James LaughlinHigh-performance leadership and executive coach. Covering all aspects of life and career.

FORMER CEO of BLOCKBUSTER and SEVEN-11... Make sure you don't miss tomorrow's episode!

28 Feb 2024 · 1 min

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0:49

Brief excerpt of a YouTube video featuring Jim Keyes (former CEO of Blockbuster and 7-Eleven). In this chunk he reflects on major challenges he faced: substantial corporate debt (Blockbuster ~ $1 billion; 7-Eleven funded $4 billion at 17% interest), public criticism, and the emotional effects of leadership pressure. He emphasizes that fear underlies many negative reactions and that education/knowledge is the antidote to fear and a path to freedom.

Chapters

You were the CEO of Blockbuster and Seven Eleven. He's a guy that didn't buy Netflix for $50 million. Don't like opening the newspaper and seeing yourself blamed for something. We had a billion dollars of debt. I'm at Blockbuster, and I'm getting the heck beat out of me. They're gonna hurt me. They're gonna steal from me. They're gonna take away my rights, my freedoms. Almost all of those issues are rooted in fear. The more you know, the more you learn, the more free you can be. The ultimate antidote to fear. Seven Eleven went bankrupt shortly after I joined. They funded $4 billion of debt at 17% interest. Whoa. Head down. Woe is me. World's against me. I'm a victim. Man, this may be painful. There's got to be a lesson in here somewhere. Education is freedom.