“We are stronger together than we are apart!” – Brad Smith, CEO Intuit
Clearly, I am a small pebble in a vast ocean. Yes, I’ve been around the Intuit world for a very long time, but in the scheme of things, there are huge names out there that are building empires as we speak. So, how did I come to be in this unique embrace by this giant of a man? Because I asked him and he said yes.
Brad Smith is not just putting a smile on for the camera. He is as engaging and heartfelt as they come. So much so that one just wants to be coached by his words and follow his vision. Yes, he has that level of effect on the QuickBooks world.
Brad Smith is an amazing human being and reaches out to touch us all daily as his Facebook friends. How can I be Facebook friends with the CEO of the most influential accounting software on the planet? Because I asked him and he said yes. He also says:
“My dad worked for Nestle for 26 years and ended up being the mayor of our hometown. One of the lessons I learned from him was to never mistake kindness for weakness.”
There were even more embraces at the QB Connect conference in San Jose, CA. So many moments that just blew me away. I was able to hear about Jessica Alba and her partner Brian Lee’s vision and collaboration for The Honest Company. She is as gorgeous in person as she is on-screen, but what truly impressed me was her vision of having products that new mothers could trust with their babies. She talked about how, originally, Brian turned her idea down. But after having kids of his own, he realized that her vision and the audience that would follow that vision was worth the investment. Together, they work tirelessly at The Honest Company, Not only are they giants separately, but together, they are unstoppable.
We were all blown away by the amazing Robert Hervjavec. I always envisioned him as a man of steel when it came to his role as one of the masterminds of “Dragon’s Den” and “Shark Tank” on ABC. So, when he gets up there and tells stories of his 
childhood, not speaking English, not having anyone in his family that was in business that could mentor him and his tear-jerking stories about his dad….. well, I melted. And then I was able to get a picture of him. Again, engaging, full of personality and I felt like I could hang with him all day. His quotes about life and business were for the everyman: “The pain of how I was living was worse than the fear of the future”. This is similar to another famous quote from Joe Woodard from the Woodard group who puts on the QB Connect conference: “The dread of the “thing” is worse than the thing itself!”
We also heard from Brian Grazer, who co-founded Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard. They produced blockbuster movies, such as A Beautiful Mind. Splash, Apollo 13 and, one of my favorites, Frost/Nixon. What an amazing story of his interest for law, but after one year of law school, he turned his focus toward a job with Warner Brothers in the legal department. He decided that when he was asked to deliver packages to the celebrities, that he would insist that they’d be hand delivered so that he would be able to meet and get to know the stars. This antic turned into a lifelong pursuit of meeting with people from all interests and walks of life so he could study their world and, in turn, become more worldly. His autographed book, “A Curious Mind” is sitting on my desk as a must read.
And then, there was Oprah! Powerful, dynamic, inspiring and the whole place stood still in time. 4000 plus hung on every word and she had many sayings that we hear over and over, ones we should adopt as if they were the bible of business religion. Here are some of my favorite questions and observations that she posed to the audience:
“Everything that has happened to you is there to show you.”
“When in doubt, ask yourself, What is the next RIGHT move”.
“Building a great business is like building a great life.”
“Your work is your vehicle for your truest expression.”
Many of us are attending classes hosted by the Woodard Institute, the company that orchestrated QB Connect. We read, study and discuss steps on how to be intentional about our business. How to grow our business by defining strengths, vision, team and execution. Hearing these people of greatness and how they fought their way through adversity was not only an inspiration to the small business owner, but a model for how to push through the failures in order to achieve success. A lesson we must relearn every day, even by the giants in their industry!
