Cover Story
The Huizenga file
By Daniel G. Jacobs
Smart Business Broward/Palm Beach | September 2005
Born: Dec. 29, 1937, Evergreen Park, Ill.
Education: Pine Crest School, a year-and-a-half at Calvin College (in Grand Rapids, Mich.). I was there about a year-and-a-half, and I came home at Christmas.
I told my parents I don’t want to go back. I’m going to take the next couple of months off. Then I’m going to go to the University of Miami. It’s too cold in Grand Rapids, Mich. (He never made it to UM, but went into the garbage business instead.)
First job: Pumping gas at the gas station after school. It teaches you how to work with customers. It teaches you responsibilities you have as an employee. You learn everything along the way. No matter what you’re doing, the big thing is dealing with people.
What is the greatest business lesson you’ve ever learned?
I wouldn’t call it a lesson, but the biggest thing I’ve learned along the way is the ability to work through people. When I was at Waste Management early on in my career, we operated businesses in London, in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Argentina, Hong Kong — all around.
When you have businesses that are far flung, you have to do it in a formalized fashion. Then you deal a lot over the telephone. You have to have the ability to connect with people that are distant and have the confidence that you can work through those people, because they are the ones out in the field that have to make it happen.
That is what gave me the confidence early in my career to go out and do a lot of different things — as long as you had the right people doing them.
What is the greatest business challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?
Early on in my career, dealing with Wall Street was different. When we were in the garbage collection business, people always said the garbage collection business was mafia. Maybe, and I underline maybe, it was in New York and New Jersey.
It wasn’t where I started. And it wasn’t in Chicago. So, when we went public, we had to convince Wall Street that we weren’t part of the mafia. That was a hard task. As time went on, it became easier and easier and easier.
After you have a couple of successes, Wall Street jumps on your bandwagon real quick. So, it was pretty easy after that.
Whom do you admire most in business and why?
I admire a lot of people. I admire Dean Buntrock, who was my partner at Waste Management. I admire George Johnson from Extended Stay America. He’s a great entrepreneur.
I like Jack Welch a lot. One of the guys I think is a really good executive is Riley Bechtel from Bechtel (Group Inc.) out in San Francisco. Bill Esrey (former Sprint CEO) was a great business guy at Sprint.
