Wayne Huizenga is the only person in history to have founded three different Fortune 500 companies. This extraordinary accomplishment was marked not just by what he achieved, but how he achieved it.

What three secrets did one of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs know about strengths you can apply today?

Knowing Your Strengths Clears The Way

A key aspect of strengths coaching is helping people become more of who they are instead of “fixing” who they are not.

As Donald Clifton said, “There is no alchemy for weaknesses. They can be removed, but they cannot be transformed into strengths. The goal, therefore, is to aggressively manage weaknesses so the strengths can be freed to develop.”

Wayne Huizenga understood the wisdom behind this truth.

He knew he was a natural builder, not an administrator or keeper of the status quo.

In 1968, the Chicago born entrepreneur started his first business in garbage collection with just one truck. He grew the business to 40 trucks locally and eventually took Waste Management Inc. public in 1972. Just ten years later, it was the largest trash collection company in the United States.

“I’d rather build a company than manage one.” Huizenga told the Wall Street Journal in 1994.

Did Huizenga spend his career perfecting his administrative skills or plugging “competency gaps”? Not by a long shot. As he and Don Clifton both knew, spending a lifetime straining to turn weaknesses into strengths is a recipe for misery.

To maximize our productivity, success and wellbeing, we must find ways to put our natural talents to work every day.

Crucially, Huizenga’s knowledge of the power of strengths extended far beyond mastering his own.

Hire Winners And Let Them Win

In 1986, the video rental revolution was still a fraction of the massive market it would become.

Huizenga’s instincts as a disrupting visionary sensed an opportunity. An intriguing but slow-growing company called Blockbuster Video had come to his attention. After scrutinizing the video industry landscape, he realized it might just be a McDonald’s-level franchise waiting to happen.

Yet, Huizenga knew he lacked a key piece of the puzzle. He needed people with strengths and expertise in the retail environment he didn’t possess at the time.

In 1988, he hired Luigi Salvaneschi as president of the young video company. Salvaneschi was a former McDonald’s and KFC real estate manager. He was also an expert in fast-food site selection and franchising business techniques.

When Huizenga bought Blockbuster Video in 1987, the company was a $7 million business with 19 locations. By 1991, the company had grown to 1,654 stores including 78 international locations. Three years later, Huizenga sold Blockbuster to Viacom for $8.4 billion.

This didn’t happen by accident.

A key element to Blockbuster’s success was Huizenga’s ability to evaluate and mobilize the strengths he saw in others.

Salvaneschi was a master at growing franchises. Huizenga predicted the winner in the video rental market hinged on borrowing and deploying fast food growth strategies. Then, he matched the strengths to the required work.

As research shows, a strengths-based mindset and culture increases not only sales and profits, but it also helps lower employee turnover and improve customer engagement.

When we’re using our strengths, we’re engaged. When we’re engaged, we deliver better results.

This talent for “strengths spotting” helped each of Huizenga’s companies collaborate more effectively, achieve bigger goals and make business history.

How Will You Use Your QTR?

When you’re doing what you’re made to do, life is a lot more fun.

This happens when we align how we naturally think, feel and behave with our daily work. As you master your strengths, you will even begin to grow impatient for new opportunities to put them into action.

Life becomes an adventure playground and work becomes a game.

Huizenga, who passed away on March 22, 2018, was regarded as a man of strong character and genuine kindness.

Coach Nick Saban said, “There is nobody other than my parents that had a greater impact on me in terms of someone I would like to emulate and be like (than Huizenga).”

Jimmy Johnson also described Huizenga as “A great man and one of the nicest individuals I have known.”

High praise, indeed.

Huizenga’s character and kindness flowed, in part, from the fact that he discovered early on what he was made to do. He then created a life that allowed him to do that every day.

In his later years, he and a close friend would end their phone calls by reminding each other of their QTR or “quality time remaining”.

That idea really resonates with me. If you’re living out your strengths as Huizenga did, you’re hyper-aware of your daily opportunity to grow, influence and achieve. In fact, your specific industry or organization is actually less relevant than you may realize.

Do you get to do what you do best every day? How are you using your QTR and is it in service to your own strengths?

You may not start three different Fortune 500 companies like Wayne Huizenga, but his keen understanding of the power of strengths is an example worth modeling.

As you reflect on the two questions above, here’s a helpful check-in to make sure you make the most of your QTR.

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