Trey Taylor - A CEO Only Does Three Things: Finding Your Focus in the C-Suite

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.

John E. Southard

This book is a synthesis of a lifetimes worth of ideas encountered while studying the art and science of executive action. I dont pretend that the ideas presented here are original to me; on the whole, they arent. Theyve been lifted, tested, and applied in my own career and those of my consulting clients. My peculiar intellectual gift has always been to discover, digest, and synthesize big ideas into usable frameworks. This book is nothing more than that. It would never have seen the light of day without the support and encouragement of many other People, and acknowledging them is the honor of a lifetime.

• To Eddie and Mary Taylor, my parents, for a loving home, supportive environment, and constant knowledge that you were in my corner through every fight;
• To Roy Taylor, Sr., my grandfather, who first showed me the true value of wealth and hard work, and taught hard lessons with a firm hand;
• To Trent Taylor, my brother and partner for many years, who provided love and support against anyone he didnt think had my best interests at heart;
• To Sheya, Ret, and Emmaline, who share me so selflessly with others, trusting that I have the best interests of the family at heart during all the long nights away working on the book and with clients;
• To Ron Willingham, a mentor of the highest order who put lenses in my intellectual spectacles that allowed me to see People as they really are;
• To my work family, William Hall, Tom Dorywalski, Pete Caucci, Robert Rodriguez, Chris Carpenter, and all of those very special People who come to work each day, executing our mission and allowing me to tinker and experiment;
• To George Robbinss Vistage group, Tom Carroll, Brad Whitchurch, Paul Kassab, Clinton Beeland, Todd Froats, and Jerry Daniels, who stuck with me as I synthesized the ideas into a compact form for others to digest;
• To the graduates of my first CEO Academy, particularly Deb Ault and Jim Blachek, who took the ideas to heart and are building great organizations.

The path to becoming a CEO is not always a direct one. Its true that for some, its a natural progression up the corporate ladder, a result of carefully strategized career moves, skillful negotiations, and well - timed successes that lead to the ultimate promotion. Others find themselves in the role as a result of pure serendipitybeing in the right place at the right time with the right skillset to serve the needs of the organization as its chief executive. Still others take on the role by virtue of being the only one with the talent to do so, or by founding an enterprise and having a default need for the position to be filled by someone.

In my own life, as a boy growing up in a blue - collar Ohio family, I started selling newspapers on the street at the age of nine and launched my first business at fifteensealing driveways in the hot summer sun. It was hard work, but if I complained my dad would say, Kevin, youd better make this work. You cant work for anyone else, so youd better find a way to work for yourself! I took his advice to heart and graduated to selling baby high chairs door - to - door . I read everything I could to be a better entrepreneur, not understanding that I was really training myself to be a better CEO. I read Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar, and anything else successful People told me to read. As I soaked up this wisdom, my personal and business growth began to skyrocket. By my first year in college, I had built my first million - dollar enterprise. I invested in another company, which turned into a $500 million per year business on the New York Stock Exchange and drove the stock price from one dollar to twenty dollars per share. After selling my interest in that company, I formed a joint venture with the Home Shopping Network, called HSN Direct, which grew to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Those successes led me to scale the heights of the business world. Some have called me the father of the infomercial, as I worked to turn television dead air into advertising opportunities and created brands like Ginsu Knives, Tony Little, As Seen on TV, and many others. Along the way, I realized that there was a need in the entrepreneurial community for shared learning, partnership opportunities, and mutual support between business owners. With that in mind, I became a co - founder of EO, The Entrepreneurs Organization. EO is a global business network of fourteen thousand - plus leading entrepreneurs in 198 chapters and sixty - one countries. Eventually, I was approached to appear on the hit ABC television show Shark Tank , as one of the original Sharks.