Harvests of Joy by Robert Mondavi

Author:Robert Mondavi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mariner Books

PART TWO

THE FLOWERING

Chapter 10

Marrying Wine and the Arts

AS A LEADER, I am relentless.

By the late 1970s, our little family winery was established and growing. We were turning out some first-rate wines, and for the first time I had full control of the company. The best California wines were now being recognized as among the very best in the world. To my mind, though, we were just getting started. We had many more mountains to climb. So I wasn’t letting up a bit, not on myself, nor on my family and staff.

That’s how I am—for better and for worse. I always set goals for myself and my company, and when we meet those goals, I immediately set new, higher ones. I always set goals that are just beyond what I think we can actually achieve. This forces us to give our all—then stretch some more. The way I see it, companies, and people, are like grapevines. To grow, they need plenty of sunshine and nourishment. They need constant care and attention. As they mature, they need fresh injections of energy and passion. They need new goals and challenges so that their vitality and their sense of mission do not become blunted and dull. Renew, reinvent, rekindle—these are the constant obligations of any leader who wants to keep his company fresh, creative, and in the forefront of its industry.

This is easy to say but difficult to accomplish. How do you renew and rekindle your company and its sense of mission? In my experience, the key is openness. You have to stay open to new ideas, new people, new technology, and new methods. Too many corporate executives are like bankers, accountants, and Puritans: they’re always looking for a reason to say no. To avoid risk. To play it safe. This is the wrong approach. Business is risk—constant, unavoidable risk. As a leader, you can’t shy away from risk; you have to embrace it. You also have to learn how to trust your instincts. Time and again, people have come to me with new ideas and what sound like crazy ventures. I listen; I try to stay open; I try to trust my instincts. Then I evaluate and decide whether or not to move forward. Sometimes I do this right on the spot, in a matter of seconds. That’s why some people over the years have referred to me as Rapid Robert.

This can drive people around me nuts. Remember that salesman from Missouri and his stainless steel tanks? Everybody thought I was crazy to order costly equipment from a company that had worked with dairy farmers and breweries but had never before worked with a winery. What folly! Well, a big corporation would have hired a team of consultants to go to Missouri, inspect the company, and evaluate its history and all of its equipment. Six months later, they would have turned in a written recommendation filled with hemming and hawing and enough hedges to protect their bottoms no matter which way those tanks worked out.

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