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I'm here with John Huntsman senior one
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of the world's greatest philanthropists
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and Business Leaders welcome thank you
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Adam talk to us about the story behind
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your book Barefoot to billionaire how
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did you go from literally having nothing
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to running the world's largest Chemical
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Corporation well through a lot of luck
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and through uh through uh uh the ability
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to surround myself with many people who
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had talents and abilities uh different
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and in many cases far better than my own
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and uh being a risk
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taker and uh putting everything on the
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line time and time again because I
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believed in myself believed in my team
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believed in the products that we were
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producing and
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Manufacturing and uh because it's a lot
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of fun and uh and and I knew that uh if
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we were successful we could uh we could
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make other people success uccessful and
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happy and and uh bring about some of the
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sorrows and heartaches that uh correct
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some of those in some people's lives
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that would had in our own lives so there
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were a lot of deep meanings behind it
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but most importantly was a opportunity
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to keep driving and driving and never
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giving up and what were the biggest
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lessons that you learned along the way
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are there assumptions that you held
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about leadership or business that you
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thought were true and turned out to be
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false uh to some extent I found found
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that
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academically uh it really didn't matter
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whether ID received a certain grade in a
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class it didn't matter too much about uh
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what schools want to attend I know that
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I shouldn't say that at Warden what
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matters I think is uh is one's uh Drive
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one's uh intelligence with respect to a
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quantitative areas I think you have to
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understand math and and and and um and
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and and a quantitative type mindset to
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out-negotiate your opponents because I
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never have used computers or calculators
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I've always been able to figure out in
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my head far before my opposition has in
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negotiating for Acquisitions where we
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need to be and what the numbers are and
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and how we could get uh get the best
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side of the bargain without having to
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resort to accountants or assistants or
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financial experts so I've been blessed
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with with that good uh luck if if you
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will but most importantly I think never
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giving up uh believing in yourself and
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believing in your product and uh there
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are very very few true entrepreneurs
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most people give it a shot for a year or
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two and then go to work for somebody
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else and say I'm an entrepreneur who
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didn't make it they're really not
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entrepreneurs true entrepreneurs have to
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really uh uh uh forego almost everything
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they have to put it all on the line line
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they have to go through tremendous
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downswings and still come back fighting
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and Swinging they have to know what it
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means to come out of The Valleys of
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death and still be successful and keep
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uh keep a positive attitude and always
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make your team around you feel like
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you're succeeding even though you know
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way down deep it's a long shot you have
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to be the fighter and the leader and the
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one who uh who who who instills energy
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and hope in others do you have any
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favorite practices for instill
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instilling energy and Hope and and sort
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of especially when when things are down
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and people are struggling helping people
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regain their confidence well I've always
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believed the glass was half full is half
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full and uh and perhaps was born
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Sunnyside Up and therefore I look at the
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good and the positive and everything
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we're doing and there always is some
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aspect of good goodness and some
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positive element to a successful
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acquisition or a successful business and
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so you build on the successes this
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successes may only be 20 or 25 or 30% of
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the total mix but you build on those
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successes so that you don't concentrate
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and focus on the negative and I think
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that's helped immensely to have that
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basic thought process going through the
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organization or or the group of people
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you're working with one of your early
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successes was the clamshell container
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that many of us have eaten Big Macs out
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of from McDonald's uh was was that a
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milestone in your career and and how did
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it shape what came next well it really
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wasn't we first invented the plastic
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plates bowls and dishes and and takeout
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food containers and egg cartons and meat
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trays I'd go through grocery store
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aisles and look at everything made of
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paper and glass and say some days these
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could be made out of plastic and of
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course we ended ma manufacturing
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products out of plastic 30 years ago and
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are now into very sophisticated
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composite plastics for Airlines and
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Automobiles and bicycles and and paint
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and rubber and cosmetics and soap and
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detergents and electronics and medical
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supplies and
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pharmaceuticals but in the early days uh
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the Big Mac container was quite
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successful in the sense that McDonald's
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overwhelmed me with orders and it caused
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us to build several new plants here and
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in Europe and uh it was obviously the
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first breakthrough from paper which cost
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twice as much it leaked it used more
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energy its biodegradable abilities were
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were the same as plastic when you put
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anything under dirt they don't
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biodegrade anyway no matter what it's
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made out of and it it it allowed the
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products to stay fresher longer so they
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could produce more of them before lunch
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and move move many more Products off the
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shelf so it was really uh in in that era
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in 1973 74 it was a great breakthrough
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in Fresh Foods and in keeping products
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fresher longer and and uh and today it
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has its upsides and its downsides
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environmentally and uh we uh were great
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leaders in the areas of recycling and
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reusing products and spent hundreds of
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millions of dollars to uh build some of
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the greatest and largest recycling
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facilities but today for the last 25 30
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years we've not been in those products
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but they it was a great start it was I
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always told Dow Chemical when I was
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working for Dow before I started my own
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business 45 years ago that they should
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get into some of these products but they
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were too large and bureaucratic and and
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to them Innovation and creativity just
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didn't exist today there are Partners in
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different products around the world and
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and uh so life has changed so in those
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early days you also spent some time in
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the Richard Nixon Administration right
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what did you learn from that experience
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well I learned uh from the Richard Nixon
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Administration a great deal of uh
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information and knowledge about what I
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didn't want to do sometimes we have role
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leaders who teach us by example what to
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do I found in my life that most of my
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leaders have taught me great examples of
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how I should do the opposite or
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some uh uh aspect of what they are
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teaching uh that uh I didn't want to
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pursue I would pick it up from their uh
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characteristics the president was a man
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of very fair uh uh uh mind a very
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intelligent man very gracious to the ch
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children uh I was his executive
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assistant staff secretary and assistant
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to the president and I found uh
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President Nixon to uh do some great
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things for America this strategic arms
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limitation talks open relationships with
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the the Soviets for the first time in
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history and Reagan later was able to
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capitalize on that the uh war on cancer
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on December 23rd 1971 my mother just
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died of cancer that meant a great deal
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to me the uh the opening of
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relationships with the People's Republic
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of China unfortunately there was another
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side to Richard Nixon the cynical side
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the dubious side the more uh the uh uh
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oh I want to say
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uh
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uh it's hard to pick a word that it
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doesn't uh hurt somebody's image but I
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think it was it was a uh a trick a non a
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non positive side it was more of a
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negative side I I never worked with them
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when I saw that side around me it seemed
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like there was always a very
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professional approach and but from Bob
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halderman who was a chief of staff he
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was the one who implemented a lot of
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Rich Richard Nixon's negative uh
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suggestions and and halderman was a
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terrible role model and from him I
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learned what not to do and I told him
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that when I left left the White House I
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said you've given me the greatest lesson
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in how not to build a business on how
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not to manage people how not to treat
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people and I want to thank you for this
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experience that was our last days after
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we got out of prison and years later at
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paton's funeral I put my arms around him
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and gave him a hug and told him that uh
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all was forgotten and he said the same
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thing and he died a few years later wow
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well this this is an example of
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something else I wanted to ask about
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which is you're known by I think
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everyone who's interacted with you for
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having impeccable integrity honesty and
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I think that that leads you to be
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willing to speak about some things that
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others perhaps are not how do you think
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about that um you know do do you ever
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hesitate in a situation like that to
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speak your mind no you know I think each
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one of us is born with a moral compass
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and and uh some of us uh have that at
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Birth and others are taught that through
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uh through schooling or through
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parentage proper parentage and in my
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case it it uh I felt very fortunate that
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I've known right from wrong and I knew
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when halderman would tell me to do
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something and I wouldn't do it that I
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could get fired but I I knew it was
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wrong people know when they're doing
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something that's not right their moral
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compass tells each of us whether it's
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right or wrong we don't need to uh uh
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you know spend a lot of time in classes
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and courses and studies about the
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difference between something that's uh
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ethically or or or criminally or or or
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or morally wrong and in my own mind I
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just felt I would never do that in my
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life it wasn't worth it you know I
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wanted Sons and Daughters a lovely wife
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and a family and to be respected and
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when I was here at Wharton I always
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found Wharton to be an enormous example
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of uh of of strong moral values and and
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and honorable and honesty and integrity
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and I I learned so much at at Warden and
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at pen uh from from my you know I was
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raised with nothing in the in a rural
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farm community in Idaho and I found the
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school to be a great school for ethics
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well you've you've certainly given us a
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shining example of that as one of 19
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people on Earth who have ever given away
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over a billion dollars well thank you
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and we're obviously all grateful for
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that uh it's interesting that this
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happened at a particular stage in your
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career when you had previously not
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really done much philanthropy and all of
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a sudden just giving and giving and
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giving what caused the shift for you
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well I think it was because as a young
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boy I always would share what I had with
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my Rel atives who were who were uh
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without most everything they they were
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just
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uh most of them lived in a very small
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town neither Idaho or Utah and struggled
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to get by they they would be on the
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poverty level today although believe it
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or not they were all strong
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Republicans uh but uh I would share what
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little I had as a boy not much they
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would share what little they had with me
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which wasn't much maybe it was a pair of
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shoes I remember one time they let me
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wear their their pocket watch to class
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$1 pocket watch which was a big deal for
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me they let me drive their old pickup
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trucks which taught me how to drive
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maybe we're 12 or 15 years old but we
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would share what little we had and As I
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Grew Older and and developed uh wealth
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of of a small amount I would share it
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back with them and I would begin to
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share it with others all throughout my
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life it's just been a matter of paying
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wealth so you could give it back I've
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never thought about giving wealth away
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is uh anything other than the normal and
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usual thing that individuals do never
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occurred to me that anybody would ever
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say is that different or why do you do
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that or or uh other people don't do that
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I just thought everybody did that that
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was the way we were raised well you
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you've gone to some unusual lengths
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though uh taking out personal loans to
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fulfill charitable commitments uh voting
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against your own political party if
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there's another candidate who would
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fight cancer
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um what is it that pushes you to give to
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that
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level well I just think that uh uh
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people who who have the means and don't
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share it with others are not
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particularly people that I enjoy being
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around I I think uh the love of our
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brothers and sisters people of all Races
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and backgrounds and ethnic groups uh a
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wonderful Jewish Family sent me to pen
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I'm a Mormon boy from the rural Idaho
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they didn't ask my religion
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and I've given over 5,000
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scholarships I always think of
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them because they didn't ask me anything
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other than you know are you honest and
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have you done your
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best and that's all I ask and so they
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set a tone and a
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temperament uh that uh kind of allowed
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me to see a sight of life that meant
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more to me than anything in the world
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and so with others I kind of copied
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them uh you've you've been awfully
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original for someone who claims to copy
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I I will say it's interesting that uh
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when you went to to talk about signing
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the giving pledge uh you had an
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objection to Warren Buffett that that
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few would have expected uh and you said
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no I I don't think this pledge is right
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tell us about that well Warren's always
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been a great friend he's a he's a
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wonderful American as so as Bill Gates
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and they give tremendous amounts as you
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know for malaria over in Africa other
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diseases are just tremendous but when
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Warren put together as group of
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originally 45 billionaires so that they
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could give 50% of their fortunes away it
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I thought to myself well that's the most
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unusual thing I've ever heard some of
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these people are worth 10 billion do or
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20 billion if they lived on half of it
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suppose they were worth 10 and they
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lived on $5
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billion that's really a struggle to get
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to life on $5 billion and and I'd been
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giving you know a good portion of
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whatever we had made for years maybe 25
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or 30 years by the time the giving
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pledge was established about 3 or four
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years ago and at our first meeting we
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had they all told up and stood up and
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some of the folks said well you know I
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gave $500,000 the other day and somebody
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else would say well let me tell you my
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story about giving a million dollars
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away and I thought these these folks are
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worth billions what are they talking
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about giving 1% or two% so I stood up in
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the back when just toward the end of the
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meeting I said you know we ought to be
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ashamed of ourselves to be talking about
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giving 50% % away we should be giving
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80% away 90% I mean how much does it
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take us to put food on our table and the
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necessities of life and live a
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comfortable life and have everything we
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really need and other people and other
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organizations and sick people and people
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need the money and we don't why don't we
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make it 80% Warren said John sit down
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and be quiet let's get let's get them up
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to 5% then 10% and then 50% and uh you
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know not all of us started out uh like
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you did where you know you didn't where
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you where you've always given and I have
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all my life when I was making $300 a
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month as a young naval officer I was
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giving $50 a month to a family down the
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street who needed it more than I did in
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addition to my 10% tithing to my church
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but but it was just it was just part and
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partial of who you are and what your
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values are well it's it's been a
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tremendous example for us all to learn
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from and uh thoroughly enjoyed reading
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barefoot to billionaire full of of
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stories of not only great honesty and
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integrity but also some great pranks
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thank you thank you very much it's a
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great honor to be back at pen the honor
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is ours thank you
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[Music]
