🎧︎ EP2. Don’t Fear Opportunities with William F. Murdy ‘64
Episode Summary - This episode features an interview with Bill Murdy. Bill is an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of the West Point Association of Graduates and a principal and Chairman of the Hotel Thayer and Chairman of its associated Thayer Leader Development Group, which provides corporate executive leadership development.
Previously, Bill served as the CEO of Comfort Systems and has served in a variety of senior leadership roles, including President and CEO of Club Quarters and General Investment and Development Company., as well as President, CEO, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of LandCare USA. Bill was also the Managing General Partner of Morgan Stanley Venture Capital.
Bill graduated from West Point and served in the United States Army from 1964 to 1974, including one year in the Dominican Republic (82nd Airborne) and two years in Vietnam (173rd Airborne). He was awarded three Bronze Stars, four Air Medals, the Army Commendation Medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
In this episode, Bill shares the one theme from his career that he believes others can use for their own career, the most rewarding part of business, and the many lessons he’s experienced and learned from his service in the Army and his 40-plus-year-long career in business.
Episode Timestamps:
*(2:40) AAR & Bill’s reason for going to West Point
*(7:30) Bill’s entrepreneurial journey begins
*(10:20) Aggressively take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves
*(12:14) Bill’s most rewarding part of his career
*(15:55) SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
*(18:20) A core part of leadership is getting out in front
*(19:20) The Sitrep — the Thayer Leader Development Group
*(23:30) Getting shot at with real bullets and how it compares to fighting for your company
*(26:00) Giving Back — advice for younger people
Links:
Key Quotes:
“You've got to be competent in what you're doing and you've got to communicate it properly. You have to have courage to step up and stand out. A lot of leadership is about getting out in front and staying out in front and taking the shots that are going to come your way. I think West Point and the military does a very good job of exposing younger people to that fact and they hand you a lot of responsibility early on and make you accountable. It stands you in good stead for a business career as well.”
“If there's a theme to my career, if there is something there that someone can learn from, aggressively take advantage of opportunities as they come in front of you and not being afraid of them. I was in over my head most of the time.”
“The most rewarding, satisfying thing as I look back my business career is seeing other people do well and seeing ideas start on a piece of blank paper and having them become an idea and become a business and provide livelihoods for a lot of people and, and returns for a lot of investors. That sounds a little corny, but it's the most satisfying part of being in business as far as I'm concerned.”
“I was an aid to a major general for a short time and I learned from him about not only having values, but putting your values down and your beliefs down and then following them. And I took that into my first business. And when I told my partners in this business, I said, ‘I think we ought to have not only a vision or a mission, but we ought to have values that we can articulate.”
