Grant Cardone visited NSU as part of the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Jan. 29 in which 175 students, faculty, and special guests attended.
Cardone is founder and CEO of three multi-million-dollar companies, executive producer and star of the show “Turnaround King,” host of the weekly radio show “Cardone Zone” on Sirius XM, and frequent guest on Fox Business, CNBC and MSNBC.
President George Hanbury II; Lydia Acosta, vice president of Information Services and university librarian; Rick Case, NSU board of trustees member; and actress Elena Lyons-Cardone, Cardone’s wife, were among the special guests who attended the event.
Case suggested Cardone as a speaker to the Office of Development because of his accomplishments, knowledge and experiences in business. As Case described in his introduction, NSU’s business school is a phenomenal sales institute and no matter what career a student chooses, they should know how to sell. He then introduced Cardone as “the world’s greatest salesman.”
Cardone described himself as a self-made man from Louisiana who “goes for any and everything”, and said that one of his main goals was to make it to a position where he would be able to help others.
Though Cardone’s father died many years ago, he always remembered his father’s words: “If you know how to sell, you could do anything, any where, any time.”
Raquel Case, daughter of Rick Case and studio director of Rick Case Fiat in Davie, said, “I had to work just as hard as everyone else to get to where I am today, and continue to everyday. When you’re active, you won’t watch TV, you’ll make it.”
Lyons-Cardone provided a personal perspective of her husband’s ideologies and said that they are raising their two daughters to never “be careful” and to always go after what they want. From her experiences as an actress, Lyons-Cardone learned to never sit back and wait for opportunities.
In his lecture, Cardone defined success as the difference between one’s potential and capability. He also provided tips for college students entering the workforce, while recognizing that they face many challenges, including intense competition.
Emmanuel Rivera, who works for a financial services company in Cooper City, found out that Cardone was visiting NSU through Google News. He said that it was great to see that there are people who are willing to go out there and make this country economically better.
Cardone wrapped up his lecture by asking the audience what they had learned from him. Several people said that they need to just “go for it” and never question themselves.
Edwina Ward, graduate student in cross-disciplinary studies, said, “When I heard about this event online, I knew I needed to be there. I learned you have to be aggressive and a go-getter. Don’t worry about how you appear or sound to everyone else, just get out there.”
