How to Create and Maintain Strong, Values-Based Cultures in Business with Author, Speaker, Daughter of Sheraton Hotel Co-Founder & Widow of Frank Perdue, the Poultry Magnate Mitzi Perdue on Episode #0239 [ Part I ]

Mitzi Perdue [0:00]
I’m Mitzi Perdue, and my website is Mitziperdue.com. And I have another website that I’d love you to visit ourselves. It’s called winthisfight.org you’re listening to EA Interviews.

Intro [0:13]
EA interviews, Episode 239, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview.
Mario Fachini [0:17]
I Want to build a ginormous company, or help a lot of people. I know I have. And when I say that I don’t say it lightly because I have Mitzi Perdue here today. And her father founded Sheraton hotels and she was married to Frank Perdue from Perdue Chicken. She has an extensive wealth of knowledge and she definitely has a heart of gold. She started a charity and she’s going to be talking about all of this and more author, speaker, CEO, Mitzi Perdue, I’m going to bring her up right after we thank our sponsor.

Sponsor – Free Business Book Publishing Course [1:02]
Every business needs a book, including yours, visit freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that’s freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com.

Mario Fachini [1:17]
Here she is. Ladies and gentlemen, Mitzi Perdue. Mitzi, how are you feeling today?

Mitzi Perdue [1:23]
Stunned, shocked. humbled. Wow. Thank you.

Mario Fachini [1:28]
Yes.

Mitzi Perdue [1:30]
I mean, I’ve never seen anything like that before. But…

Mario Fachini [1:36]
So you like that?

Mitzi Perdue [1:38]
How about, well, it’s a little embarrassing to say how much I loved it. But I loved it. I mean, I’ll share something with you. I’m 79. And watching that makes me think, yeah, maybe it’s all worth it.

Mario Fachini [1:53]
It is that you have a heart of gold. And I know what you’re trying to do, and all the people you’re trying to help. So I really appreciate that. And don’t ever back down from anything you’re doing. Like I said, prior to this, if there’s anyone I can introduce you to. You’re doing the right thing and for the right reason. So it’s an honor and privilege for me to have you here today.

Mitzi Perdue [2:19]
I feel so honored and privileged. I don’t know what to do with myself, but we’ll soldier on.

Mario Fachini [2:26]
So I want to ask you about the uniqueness of your background. Your father started Sheraton hotels, you were married to Frank with Perdue Chicken. Tell me about that. Let’s start back when you were a young girl, what was it like just growing up in that type of family and environment where you have a standard of excellence, and you get into doors that most people don’t get into?

Mitzi Perdue [2:53]
Well, first of all, it was fabulous, because both father and mother were very big believers in family life. And my father used to put enormous amounts of effort into making sure that we children learned values, and that we learned what my mother used to call recipes for living. And just as an example of that, father, he was a captain of industry, he employed 20,000 people. But even so, he would spend every Sunday, there would be what we call family hour. And he would spend it in one way or another, like educating us, it might be something as simple as explaining stocks and bonds, or if he was interested in astronomy had told us his latest enthusiasm about that. We had something called a family band where there were five siblings, and mother and father would all play something, and this would happen every Sunday. So he put a huge amount of effort into what he called the next generation.

Mario Fachini [3:55]
I want to ask you about that, because you’re just so nonchalantly, he taught us something simple, like stocks and bonds and astronomy. I don’t think those are pretty simple subjects. But I see why it’s important to start at a young age. And I’m glad he did. But would you say that’s a pretty normal thing to learn?

Mitzi Perdue [4:19]
Of course, there’s a question of how deep you get into it. But he did want us to be as educated as possible. And one of the things that is perhaps more accessible to everybody is to tell stories about his parents, or his grandparents. And these were just so important because there’s research. There’s a woman named Robyn Fivush I totally admire from Emory University of Georgia, and we’re talking about the state of Georgia. She studies what makes a family high functioning and by high functioning, yeah, the family. The kids are mentally and physically healthy, they like each other, they do well. school, they aren’t in trouble with the law, they don’t do drugs. So what makes a family high functioning, and her research at the family narratives laboratory says, know your family stories, that there’s just a perfect correlation between how well you know your family stories, which is what gives you your identity. Because after all, we are the stories we tell ourselves. She encourages families to do things together, whether meals together or trips together. So I admired my parents no end for they didn’t know that they were doing exactly the right thing. But according to modern research, they were.

Mario Fachini [5:43]
I’m so happy to hear that. And I don’t what age are you talking about specifically, are you talking like 7, 8, 9, 10 are in your teens?

Mitzi Perdue [5:52]
From me, it began when I barely walked out. The instrument I played in the family band was a recorder. And you can play one or two notes and sort of keep up with the others. But another thing that he did that I just loved, he did tell the family stories. And I’d love to share one about how Sheraton got started.

Mario Fachini [6:13]
Please do.

Mitzi Perdue [6:15]
Thank you. Yes, as a little girl, I discovered that I could get parental attention by asking daddy stories. And so of course, I asked. I asked him all the questions about business that I could think of, because that was just a guaranteed way to get daddy to pay attention to me. Yeah, with five siblings. Everybody has their way of doing it. And mine was asking questions so daddy, what made you a success? And it was really clear to me that he was a success. Because yeah, I would always stay at presidential suites when we traveled to the 400 hotels. So if it’s a question that would make sense for a little girl to wonder. And one of the stories he told me was that whenever ever hit take over a new hotel. And he started Sheraton in the 1930s. So yeah, those really tough economic times. And a hotel would usually come up for sale, if it was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. So the day he took possession of a hotel, he invited all the hotel workers next to 400 of them, that could be 800 of them. Because hotels have lots of employees you don’t see any way hidden by all of them into the hotel ballroom. And he knew ahead of time that those people were a really demoralized bunch of people. Because they’re thinking, if I get fired, it’s the breadline, because at the height of the depression, it’s hard for us to imagine, but 25% unemployment. Okay, so he knew that he’s facing, let’s say, 400 people, every one of them who’s probably just as uncomfortable and demoralized as could be. And he knew that. So the first thing he does when he’s standing up in front of his new employees is say, I want every one of you to keep your job. And the reason for that, it’s because you know your job better than anybody else in the world. And my job is to give you the resources and the encouragement to show the world just how good you are. And you’re going to see, in just a few months, this is going to be the most popular, the best served, the most financially sound Hotel in the city. And together, we’re going to be an example that even though times are tough, that things can turn around. It can imagine how an employee must feel with his welcome to his new job with or the new owner.

Mario Fachini [8:44]
Pretty darn good about themselves, I would imagine.

Mitzi Perdue [8:47]
But that’s not the end of his story. He told me, and we’re now getting to a part that’s more important than the words, although I think the words are certainly important. He said, yeah, that’s a good start to let everybody be assured that they’re going to keep their job. But the next part was the following day, the employees would see just hordes of plumbers and decorators. And oh, I didn’t know mechanics, whatever it takes to refurbish a hotel. But those people who were upgrading the hotel refurbishing that they didn’t go to the areas that the paying public would see now, they’re going exactly to the areas where the employees spend most of their time like the lockers, the showers, the employee dining rooms. So I asked him, why wouldn’t you be spending the first money in the places where you’re getting money back from the paying public? And he said words that really resonated with me to this day. He said people have a compulsion to live up to or down to your expectations and he wanted to show them that he really believed in them and how important they work.

Mario Fachini [10:05]
That’s a great Expert Authority Insight. Do you feel he carried that through with the family life as well as the employees?

Mitzi Perdue [10:14]
Yeah, I think in everything I ever saw him do. The idea that you act and show and demonstrate that you believe in people.

Mario Fachini [10:26]
That sounds fantastic.

Mitzi Perdue [10:29]
And there’s even a little bit more to that story. If you’ve got the patience for it.

Mario Fachini [10:32]
That’s not the patients, we got the time and I want to bring out the best for the expert authority world. I’m enjoying listening to myself, but I’m just thinking about that. Because for me, there’s been so many situations where it’s like, I’m trying to do the best. And this person here, that person here, whether it’s school, family, friends, relatives, when I was starting my business, people are just everyone’s got their own thoughts and everything. And it’s like, Wow, it would sure be nice to have it. Here’s the right way to do it unequivocally because I was taught, and I learned about stocks and bonds in my 12, 13, 14. Right after I started my first company, I would have loved to learn sooner, but it was, you do this, you see something working, but then everyone casts all this doubt, then it’s like, I don’t know, it is this flip flop for a while. And I’m glad you’re sharing this because while it may not be the norm, it should be the norm.

Mitzi Perdue [11:35]
Well, I think believing in people is a fantastic, untapped resource, because like, did you ever have a teacher say, I believe in you, and it just turned things around?

Mario Fachini [11:45]
Yes, some of them?

Mitzi Perdue [11:47]
Well, I think father’s somehow tapped into that. But that isn’t even the end of the story. Because, I was asking him, how can you just tell everybody that they could keep their job? You don’t want to make them earn it in some way? Why don’t you just give it away for free? And his answer was, that in his world, there were three ways of getting people to do what you want. And I’m sure there are billions of others in his world, and the first one is intimidation. He said I could have stood up there in front of everybody and said, shape up or you’re fired. He said, you can get people to do what you want with intimidation. But how about it short term and people do it grudgingly? And yet, basically, it’s a rotten way. Possibility number two, bribery. He said, I could have stood up there in front of them and said, do a super job. And there’s a race in it for you to do a super job, and there’s a bonus in it for you. He said the problem with bribery. Again, it’s just not a good way of getting people to do what you want. Because…

Mario Fachini [12:59]
The motivation may be misplaced.

Mitzi Perdue [13:02]
Yeah, it’s too transactional, they’re going to work on well, I guess you said it better than that I could the motivation gets misplaced. You work for the bribe rather than for something bigger. So what’s left if bribery and intimidation are what he recommended?

Mario Fachini [13:18]
A bigger cause?

Mitzi Perdue [13:20]
Yes, his term for it was inspiration. And yet, we’re right back to people living up to her down to your expectations. But if you inspire them, that they’re part of a team, that they’re building something that’s going to be valuable not just to themselves, but to their team, to the hotel, and eventually to the whole city. Then and the way he put it was the maid isn’t making beds. And the bartender isn’t just serving drinks. Now, they’re there together, building something wonderful and exciting. And you want to come to work because your work is meaningful. And oh, and which brings me to another phrase that I copied from him. And maybe it’s the most important thing that I can share with anybody. A leader’s job is to give people a better vision of themselves. Cool?

Mario Fachini [14:18]
I like it. Because most people don’t have that vision. I would say most people don’t have that vision for themselves and even the people who do, it’s a constant battle to go, you know, to stay in that vision because frankly, I could be wrong but it feels like the world is just out to just bash you down every chance you get even if you are winning.

Mitzi Perdue [14:41]
Okay, I couldn’t agree more. And yet, what I’ve just been describing from my father we know it worked. Because he started with no employees. He ended with 20,000 and he was famous for people staying with him for life and being motivated and willing to go the extra mile. So his approach of showing people that they were important to him and valuing them, it worked.

Mario Fachini [15:07]
It absolutely did.

Mitzi Perdue [15:11]
And he had a number of things that he taught me that might be useful. Like I mentioned , I often guess how he did it. And he had a variety of answers, because he wasn’t always just going to repeat the same story. But one of them was, what he was like, as a negotiator. And I get the impression, I’ve read books in negotiation, that you’ve really tried to bargain as hard as you can. But that wasn’t his approach. His business approach was, be so fair, that the other side feels good at the end of the negotiation. And that means seeing the other side. And his view was always leave something on the table, don’t go for the last penny. And I said, why not. And he said, the people who drive the hardest bargains, the people, well, his term for it was the sharks, they might make the most money on a particular deal. And in quite a few of his deals, he left a lot of money on the table. But he said the payoff for his approach was one of the things that made Sheraton Crowe was if a hotel, you know, a nice, important one came on the market. And typically it would come on the market because maybe the founder died, or the widow wants to sell it, you know, in one way or another. There’s probably somebody who’s not the original owner, who’s on the other side of the negotiation. And since he had a reputation, but she carefully nurtured of being somebody who was fair, he said, the big payoff for this is to always be offered the best deals first. Because if you’re a lawyer, and you’re representing, I’m being hypothetical, so I’ll get out. I mean, this is not a real case. But it’s a plausible case. An 80 year old woman, suddenly she’s inherited a hotel. Her kids don’t want anything to do with it. Her lawyer advises her to sell. And she says, okay, take care of it. And the lawyer hunts around and thinks, where am I going to get the best deal? Sheraton.

Mario Fachini [17:29]
I like that approach. Because, you know, you’re given me a reframe now, because a lot of what I’ve learned in the negotiation, and just heard is the typical, you want to be advantageous, and maybe not cutthroat, but just, you want in your favor. But if you’re tipping the scales, whether it’s 20%, or 40%, if that’s the difference from a shark or not. The net result, like you’re saying, is the other person may feel like they got, not the best deal, if you will.

Mitzi Perdue [18:03]
Yeah, so your reputation as a negotiator, since he was in it, for his entire life, it was really, really important to him to have a reputation of being he termed it fair. And he also said, leave things on the table, don’t go for the last penny. That, yeah, that’s a really long term strategy, short term, you’re not making the most. Long term, he got the best offers first.

Mario Fachini [18:31]
But if you’re thinking short term to begin with, I mean, you might kill it this year. But then you have to redo it next year, and the next year at some point. And I would say, in my experience, within about six to nine months of even if you were starting at ground zero, right now, today, in six to nine months, you have a pretty good foothold, no matter what the industry is, after a year, year and a half or two, you can be pretty well known in it. And after that, it’s like now, the reputation. I mean, it’s always important from day one, but you know, you have to build it up with your new whatever. But after that, I have clients that I’ve had over 10, 11 years. And I appreciate you sharing this, because I’ve always done my best to be fair as well. And you do want to make sure there’s enough profit leftover. But at the same point, I’ve always told everyone, I’m like, I’m not going anywhere. I’m always thinking five years, 5, 10 years down the road.

Mitzi Perdue [19:30]
And I predict great success for you because it’s that kind of long term thinking that does work.

Mario Fachini [19:37]
Well, I appreciate that. And I’ll definitely take it because my main motivation is, the more I can do and the more reach I have, the more people I can help with it. So thank you for sharing that with us. Because I think so many people are focused on the short game. They’re not thinking 2, 3, 5 years down the line. We just need to get by today. And I get it. I’ve been there. But at the same point, you’re just basically on a roller, not even a roller coaster. It’s a roller wheeler hamster.

Mitzi Perdue [20:07]
Hamster wheel.

Mario Fachini [20:08]
Yeah, whatever you call it.

Mitzi Perdue [20:11]
I don’t want to imply that he was into giving away the store. I mean…

Mario Fachini [20:14]
No, no I didn’t get that one bit.

Mitzi Perdue [20:16]
Good, good. Good, because he was a shrewd, smart businessman. But he went from no hotels to 400.

Mario Fachini [20:23]
Yeah, but it sounds like he could have gotten the other 10 or 20, or 30%, better on the deal. He may have said, hey, this is good, and negotiated it to what’s fair and equitable. And for both parties. But clearly it worked. I mean, there’s no refuting it. And it’s why I love even reading books. And this is just a real treat and surreal for me, because I love going back 100, 150 years, going, what were they doing back then before all this fancy stuff came out? And it comes back to just, you’re treating people good, and you take care of them and you actually serve them and over deliver.

Mitzi Perdue [21:02]
Well, that makes me think of Frank Perdue, can we talk about my late husband?

Mario Fachini [21:06]
Can talk about whatever you want. And I’m excited to talk about Frank and also what you’re doing with all of this and your charity, win this fight.

Mitzi Perdue [21:15]
Okay, let’s go with Frank. Because you said a word that just resonated with me,

Mario Fachini [21:21]
And what’s that word?

Mitzi Perdue [21:23]
Serving.

Mario Fachini [21:24]
Serving. Okay.

Mitzi Perdue [21:26]
Because Frank, I mean, I’m going to give an example of where he literally served the people who work with him. Frank was, as far as, of course, I’ve got a somewhat narrow view on this. But he seemed to have a remarkable attitude, like my father’s work. I mean, all the things that I quoted from my father, I saw traces of that kind of thing in my late husband. But I’ll give you one thing that happened right after we married, we married in 1988. And we had a very short courtship. When we married, we knew each other in person, six weeks and three days. But that’s it, we wish I lived in California, he was in Maryland, and would talk on the phone every night for an hour or two for six months. So I will talk a lot about each other, even though our time in person was limited.

Mario Fachini [22:21]
I would imagine you could even learn more about someone because you’re going in depth, then you can actually have a conversation. Because, I know people that meet in person, they go on dates and everything. But if it’s only once a week, or once every few weeks for a couple of hours here and there. Then all the distractions of everything else. It’s like I think in some ways you could learn about someone better by talking on the phone or conversing.

Mitzi Perdue [22:47]
Goodbye, love talking about romance. So let’s quickly get into that and then get back to business. Yeah, I recommend that because we made a promise to each other, which we actually kept, which would tell the good, the bad and the ugly. And because we didn’t want to make a mistake. And when we actually got married, there was no adjustment period, because I really knew. I mean, he had been this honest, I think a person can be with me about his good points and his bad points. And I certainly tried to be the same with him. And it was a miracle. We just meshed. We had 17 years of joy, because we actually didn’t know each other really well by the time we married. But I wanted to share this story about Frank literally surfing when we just got back from our honeymoon. And it was I guess, in late August of 1988. We’re walking on a beach in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and it’s really romantic. The beach is pretty much deserted. And now we’re carrying our sandals and surf crashing. And suddenly I look up at Frank and I say, Franklin, I think we should entertain every single person who works for the company. As you can imagine, that took him aback. And his answer was no, there’s 16,000 people who work for the company, this being 1988, yes, way too many. And I should have pretended that I didn’t quite process that he was saying no. And I said, no, I think we should have them 100 at a time. And he said no, that’s way too many. And I said, let’s start in six weeks. I bet we could put this together by the end of September. And you say no, that’s way too soon. And since I grew up in the hospitality industry, I think hospitality sells everything. I wanted to do this and initially, you know, he was sort of acting as if, who did I marry but what galaxy did she set down from? But as we kept talking, which we did, and we went round and round about this wacko idea of Mrs I could tell that he was starting to think maybe there’s something to it. And after we’ve talked, I don’t know, maybe half an hour. He said, you know what, I like it. And six weeks later, we did begin entertaining people 100 of the time, often three times a month for the next 17 years. And what made him change his mind is like my father, he wanted people to feel important. And you know, what better way to make people feel important, whether you’re a trucker, veterinarian, administrative assistant, anybody, everyone, then to come to the owners house and be entertained for dinner. And, to my mind, it was spectacularly successful, because people would tell me that it was one of the most meaningful events in their lives, to be entertained by Frank in his home. But now the serving part. We had our living room set up with a couple of end to end long buffet tables. And Frank Perdue would stand behind with the waiters. And Frank Perdue would wait on his employees. I mean, how many heads of Fortune 500 size companies would invite people into their home and be waiting for them? Cool.

Mario Fachini [26:26]
Probably not a ton and even fewer for the second part. And you did that for 17 years?

Mitzi Perdue [26:34]
We did. Well, actually a little less than 17 years.

Mario Fachini [26:37]
Okay.

Mitzi Perdue [26:38]
Well, because by the time he was 85, there were health issues, and we couldn’t, but up until like, 83 or so yeah. And he loved it. Because he is really well, there’s a quote that expresses Frank’s feelings, and it comes from a psychologist from 120 years ago. The guy’s name was William James, I believe he was a Harvard Psychology professor. Don’t hold me to that, but I think so. But I do remember the quote very clearly, which is the deepest principle of human nature, is the craving for appreciation. And this was a way for Fred Perdue to show appreciation. And he was just masterful at it, because he had talked with every single person there. And if you were talking with you, you just felt enveloped by his total focus. I mean, you were the only person in the room for that moment, you were the most important person in the world to him at that moment. And I made it my business to notice what I’m about to describe. In almost any situation that I ever saw Frank Perdue, it would be 10% him talking, usually asking you questions, and 90% listening. So he made you feel really important. And then at the end of the evening, he had to stand up in front of 100 or so. You know, whatever branch of the company, maybe it’s the auditors maybe, maybe it’s the accountants or I don’t know the IT people. And he’d give them a state of how the company was doing. Yeah, what was going wonderfully? What was worrisome? Yeah, what would keep you up late at night? What would make you think, ah, it’s really going great. But he just told them honestly, as if he was addressing the board of directors. And then he takes questions. And they’re always loads and loads. And then at the very end was the part that for me was most meaningful. Frank would always say, but it would be in different words, but it would, it always boils down to this. I know the company wouldn’t be what it is today. without you. Thank you.

Mario Fachini [28:58]
So he really had that heart for people and really wanted to not just care for them and make sure they have a good work environment. But I mean, you were bringing them to your home.

Mitzi Perdue [29:09]
Absolutely. And I’ve been to funerals for the next of kin. I mean, this happened several times, where the next of kin would tell me that one of the most meaningful and important and memorable events of the deceased’s life was that he got to have dinner at the big boss’s home.

Mario Fachini [29:28]
Let me ask you, what was the most memorable party from all of those that you remember?

Mitzi Perdue [29:34]
Well, it’s memorable, almost in a humorous way. But okay, we all know that I grew up in the hospitality industry and that in my family, you win points for being warm and welcoming and making people feel good. That’s, yeah, that’s part of the family culture. Well, one day there was a party. And in this case, it was for the sanitation workers. That is in other words, the garbage collectors, the people who cleaned up so this was the sanitation workers were invited over for dinner. And I thought everything was going swimmingly. People were talking and they were, you know, there were adult beverages and people. So my purpose for them is to have fun, it’s not to be a stressful evening. But I noticed that there was a couple sort of off to the side, you know, like in a corner of the living room, away from her where everybody was sort of boisterously having fun. And it sort of looked, they weren’t exactly quarreling, but they were sure as heck discussing something. Well, as a hostess my spidey senses, yes something’s not right. What can I do about it?

Mario Fachini [30:46]
Did you ask them if you wanted to keep score?

Mitzi Perdue [30:50]
How so?

Mario Fachini [30:51]
Did you ask them if they would like you to keep score?

Mitzi Perdue [30:54]
Oh, that would have been great. But here’s what I did do. I asked as gently as I could. Yeah, kind of what was going on in here was what was coming on. They’re going on. This couple, one of them worked for the sanitation department of Perdue. And the guy worked for Salzburg, which is where the plant was or where our home was. Salisbury, Maryland. sanitation department. Yeah, so both members of the couple were in sanitation. But what was going wrong was the guy who worked for the city. He was unhappy, because he said, If I try to tell my colleagues that I had dinner at Frank Perdue’s house, never ever ever believe me. So I thought, oh, there’s a solution to that. And so I had a Polaroid camera. This being probably, I don’t know, 25 years ago. But for those who don’t remember Polaroids, these are cameras that will instantly develop where in 60 seconds, develop a picture and print it out. So I had a Polaroid camera nearby. And I walked over to Frank and he was surrounded by a whole group of people asking him questions. And I said, Frank, this is important. Leave them for the moment, and come over. And I explained the situation to him. Well, he posed with his arm around Russell. And I’m trying to show it. Yeah. He posts with his arm around Russell. And I took a picture. And then there’s a picture of Russell, the sanitation guy, and Frank Perdue with his arm around him. And then Frank autographs it. It was so great to have you over for dinner last night, Frank.

Mario Fachini [32:46]
So cool. I want to ask if you still have it. But a Polaroid would only be one shot? Do you have a copier scan somewhere?

Mitzi Perdue [32:59]
I wish I had me because that is one of my favorite moments. Because as you can guess, everybody was for everybody, that the couple just looked as happy as people could be. Because now nobody could make fun of him that he was lying. Now, here’s the proof.

Mario Fachini [33:15]
That is special. And not just because you were able to capture it, because it was real. I mean, he would have known, but the fact that he still wanted to do it because he could very easily, you know, I’m talking to someone you know, we’re having a party, this and that. But he recognized it for what it was.

Mitzi Perdue [33:34]
Frank totally got how important that was. I mean, because Frank has a lot of empathy. And I hope I’ve got some, and that situation is just so clear cut. Here’s the problem, and we can fix it.

Mario Fachini [33:45]
It’s one of the reasons I’ve always liked photography and videography, because one of my original company slogans was, we can’t change the past or predict the future. But we can capture the moment.

Mitzi Perdue [34:02]
Oh, wow. I love that. And by the way, photography is almost my favorite hobby and if not that it’s videography.

Mario Fachini [34:10]
Because I tell people all the time, you know, no matter what the holiday, what the occasion, you know, hey, I’m going on the trip. Awesome. Hope you have a fun time, safe travels, take lots of pictures and videos.

Mitzi Perdue [34:25]
I’m 79 and those photographs that I’ve collected from my life didn’t mean so much to me like my kids when they were little or happy times with Brad camp.

Mario Fachini [34:34]
You can’t buy those.

Mitzi Perdue [34:37]
Life is about memories and keeping them.

Mario Fachini [34:42]
Well I appreciate you for sharing that that is special. And I gotta be honest, I wish he was still around. It would sound like a lot of fun. The parties have done everything.

Mitzi Perdue [34:54]
But you know something else that he was. I don’t want to run out of time though. Could be time for another story. Or I can tell it next time.

Mario Fachini [35:03]
I have never done this live, but we got plenty of time.

Mitzi Perdue [35:10]
All right.

Mario Fachini [35:10]
I don’t think anyone even sees me look at the thing. We’re fine. We’re, yeah, we’re fine. Go please.

Mitzi Perdue [35:16]
Okay, but just other things that Frank would do. And what I’m going to describe now, it’s a question of do as I say, not as I do, because I’m going to describe something that I can’t do. But I watched him do this all the time. And it’s remembering names. And by the way, his son, Jim Perdue has the same gift. But one of the joys of my life was that I got to see Frank in action, he’d often allow me to accompany him when we would have planned visits. And I’m told that in some companies, it would be just almost unheard of, for the big boss to walk along like the assembly line. And talk with workers that generally that might be more typical. I mean, of course, there are exceptions to this. But it would be kind of more typical for a group, I don’t know, the executives, the C suite people to walk through the plant floor and not talk with anybody, but not Frank, the most amazing thing to me is we could be in a plant where there are 800 people, employees, or maybe even 1200. And the number of people he knew by name was just staggering. And he had introduced me to them, and it said, you know, I’d like you to meet Delsey. Or I’d like you to meet Antonio. Antonio’s son just got into a great college, or Delsey’s been with us for 13 years and never had a sick day. You’d not just know the names, but hit note things about them. And how does it feel? Oh, I have to add one other point to this, which is…

Mario Fachini [36:52]
Go for it.

Mitzi Perdue [36:53]
Well when we were walking through the plants, I mean, almost brought tears to my eyes, I’m so impressed by this. But Frank would never give the impression that I’m the big boss, the other person who’s known throughout the world, a fortune 500 size company. Never, never, never, never, never, not even once because what his real attitude was, we’re all part of the team. And I respect your work. And together, we’re producing something fabulous. But it wasn’t that he was better, it was that they were teammates. And so it was just the most natural thing in the world for him to talk with the people in the line. And then something else that he did that I just treasure. He would, you know, he could have eaten at the fanciest restaurants in the world continuously. But I’d say almost more often than not he’d eat in the or we would eat in the cafeterias, the plants, and Frank would simply invite people in either sit down next to there’s a table, it’s nearly full and hit just say is there room for one more? And just talk with people. And it asked how their job was going where they’ve been treated right? What problems are they up against? Or maybe the top sports but he was so I would describe him as an egalitarian. There was just nothing interesting about him.

Mario Fachini [38:20]
Super down to earth. It sounds like.

Mitzi Perdue [38:22]
Yeah.

Mario Fachini [38:25]
When he was touring the plants, would he always stick to the schedule? Or would when he got caught up talking to someone? Would he just let it go?

Mitzi Perdue [38:36]
Let it go. Frank had a different relationship with time from anybody I’ve ever known. Because when there was an appointment, he would be there for the second. So he was terribly conscious of time, in many cases, but going through a platinum if somebody had something to say, here, just stay and listen.

Mario Fachini [38:58]
That’s fantastic.

Mitzi Perdue [38:59]
That’s why I was working in a plant.

Mario Fachini [39:01]
Oh, you dad, tell me about that.

Mitzi Perdue [39:03]
Well, one day, I was driving from Norfolk, Virginia, to Salisbury, Maryland. And they are acting that plant halfway between the two cities that I just described. I was hungry. And it’d be a couple of hours more before I’d be home. So I stopped off at the plant and ate in the cafeteria. Yeah, which I love doing because I mean plants. They can be kind of fun, and you meet really interesting people. But in this case, I was sitting beside an African American woman. And she was just really curious about my life and what life with Frank was like, and I looked her up, spilling the beans. But then I thought that she’s asked me all these personal questions. Turnabout is fair play, and I wanted to know about her life. I wanted them to know everything that I could find out because you don’t know this about me. But I’m a writer, I spent most of my life reading newspaper columns. So here I am talking with her and she’s describing her job. And her job is ship in the plap, it’s what I would have thought I would have predicted would be like a really boring job. It’s when there are chickens that are going to be cut up so that you get like drumsticks and breasts and so forth. You put them in shackles. And what that means is, they’re these. good at describing it, but you hang the chickens in these sort of, like, clips. And I was thinking about who I knew that she had been there for, like 10 or 12 years. And I wanted to find out if that job was boring. And I didn’t use those words, because that’s not a polite question to ask. But would you have the same curiosity? What’s it like?

Mario Fachini [41:00]
I hope you’d be interested to know.

Mitzi Perdue [41:02]
Yeah. And trust me, I didn’t say it was boring, but I sort of indirectly wanted to find out what it was like. And she said, I can’t describe it. I just can’t. But if you’d come to work with me for a day, then you’ll understand. And I said, Well, if you can arrange it, I’ll do it. And so the next week, she had talked with your supervisor, would talk to the plant manager, and probably got all the way up to Frank, I don’t know. But a week later, there I am, Mrs. Frank Perdue, putting on your the white smock and the hairnet and the bump cap in case you bump into something. And something else you have to do if you work in a plant, you have to take off all your jewelry and all your earrings, because you don’t want them to fall into food. So anyway, there I am. And I’m standing beside her trying to hang chickens. And I really suck at it. I couldn’t do it. I mean, I didn’t have the coordination. But I did discover what it was like, because I did spend eight hours there. And what I discovered was that actually, it wasn’t a bit boring. Well, first of all, because I was trying to do something that I never did get it right. And everybody was laughing at me. But that’s okay, because so what, but what I’ve learned is, here’s what we talked about. We talked about, let’s see what various movie stars we’re up to. We talked about television shows. We talked about what the grandchild was doing, it was just sort of endless. I’m not gonna say party. But the gossip session doesn’t sound quite right. But every moment, there was just talk, talk talk that was really interesting. So, I asked my new friend if this seems like a really, really compatible group. And she said, they put an enormous amount of effort into having people in groups who will like each other, will have sort of the same attitudes. And that’s one of the big efforts that you have in a plan to have people who are congenial working together. And I loved it. And I also joke a lot because it’s, I couldn’t get it right. And yeah, my chicken has gone by and somebody else has to hang it for me, which they did with no trouble at all. And finally, one guy, I couldn’t get one foot using both hands. And a guy I was standing beside was eventually sort of putting his chickens and my chickens. Yep. Just with incredible skills as if he was tossing them in like a basketball almost. And so I ended up with a lot of appreciation for the skill that these jobs have.

Mario Fachini [44:01]
Well, I can imagine because the, you know, the belts are going by I’m sure at a certain speed. And from a business standpoint, you don’t want it to be super slow. You want it to be productive, inefficient, but at the same time, it’s got to be enough where people can catch it. So I can imagine one.

Mitzi Perdue [44:21]
I heard from one person later that I didn’t need to feel bad that I was just absolutely flunking because he said they all went through it. It’s sort of like if I asked you to type on paper, and you’d never used a typewriter before, or a keyboard, it would take you a long time. But then once you’ve done it 500 times, it becomes really quite easy.

Mario Fachini [44:41]
Is that experience?

Mitzi Perdue [44:42]
Yeah, I mean, it’s just learned.

Mario Fachini [44:46]
It’s interesting you bring up typing because English is probably one of the biggest things I’ve overcome because I failed English seven times. So writing my first…

Mitzi Perdue [44:56]
I never guess.

Mario Fachini [44:57]
Well, thank you. My First Book was a real mountain to climb. And then the second one was easier. Third, fourth, fifth and it’s been a lot of fun doesn’t hurt that I’ve been helping people publish business books for the last nearly decade. But I, when you were saying that I was like, yeah, I’ve done real bad at a lot of stuff before too. But if you believe in it, even launching the show, I had no clue what I was doing. On the audio side, the video side is beyond confident in those of the saving grace. But I wanted to ask you about that, because I can’t imagine you being bad at it. Do you think it strictly was just because you’d only done it a few hours?

Mitzi Perdue [45:40]
I don’t.

Mario Fachini [45:41]
I mean, do you think three or five days later a week later, you would have had the flow of it down more?

Mitzi Perdue [45:46]
Yeah, I think I would have but then I’m dyslexic, and I reverse B’s and DS. And so I was a little bit of a disadvantage anyway. But somewhat…

Mario Fachini [45:57]
You went for it, though. You have no need to. But the fact that you had that insatiable curiosity to find out.

Mitzi Perdue [46:08]
At the end of it, I made friends, I liked every one of them. And I guess when you’re laughing, and I hope what I’m about to say about myself is true. I don’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t bother me a bit not to be and yet the laughing was good natured. So I thought it was bonding.

Mario Fachini [46:28]
I agree. So I have one more question regarding this. And then we’re gonna go to the wheel of whatever. And I want to ask you, the people you made friends with? Were they at your house before or after this? Because I’m sure they would have come to one of the party. Okay, after?

Mitzi Perdue [46:50]
Yeah, it would have been after because this was fairly early on.

Mario Fachini [46:53]
Okay. So how did that go? Were you guys talking about it? Was it the whole group when they were there? Because you’re saying groups of 100? Was it the core group that you had worked with?

Mitzi Perdue [47:03]
No, it would have been 100. And I would probably say something. I’m so happy to see you again. Remember that day. But then as hostess, I’m supposed to pay attention to everybody. I can’t just go off and huddle with…

Mario Fachini [47:16]
Okay.

Mitzi Perdue [47:17]
My new best friends. But it was an odd experience. Because from being somebody yeah, we’re back in the factory, again, from being somebody hopelessly incompetent. Not. I mean, I was worth exactly what I was being paid, which is nothing. But then at the end of the eight hours, everybody wants to have a photograph taken with me. And I bet, actually, the whole plant, so I bet that there were two people. And so suddenly, you know, I get to be really important after being at the absolute bottom. It was a fun day.

Mario Fachini [47:51]
Turn that around. How many, that must have been a lot of Polaroids?

Mitzi Perdue [47:56]
Well, I guess I don’t know why they all had cameras. Maybe they knew I was coming. I don’t know. I never examined that.

Mario Fachini [48:03]
But have you ever seen the show undercover Millionaire? I’m an Undercover Boss.

Mitzi Perdue [48:09]
I’m deeply aware of it. And I’ve seen segments from it. But this wasn’t undercover. They knew.

Mario Fachini [48:15]
Oh yeah. It just reminds me a little bit of that, because I knew you did it. And you would flat out tell everyone and it came from your friend you met in the cafeteria. And that’s I think that would be interesting, too. I’ll do it. If you can set it up. I remember you saying that. And she has to ask her supervisor to do this. And I can imagine you and Frank having dinner just oh, yeah, by the way, you’re gonna be starting Monday or however that would have panned out. That’d be interesting.

Mitzi Perdue [48:45]
Absolutely loved it. I mean, because as I mentioned, he’s an egalitarian, no one person is more important than another person. And I think my impression was that he was deeply proud of me. I mean, I think I want a million quotes with my dear husband that I want it to.

Mario Fachini [49:01]
I can imagine. So here’s what we’re gonna do. Because of the expert authority world, we’re doing a two parter here, and I’m excited about this. I’m gonna do the wheel of whatever. And Mitzi I’m also telling you, because normally I do the wheel of whatever, we do a sponsorship and then we come back for the imperfect action round. And I’ve been debating should I ask you those now? No, I’m gonna save it for the end of the second half. So I’m gonna do the wheel of whatever and we’re gonna come back for the second half. And then we’ll finish the show normally. So here it is. So I was laughing earlier when you were talking about being on the hamster wheel because I’ll give you one hint what this thing is.

Mitzi Perdue [49:47]
Does it begin with h, and the next word is w. It is more like some kind of photography thing.

Mario Fachini [49:55]
No, it’s real. It’s in my hand. I just spun it.

Mitzi Perdue [49:58]
Okay, what is it?

Mario Fachini [50:00]
It’s a hamster wheel.

Mitzi Perdue [50:01]
Oh, it really is literally a hamster wheel.

Mario Fachini [50:03]
All right, it well, for Expert Authority World, it’s the wheel of whatever. Okay that I painted yellow and black. So what was your question? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Treasure Island, whoo. You’re on Treasure Island, you lose everything you have to start over again. You have $1,000, what would you do in the next 30 days to get it all back?

Mitzi Perdue [50:33]
I study. Oh, and let’s see, quoting my late father, he used to say money that you spend on education or tools is always wisely spent assuming use of the tools. So I’m on Treasure Island, I’ve got 1000 bucks and I can buy stuff. I mean, I think the first thing I would do would get some kind of iPad and get an internet connection and then I’d take courses right and left.

Mario Fachini [51:00]
Okay, so you’re saying education is the highest resource.

Mitzi Perdue [51:05]
Education coupled with tools because my tool is the iPad. And the education is the courses that I could take on.

Mario Fachini [51:12]
Okay. And I’m going to reiterate this because I don’t even think it made sense to me. And I don’t know why I called it Treasure Island. Because if you were stranded on an island, it sure as heck wouldn’t be treasure. You’re on an island, you get off the island, you have $1,000 to turn everything around.

Mitzi Perdue [51:30]
So I’ve got to give a different answer.

Mario Fachini [51:32]
No, no, no, you don’t need to. But when you said I’m on Treasure Island with $1,000. I’m like, Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s a stupid name. And there’s nothing to buy. So that’s on me. But that’s the whole point of this. This is a fun little area, but you’re saying education is the greatest resource?

Mitzi Perdue [51:48]
I do. I do. Yeah.

Mario Fachini [51:50]
Okay. Excellent. Well, I like it. I mean, I’m not disagreeing. But thank you.

Mitzi Perdue [51:57]
Can I turn it around? And is it illegal to ask you what you do?

Mario Fachini [52:01]
Holy smokes, no one’s ever done this. I’m still recording, still live streaming?

Mitzi Perdue [52:07]
Bad Mitzi.

Mario Fachini [52:09]
You can turn it around, we’ll throw an audible So here I’ll spin it again. What would be okay, tell me when to stop?

Mitzi Perdue [52:15]
Stop at Treasure Island.

Mario Fachini [52:18]
Is that the yellow or black one?

Mitzi Perdue [52:20]
Let’s go with black.

Mario Fachini [52:22]
Okay. Oh, it matches my hair. So what would I do?

Mitzi Perdue [52:27]
Yeah.

Mario Fachini [52:30]
1000. It’s so much easier to spend that thing and just ask.

Mitzi Perdue [52:37]
Well, you copy me.

Mario Fachini [52:38]
I appreciate this.

Mitzi Perdue [52:39]
Right?

Mario Fachini [52:41]
I would, I would think of all the people I’ve helped. And people I know are influencers and see what would be the need. We didn’t put a point in time in this. So this could be in the past, in the future, I would find a need, help people with it. And reach out to all the people I already know that I’ve done stuff with that I know could help expedite it. Because you could spend five or 10 years going from zero to where you’re at. But I think all the relational capital would expedite it tremendously. The 1000 would be towards if I could get internet and even without internet, if I could get my phone. It’s what I started with. I mean, all you need is the right people, the right hearts in the right connections, the rest just makes it you know, we’ll say if this will speed it up three to five years that might speed it up a couple of months.It’s just a convenience factor. But Sheraton hotels didn’t have internet, they clearly were successful.

Mitzi Perdue [53:59]
I mean, the title of his book was How $1,000 became 400 million

Mario Fachini [54:05]
That’s a great title. I mean, when I started off, I had barely anything, there’s many times like overdrafted stuff, just to get by another 30 days, you know, to that point with the training. And I remember when I took $20 over a decade ago and turned it into 20,000. So yeah, I believe in that education, for sure. But also the relationships. I could rebuild all of this in probably six months. What’s taken me the last two to three years.

Mitzi Perdue [54:37]
And that reminds me of something that Frank used to say, he is to quote the great Carnegie what was it’s not Dale? Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie used to say, Take away my pledge and leave the people and I could come back better than ever before. Take away my people and leave them plants and pretty soon grass will grow in the plant floors. Yeah. So Frank would have loved your answer. Well, I love it. Can we erase the tape? I want to take your answer because it’s a better one.

Mario Fachini [55:17]
Yeah, I don’t know if it’s better. I literally I’ve never asked anyone that. And normally I say who is someone famous? You’d like to do business with this and that? And I’m like, what do I ask you? Because you are someone famous. And you know, these people. And I’m like, she’s probably been working with them. 20 years. That’s not even a stretch. That’s like normal everyday for you. I’m like, Oh, I got this one.

Mitzi Perdue [55:44]
I love the question. I mean, it really made me think.

Mario Fachini [55:47]
Made me think too.

Mitzi Perdue [55:48]
Yeah, and I would like to revise and extend my remarks and say that it’s the relationships. But I still think that education and tools are…

Mario Fachini [55:58]
For sure.

Mitzi Perdue [55:59]
I put some of the $1,000 into that.

Mario Fachini [56:03]
Yeah, I agree. And I forgot I forgot for a second. I’m hosting. I thought I thought it was tomorrow when I’m going to other shows. That was a lot of fun. Thank you for no, I’ve never asked that. And no one has ever done that to me. So I don’t know if I hope it’s a trend. But I enjoyed it for right now today.

Mitzi Perdue [56:23]
And I’m thinking bad Mitzi, bad guest.

Mario Fachini [56:25]
No, you’re you’re you’re a blast. So here’s what we’re gonna do. two parts, so. Oh, we still have plenty of time. Perfect. We are awesome. So here’s what we’re gonna do: Mitzi and the expert authority world. We’re going to thank the sponsor, and I’m going to come back, and we’re just going to roll into Part Two. Sounds good?

Mitzi Perdue [56:45]
Sounds good.

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www.EAInterviews.com [57:21]
Hey, thanks for listening to today’s episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show. And also be sure to check out EAInterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience links to the resources we mentioned in more. Have a blessed day and I’ll see you tomorrow.