For Tony Renda Sr., making mistakes isn’t the worst sin one can make in business. The deadliest sin, according to Renda, is
failing to make a decision, even if the decision you make turns out to be wrong. For that reason, the president of Renda
Broadcasting tries to hire the best managers and encourages them to make the best decisions they can for the company, which
owns 25 radio stations and posted $45 million in revenue in 2006.
Smart Business spoke with Renda about how he makes
decisions, one of the best sources for advice and what his business has in common with a hot dog stand.
Give the next generation of leadership
room to make decisions. You must accept
the fact that everybody’s not going to do
things your way, and your way is not
always the right way. I was fortunate in that
my father was in the grocery store business. I wanted to go into the radio business, so I didn’t have my father looking
over my shoulder, seeing every dumb, stupid mistake that I made.
Anybody who goes into business makes
mistakes. One of the downsides to having
your father in the business and sometimes
working alongside of you, you make some
decisions that are in question. And I have to
constantly remind myself that these are not
necessarily bad decisions, they’re different
decisions. What you hope is your children
or your managers are bright enough that
when they do make a decision, and it’s not
the right decision, that they back up and
change it.
Make decisions, but fix them if you’re
wrong. The worst thing in the world is to
not make a decision; I guarantee that’s a
killer. Make a decision, and if you use the
brains that God gave you, you’ll realize that
it was the wrong decision.
Now, be smart enough to back up, be
smart enough to change, because now you
have more information. You didn’t make
the wrong decision back there, you made
the decision predicated on the information
you had at that time. You go down the road
a little bit and you find out that was a
wrong decision because you’re getting
other information that’s telling you it was a
wrong decision.
Look at your business like it’s a hot dog
stand. Someplace along the line, you begin
to realize that you cannot do everything,
you can’t make every decision, and so you
surround yourself with very, very good
people.
You see those little hot dog stands in New
York where there’s a guy selling hot dogs,
drinks and candies and other things. I’ve
always said that as long as he’s running one
of those little hot dog stands, that guy can
probably take all the credit for all the success or the blame for the failure. He buys the hot dogs, he buys the buns, he figures
out how to keep the hot dogs warm before
he sells them. But the day that he’s standing
on the corner and looks down at the other
corner, and realizes that he’s losing some
business down there and that there might
be another opportunity, and he puts someone down there to run it — the day he does
that, he’s out of the hot dog business and in
the people business. The success of the
second one is going to be predicated on the
guy he gets to run it and how well he handles it.
If you want advice, ask for it, even from
your competitors. I cannot tell you the
number of times I’ve picked up the phone
and called somebody in another company
and said, ‘Hey, I understand you’re doing
this,’ or, ‘I’m having this kind of problem.
How do you approach this? How do you
handle it?’ And I’m talking about competitors.
I will tell you I have never been turned
down by anybody when I asked their
advice, asked their direction. They may not
be a direct competitor, they may not be in
all the same markets that we are, but people are willing to share good ideas. It takes
a self-confident person to do that, to pick
up the phone and tell someone that you
don’t necessarily think you have the right
or the best idea on something. It’s amazing
how helpful people will be. What we try to
do — and I tell all my managers this — is to
talk to people who are in other businesses
and ask them what they do. Don’t be afraid
to ask for advice. You will be surprised how
generous people will be with their time and
their advice.
Be passionate and committed to your business. The two most important things are
commitment and passion for what you do.
Sure, you have to be smart, but I don’t think
you have to be the brightest bulb in the
chandelier.
There are nights when I go to sleep when
I can’t wait to wake up in the morning, to
get involved and get to work. There are so
many down times that one has in business.
If you’re faced with that, you better be
committed.
Stay close to your people. I think you have
to be in front of people, you’ve got to walk
up and down the aisles of your business.
You’ve got to talk to people. At any one of
our radio stations, we have people who
have been with us for years. I know them
and their families. You talk to them about
that, you talk to them about the business.
One of my favorite expressions is, ‘Are we
still in business? Tell me about that.’ But
there has to be a balance. Don’t waste people’s time. I know when I visit a market, I
know that I’m going to waste a little bit of
people’s time. I’m going to be disruptive
just by the fact that I’m there.
Don’t think you are Picasso unless you are.
I think there are very few people who can
take 100 percent credit for what they do.
Any president, any owner of any company
that tells you, ‘I did this, and I did that, and
I created that,’ that is nothing but BS, not
unless he’s Picasso, or he has that hot dog
stand. It’s the people.
HOW TO REACH: Renda Broadcasting Corp., (412) 875-1800 or
www.rendabroadcasting.com
