Can you believe it? This is the 14th week of 7 questions. To change things up a bit I wanted to engage my father in our weekly installment. Below you will find my conversation with my dad, Gary Schwertly, a retired finance executive and former CFO of The Anthony Robbins Companies.
1. I’ll start with our classic. What gets you up in the morning?
As you know I retired about six months ago because there were a number of things that I wanted to do while working that I just did not have time to do. Some of those are long distance cycling/running, playing table tennis, playing golf, spending time with my granddaughters while they are still young and I can still keep up with them, exploring the realm of astronomy and doing some traveling. Fortunately, I have been able to do many of these things during these past six months and this gets me up in the morning and excited to face a new day. I am also an exercise fanatic and am now able to add longer workouts to my daily schedule and not be rushed to head off to the office.
2. You have seen your fair share of finance presentations. What is the good, the bad, and the ugly?
The good presentations are those that are innovatively developed (i.e. minimal bullet points), adding a creative content (i.e. lots of graphics) with pertinent summary data (i.e. listener is not overwhelmed) applicable to the subject being addressed.
The bad ones are the more typical PowerPoint presentations with many screens full of bullet points with way too much data to comprehend in a single sitting. The intent is good but leaves the listener retaining little, if any, of the content.
The ugly are those that contain no graphics and all bullet point slides with no clear focus on meeting any preset objectives, often overlooked at the beginning of presentation. You find yourself totally bored during the presentation and can’t wait for it to end. Retention of content is nil.
3. As the former CFO for the Anthony Robbins Companies, how important is story to a man like Tony Robbins?
Story is the primary driver for Tony. He keeps you interested and entertained by giving your content in a story type format. He understands how people learn and uses techniques that target those learning dynamics. Story telling is a primary way he accomplishes that, whether telling you a story related to the subject or by telling you a story from his own life experiences. He is very effective in his ability to tell stories and to keep you enthralled in the process.
4. Is there a story that has changed your life?
One of the things I enjoyed when with the Anthony Robbins Companies was that Tony created a non-profit Foundation that feeds the needy at Thanksgiving, serves the needs of those in prison, does blood drives, targets effective education of intercity youth involved in gangs, and many other charitable causes.
The story that changed my life regarding charitable causes is the story that Tony tells about when he was a young teen or pre-teen and his dad was out of work and didn’t have enough money to buy Thanksgiving dinner for the family. He tells about how a neighbor came by their house on Thanksgiving with a basket of food for their family. Tony’s dad was so proud and embarrassed that he was not willing to accept the gift and tried closing the door on the neighbor. The neighbor insisted by sticking his foot in the door so Tony’s dad couldn’t shut it. The neighbor, after much discussion, finally told Tony’s dad to not look at the gift as charity but rather as a loan and that when he got back on his feet that he could repay the gift by giving to another family in need. Tony’s dad finally gave in and accepted the gift. This made such an impression on Tony, that when he started his own business, at 17 years of age, he began a charitable program called the “Basket Brigade” giving Thanksgiving meals to those in need. This program is now part of the Anthony Robbins Foundation and feeds literally millions of people every Thanksgiving from all over the world. This is an amazing example of how one person’s concern for their neighbor resulted in millions being cared about and cared for by another. This changed my view on how helping others can change the world.
5. You have three grandchildren. Are you already starting to see story play a role in their lives?
Yes, we have three beautiful granddaughters and enjoy any time we can spend with them. As our granddaughters are seven (identical twins) and four years old, make believe is a big part of their lives, especially during play time. Make believe always involves stories, often which are created as they go along. Grandpa gets to play this with them and make up stories and add to the stories they start. It helps the child in developing their creativity and helps them to distinguish between what is real and what isn’t. It is interesting to follow the stories they create as they often follow some real event or occurrence from life experience that they embellish upon in their stories. They also love to be read to from various stories and always enjoy a good Disney movie with a great story line.
6. If you can offer one piece of advice to all the finance executives in the world about presentations, what would it be?
Financial stuff can be very boring for those outside of the profession (even for those within the profession), so please keep the presentation detail to a minimum, be sure to begin the presentation with a few key points or objectives (maybe three or so) that are met during the presentation so the listener can walk away with some valuable content, use lots of graphics to keep their interest during the presentation, use minimal bullet points, summarize your key points that you want the listener to take away with them at the conclusion of the presentation and add a good take away handout to supplement your presentation. This gives them something to refer back to after the presentation.
7. You are now enjoying retirement after many years serving in the area of accounting and finance. What is next for you?
Death! Just kidding. Seriously, besides being the next world champion at table tennis, I would like to leave a legacy that I might be known for and that might benefit future generations. This might be something as significant as something in the field of astronomy or as mundane as leaving a legacy of raising a family with values and morals envied by others. In the mean time, I plan to enjoy the luxury of being able to do the things I enjoy doing without the pressure of meeting someone else’s agenda.
