you don't execute on them, it's worth nothing. However, when you get to a point of unconscious competence, you've prepared, well, you've sought advice properly. You have traveled the pathway of life, or you have this degree of unconscious competence that execution becomes
Greg Muzzillo :Hello and welcome to Million Dollar Monday. I'm your host, Greg, Muzzillo bringing you real successful people with real useful advice for people with big dreams. I understand big dreams. I turned an investment of$200 and a lot of great advice from some really successful people into my big dream Proforma. That today is a half billion dollar company. Hello everybody, I am honored to introduce my special guest for today. Clearly a man who has lived a life and is living a life of both success and significance. His story is amazing. Coming here for Lebanon with no money in his pocket, as a teenager, getting a great education. Somehow even though he struggled to speak English, starting businesses and becoming very successful in that, becoming a well sought after motivational speaker, coach and more. And now of all things, the President of High Point University and what my guest, doesn't know, is that in 2005, when he just accepted the presidency of High Point University, with really no background of being a traditional educator, I took my son to be a freshman at High Point University in the fall of 2005. Now I had already dropped off daughters that went to Clemson University, University of Miami at Coral Gables and Emory university. And so I was expecting the same routine if you will. And, yet we were all brought into an auditorium and the welcome meeting for parents and students, we were introduced to the new president of this university, and I expected the same stuff from presidents of universities, but, Oh my goodness, I was immediately blown away. And two things that have stuck with me and nothing has stuck with me from any of those other orientations. Two things that stuck with me about this man is number one. He is an unbelievable motivational inspirational speaker from the moment he said, hello he had my undivided attention. But secondly, what was even more amazing was he told all of us about what he was going to be building at High Point University. And he said it with such conviction, that it was almost as if he was telling us what he saw in the future. Almost like a man that already has seen it in his mind, achieved it in his mind. And let me tell you where the school was in 2005, in 2005. When I dropped off my son, they had 1400 and some students today, they have over 4,500 students. The campus was only 91 acres then now it's over 500 acres. There were only about 28 buildings on the campus. Back then today, there are over 120 buildings on the campus. And the budget back then was 41 million. And today the budget is 260 million. And he told those students then that he was going to build such an amazing university that many of those students in that group might not even qualify to be students there in future years. And in fact, my guest accomplished all of what he said he would do in 2005 and so much more. I am honored to be joined today by Dr. Nido Qubein, Nido, thank you for joining me.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Thank you, Greg is a pleasure being with you. We have grown tremendously. Actually our revenues have gone up to 350 million, but the more important part is that our academic programs have gone through the roof. We used to have three academic buildings with BA BS degrees. Today. We have nine academic schools with, all the way up to doctorate degrees, for example, of a thousand people studying for graduate degrees and, US news and world report ranking was, number 17, 63 points out of 100. And today 10 years running 10 years in a row, we'll be number one among best colleges in the South with a score of 100 out of 100. I tell you this Greg to say, it's not about buildings. It's,not about size. It's not about enrollment. It's about quality. And we at High Point University we're a God, family and country school first and foremost, and we're the premium life skills university. Because my friend, if a student goes to a school and learns everything there is to learn about their discipline, their 4.0 GPA, straight A students, but they're not prepared for life, they were not educated, in fact, they were merely trained. So here we have an ecosystem that is holistic in nature. Look, when you heard me speak Greg in 05', I had just arrived here. You know, we didn't have anything, when you came here, your life is incomplete until you come back now and see the difference. If anybody doubted about the art of the possible, if anybody has a doubt that there's no such thing as unrealistic dreams, only unrealistic timelines. If anybody listening to us has a doubt that they can achieve their goals, fulfill their aspirations, overcome their fears, find a way to get their needs met. Let me tell you, High Point University is a living model of what can become, and we thank God almighty for them. And we believe only in America, can you do these things and today, I've got students from all 50 States, 50 countries. It is the most remarkable thing anybody can imagine. No, wonder I have all these CEOs of fortune 500 companies want to come here and bring their executive team just to see the model. How did we create this culture? How did we execute on this plan? We did it, man. We did it. And, and our, our net assets went from 50 million to 1.2 billion and growing every single year, remarkable ways.
Greg Muzzillo :It is a remarkable story Nido, and I had no doubt. I have to let you know. I had no doubt in 2005, when you said what you said that I knew you would achieve it because you said it with such conviction as if it had already happened. That being said, and by the way, I didn't tell everybody that you're the author of over a dozen books. And my favorite is this one right here, Stairway to Success. So let's go back to the beginning Nido and tell us your story, where it began in Lebanon, and how did you get to the United States and those early years of getting educated, and maybe even up to starting your own first business.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Okay, so, Greg, life is about turning points, turning points that cumulatively turn into turning points. So first starting first turning point of my life. My father died. I was six years of age. I never really knew my dad, he never threw me a ball or, threw me a frisbee or take me to the circus, read me books, sang me a song, hugged me, loved me and told me he loved me. He was, sick in bed. And then he died when I was six. So my mother brought us up with five boys, three girls, a family of five. This lady had a fourth degree, fourth grade education. She had to learn a new vocation. She became a seamstress. She made clothes for people and she brought us up. And Greg, she never once did she say to me, Hey, we can't afford that son. Those words never entered my psyche later in life I understood that your beliefs lead your behaviors, your behaviors lead to the results in your life. So it all begins with beliefs. Why is it that immigrants come to America? And they're not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times as likely to become millionaires then bored Americans, the answer is very simple. They believe that this country is laden with opportunity. So that was my first turning point is that my dad died when I was six. And, my second turning point is when I came to America at age 17. At age 17 I came over here and had$50 could hardly speak English, didn't know anybody. And, went to a small school in Eastern North Carolina, and had to work day and night, you know, to pay my way through school and, went to undergrad and grad school, and, so that was my second turning point. My third turning point was when I came out grad school and I began my first business with all the money I had in the whole wide world,$500. Work, 17 hours a day, Greg, seven days a week from the business. But the amazing thing is within two and a half, three years, I had 68,000 customers in 32 countries. Look, man, if you believe it you can achieve it. That's true. Absolutely true. You got to work hard to get there.
Greg Muzzillo :Let's go back to the beginning, I have a question about how did you end up in a town called Mount Olive until I read your story, I always thought Mount Olive was just about pickles, but now I know better. How does somebody come from Lebanon with$50 in their pocket as a teenager end up in Mount Olive North Carolina.
Dr. Nido Qubein:OK Greg number one, Mount Olive is the home from Mount Olive pickles. I know today, Bill Brian who's the chairman CEO of that business. The one jar, he sends, me a big box with 10 jars and I don't pay for it, it comes free to me, who you know, and who you spend your time with are very important factors. Always make sure you hang around with people who can give you stuff. Right? I ended up in Mount olive because America was far away, this is back in the mid sixties. There was no CNN, there was no, I phones no Google. So I l iked Mount Olive college because it sounded like the Mount of Olives in th e H oly land. That's why I went there, it was a, two year school, by the way. And the people th ere a re unbelievable let me you, greatest hospitality l have ever experienced. And then I transferred of course, to H igh Point, ri ght. It was High Point College.
Greg Muzzillo :So you come to America,$50 in your pocket. No real reason to believe you would be successful. Can you recall a point in your life where you knew undoubtedly with no reason to believe a nd m aybe no understanding what the avenues would be that you a re sure you'd be successful?
Dr. Nido Qubein:Never, never, never doubted that. Never doubted that. Listen, my mother would say to me, who you spend time with is who you become. If you want to be great walk hand in hand and side-by-side with great people, it didn't mean literally it meant read your book, read their books, listen to their podcasts, go to their seminars. And my mother would say to me, what you choose is what you get. You're responsible for your own happiness. You're responsible for your own success. So make good choices, listen, the circumstances in which we find ourselves today, do not define where we end up. They only determined where we start. My mother would say, how you change is how you succeed. So no, Greg, I never doubted that I would be successful. But look, Greg, let's be honest with each other. I couldn't have defined that success for you. I didn't know it. Just like when you heard me in 05' and I talked about High Point. That seems so frivolous compared to what we have done. But at that time, that's all I knew. So life is inch by inch, right? And you're going to start somewhere, that's what you tell your clients, right? You got to start somewhere. Don't be too heavy.
Greg Muzzillo :Just start. You got to start somewhere. Just start, so many people get, as you say, in your book, paralysis by analysis. And it's like, just start, just start somewhere, you know, ready, fire, aim at some point. Anyhow. It's great. So, you got a great education and a couple of degrees. Tell us about that. First business, no internet, obviously a much different day,$500 in your pocket. Tell us a little about how you started it and how you grew it.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Well, I was selling leadership materials. I would hire people to write, the material. It was a direct mail business we'd send catalogs out and people would buy the material. And so at a warehouse, you know, I mean, first time it was a little room and then it grew and I had a warehouse and would ship every day about a hundred packages. Average was about$30 or so. And in time I became smarter and added to the inventory and so on, you know, the usual entrepreneurial, initiative. But what I did not count on is that the people buying this material will begin to invite me to come and speak at their companies. And so I did go the first time, you know, spoke for somebody. And then eventually somebody discovered me, somebody called Ben B Franklin, by the way, who had a network of the executives clubs across the country business, people would go once a month, listen to a lecture, have a meal fellowship with their friends. And he eventually booked me 230 times across America. So that opened up the doors for more and more stuff. By 1980, about six or seven years later, I didn't have time for the business. I had to sell the business. I sold the business. I got full-time into speaking and consulting and that, Greg open up a world to me. I realized then that you can't just give an hour speech that you're just going to have to, I'm going to have to, do some coaching and counseling with these executives and oh boy oh boy, the world just opened up for me by 1985, I had enough money to start a bank with a couple of guys. We started a bank, by 1990. I bought into other businesses in 2000, we bought a company called Great Harvest Bread Company, 240 stores. And we bought a company called Dots, D-O-T-S, a clothing store chain, on and on the story goes, and you know what I've learned, Greg, which I think is what you're, after in this podcast, you know what I've learned? I've learned that you can't take risk out of life, if you do, you'll take opportunity out. Absolutely. So life is not about risk avoidance. It's about risk management. I also learned that there is a big difference between productive failures and non-productive successes that sometimes you fail, if you don't know why you fail, you fail again. But if you succeed and you don't know why you succeeded, you cannot replicate. Those are lessons that I've learned. I've also learned that you must have five capitals. We think about financial capital, starting a business, got to go to the bank, get money start a business, well, that's only one, but you better have educational capital. You better have reputational capital, you better have physical capital, take care of your body, and you better have relational capital of all of them. That may be the most important if you know the right people, if you have the right relationships, the world is your stage.
Greg Muzzillo :Yeah. Agreed. I think the fifth, I think the fifth capital, if I remember from the book was spiritual capital.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Spiritual capital. Of course you have to be driven by values and values, absent that you're lost.
Greg Muzzillo :Yeah. I love hearing the stories and the details and one of the stories I heard was about an offer that you made. I forget exactly back in the very early days of your business, and we all have our mistakes. We all have learned from doing a lot of things, right. But we've all done some things wrong. I love this story about how you made that offer to send whatever it was to people. And, uh, and all they had to do is send in their cards. And
Dr. Nido Qubein:That was one of the scariest times in my life. I had this magical idea. I could buy these books very, very cheap for like 10 cents a piece was a closeout. And if I could just offer people three of those books free, then I was sure that their sense of grace and consciousness, they would not just ask for the free books. They would buy something from the catalog too. I did not make it conditional on that, that's the mistake I made. And of course, when you return the order I paid for the postage, it was postage paid. You know, that I paid for. Greg, I had, several thousands of these and many of them had no orders, and I realized all of a sudden, I don't have enough money to ship those books out, and I had to go talk to a lawyer and say, am I going to go to jail? If I don't do that? I mean, it was the scariest day of my life, but you know what you learn from it, you learn a lot about marketing, about positioning, about branding, about selling. So like you, my life has been a series of lessons, some hard knock schools, school of hard knocks, some, you know, from the grace of others, heroes, models, mentors that we all aspire to be.
Greg Muzzillo :Yeah. But you're also humble enough to share some of those failures, the stories that, are a little challenging in that. And, I like that about you, what I also like is in your book, you talk about the six steps, these six steps to creating the stairway to success. And I know you've written over a dozen books and I wished I had, and I should find time to read them all because they're all great. But I like is that you go through the book and you talk about the six steps, but the first several are all about getting ready, making that commitment. You know, getting the plan done, et cetera. And the preparation, you only spend a handful out of 350 pages, or so you only spend a small handful of pages talking about the execution. And so what I get from that is that when properly prepared, the execution can take care of itself. Talk to us about that little bit.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Yeah. I mean, your conclusion is absolutely on the money. It's absolutely accurate. You know, t he four major steps for life, right? You have to have a clear vision, solid strategy, e mploy practical systems a nd, have consistent execution. We all agree that y ou're g onna have a million ideas, but if you don't execute on t hem, i t's worth nothing. However, when you get to a point of unconscious competence, you've prepared well, you've sought advice properly. You have traveled the pathway of life, or you have this degree of unconscious competence that execution becomes almost subliminal. Execution becomes part and parcel of your personhood. For example, what does execution date? I t t akes of course having a great plan. It takes anticipation of what might go wrong, manage your r isks. But also it demands hard work, smart work, building the right team, not giving up, being tenacious a nd creating a sustainable model, all of that. B ut y ou see, those are byproducts of who you are. That's why I say we spend so much of our time worrying about to-do lists, but we ought to really be more focused on having to be lists because being must proceed doing, it's like, think of it this way, the way Greg you do honest things, therefore you are an honest person or you're an honest person, therefore naturally subliminally, unconsciously, you do h onesty. That's the point I was making, I believe.
Greg Muzzillo :Yeah. It's, there's so many great points that we don't have time for them all. One of the pieces that I love, piece of advice was do what you love, I feel sad for people who, I see the posts on Facebook and social media. Oh, thank God It's Friday, or they post it's Thursday, Is it Friday yet? And I feel sorry for those people because I love what I do. I know you love what you do. And when it's Friday, I think darn I wish it was only Wednesday. I have so much more to do. And of course there's really the weekends I work the same way as I work. I have work-life balance, work-life harmony. I mean, I love my whole life. It's a symbiotic, weaving, of a beautiful life, all of the parts that I love. And, that's just great advice. Find what you love and you actually have a couple of worksheets in there to figure out what you love. Start there.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Well, you know, Greg, you just, put your, put your fingers on the difference between having a workers mentality or an entrepreneurial mindset. So you'll have an entrepreneurial mindset, do you have a growth mindset? And when you possess that, you think of the work as wonderful opportunity to do good, to be good, to serve more, to give more, if you have a worker's mentality, you clock in clock out and you can't wait until five o'clock comes to be. And because you don't, value what you do. In fact, maybe you don't value who you are and it doesn't matter if you're working on a factory floor or if you're doing what we do, the reality of it is, you can find joy in what you do and you can find, you know, sort of tentacles to what you do that can bring you a degree of happiness. But the best example I can give you, that I left a thriving career I was at the epitome of my success in every way, in terms of, in terms of, you know, fame and fortune and all these things to become president of High Point University, which was a tiny little school when you came to visit here. And, I came here thinking I can fix it over two years, I became president by the way, because I was the incoming chairman on the board and the board basically begged me to come here because they knew the school was, was really falling.
Greg Muzzillo :Tell our story, tell our listeners that story, there's some wonderful details in there about some of your, some of the, the commitment that you sought from the board. If you, just hang a little bit, on how that progressed from your being, not an educator to just being a traditional businessman board leader, to being asked and then agreeing to become president.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Yeah. I mean, they basically asked me to do it then I said, but let's be candid. I mean, I'm creating tremendous personal revenue I'm, in great demand all over the country. I'm consulting with some of the major corporations, the entry-level for my consulting was a million dollars a year, for example, for these contracts. And so you asked me to come be president of this little school, but you know, sometimes you pray about things and you think about them and, and you feel led, viscerally feel there's an inner voice that says that you must do this because you can make a difference. And so I told them that the only way I would even consider it is, if it's unanimous on the part of the board, but much more importantly, I will not do it until August when the school came back in session and I want to talk to all the faculty. And if there's one faculty against it, I'm not comfortable. So I came and talked to the faculty and I was very honest. I said, if you're looking for an academic, I'm not it. If you're looking for someone who has written a book about some, God knows what in science or mathematics, I'm not it, but this school is not doing very well. And if you're looking for business person who understands branding and positioning and marketing and sales and finance and strategic planning, that is what I've done. I've shown companies how to do it. I don't think a University's that much different than these companies. We're all focused on the three P'S, right? The person, the product and the process. And I said, I think I can help you with that. Well, I got a standing ovation, the guy next to me, said, I haven't seen a standing ovation of the faculty in 20 years and I agreed to come and you know what, Greg, It's been a joyful journey. I hear all these presidents say, Oh, faculty oh faculty Senate. I have the most beautiful faculty anywhere where we collaborate, we operate, we get along. We don't always agree on everything. Thank God for that. If you're with a bunch of people, always agree with you, that's redundant. Right. For sure. But the places work because there is a cooperative spirit here. And so for me, you say, love your work. I adore my work. I can't wait to come here and, get things done.
Greg Muzzillo :What I love also about you is that there's no doubt that you just don't show up at your desk. That journey on your way to your office is always like management by walking around. And I think you may even enjoy the walking into the office and meeting with the students on campus and teachers on campus, and maybe some parents on campus and just talking with them and understanding their experience and understanding where they're at. It's clear to me that you just love every piece and part of being the president there.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Thank you, Greg. I'll tell you what I get up at three o'clock in the morning. I go to bed at nine. I wake up at three between, three and six, I study, I read, I study I read every book about higher education, especially the business of higher education. What's happening, the trends, the patterns, the future of youth and so on. And at six o'clock, I go with a buddy of mine, I walk for an hour. When I come here in the morning about eight o'clock, I have a list of things, and I want to talk to everybody, I need to talk with on this floor, in this building, I put all my levers here. So all my major people who influence and effect, finance, academics, construction, operation, are right here. I don't hold meetings. I walk out of my office and come into your office and stand up there, I get a list, sometimes it's something as simple as this, and I go over my list with you. And, I get things done like that. You know, I have a sense of urgency, entrepreneurial spirit, Greg, its very different If you have never run a business or met the payroll, you don't understand what I'm saying. People who know that, get it.
Greg Muzzillo :I love your theory about, I forget the words, but you don't schedule half hour meetings or hour meetings. You don't have a phone that rings on your desk. Tell us about that and tell us about how you measure your time.
Dr. Nido Qubein:You have done your homework, my friend, I'm very, very impressed. Those people listening to your podcast should know that you do your homework. Most people don't know these things that you're asking. So, yes, of course I have a phone. I have a landline on my desk and of course I have my, you know, my iPhone. No one has, my number except my family, I couldn't tell you what, my number here, I don't want the disruption on this. People can write me on emails, I check my emails frequently during the day, the phone on my desk does not ring. Now obviously people call in, but it rings it to assistants out, in the lobby. And they handle most of it, then if I need to handle it. Then I get involved. I do this b ecause I don't want that disruption because you know, when somebody calls you, they're calling you because its their convenience. Their convenience, not yours. Now, I think of time as, units. So an hour has 12 units, five minute units. So if somebody wants to come see me and say, you know, can I have an hour of your time? That's crazy. So I teach my students, you know, I teach all the freshmen classes, all of them, I teach and the senior class and I tell them never call somebody up and say"can I have an hour of your time?", Because if that person is worthy, to help you in life, they don't have an hour, to say, can I have a couple of units of your time? So when my students come see me on Wednesday afternoon, I'm open for students to come and ask for my advice, and so on. I want to start a business, when I go to grad school, whatever it might be. I'll give them two units of time. So when they come in, what happens, Greg? They're prepared they're dressed nicely. They're prepared and they don't block my last night's ballgame. They go bam, right to the questions. Now they benefit, I benefit. I get to see five or six in an hour. Instead of seeing one person who's not organized and who's all over the place look, Greg, life is not about time management. Let's get that straight all the time management books in the world are, lovely and wonderful, but you can be the greatest time manager on the face of this earth and be a non-productive. Life is about energy management. You only have so much energy and energy, doesn't just come from kind bars, by the way, t he f ounder of kind bars, he's a buddy of mine his n ame i s, Daniel Lubetsky, a wonderful, wonderful guy, but it doesn't come from just that. It comes from life. You be high on life, loving what you do here. We're planting seeds of greatness in the minds, hearts and souls of students. We're preparing tomorrow's leaders. This is the most noble of all work I've ever done in my life. And, so I think of energy management is this worthy of my energy. The reason, I would do a podcast, for example, for a long period of time is because I know you're reaching so many other people. And in life I invest one third of my life in earning, one third of my life in learning, and one third of my life in serving what I'm doing with you today is serving. And so I believe my life is in balance when I do that, I believe I'm a happier person. I have a greater purpose in life when I do that. So you have to have the energy for that. And, you tend to have more energy when you love what you do and you care about other people when you're doing it.
Greg Muzzillo :And it's clear that you love what you do. I do this because so many people were a wonderful part of my life, giving me great advice, great inspiration, great motivation. And now at the age I'm at, and I've done okay myself, I find it a wonderful opportunity for Million Dollar Monday to have great folks like you to give great advice and inspiration to younger entrepreneurs and all people with big dreams, and that's why I do what I do. And that's why I am so honored to have you as a guest because you're living proof that it can all work. I love how you talk about turning goals into affirmations. Tell us about that. Tell us how to do that.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Yeah, because you know, goals are wonderful things to have, but remember in life, you have four things. You have goals, you have needs, you have aspirations and you have fears. And if all you have is goals and you don't affirm to yourself that I am committed to this goal, make a decision with your brain to make a commitment with your heart affirmation is about commitments, you, need, to affirm to yourself that I'm committed to this process, but affirmation is also about encouragement. You want people to encourage you and you must encourage other people. William Martin said always give without remembering, always receive without forgetting. And so if you want the love, be sure you're giving love out. If you want encouragement, be sure, you're dishing out a lot of genuine encouragement, authenticity of both charisma any day of the week. And so, yeah, I mean, we all have goals in life, but goals are often thrown out of the window when you don't have affirmations that can underscore your achievements towards your goals, underscore the spirit with which you come towards your goal and underscore, your tenacity, your grit, your sense of resilience about achieving those goals. You know, you asked me a really big question earlier about, you know, f orgot how you say it but effectively t hat I have doubt that, that I imagined that I have d oubt that I c ould succeed, and that's w here my mom came into play. That, somehow indirectly, passively, actively, I don't really know, but somehow she created a zone in which, t hrough which, by which I can become. And the moment you become the moment y our personhood becomes one of faith and confidence, not h ot a ir, n ot positive thinking, but confidence. That's based on competence. Your world opens up and the moment your confidence becomes overconfidence, then you're going to fall apart, it's not going to work. I like to tell people, I always have a healthy degree of doubt, always. So if we say, Oh, we see the way how to do this. I had two, three meetings this morning. We're going to do this. And we'll put millions of dollars in this activity. And then I always have some degree of that. I'll ask questions. What could go wrong? How can we deal with it? How can we prevent it, et cetera. So you can be confident and have some doubt. You know, you can be strong, and have some weakness. You, can be happy and have some moment of sadness. This is okay. We can't have all of one, or all of the other human beings who are living organism, whose emotions drive a lot of what we do in life.
Greg Muzzillo :Yes. Yeah. Great stuff. All right. So the last of the six steps in your book are about recommitment, about new beginnings, taking many forms about preparing for new worlds. And we find ourselves today because of COVID in a world where lots of people have an opportunity for new beginnings, where lots of people need to pivot. I know a lot of people don't want to hear that word anymore, but talk to us a little bit. If you would, please, as we start winding down our time together about creating new worlds in these new times.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Well look, recommitment is about acknowledging and understanding that as you move forward and onward in life, there are moments when, if you're not careful, you can resist change without realizing you're resisting it. So for the timid change is, frightening for the comfortable change is flattening, but for the confident change is opportunity. So I know lots of people who succeed and then slowly begin to rest on their laurels, slowly begin to say, I'm okay. Life is great. Well, that's lovely. But if you don't recommit yourself to those notions that you hold dear and do it consciously, and repeatedly and powerfully, you can, without realizing it, you can end up in a place you don't want to end up because you really start believing your own success. As you go through life, your life would become focused on two major issues. Just, the way you live your life, first influence, and second impact. Who am I influencing and how am I impacting them? And you begin to ask yourself every day. The joy that you get is not from some certificate somebody gives you for appreciation and greatness, but the joy you get is seeing somebody else's life benefit and grow and prosper because of something you did, maybe it's a book you wrote, a podcast you did, a speech you gave, or just an encounter with somebody. That's my work Greg. I did it on the platform of the world for many, many years, with millions of people paying to come, hear me speak. Now, these students, they don't just pay to come here. They're entrusted to us by their parents. And that's the highest degree of honor I can think of when a parent entrusts us with their son or daughter, we really have to deliver. And we say we're the premier life skills university, we deliver by preparing those students. That's how we've grown. We grew, because our brand has so much advocacy, the parents advocated the school so much that, it became, very successful. So recommitment, you know, a person of faith will tell you they have to recommit themselves, right? They go to church or the house of worship repeatedly because that's a, spiritual recommitment. You see, people get married. Then after 10 years, they go back and you know, how do you say renew their vows? That's recommitment. But the people you lead, Greg, this is, what becomes important. Because you're either a manager or a leader. Anybody can be a manager, not everybody can be a leader. Leadership is about creating capacity. It's about allocating resources, not just financial resources, but human and emotional resources. And so, you know, recommitment becomes about modeling behaviors, the people around you, in your circle of influence, are looking at you and, learning from you. And maybe even acting like you act. So they better see in you a spirited manner in which you approach your work. And so, you know, I get up in the morning, I say man, alive another great day. Thank you, God. And this day we're going to do these wonderful things. And then at the end of the day, I won't go to sleep Greg, without asking this question, what did I learn today? I did not know yesterday. So my commitment to myself is that I will grow every day. My commitment to my team is working with me will help you to grow everyday. My commitment to my students and their parents is that you will grow here. We will nourish your mind and we will nurture your spirit.
Greg Muzzillo :Well Nido, I really appreciate our time together. I have one more question for you. You've clearly achieved a lot coming here from a foreign country with no money, without the ability to speak English, writing 10 words. I think it was 10 English words a day on note cards. Uh, that's harder than it sound by the way. I've tried that with Italian.
Dr. Nido Qubein:It's really hard. It's commitment and recommitment.
Greg Muzzillo :Anyhow, obviously building great businesses, uh, building great wealth for yourself and now building wealth and significance and success for a whole university. And everybody who's life that touches you've achieved so much. What big dreams do you now have for the rest of your life? If you will.
Dr. Nido Qubein:I have a lot of dreams. I dream that this university will continue to grow and influence the lives of millions of people for generations to come. I have a dream of touching the lives of others everywhere I go in with every word I utter, and hopefully it's a dream of renewing their faith and their America. I'm very worried about the way the country is and has become and where it might be headed. Uh, I have dreams about seeing my own grandchildren. I have five of them. They oldest is seven. I have dreams of seeing them grow up and be really good. I have dreams of me having energy and good health to continue my work at this university. And by the way, the community, I'm very, very, very engaged in this community. Uh, raising a lot of money, guiding a lot of things, you know, uh, through transformation, so on. And I'm involved in a number of major national organizations as well. So I have a dream that I can continue to contribute and, in a measurable and meaningful way. Mostly I have a dream, that God would be pleased with with me as a person, you know, God, gave us our morsels gave us life and created us in his own image. So God meant for us to be extraordinary people. And I've agreed that, when my day comes and my one way ends that all I want people to say is he was a humble and good servant. And, he did some good things. He touched a few lives along the way. And if I've done that, that has been worth the journey.
Greg Muzzillo :Well, you have already done that. And it's clear to me that you will continue to do that. I want to thank you very much for your generous time. I want to thank you very much for the wisdom that I have learned and just preparing to meet with you today. And I want to wish you many and mighty blessings as you continue your path, uh, and the great course of success and significance in the life you are living. Thank you Nido.
Dr. Nido Qubein:Let me thank you for all the good work you're doing in the lives of so many, the example of your own life and through your reaching out to help others. It takes people like you, to, continue the good work of this nation and, you know, through tentacles to reach the whole, every corner of this world. So thank you sir, for being the good father and, the good leader and, the good teacher that you are the good coach that you are. It's my pleasure being with you. I hope our paths will cross again. Soon.
:I look forward to it. Thanks again, Nido. Thank you.