Roads To Success 4.2

Just One Truck

Wayne Huizenga, Jr. is currently the President of Huizenga Holdings and oversees a business empire valued in the billions.  At the time we shot Wayne, Jr.’s episode of Secrets Of Success, the company’s diverse assets included ownership of Miami Dolphins and Dolphin Stadium, thousands of acres of South Florida real estate, banking interests, marinas, boat building interests and tree farms.

At one time Huizenga Holdings had the unique distinction of being the only company to own three individual sports franchises at the same time.  “We owned the Miami Dolphins,” Wayne, Jr. proudly began the list.  “The Florida Marlins, which was our startup baseball team that began play in 1993, ultimately winning the World Series in 1997.  And the Florida Panthers which began play in 1995 and went to the Stanley Cup playoffs in their second year of play.”

This immense business empire began in South Florida in the early 1960s with H. Wayne Huizenga, Sr., and he started, literally, with nothing.  “When my mother and father were married Wayne, Sr. sold his pickup truck to buy my mother’s engagement ring,” Wayne, Jr. began the narrative.

With few prospects, Wayne, Sr. began working with his father in construction.  But he soon found an opportunity to run his own business in the waste disposal industry.

“He started with a loan from my mom’s parents and bought a single truck down here in South Florida,” Wayne, Jr. explained.  “My mom used to tell stories of holding the flashlight for dad in the evenings so he could repair the truck.  Every morning he would leave early before the sun rose to start the route.  He’d complete his route picking up garbage by noon, come home, change clothes, put on a suit, and go back on the street to sell new business.”

And Wayne, Sr. sold a great deal of new business, growing his company into Waste Management, Inc.  As his business grew he purchased other small, independent garbage haulers.  By the time he took his company public in 1972 those companies numbered 133.  Of course, building the new company consumed most of Wayne, Sr.’s time.

“My parents were divorced when I was five-years-old,” Wayne, Jr. narrated.  “My father was a hard charger and wasn’t around very much when I was growing up.  My mother decided that she would move back to Chicago.  So, I grew up in a five-room house, if you included the back porch, at 63^rd and the tracks in Chicago.”

In his on-camera autobiography for the I Am Second movement, Wayne, Jr. described his family as being relatively poor after moving to Chicago.  His mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet and often suffered from loneliness.  Adding to the discouragement, the Huizenga’s had been members of the Dutch reform church, but the pastor of the Chicago congregation told Mrs. Huizenga that divorce was not accepted and therefore she was not welcome.  The result for Wayne, Jr. and his younger brother, Scott, was that they rarely attended church other than on Christmas or Easter.

Wayne, Jr.’s impression of church life may not have been very positive but he did make it to Sunday school class just enough to hear that God existed and he had a Son named Jesus.  And in spite of her rejection by the church, his mother did not waver in her faith; she would pray with her two sons and talk openly about God.  Wayne, Jr. heard the words but it would be many years before he really understood their true meaning.

As with most children in families fractured by divorce, Wayne, Jr. found himself longing for the companionship of his father, and always desired more time with him than he was able to get.   “In the early days I didn’t see dad very often, just a handful of times each year,” Wayne, Jr. explained.  “He was busy building Waste Management which ultimately became the world’s largest garbage removal company.  As he became more successful we started to spend more time together but there were years when we saw him four or five times in the whole year.”

“I think that it affected me as a young man,” Wayne, Jr. told the Secrets Of Success camera.  “There was not a strong force in the house.  Mom tried as she would but she was always mom, and so I was a little bit of a rebel during high school.  I was out there partying and running around.  There were nights I didn’t come home and did things I’m not very proud of today.”

Wayne, Jr.’s mother fully realized that her boys needed their father, and after eight years in Chicago moved her household back to Florida so her sons could to be closer to Wayne, Sr.  With more access to his father, Wayne, Jr. would quickly observe that there was a great difference between the life he lived with his mother and the life he experienced when visiting his father.

© 2012 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 4.1

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Wayne Huizenga, Jr.

I first met Wayne Huizenga, Jr. on an overcast morning in the Dolphin Stadium parking lot in Miami, Florida, in 2002.  The occasion was an event organized by Lift Up America, at the time a very new charitable organization committed to bringing hope to those in need.  The organization had arranged for sizable donations of food and toys that would be divided among several Miami area churches; the churches would then distribute the donations to needy families.  Several Miami Dolphins’ players were on hand to help unload the trucks, distribute the goods, and sign autographs.

This was one of Lift Up America’s first events and I had been enlisted to help coordinate and direct the media team tasked with documenting the proceedings.  I was preparing on-air copy with announcer Spencer Tillman when someone called out, “Here comes Wayne.”  A helicopter cut through the gray sky over the stadium and touched down in a barricaded space in an empty section of the parking lot.

Wayne, or “Junior” as he is often called by friends, energetically exited the aircraft, shook a few hands and then immediately stepped in front of the news cameras to answer questions presented by the press.  Once the questions had been answered Wayne climbed up on the tailgate of a nearby refrigerated truck and began helping offload large bags of frozen chicken provided by Tyson Foods.  I assumed he was doing the manual labor for the benefit of the press but I would later learn that Wayne Huizenga, Jr. has never been afraid to get his hands dirty or work up a sweat.

Somewhere in that busy morning Wayne, Jr. and I were introduced.  There was really no time to have a genuine conversation but in the brief minutes we did have he was sincerely friendly and genial.  He possesses the ability to make you feel as if you’ve met before, as if he’s reunited with a friend from somewhere in his past.  As Mark Davis, Executive Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale said in his on-camera interview for Wayne, Jr.’s episode of Secrets Of Success, “Wayne was obviously a people person.”

Two years would pass before I would meet Wayne Huizenga, Jr. again for his Secrets Of Success interview.  This time I spent two days with him and his lovely wife, Fonda.  They opened their Fort Lauderdale home to the Secrets Of Success television crew, and we were all made to feel like old friends who had come to visit.

In listening to Wayne, Jr. tell his story it became obvious that, over his lifetime, he has qualified for a number of different labels: jet setter, playboy, entrepreneur, successful businessman, family man, and financially wealthy among them.  Early in his Secrets Of Success interview Wayne, Jr. said, “People in business have often asked me why I think I’m successful, and I have to stop to quantify that.  Do they mean successful in terms of money or successful in terms of what I think success is?”

That statement hints strongly towards the label Wayne, Jr. most prefers and most identifies with.  First and foremost, above all the other things, he is a follower of Christ, a man of faith, and he knows with great certainty that his primary purpose is to serve God.

Wayne’s story is a near-perfect illustration that material wealth and a luxurious lifestyle is not the ultimate source of happiness, satisfaction, security or peace.  The story really begins with his father and is essential to understand who Wayne, Jr., is today.  So, stay tuned.

© 2012 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 3.7

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Views Of Success

Six different men - their definitions of success are all different - and yet all the same.

Mark Manthei explained his perspective on success.  “My personal success is in having a wife I’ve been married to for almost twenty-five years.  I have four wonderful kids who have taken hold of the faith my wife and I share in Christ.  And I think we have a relationship with our God that will carry into eternity.  We have been blessed by God.  We’ve tried to operate our company on the principles put forth in the Bible and I think that anyone who operates based on those principles is going to be successful form a business point of view.”

“Having a personal relationship with this master designer, having a relationship where I understand why I am here and why I exist, I feel that this is what makes me successful,” explained Tim Manthei.  “It’s understanding why I’m here and then doing what I was created to do.”

“If I could share one thing with my counterparts around the world,” offered Ben.  “If I could help them find the success, the fulfillment, the purpose in life I’ve found in my personal relationship with Jesus – that’s the most amazing thing I could share.  I believe every one of us was designed by God for a purpose. If we can unlock and find that purpose we were designed for, and then be obedient to do it, we will be successful at whatever we do.”

Jim contributed this definition.  “I attribute success to having God’s blessing.  Having the ability to work together as a team, and part of teamwork is having the ability to put others needs ahead of your own.  I would say that the Christian mindset, thinking as a Christian the way Jesus Christ set it out works.  It works in life, it works in family, it works in your home, it works in everything you do.”

“I define success as doing what I’ve been designed to do,” Dan told us towards the end of taping the show.  “I feel personally that I fit into what I was designed to do.  Money is not the end goal.  Money is a means to an end.  If we don’t have the proper goal in mind money will destroy more than it will help.  People are designed to have a relationship with their designer.  The designer, which I believe is the God of the Bible, designed us specifically to have fellowship with him.  So, the purpose we have is to develop that fellowship with Him and help as many other people see that relationship as possible.”

Last but not least, Tom Manthei provided his view on the subject of success.  “Success and significance is not so much a material thing.  It’s not based on how much money you have or how many cars you have or how many material things you have.  Success to me and significance to me would be my ability to allow God to accomplish through me what His purpose is.  If God can accomplish through me what He has designed me to do, that is success, that is significant.”

Shortly after taping this collection of perspectives on success Ben Manthei added something of a footnote.  “There are times I feel we have an unfair advantage.  When we’re doing our work I feel like we have a higher purpose, a calling that gives us an advantage even in the workplace because we have a reason for doing what we do.”

© 2012 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 3.6

Extended Family

The Mantheis common commitment comes from a faith that lays a foundation for both their business and personal lives.  They acquired it from their parents.

“One of the things that they [our parents] found is that they had to start with God,” Dan Manthei revealed.  “They had to start with His principles.”

“The principles of integrity and honesty are principles that are biblically based.  They come right out of the Bible,” Tom elaborated.  “The book of Proverbs talks a lot about integrity; it states that a good name is more valuable than silver and gold.  That’s a core belief of ours.  We’d rather have a good name than an extra paycheck.  Our name is very important to us in the community.  And in our industry our name is very important to us.  We work very hard at keeping a good name, and we do that through the principles of giving good service and being honest.”

“Do everything you say you’re going to do,” added Tim.  “It’s a really simple message but it’s a hard one.  But if you follow that principle then contracts are going to be kept.  Your relationships with your vendors are going to be a lot better because you do what you say you’re going to do.”

“God’s principles are opposite from man’s principles,” Dan expanded.  “Man has a tendency to want to gather, and get, and hold.  God’s principle says that if you give then you’ll get; love man and serve him.  In serving man there will be a return that comes back to you for that service.  We serve our customer.  In serving our customer we build up loyalty with that customer.  The customer comes to us when he has a need because he knows he will get the service back.”

“Recently we were awarded the largest job we’d ever had as a company,” Ben offered.  “We were not the low bidder nor were we the most qualified but they gave us the work.  Afterwards we asked them why they decided to give us the job.  They told us, ‘You guys have a reputation of doing what you say you’re going to do.’”

The Mantheis apply these principles to everyone in their company.  It’s a family operated business that treats employees as if they are part of the family.

“Our strongest asset in the company is our people,” Tom stated.  “We have a lot of other assets in our company; we have financial assets, we have good machinery, but our number one asset is our people.  So, we do our best to treat our people with dignity and respect.”

“The first people we hired thirty years ago are still working for us,” Jim illustrated.  “We have a pretty strong loyalty factor.  That’s because we treat people well, pay them a good wage and try to take care of their needs.  We have several people working for us who have worked for some of our competition.  One company is three times our size and they work employees an average of eighty to ninety hours a week.  When you work those kinds of hours you have no family life.  We have a fairly long waiting list of people wanting to come to work for us even though they may earn less money.  Our family is more important that chasing the dollar all over the state.”

Each member of the Manthei team makes sure their own families come before the business as well.  They all walk the talk.

© 2012 Philip Kassel

Roads To Succes 3.5

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A Business Of Principles

Each of the Manthei brothers may be intensely independent but they all share a common commitment.  It’s commitment from a faith that lays the foundation for both their business and personal lives.  They acquired it from their parents.

“There are principles we do business by that we think are very important,” explained Tom Manthei.  “These principles are based on many of the teachings we’ve found in the Bible.  Teamwork is one example.  Teamwork is a concept that we’ve found allows common people to accomplish uncommon goals.  You can take a group of average guys – they don’t have to be really talented, just average – but if they work together in a team and they contribute their strong point and cover the other person’s weak point they can accomplish uncommon goals.”

In spite of the different personalities that make up the Manthei family, and even in light of the occasional differences of opinion or outright conflict, the mutual respect these six men have for one another is clearly apparent.  Beyond respect there is evident an appreciation for individual skills and talents.

“Tom is a very good leader and very good at bringing all the team members together,” Mark Manthei described his cousin.  “He gets everybody on the same page and pulling in the same direction.”

And Tom had this to say about Mark.  “Mark has a lot of analytical ability.  He can think through the scenario of numbers, how a project fits together and how it makes sense from a business point of view.”

“Ben connects with people and does a great job with marketing,” Tim told the Secrets Of Success camera.

Ben described Jim Manthei.  “Jim is the marine type of worker because we give him the most difficult jobs that nobody wants to do and he gets the job done.  He brings a tremendous creative energy to every project.”

“Dan’s strong points are in the technical areas,” Tom said of this brother.  “He’s very good at bringing ideas to life.  He’s very good at building, the mechanical aspects of projects, engineering and designing.  A lot of the machinery that we have in our veneer mill has been designed and built by my brother, Dan.”

“Tim is a real entrepreneurial sort of guy,” explained Mark.  “He comes up with entrepreneurial business ideas and is good at presenting those to the group.”

It might be tempting to believe that the Mantheis were just performing sibling public relations duties because a television camera was pointing at them.  The truth, though, is that the sincerity in their observations is one of the foundations the success of their business is based upon.

“As we’re all strong willed we all know how to fight hard for the idea we bring to the table, but we’re committed in the group to kick around these ideas,” offered Ben.  “And by the time we’re done tweaking these ideas based on everybody’s input we usually come out with the right decision.”

Tom offered this view, once again emphasizing the concept of teamwork.  “When everyone learns to contribute their strong point and cover the other person’s weak point, that’s the key to success.  Human nature is just the opposite.  We tend to pick on the other person’s weak point and while we’re doing it forget our own strong points.  Covering another guy’s weak point is not ignoring it.  It’s identifying it, and then purposefully covering for it.  If he does the same thing for you, then as a whole most of the weak points disappear.  All the bases get covered.  Teamwork enables all the bases to be covered.”

“When we come out of a meeting, it’s rare that any one person’s gotten everything he wants,” Ben added.  “But whatever the final decision we all get behind it because we know the decision we made together is better than a decision one of us might have made as an individual.  We end up with a better end product.  The Bible has a proverb, 24:6, that says, ‘Victory depends on having many counselors.’”

“It makes the company as a whole stronger,” Tom expanded.  “There’s another verse, in Ecclesiastes.  It says, ‘Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.’”

© 2012 Philip Kassel