Future CEO Blog: What I wish I knew about the World when I was in High School

You hope you have an understanding about how the world works BEFORE you go out into the world and make your mark. What you’ve read in the newspapers and magazines, what you learned in school, what you hear from your parents and what you see on TV and social media – they all have a part in informing you about the world around you. I was pretty much the same as you coming out of high school (well, OK, my time was before social media!).

I thought I knew what was going on in the world. I said to myself, “go out, find what you do well, and then do it to the best of your ability”. I also think that was the valedictorian’s message to us on graduation day. But there were things I DIDN’T KNOW about the way the world operates that I wish I had known, now looking back on it.

You see, my Dad was a barber, so he had his own business. My brother also had his own business. He owned a company that did concrete work, like sidewalks and driveways and floors. Both of them were small businessmen. I guess what I didn’t know at that time was that I was going to start my own business, and become pretty successful at it.

I’m Larry Madrid, President of Madrid Engineering Group, Inc. We have our HQ in Bartow, but now we have offices in Tampa, Oviedo, Jacksonville, and in the Panhandle of Florida. We have over 100 employees, and a fleet of equipment that does work all over the State on any given day. And we’ve invoiced over $100 million dollars over the 28 years we’ve been in business! Many of my staff make six-figure salaries (over $100,000/year). Our company won the Success in Small Business Award from the Central Florida Development Council, and I personally won a Golden Garland Award from the Lakeland Ledger in Entrepreneurship.  Overall, we’ve been pretty successful and we plan on being even more successful in the future.

What I didn’t know in high school was how incredibly powerful the whole concept of “business” was – both for good and bad. It was the notion that “money makes the world go  ‘round”.  I kind of, sort of, knew that, but not really.  I found out later just how prevalent business is: less than 10% of people who are employed in the US are employed by government (that includes federal, state, county and local government). That means 90%+ are employed by companies, and most of these companies are for-profit businesses. That’s far-and-away the majority of opportunities that you will have to get a job after graduation.

What I’ve discovered in my life as a business owner and an engineer is that there are some really good businesses out there. They make a profit and then use the profit to give back to their communities.  They use the profits to grow and prosper. They use profits to do research and develop new and exciting technologies that have the opportunity to make life a little easier for others. We are one of those companies, I dare say.

Then again, there are other companies whose sole goal is to gain profit. They don’t care about the community, or about anything but the bottom line. They will bulldoze a rainforest if necessary for profit. They will exploit workers and hold them down so that the top few managers and owners can profit, while the rest just survive, or eek out a living, or sometimes go backwards financially. These companies are bad for society, no doubt.

My point is this:  not all “business” is bad. “Profit” is not all bad in and of itself.  I’ve found that business can do things that government cannot. It can do things that citizen groups cannot.   It is essentially what’s done with the profits that counts.

My second point is this:  Although business, capitalism, and profit are currently getting a bad rap, and there are movements to go from a capitalistic (pro-business) society to a socialistic society, capitalism has done a lot of good. It is the “profit motive” that tells business owners that at the end of the day, there is no limit to what they can accomplish.  It embodies the distinctly American ideal that if you work hard and smart (by the way, there’s a huge difference between the two but that’s another story), you can get ahead and change your future.  You are in charge of your destiny.  This mentality is, to a great extent, what has made America a great nation economically and in many other respects.  And I think that is a good thing. Independence and financial security certainly are very powerful motivators!

Business is everywhere. A few examples: if you go into teaching, you get a salary. Then you spend that salary, and over time you make a thousand other businesses function with the buying and selling of stuff. If you go into medicine, you may be working for a hospital. Some are for-profit, some are non-profit. The drugs prescribed by doctors are mostly from a few, very big businesses that risk big money to develop bold cures. That happens because the business culture allows and encourages it to happen. If you go into engineering, like me, you may be working on a government project, but working for a for-profit company that the government calls a Contractor. Some companies are privately owned, some public. The public ones have shares that are bought and sold on the stock market. The buying and selling of those shares represent the savings of millions of people, investing in… business.

I repeat, business is everywhere! And I wish I had known that in high school. I might have taken more classes related to the economy, and more business classes, to supplement my interest in engineering. Who knows, I might have gone directly into business. I can tell you this – in high school, I was not interested in it because I really didn’t know much about it, and I think that’s a shame. So I’m telling you now. Now you know. What you do with that information is up to you!