"Tough Things First" Interview with The Longest Standing CEO In Silicon Valley History Ray Zinn. Ray Zinn is the longest standing CEO of a publicly traded company in the History of Silicon Valley! Ray led His Company through 8 Recessions over 38 years and was profitable each and every year but one.   Ray recently published a book "Though Things First: Leadership lessons from Silicon Valley's Longest-serving CEO" which is an MUST read for all Entrepreneurs! 1:00 - Introduction 4:00 - His boss telling him “to go do his own thing, that the corporate world wasn’t for him” 8:00 - “I was forced to quit and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.” 11:00 - “I invested heavy in real estate” 12:50 - Advice for people aspiring 16:40 - How do you go from 1970 to what you’ve done now? 22:00 - “I was able to forecast the downturns (economic) and plan for it” 29:30 - “an entrepreneur has to be an optimist and a little bit paranoid” 33:30 - How do you identify what is essential in your business and how do you make sure you stay focused on that? 39:30 - How did you go about building such an amazing culture inside your business? 45:20 - Did you always have this drive and discipline in you? 49:20 - What led to you getting inspired to write your book? 57:10 - Do you think that the fundamentals of economy are timeless, or should you always stay up to date on new techniques and technologies? 1:03:10 - What advice would you have for a father to prep their children for the future workforce? 1:10:10 - Do you feel that customer service has gotten worse over the years? 1:17:10 - “If you have to work 16 hours a day, there’s something wrong with your work-ethic” 1:24:40 - Did you surround yourself with like-minded people? 1:28:40 - “Learn to love the things you hate” 1:35:00 - “I wash my own car to keep myself humble” 1:39:20 - Ray’s wife chimes in about Ray’s career 1:45:00 - Are there any things you did to succeed in keeping long relationships with your customers? 1:48:30 - Last pieces of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs   "Though Things First: Leadership lessons from Silicon Valley's Longest-serving CEO" Book:http://toughthingsfirst.com/book/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayzinn/ Website: http://toughthingsfirst.com/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/Ray_Zinn_?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor