 "Photo: Tri Vo")
Henry Juszkiewicz has always been a divided man. He believes he's both right- and left-brained. He also says he has both a bold, passionate side and an intellectual, business-savvy side.
"My story is about conflict," the chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp. told students during his visit at the Texas Union Ballroom Thursday evening.
Juszkiewicz is the latest in a list of recent speakers brought to the University by the Distinguished Speakers Committee that includes filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His speech was both biographical and business-oriented.
"My two sides are constantly at war. But from these conflicts come some of my best creations," Juszkiewicz said.
The businessman went on to speak about his life and adventures in the corporate world, both before and after he took over Gibson. After his lecture, he picked up an electric Gibson guitar and played a few selections for the audience. Juszkiewicz has been playing guitar since he was in high school.
While in college, Juszkiewicz made it a personal goal of his to own a company. His Harvard business professors offered him no advice, however; none of them had ever purchased a company before.
No matter, he thought. "That's when I let my bold side kick in," Juszkiewicz said.
In 1981, after six months of conducting intense research and personnel interviews, Juszkiewicz and two of his former Harvard classmates purchased Oklahoma-based Phi Technologies, a research and development manufacturing company.
It wasn't until 1986 that he acquired the struggling Gibson guitar company, originally created in 1894. Since that time, Juszkiewicz's creative business approach and "customer first" mentality has led to an average annual growth of nearly 20 percent, he said.
"I have always found that success in business comes from passionate leadership," Juszkiewicz said. "I told myself in high school, 'I'm not going to be able to make a living in music.' But I got involved with Gibson because of my passion and my creative side."
"We try to bring speakers from all different genres, and he represents two areas that we've never had a speaker for: music and business," said marketing senior Megan Young, chair of the Distinguished Speakers Committee of the Student Events Center.
Gibson has joined such guitar legends as ZZ Top, Slash of Guns N' Roses and Joan Osbourne on stage. Musicians who use Gibson guitars include BB King, Carlos Santana, Les Paul, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, The Edge of U2, Willie Nelson and countless others.
This year Juszkiewicz received the Patron of the Arts Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame for "refocusing the company on achieving the highest possible standards of quality and customer service."
The audience of about 150 people included students from business, accounting, music and other majors.
"We hoped he could bring a lot of diverse students together," Young said. "He's legendary in both music and business, and that's a rare combination."
Be the first to comment on this article!