John Furth was recently interviewed by The Clark Hulings Fund (CHF) as part of their podcast series on business and art. CHF helps professional visual artists compete in an increasingly complex marketplace by providing them with strategic business support, training, and targeted financial assistance.
Click here to listen to the podcast
Evolution of the CEO
- “There has been a shift, and with that shift business people have learned that the softer side of life plays a huge role in success.”
- “What makes a great leader, a great CEO or a great artist is a commitment to continuous learning. They’re on a mission to not let themselves get blindsided by things they don’t know.”
- “You have to disrupt your mindset—a belief can get in the way of your growth.”
Assessing Business Effectiveness
- “You listen to the stories the CEO and his team are constructing as they go along, and you’re listening for things that don’t make sense: mindset issues, beliefs about business that are either not logical or not true.”
- “When is it time to hire a Chief Marketing Officer, or expand a portfolio of products? That’s part of growth and decision-making—that’s a learned skill, and it’s hard to do that without a mentor or group of people that can help you navigate your decision-making.”
- “The number one reason why a company fails is very simple—they run out of money. You have to be financially secure, in any situation, to build and grow.”
Identify What You Want
- “A lot of people come to me when they have found that somehow, it’s not working the way they thought it would, and it’s because they’re actually not clear on what it is they’re trying to achieve.”
- “The most powerful thing for someone trying to start something—be it an artist or building a company—you have to know and be really clear about what exactly it is you want. You get what you want, and if you don’t know what you want, you don’t get anything.”
- “You really do need to navigate growth and understand what’s going to come next—the challenge for young entrepreneurs is they do not know what they don’t know.”