During a featured interview at the ’16 Intersport Brand Engagement Summit, CME Group Exec Chair Terry Duffy talked about what he has done and learned during his career. Duffy was interviewed by Intersport CEO Charlie Besser. Duffy recalled his mentor’s response when he lost $140,000 -- and his parents’ mortgage -- as a young trader, saying, “‘I’ll call your mother, and tell her you lost the house and to not tell your father.’ I said, 'That would be helpful.' Anyway, life went on, I learned a tremendous amount of discipline and I never made stupid mistakes like I did when I was a kid. I grew up in a hurry.” Here are some other highlights from the conversation.
* On his bad initial assessment of becoming a foundation partner of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Chicago event: “Another brilliant move on my part -- I thought it would never work. And, of course, we ran out of tickets on the first day.”
* On CME Group’s rare choice to sponsor an athlete, a deal born during a round of golf: “Mo Martin wins the Ladies' British Open, and I’m paying her $25,000. She is on every cover in every magazine, coast to coast, around the world. I can’t spend $5M to get that kind of exposure. ... A few weeks later, she calls me up, she’s so excited. I said, ‘I suppose you want a bonus. There’s 500 bucks coming your way.’”
* On corporate culture’s limitations: “Culture is something that’s a bit overblown. Most cultures are that people are out for themselves, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be. What the culture should be is that you do the right thing when nobody else is looking.”
* On being a good coworker and manager: “Don’t bring your problems to other people. Solve their problems."
