November 17, 2015. Our speaker was Bill Attaway, CEO of Hypergrowth Strategies, an organization focused on training people to get the most out of their business activities. A graduate of the University of Florida, Bill started his career as an entrepreneur. He prefaced his remarks by explaining that he would be telling stories of his experiences in the world of business and then tell how he reacted when faced with an extremely dangerous form of cancer.
Initially he highlighted a series of “sayings” which he has found meaningful: Core Values Matter; Be an Example of Integrity; Never stop learning; Ask questions and then listen; Test, Test, and Test; Don’t Plan to Fail by Failing to Plan. He also highlighted several books: Scaling Up; The goal; Who; Good to Great; Built to Sell.
He credited success with being blessed to be a citizen of the USA, and having the experience in his first job of following an individual who did a very poor job. Thus, by comparison, he appeared to be doing an excellent job, when in reality he was performing just average. He changed jobs frequently, gaining both experience and a higher level of skill with each new position. He firmly believes that employers must share the rewards earned by the company with their employees if they expect them to stay and be productive. He also cautioned that it is not unusual for one to become “burned out” through the pressure to succeed. To this end he feels that working for someone else is “not fun”; being your own boss can be very rewarding.
His career took an abrupt change in 2005 when he was diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer within his mouth and jaw. He was told that the survival rate is barely 30%. He related how perceptive small children can be when his 5 year old child asked “Daddy, are you going to die?”. This incident caused him to resolve to put the same level of energy into saving his life as he had been doing “on the job”. He faulted the first oncology clinic who did not tell him of a potential new cure because that clinic did not have the ability to offer the cure! He eventually found that the Shands Hospital at the University of Florida was able to offer this new form of treatment. He was advised that the survival rate was between 85 and 95% successful, but the treatment would be intense and included severe pain. He elected to face the treatment and as a result has been cancer free for ten years.
In concluding his story he stressed the importance of not taking no for an answer and recommended using this philosophy in your business as well as your personal life. Never stop learning, be prepared to solve the problems you face, and TEST, TEST, and TEST.
— Fred Sales, Keyway Committee