#019: Founder of Win This Fight, Author, Philanthropist & Heiress to Sheraton Hotels - Mitzi Perdue

The Jedburgh Podcast

Over 40 million people are the victims of Human Trafficking. It's the fastest growing crime in the world, a $150B industry, and disproportionately affects women and children. Mitzi Perdue is the founder of Win This Fight!, a non-profit dedicated to eradicating this vicious crime. She is the heiress of Sheraton Hotel Chain, widow of another family business poultry magnate, Frank Perdue, a businesswoman in her own right, and an author.

Mitzi joins host Fran Racioppi for a candid discussion on how we must all jump in to combat labor and sex trafficking, the keys to running and scaling a successful family business, and in a surprising twist, Mitzi calls out her rival in the battle for hotel chain heiress superiority - Paris Hilton.

Join the fight to raise $100M by visiting winthisfight.org or text ELEVATE to 55312.

Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website.

Highlights:

-Fran & Mitzi define human trafficking, its unacceptable practices, and it’s impact of victims and the labor market.

-Win This Fight! has pioneered a method of donation through auctioning high-value items their owners just don't really need.

-Mitzi shares the keys to success in Sheraton's rise to the largest hotel chain in the world through a commitment to empowering people and organizations.

-How implementing “The Great Failed Project Award” allows for bottom-up input in organizations while fostering innovation and creativity.

-The lessons of Frank Perdue in investing in the development of employees and a leader’s need to focus on the present in order to fully understand and solve complex issues.

-Mitzi turns the tables and forces Fran to define his thoughts on failure and the importance of encouraging teams to learn through pushing past their limits.

-Embracing an attitude of lifelong learning will allow us to continue to grow, be genuine, human, authentic and personable; something Mitzi learned as she has overcome her fear of public speaking and being in large crowds.

Quotes:

-”If you are a trafficker, you are really trying to ‘break’ the person that you are trafficking.”

-”People live up to or down to your expectations.”

-”If you are focused on what am I going to get out of this, you are probably going to be disappointed.”

-”If I were Paris Hilton and I was reading that Mitzi Perdue - she is the Sheraton heiress - wanted to meet me, I wouldn’t believe it.”

-“To make somebody feel important, listen to them.”

-”I don’t want them to know what I want to hear. I want their ideas.”

-”95%of an award is communicating to the rest of the company what we value and what is important.”

-“People like you a lot more for being human, than they like you for being perfect.”

Mitzi’s Three Daily Foundations of Success:

-”Eat a live frog” - do the hardest thing you need to do today first

-Make a list of tasks to be completed

-Focus on that which energizes us and provides positive mental energy

This episode is brought to you by Analytix Solutions; improving the efficiency of your business across people, process and technology through multi-divisional outsourcing solutions.