|
Featured Article by Daniel R.
Murphy
Category: Success Personal Development / Finance & Investment / Time
Management / Health / Wealth Building / Leadership
South American
Discipline in the Marketplace
One of the world’s leading companies is Pao de Acuar in
Brazil. (Traded on the NYSE as Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao [CBD]). It Is led by
Brazilian retail magnate Abilio dos Santos Diniz.
At 73 Diniz is supremely organized, self disciplined and
driven. He does not tolerate fools gladly and demands fast and efficient work from his staff. He
is equally demanding of himself. He rises each morning at 5:30 AM to do an hour of aerobics, has
breakfast with his family, and is at the office in Sao Paulo by 8:30. He lifts weights for an
hour over the noon break and does not usually get home from work before 7:00 PM. He ends the day
with a game of squash before having dinner with his family.
Diniz has become one of the wealthiest men in Brazil
through an iron discipline. He has led his company to a net profit of $339 million on revenue of
over $13 billion. Earnings are up a whopping 204% over 2008. He ranks number 701 on the Global
2000 list published by Forbes Magazine in 2010. Diniz is the 8th
richest man in Brazil.
He says the key to staying on top is discipline and
organization. He has written a 2004 autobiography telling some of his success secrets titled,
Paths and
Choices: The Balance for a Happier Life, but it is out of print now and difficult to
find.
Diniz believes in a very balanced life with time each
day for exercise, prayer, work, and family. He exercises three hours each day, prays while doing
many of those activities, and eats five balanced meals a day plus vitamins and fiber
supplements. He also eats lots of fruit. He sees a psychotherapist once a week and attends
Catholic Mass every Sunday.
At 73 this dynamo is living a life that few men half his
age can keep up with. He has added 10,000 employees to his company and moved his company ahead
of Wal-Mart and Carrefour to become Brazil’s largest retailer.
Diniz had been booted out of the family business and
then was kidnapped by terrorists and helped his captors negotiate his release. His family
company was then in trouble and his father asked him to come back and fix things – which he did
bringing about tremendous success.
So, what can we learn from this singularly successful
man who is a leading South American capitalist at an age most people are thinking about
retirement? I suggest you can learn the following:
1. Age is not a barrier to success or to growth. You can
start a business, take over a business and grow a business at any age. Do not let age or other
artificial distinctions hold you back.
2. Self discipline is key to being successful. Decide
what needs to be done and then discipline yourself to get it done. Regular self discipline is
much easier than occasional leaps into hard work.
3. Organize your time and your life to get the most out
of it.
Dimiz is described by one of his staff as never being
satisfied with anything. This is yet another key to success – the willingness and even the drive
to constantly refine and improve all that you do.
Take a lesson from a 73 year old dynamo from Sao Paulo –
let self discipline, self improvement and organization be your key to success.
|
