Sam Zell on how to be an entrepreneur

Sam Zell came to the University of Colorado at Boulder law school for a chat today. The man is founder and owner of The Equity Group investment conglomerate, 68th richest American worth $3 billion, real estate magnate , owner of the Chicago Cubs plus telecom, media and transportation companies. The medley of law and journalism students and businesspeople  wanted to know how he became so filthy rich. By never having a job, and being an entrepreneur. 

What makes a good entrepreneur?  

• The word failure is not part of your lexicon. Maybe things don’t work out, but there’s no such thing as failure.
• Entrepreneurs are people who see the problem, but also see the solution. 
• Enormous amount of self confidence (even if it’s unjustified). Have conviction that you can do it, that you can understand it, that you can handle it. 
• A gene that makes you think one step ahead, around the corner. Always think how to make a situation better.
• You have to be able to execute. Execute = sell. 

A couple more Zell-isms from today:

• If you can’t describe an idea in 3 sentences, I’m no longer listening.
• The shortest difference between two points is a straight line. Common sense is your BFF!
• “I’ve never had a job. Never worked for anyone, except five days at a law firm after law school writing a contract between a linen company and a dorm. I went to my supervisor and said ‘I don’t think this is the best use of my time.’ It didn’t occur to me at the time how ridiculous that must have sounded.” 
• What’s wrong with our economy? It doesn’t help we have a president-in-training (not that well-received in Boulder). “We’re doing everything at once without knowing what we’re doing. (Timothy) Geithner says we’re going to give the banks stress tests. No one has ever heard of stress tests. Then you say we can’t release the results of the stress tests, but most of the banks passed the test. Well, tell me WHICH ONE DIDN’T! That’s amateur.”