One of the highlights of last week’s World Business Forum, for me, had to be the candid conversations with T. Boone Pickens and George Lucas. Both were couch-interviewed and held the audience captive with their stories and their wit.

Pickens’ accent had me riveted, too, as well as a bit homesick for my home-state of Texas. Reminding us that he was 70 years old before he made his first billion, he had a lot to say about the current state of both the economy and the environment.

He asserted that part of the problem with the economy has been CEO’s focus on pay, perks, privileges, and prestige. They are overly focused, as we heard from a couple of the other speakers, on short-term profits rather than long-term value. When they’re so internally focused and into self-preservation, the wrong decisions are made for the wrong reasons. Seems to me that part of the problem is in how Wall Street measures success, a topic some of the leaders alluded to but I can’t remember coming right out and saying that.

As for the environment, I appreciated his candid and seemingly authentic answers. When asked if he was focused on the environment purely because it was a “noble” cause, he answered honestly “yes, but I also expect to make money  and I don’t have to apologize for that”.  Or as I tell my students and clients, “it is easier to change the world when you have money.” There’s nothing wrong with making a profit while doing good…something many called the triple bottom line. He then pointed out that if all he wanted to do was make money, he wouldn’t have sunk $62M into natural gas. He’s doing it because he believes it is the right thing to do, as he admitted he’s always had a “shade of green.”

George Lucas was likewise engaging with a very entrepreneurial attitude. He’s had to work hard with limited resources,

living on chocolate bars and little sleep following his passion. In his brief time on stage, he shared several great lessons for all of us:

• Believe in yourself. He took a very modest salary for Star Wars but opted, instead, for 40% of the merchandising rights. He described going around selling T-shirts for the movie out of the back of his van – before it ever came out. A great gamble for him yielding a lot of money.
• Follow your passion. He actually said he never really set out to make a lot of money he was just following his passion for telling a story.
• Keep your eye on the changes in the market. Unlike some of his colleagues, he is embracing new technologies and learning to work within their medium. He even said that at some point he could see himself making movies that get released directly to the iPhone. Bad news for theatre owners, for sure.
• Choose carefully what you delegate. His vision for Star Wars was unmatched. He tried to delegate the artistic part of telling the story but, as he put it, he was the only who really knew the universe. Instead, he focused on the goal and engaged others when necessary to meet them.

One of his most memorable quotes I took away was more personal than business. He answered a question as Yoda would: Be careful what you hate, you may become it. Great words to live by.

Tags: #wbf09, George Lucas, StarWars, world business forum

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