Episode 220

full
Published on:

29th Mar 2023

Overcoming Adversity and Building Strength with Quentin Smith, Jr.

On this week’s episode, Matt sits down with Quentin Smith, Jr. Quentin has over 40 years of experience providing management service to publicly and privately held businesses and is Chairman of the Board of Banner Health, and President of Cadre Business Advisors, LLC, a consulting firm that focuses on strategic planning, performance improvement and crisis management. This episode begins with a detailed description on Quentin’s life growing up in Gary, Indiana and his path in getting to where he is today. He specifically talks about the connections that he made throughout his life that propelled him forward in his career, even personal connections from college that later influenced his career. Quentin also discusses what it takes to be a good board member for corporate boards, the Fleischer Scholars Program at the Walton College, and Mort Fleischer and his concept of the mental balance sheet.

Transcript
Quentin Smith:

As a result, you know, he figured either I was

Quentin Smith:

just going to fold completely, or it was going to make me like

Quentin Smith:

tungsten steel because he knew that the environment that I was

Quentin Smith:

going to have to live in was going to be tough. It was going

Quentin Smith:

to be still prej-, you know, a lot of prejudice. And you got to

Quentin Smith:

work harder than the next guy because of the color of your

Quentin Smith:

skin.

Matt Waller:

Excellence, professionalism, innovation and

Matt Waller:

collegiality. These are the values the Sam M. Walton College

Matt Waller:

of Business explores in education, business and the

Matt Waller:

lives of people we meet every day, I'm Matt Waller, Dean of

Matt Waller:

the Walton College and welcome to the be epic podcast. I have

Matt Waller:

with me today, Quentin Smith, Jr, Chairman of the Board of

Matt Waller:

Banner Health, and President of CADRE Business Advisors, LLC, a

Matt Waller:

consulting firm that focuses on strategic planning, performance

Matt Waller:

improvement and crisis management. Quentin has over 40

Matt Waller:

years of experience providing management service to publicly

Matt Waller:

and privately held businesses. And he is on the board of some

Matt Waller:

very impressive companies, one of which I tend to be pretty

Matt Waller:

familiar with. He's on the board of Store Capital, a publicly

Matt Waller:

traded company, you might want to look up really interesting.

Matt Waller:

There's, it was started by a fellow by the name of Mort

Matt Waller:

Fleischer, who has been involved with the Walton College and the

Matt Waller:

University of Arkansas. Mr. Smith is also on the board of

Matt Waller:

Orion Group Holdings, Arizona public service, and many other

Matt Waller:

entities as well. So Mr. Smith, thank you so much for joining us

Matt Waller:

today. I really appreciate it.

Quentin Smith:

It's my pleasure. Good to be here.

Matt Waller:

You come from a really interesting background,

Matt Waller:

as we talked about earlier. Your father was one of the Tuskegee

Matt Waller:

Airmen, airmen, which is amazing to know someone whose father was

Matt Waller:

one of the pilots for Tuskegee Airmen. And so you had an

Matt Waller:

interesting father. And I know you had a wonderful mother as

Matt Waller:

well, based on what you told me. And you've had an amazing

Matt Waller:

career. So would you mind telling us a little bit about

Matt Waller:

your background and your your career?

Quentin Smith:

Sure. And I think it's good for context for what

Quentin Smith:

I'm going to say in the questions I'm going to answer. I

Quentin Smith:

didn't come from a family of wealth or anything like that. I

Quentin Smith:

grew up in Gary, Indiana. And for those of you that don't know

Quentin Smith:

about, Gary, it's not the best place on the face of the earth

Quentin Smith:

to be raised it was when I was growing up as a kid. But it

Quentin Smith:

turned rapidly into the kind of type of city that was retreating

Quentin Smith:

rather than then going forward. And I had the opportunity to

Quentin Smith:

just be like some of my friends who are still in the same

Quentin Smith:

corner, you know, my age, no, no ambition, no, no career path.

Quentin Smith:

But instead, because of both of my parents, I ended up on a

Quentin Smith:

different track. My mother was a librarian. So I was a latchkey

Quentin Smith:

kid before the phrase was formed. So when I got out of

Quentin Smith:

school, I would wait for her at her library, and I'd read

Quentin Smith:

everything in there. So I became a reader out of boredom, and

Quentin Smith:

because of what she was doing, my father-

Matt Waller:

That probably gave you a huge advantage I would

Matt Waller:

think?

Quentin Smith:

It did because I couldn't talk to my friends

Quentin Smith:

about some of the things I read, because they didn't know any of

Quentin Smith:

these books or authors. But as I got older, you know, having that

Quentin Smith:

depth of experience, the reading has paid off in some regards and

Quentin Smith:

made me- I think, more well rounded. But my dad was a school

Quentin Smith:

administrator started off as a Latin and English teacher. So he

Quentin Smith:

was very insistent upon me understanding and being able to

Quentin Smith:

speak the King's English. He thought that was very important.

Quentin Smith:

And when we would miss miss-speak, at dinner he would

Quentin Smith:

correct us. So I learned how to make sure I spoke well. And just

Quentin Smith:

a little fine point, because I know he's listening to this,

Quentin Smith:

even though he passed away a few years ago. He was one of the

Quentin Smith:

original Tuskegee Airmen. There's a big difference between

Quentin Smith:

the first 101 and the rest of the guys so I was gonna make

Quentin Smith:

that point. But anyway, so so he taught me that education was the

Quentin Smith:

most important thing I could have because once you have it,

Quentin Smith:

no one can take it from you. And if you get the right kind of

Quentin Smith:

education, it can bode well for you for the rest of your life.

Quentin Smith:

So I grew up in that kind of environment. But along the way,

Quentin Smith:

my friends that I was hanging out with junior high school

Quentin Smith:

weren't the best characters in my father's mind. So he sent me

Quentin Smith:

to military school. So I spent high school in military school,

Quentin Smith:

a place called Howe Military just east of Notre Dame in

Quentin Smith:

Indiana. And that helped me become a stronger person because

Quentin Smith:

out of 450 kids at that military school, there were eight that

Quentin Smith:

were black, and I was the only one black in my class. And as a

Quentin Smith:

result of my the way my father raised me when I graduated, I

Quentin Smith:

was president of the class, I was a top commanding officer, in

Quentin Smith:

terms of awards. I was in the varsity club, was the editor of

Quentin Smith:

the paper. It was, as my father would say, to A Boy Named Sue

Quentin Smith:

kind of situation for your students, they won't know what

Quentin Smith:

Boy Named Sue means, but tell them look it up and find that

Quentin Smith:

that that song, and they'll know what I mean. So he made sure

Quentin Smith:

that I was tough as nails. And it's helped me in my career. So

Quentin Smith:

that's that's the background. And I went to Purdue because it

Quentin Smith:

was right down to the I-65. Highway close by. And it was

Quentin Smith:

cheap it was $500 a year to go to Purdue in 1968. And it's not

Quentin Smith:

that anymore. And I started off in electrical engineering. But

Quentin Smith:

7:30am calculus classes made me think twice about that. So the

Quentin Smith:

counselor said, I'll give you a hint, the engineers work for the

Quentin Smith:

business guys. So I switched to the Krannert School of Business,

Quentin Smith:

and graduated a double major industrial management computer

Quentin Smith:

science, and was recruited for my first job to Southern

Quentin Smith:

California Edison in Santa Monica, California. So I went

Quentin Smith:

from West Lafayette to Santa Monica in about six days. And

Quentin Smith:

the rest of it is pretty lengthy. But I ended up working

Quentin Smith:

in industry for about eight years, figured out I'd be a

Quentin Smith:

pretty good management consultant. I like the diversity

Quentin Smith:

of problems, you know pretty quick study. So I moved from

Quentin Smith:

Southern California Edison to Hughes Aircraft, to Universal

Quentin Smith:

Studios, to Great Western savings to get a broad spectrum

Quentin Smith:

of different industries. So I understood those. And then I

Quentin Smith:

started my own company in 1983. And was started with a

Quentin Smith:

consulting firm and then bought a company for about 35 million

Quentin Smith:

and tagged that on to that it was a data center processing

Quentin Smith:

company for banks. So that in 92, tried to retire, didn't

Quentin Smith:

work. And we moved from LA to to Scottsdale in 92, as well. So

Quentin Smith:

I've been here in Scottsdale since 92. been involved in a lot

Quentin Smith:

of different things done some turnarounds of companies that

Quentin Smith:

are in bad shape been on public boards, taken two or three

Quentin Smith:

companies public. Just a very fortunate set of circumstances

Quentin Smith:

for me personally and professionally. And I've met

Quentin Smith:

some great people along the way, one of them being the person

Quentin Smith:

that we have common denominator in Mort Fleischer. So that's to,

Quentin Smith:

you can say that's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

Matt Waller:

Well, what a great story and you know, in, in

Matt Waller:

starting your own company in 1983. So 39 years ago, almost 40

Matt Waller:

years ago.

Quentin Smith:

Yea, 20, 32 [years].

Matt Waller:

So, and then you eventually bought a company that

Matt Waller:

was a data center processing company for banks. And but what

Matt Waller:

what made you- How did you find that deal that opportunity?

Quentin Smith:

Well, two things that were important to do in

Quentin Smith:

that deal. The first one was there's a there was a guy his

Quentin Smith:

name is Reginald Lewis. He wrote a book entitled "Why Should

Quentin Smith:

White Guys Have All the Fun?". Reginald was the first black

Quentin Smith:

entrepreneur to do a leveraged buyout in the 80s he bought

Quentin Smith:

Beatrice Foods for a billion dollars. He was one of my

Quentin Smith:

fraternity brothers. I had a chance to meet him and he said,

Quentin Smith:

Quentin you- at some point you need to own something, not just

Quentin Smith:

work for somebody, you need to own something. So he introduced

Quentin Smith:

me to his banker who did that deal. And so put a pin in that

Quentin Smith:

as one resource. The other resource is one of the companies

Quentin Smith:

that co-own, this data center company that I bought was one of

Quentin Smith:

my clients in LA is called Coast Savings Bank. And I made an

Quentin Smith:

offer to them to buy that data center company from him and the

Quentin Smith:

other banks that owned it. And Reginald introduce me to his

Quentin Smith:

bankers, Drexel Burnham, they did the financing, and we bought

Quentin Smith:

it for 35 million. That's how it- that's how it was done.

Matt Waller:

Well, I remember back, you know, when I was a

Matt Waller:

young, I was an undergraduate student in business when

Matt Waller:

Reginald made that deal with Beatrice-

Quentin Smith:

Right.

Matt Waller:

Which was really- and so it made the news I I was

Matt Waller:

just newly reading the Wall Street Journal back then. And I

Matt Waller:

remember reading that, and if I remember correctly, he died at a

Matt Waller:

fairly young age, didn't he?

Quentin Smith:

Yeah, he had brain cancer. He died at 50, I

Quentin Smith:

believe. But but he was able to touch a lot of people like me

Quentin Smith:

along the way, and one of the people that that I've met along

Quentin Smith:

about the same time as Reggie was Vernon Jordan. Vernon was an

Quentin Smith:

attorney but he was a deal maker, rainmaker guy ended up

Quentin Smith:

becoming Bill Clinton's number one outside guy, and Vernon told

Quentin Smith:

me, you need to figure out how to get on corporate boards,

Quentin Smith:

because that's where the real power is. So between Vernon and

Quentin Smith:

Reggie, they were the like, the keys for me to get at a young

Quentin Smith:

age an understanding of what is out there if you're willing to

Quentin Smith:

apply yourself. So on one track, I started preparing myself to be

Quentin Smith:

a worthy board candidate for a corporate board. And I've been

Quentin Smith:

on six public company boards as a result of that, and a couple

Quentin Smith:

of private boards, and then with Reggie to be able to have enough

Quentin Smith:

sense about what to pick as a target to buy, and being able to

Quentin Smith:

put the financing together to buy it.

Matt Waller:

Well, you know, it shows you how it's not, it's not

Matt Waller:

enough to just know people. But if you've got the capabilities,

Matt Waller:

and you're willing to work hard, knowing people can make a big

Matt Waller:

difference, and-

Quentin Smith:

Exactly.

Matt Waller:

You know. And it's funny, you know, of course, you

Matt Waller:

said it was your he was your fraternity brother. That that's

Matt Waller:

something people don't often realize that when you're in

Matt Waller:

college, a lot of the people that are your friends, there's a

Matt Waller:

certain number of them that are going to really do quite well

Matt Waller:

and possibly help you in business later. You don't

Matt Waller:

realize it when you're rubbing shoulders with them, but but it

Matt Waller:

happens.

Quentin Smith:

Right. And while you're there, you're just trying

Quentin Smith:

to get get out of there in four years, and get your get your

Quentin Smith:

your graduation over with. And that's all you're really focused

Quentin Smith:

on, or maybe partying a little too hard, depending on what

Quentin Smith:

school you went to. But what, you know, the whole objective is

Quentin Smith:

to get that I graduated from a college, which gives you the

Quentin Smith:

ability to be credible to get a real job. So that that's where I

Quentin Smith:

was focused. But then after you get out, you realize networking

Quentin Smith:

is extremely important. If you looked at my personal balance

Quentin Smith:

sheet, this is what Mark talks about your personal balance

Quentin Smith:

sheet, the biggest number on that balance sheet isn't the

Quentin Smith:

money I have in the bank. It's the network of people that I

Quentin Smith:

know. And that trust me, and I trust them. And that I can use I

Quentin Smith:

use don't mean that in a negative way, but use to

Quentin Smith:

leverage certain outcomes, either for myself or for others,

Quentin Smith:

like they have done for me.

Matt Waller:

You're right, Mort talks about that a lot. A great

Matt Waller:

concept. And he also talks about, you know, thinking of

Matt Waller:

yourself as a missile-

Quentin Smith:

Right, a guided missile right.

Matt Waller:

A guided missile. And so you have to make course

Matt Waller:

corrections as you're as you're going. But you're going

Matt Waller:

somewhere.

Quentin Smith:

Yea you have to hit a target. Otherwise, there's

Quentin Smith:

what's the point, right? But even though you have a target,

Quentin Smith:

as you were saying sometimes the wind blows a little differently

Quentin Smith:

or, you know, some something goes wrong with one of the

Quentin Smith:

engines isn't firing, right? And you have to make those course

Quentin Smith:

corrections. So it's yeah, that those are two really good

Quentin Smith:

analogies that Mort has come up with

Matt Waller:

He has and of course, he shares that with a

Matt Waller:

lot of young people. Especially through the Fleischer Scholars

Matt Waller:

Program, which I know you're a board member of. Is that

Matt Waller:

correct? Trustee?

Quentin Smith:

Yes. I enjoy that relationship immensely.

Matt Waller:

Then you're also on the board of Store Capital,

Matt Waller:

which is an amazing company. Would you mind talking about

Matt Waller:

Store Capital just a bit?

Quentin Smith:

Sure. Store Capital is the third is kind of

Quentin Smith:

3.0 for Mort, he started with a company called FFCA, franchise,

Quentin Smith:

Finance Corporation of America, which was doing all the real

Quentin Smith:

estate, and land, buildings and land financing for people that

Quentin Smith:

bought franchises. So he would be the underwriter of that he

Quentin Smith:

would own the land and the buildings and rent them back or

Quentin Smith:

lease them back to the person that owns the McDonald's or the

Quentin Smith:

KFC or whatever. He sold that company to GE Capital 2001. He

Quentin Smith:

did another 2.0 of FFCA. After that, with some partners that as

Quentin Smith:

Mort would say - that don't do well with partners. And this was

Quentin Smith:

a case where it sounded good on paper, but it didn't work out.

Quentin Smith:

And he moved on from that. And then in 2014, established Store

Quentin Smith:

Capital to do fundamentally the same thing sale leaseback of

Quentin Smith:

corporate properties, but this time is bigger properties. So

Quentin Smith:

companies that are middle market have big manufacturing buildings

Quentin Smith:

or distribution centers, we would- those those companies

Quentin Smith:

have those buildings that they paid for, and the value of those

Quentin Smith:

buildings just sit on their balance sheet as a number, that

Quentin Smith:

cash is just a representation of the value. But for them to

Quentin Smith:

expand, you have two choices, you can go to the bank and get

Quentin Smith:

more debt. Or you can do what we do for them at store, which is

Quentin Smith:

we'll buy that building from you, pay you cash for it, and

Quentin Smith:

you become a tenant of your own building, you pay us rent. So

Quentin Smith:

you get that cashed up to expand your business, you stay put, you

Quentin Smith:

don't have to move. Business as usual from the day before you do

Quentin Smith:

the deal with us to the day after. And you have the ability

Quentin Smith:

to expand without incurring that kind of debt. So store was in is

Quentin Smith:

in that business, we have about 3000 properties that are across

Quentin Smith:

the United States. As I said, we took Store public in 2014. And,

Quentin Smith:

and most recently, because of its success, it's become a

Quentin Smith:

acquisition target. And the company has an offer pending to

Quentin Smith:

buy it for $14 billion.

Matt Waller:

Impressive. So you've been on the boards of

Matt Waller:

quite a few firms. What does it take to be a successful board

Matt Waller:

member to really make a positive contribution?

Quentin Smith:

Well, the first thing is having some expertise

Quentin Smith:

that if you are added to that board will help the company be a

Quentin Smith:

better strategic thinker. And develop a strategic outlook and

Quentin Smith:

execute on that and help the management team to be able to

Quentin Smith:

define that strategy and to help them execute. But you have to as

Quentin Smith:

a board member, you have to understand the fine line between

Quentin Smith:

governance, which is oversight. That's what boards do, and

Quentin Smith:

crossing the line into operations trying to tell the

Quentin Smith:

CEO well, you need to do this. So you have to manage that fine

Quentin Smith:

line, you can be helpful and instructive, and provide

Quentin Smith:

oversight, but you have to be careful not to try to run the

Quentin Smith:

business. So experts- a certain expertise that's added value,

Quentin Smith:

knowing where that line is. And making sure you understand what

Quentin Smith:

the rules are about governance and what your responsibility-

Quentin Smith:

your fiduciary responsibilities are so that you fulfill those

Quentin Smith:

and you don't run a file of the Securities and Exchange

Quentin Smith:

Commission or any other regulators.

Matt Waller:

If you wouldn't mind that would I'd like to go

Matt Waller:

back to the Fleischer Scholars Program.

Quentin Smith:

Sure.

Matt Waller:

I really. I mean, I remember the first time Mort was

Matt Waller:

telling me about it. I'm like, yeah, he was telling me you

Matt Waller:

know, your brains like a servo mechanism

Quentin Smith:

Right-

Matt Waller:

and all this kind of stuff. What are you talking

Matt Waller:

about? The more he explained that, the more I really liked

Matt Waller:

it. And I thought what a great thing for students to learn,

Matt Waller:

especially, you know, when they're young, preferably before

Matt Waller:

they get into college even. And I remember when he told me about

Matt Waller:

the mental- what did he call it, the mental balance sheet. We

Matt Waller:

mentioned that early- earlier. And he says and it's funny

Matt Waller:

because Mort thinks in terms of finance and economics so much

Matt Waller:

doesn't he?

Quentin Smith:

Right, right.

Matt Waller:

I remember, I think one of the first times I talked

Matt Waller:

to him about the store capital. I said, how did you know this

Matt Waller:

was an opportunity and he said, at a high level, there was a, a

Matt Waller:

market gap, there was, there was a need that wasn't being met,

Matt Waller:

there was a problem in the market. And I won't go into all

Matt Waller:

that. But he said, we solved a problem in the market.

Quentin Smith:

That's absolutely right.

Matt Waller:

You know, and he's so good at explaining things

Matt Waller:

like that. But I remember, when he was talking to me, and I

Matt Waller:

thought, a mental balance sheet. So I thought, okay, a balance

Matt Waller:

sheet has assets, liabilities, those are very clear, and your,

Matt Waller:

your net worth. And he said, here's how I think about it. And

Matt Waller:

you mentioned earlier, you know, there's this empirical knowledge

Matt Waller:

you have, that it's the sum of all of your experiences, and

Matt Waller:

your connections, your people you're connected to. And then

Matt Waller:

you've got your intellectual capital, which has to do with

Matt Waller:

your academic and life experiences, you've got your

Matt Waller:

liabilities. And liabilities, things like things you don't

Matt Waller:

know, connections, you don't have and things that are

Matt Waller:

missing, and then your moral compass. You know, he said,

Matt Waller:

those four things together, make up your mental balance sheet.

Matt Waller:

And so, you know, we had the students and these, by the way,

Matt Waller:

for those listening that don't know, the Fleischer Scholars

Matt Waller:

Program is like a bridge program

Quentin Smith:

Mhm

Matt Waller:

For students that they go to before they go to

Matt Waller:

college. And the students start thinking through these things,

Matt Waller:

what, what, what is my life experience? What do I want it to

Matt Waller:

be? Those kinds of things. And he talks about this thing called

Matt Waller:

a three legged stool. And, again, this was another thing

Matt Waller:

where I'm like, what, what's a three legged stool have to do

Matt Waller:

with this? but but one of them has to do again, it ties back to

Matt Waller:

some degree to the, to the balance sheet, the mental

Matt Waller:

balance sheet, but, you know, you've got to the empiricism,

Matt Waller:

you're the sum of all your personal experiences, meaning,

Matt Waller:

empirical. So as you go through time, you collect all of these

Matt Waller:

experiences and connections, and they empirically affect what

Matt Waller:

you're prepared to do and your assets, kind of your, like your

Matt Waller:

assets. And, but your brain, he said, is like a servo mechanism.

Matt Waller:

And so you know, that you you're, it's kind of like a heat

Matt Waller:

seeking missile, but you got to know what your goals are.

Quentin Smith:

Right.

Matt Waller:

And then you're a missile. And you've got to seek

Matt Waller:

out this target. And, but, you know, and so you use all of this

Matt Waller:

to create a mental roadmap, where you treat your brain like

Matt Waller:

a computer, and you know that everything you're doing is

Matt Waller:

programming. And so one thing I really liked about that is, and

Matt Waller:

I really believe this, like, when you were young, Quentin,

Matt Waller:

and you were, and your mom was a librarian, and you were reading

Matt Waller:

all these, these books, you were affecting your brain, you were

Matt Waller:

programming at some degree, with a wide variety of knowledge. And

Matt Waller:

really just the ability to read well, I mean, reading well,

Matt Waller:

helps you write well, and writing well, is very helpful in

Matt Waller:

life. But, but, you know, Mort's come up with these really

Matt Waller:

interesting metaphors that instead of using fancy, you

Matt Waller:

know, psychological terms, he uses these simple metaphors that

Matt Waller:

anybody can understand. So that's what I really liked about

Matt Waller:

it.

Quentin Smith:

Well, yeah, I mean, you're actually right,

Quentin Smith:

Mort knows how to crystallize things. And, for me, you know,

Quentin Smith:

it was different because there was no doubt I was going to

Quentin Smith:

college from the time I was born, I was gonna go to college,

Quentin Smith:

there was my father probably would have, you know, taken me

Quentin Smith:

out to a dessert just dropped me if I said I wasn't gonna go to

Quentin Smith:

college. So that was a foregone conclusion. But the targets of

Quentin Smith:

the Fleischer scholars are primarily those kids, where

Quentin Smith:

their parents have never been to college. No one in their family

Quentin Smith:

has been to college, they might be the first generation to go to

Quentin Smith:

college. So you got two things, you've got to deal with. One,

Quentin Smith:

you've got to orient them to the fact that going to college is a

Quentin Smith:

worthwhile endeavor, and that it will pay off if you subject

Quentin Smith:

yourself to going to college. And then once you get a young

Quentin Smith:

person to understand that, the next thing that comes to the

Quentin Smith:

parents, and the question is okay, that's great. You've now

Quentin Smith:

convinced my son or daughter, they should go to college, well,

Quentin Smith:

how am I going to pay for that? So it's a tree that falls in the

Quentin Smith:

woods with nobody around, it doesn't make a sound, because

Quentin Smith:

you've got to have the two of those linked together to be able

Quentin Smith:

to get the parent and the kid to just decide this is worthwhile,

Quentin Smith:

and Fleischer Scholars is that glue that helps parents and the

Quentin Smith:

kids understand both sides of those equations. So one of the

Quentin Smith:

elements about Fleischer that makes it even more different

Quentin Smith:

than it already is, in terms of getting a young person to

Quentin Smith:

understand the mental balance sheet metaphor is that we have

Quentin Smith:

another tool that helps crystallize all of the

Quentin Smith:

scholarship money that's floating around in the air, how

Quentin Smith:

to find something for them. So they can finance going to school

Quentin Smith:

and have even more than just tuition and books. And, and

Quentin Smith:

residence fees, but money leftover to be able to put some

Quentin Smith:

on the kitchen table for their for their their family. So those

Quentin Smith:

things combined makes Fleischer very unique, very powerful. And

Quentin Smith:

for people that get it, it's paid off considerably. Some,

Quentin Smith:

some don't get it, and then the parents don't get it. But for

Quentin Smith:

the ones that have and there have been quite a number. It's

Quentin Smith:

been very effective.

Matt Waller:

Well, Quentin, thank you so much for pouring

Matt Waller:

into the Fleischer Scholars Program and for serving as a

Matt Waller:

trustee to advance it, I personally have witnessed the

Matt Waller:

effects of it on students. And our results have been really

Matt Waller:

good in terms of, you know, the number of students that go to

Matt Waller:

school and then finish. So I'm very grateful for what you're

Matt Waller:

doing. With that. It's, it's really making a positive

Matt Waller:

difference. And I know that, you know, someone like you, you

Matt Waller:

could do anything you want. You don't have to do this. And same

Matt Waller:

with Mort, he could just go off and do whatever he wants. But

Matt Waller:

he's electing to serve mankind, if you will, through through

Matt Waller:

something like this.

Quentin Smith:

And on top of that a lot of people are like

Quentin Smith:

Mort, that want to do good things. But they want other

Quentin Smith:

people's money Mort has put his money where his mouth is,

Quentin Smith:

literally. And I admire him for being that dedicated. And it

Quentin Smith:

will survive financially. It- through his estate. And his

Quentin Smith:

estate has only one benefactor. And that's Fleischer Scholars.

Quentin Smith:

So it's you know, he's an exceptional man. I've been like

Quentin Smith:

I said, the biggest thing about balance sheet are people that I

Quentin Smith:

know and Mort's in the top three, other than other my

Quentin Smith:

parents. He's in the top three.

Matt Waller:

Wow.

Quentin Smith:

I enjoyed working with him. And when it was time,

Quentin Smith:

when he asked me to to get involved with Fleischer

Quentin Smith:

scholars, it wasn't, it wasn't there was no option. It was yes,

Quentin Smith:

sir. I'll do whatever you want me to.

Matt Waller:

Well, tell him I said hello. I really miss

Matt Waller:

spending time with him. I haven't seen him for a while.

Matt Waller:

But-

Quentin Smith:

Yeah, yeah he's enjoying life. And he and Donna

Quentin Smith:

are you know, traveling. He's my father would do something else

Quentin Smith:

that was really, really good. He, this was back when he only

Quentin Smith:

had an answering machine, right? And he would call me knowing

Quentin Smith:

that I was not going to be home to answer the phone and he would

Quentin Smith:

leave a single message, which was a question. When was the

Quentin Smith:

last time you smelled the roses? That's it. That was his way of

Quentin Smith:

saying I know you're a hard worker. I know you get really

Quentin Smith:

into what you're doing. But you got to take the time out. Smell

Quentin Smith:

the Roses, whatever, you're-

Matt Waller:

That is good advice.

Quentin Smith:

Yep.

Matt Waller:

That is so good. You know, one time this was a

Matt Waller:

quite a few years ago. One- I think it was- so I've been here

Matt Waller:

at the University of Arkansas for 28 years. And I've been Dean

Matt Waller:

for 8. But I remember one day I was- and I was a very hard

Matt Waller:

working professor. You know, I tried to I wanted to be the best

Matt Waller:

teacher. I wanted to be the best researcher. I was really

Matt Waller:

ambitious. And I realized one day I looked out my window I

Matt Waller:

thought this is a beautiful campus here in the Ozarks, and I

Matt Waller:

never think about it. I walk across it, and my head's always

Matt Waller:

on work, you know?

Quentin Smith:

You're like this- the tunnel you just you know,

Quentin Smith:

like you don't see all of that right?

Matt Waller:

So I got up and I took some time and I walked out

Matt Waller:

on campus and I really enjoyed it ever since then I, I do that

Matt Waller:

periodically. It's- but to your father's advice is so good. It's

Matt Waller:

good for your mental health and just being able to enjoy life.

Quentin Smith:

Yeah, another thing I told him I said, the

Quentin Smith:

older I get the smarter he gets. Because, because I, you know, I,

Quentin Smith:

he and I were would do this when he was forming me, you know,

Quentin Smith:

because it was it was pretty brutal given I'll give you all

Quentin Smith:

the examples if you got a minute. So I was probably about

Quentin Smith:

eight, nine years old, and I was down at the local YMCA and there

Quentin Smith:

was a flyer that says learn how to swim for $15. So I come home

Quentin Smith:

with the flyer and I said, dad, I need 15 dollars, I'm going to

Quentin Smith:

learn how to swim. And he goes, you know, you don't need $15 I

Quentin Smith:

said what was that it's not free. He said, get your swim

Quentin Smith:

shorts on- get your swim shorts, come with me. So Gary, if you

Quentin Smith:

know geography Gary's right at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Our

Quentin Smith:

house was probably eight miles as the crow flies from Lake

Quentin Smith:

Michigan. Okay, so he piles me in the car takes me out to the

Quentin Smith:

beach and Lake Michigan has me going a little restroom change

Quentin Smith:

clothes. Now my dad- can't tell by looking at me- My mother was

Quentin Smith:

5' 1" my father's 6' 3" to 4". Okay, so I'm right in the

Quentin Smith:

middle. So he picks me up over his head, walks all the way out

Quentin Smith:

into Lake Michigan up to here and throws me and walks back.

Matt Waller:

Oh my goodness.

Quentin Smith:

So he goes back and he's sitting, reading a

Quentin Smith:

book. And about it felt like an hour later, but a few minutes.

Quentin Smith:

I'm here I am- I'm back on the beach. And he goes, so how did

Quentin Smith:

you get here? I said I guess I swam. He said I told you you

Quentin Smith:

didn't need that 15 dollars.

Matt Waller:

Oh, my goodness.

Quentin Smith:

That's the way he raised me. Okay. Fortunately, I

Quentin Smith:

was able to withstand that approach. Because he I mean, I

Quentin Smith:

all the things I did at the military school. Just top of

Quentin Smith:

everything. I'm given the president speech as a graduating

Quentin Smith:

class, I look in the audience. I see my mother, my aunt, my

Quentin Smith:

brother and an empty seat. I figure oh my father's out having

Quentin Smith:

a smoke or something. I finished, we graduate- graduate.

Quentin Smith:

I asked, where's Dad, he didn't come. So two hours from Military

Quentin Smith:

School back to Gary, I'm just steamed coming out of my- I get

Quentin Smith:

in the house. And I'm all in his face. And he says, when you do

Quentin Smith:

something worth me showing up, let me know. That's the way I

Quentin Smith:

got raised.

Matt Waller:

Whoa-

Quentin Smith:

Yeah

Matt Waller:

High standards.

Quentin Smith:

I mean, he and as a result, you know, he figured

Quentin Smith:

either, I was just gonna fold completely, or it was gonna make

Quentin Smith:

me like tungsten steel, because he knew that the environment

Quentin Smith:

that I was going to have to live in, was going to be tough. It

Quentin Smith:

was going to be still preJ-, you know, a lot of prejudice. And

Quentin Smith:

you've got to work harder than the next guy, because of the

Quentin Smith:

color of your skin. And he would not let me leave the nest unless

Quentin Smith:

I had that tungsten steel coating first. And it ser- it

Quentin Smith:

has served me well. He raised my brother the same way. He didn't

Quentin Smith:

he didn't make it, he- it broke him. But for me that that's what

Quentin Smith:

keeps you know, the- Dracula away. I mean, that's, that's

Quentin Smith:

that's the skin I have around me from what he built around me to

Quentin Smith:

be able to, to give me that tungsten. So very, very

Quentin Smith:

interesting background.

Matt Waller:

Well, Quentin, congratulations on your

Matt Waller:

tremendous career success. And thank you again for what you're

Matt Waller:

doing with Mort and and the Fleischer Scholars Program. It's

Matt Waller:

needed and making a positive difference in society. So thank

Matt Waller:

you.

Quentin Smith:

Well, in fact, even just one kid, we've done it

Quentin Smith:

done a lot, but we were doing it but by the hundreds and

Quentin Smith:

hopefully get to the 1000s. And, and it's a bit it's one of the

Quentin Smith:

best things I'm involved in as well as the hospital system. So

Quentin Smith:

I thank you for the opportunity to talk and to make your

Quentin Smith:

acquaintance. I'm sure we will probably talk again and maybe

Quentin Smith:

make a trip down with Mort to to the university and in the

Quentin Smith:

future.

Matt Waller:

I would love that.

Quentin Smith:

Okay, take care. Have a great week.

Matt Waller:

On behalf of the Sam M. Walton College of

Matt Waller:

Business, I want to thank everyone for spending time with

Matt Waller:

us for another engaging conversation. You can subscribe

Matt Waller:

by going to your favorite podcast service and searching.

Listen for free

Show artwork for Be EPIC Podcast

About the Podcast

Be EPIC Podcast
Welcome to the Be Epic Podcast featuring Brent Williams, interim dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. In each episode, you will hear from guests that will inspire you to be epic. As experts in their field, they will emphasize strategy, leadership, and entrepreneurship. This programming will highlight innovation and cutting-edge information that will leave you wanting more. Be sure to connect with Brent Williams on LinkedIn to join the conversation, access show notes and discover fantastic bonus content.