Five Major Influencers for Jeffrey Hayzlett's Work Ethic

At the end of his interview on Smashing the Plateau, Jeffrey Hayzlett listed five people who helped shape who he became over the course of his life; he noted that “The people that have been real pivotal in my career aren’t the people who typically you’re going to see with Twitter accounts, or on the front pages of the newspaper, or on television.”

1. Fred Pinson: “A plumber… he hired me when I was young. My father was over in Vietnam at the time, and I became a plumber’s assistant. He gave me a job so I could make some money—and he showed me the right way to do things, and the wrong way to do things.”

2. Harold Jones: “A former Vietnam Veteran— helicopter Marine gunner—he was my coach at baseball. And he and his wife Gayle kind of adopted me, at a pivotal time in my young adulthood, and made sure I didn’t screw up.”

3. Michael O’Connor: “I bought a printing operation from Mike, and he became a great friend, and was a State senator for years in South Dakota, and ran for governor. And he was one of those great mentors, who showed me how to make profit, how to do the right kinds of things. And I screwed up and he helped me get out of it.”

4. John Timmer: “I was a Democrat, and he was a Republican—ran for Congress, but I still loved he guy. And just a great, great businessman– insurance executive.”

5. Henrietta Mangus and Bill Hayzlett: “My parents. My dad was a sergeant in the military, and my mother was a bookkeeper, and then went on to become a great real-estate agent, and sold millions and millions of dollars’ worth of real estate.”

Hayzlett described how “Those kinds of people with the work ethics—those are the people that I admire more than anybody.”