TLP217: Running Stuff with Joel Peterson, JetBlue Chairman

Joel Peterson is the chairman of JetBlue Airways, and has a long history of successful growth capital investments in a variety of industries. He currently teaches Entrepreneurial Management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and serves as a Director of Franklin Covey. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Joel is the author of Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Art of Launching New Ventures, Inspiring Others, and Running Stuff, and Key Takeaways [2:10] Joel has 7 kids and 28 grandkids. He had to get good at time management as well as people management! [4:00] It’s important to fire people with empathy. Just because they no longer fit your organization’s needs doesn’t mean they’re still not great people. [8:20] Sales is incredibly vital to an organization, but the way people buy today is completely different than 20-plus years ago, and for that, we also need to be adapting and changing our sales strategies. [10:25] Trust is the most powerful currency you have, but in order to have trust, the other person must feel like you have their best interests in mind and you’re not just looking out for yourself. [12:20] Love sounds like it shouldn’t be part of a business book or dialogue, but truly, if you have love for other people, it is an unlimited resource that will never be exhausted. [17:40] It’s more important than ever for people to have a personal brand and to also best balance that with the interests of a company but this is not a new concept. People have always had an interest in protecting their reputations. [20:55] Trust has become a very precious commodity because it’s so easy to violate it. [23:45] The best way to build trust is to trust people one event or one promise at a time. [27:30] It’s a cop-out to repeat patterns that no longer serve you and blame it on how you were raised. You can change your patterns and rewrite upbringing. [30:30] Embrace the hardship in your life. It will be one of your best lessons. [33:35] Joel believes if you don’t have adversity in your life, you end up creating your own trouble. To counter that, Joel believes reading biographies can help center you in a world that’s otherwise pretty good, pretty positive, and low in conflict. [38:10] Listener challenge: Be intentional with your life. Quotable Quotes “In a dynamic business, you are going to outgrow people and people are going to change. Like a coach, you want the very best on your field and you need to do that in a good way.” “None of us like to be sold, but we do like to buy something. Once you realize that, what you’re really doing is becoming a phenomenal listener and solving problems.” “The one resource that is never exhausted and can grow without bound is love.” “You can actually rewrite your upbringings. You can overwrite what you inherited.” “Break it down, get it simple again. If it gets simple again, you can execute. Being intentional and executing, you become a high-trust person.” Resources Mentioned Joel on & on Twitter Joel’s books: and The Leadership Podcast is Sponsored by: Cultivate Grit. Amplify Action. Investing in yourself isn’t selfish. Click to get gritty! Free downloads of on Delegation, Time Management, Sales, and more.