Be Slightly Below Average

Leadership

Born in the small West Tennessee town of Parsons, Jim Ayers describes himself as average, if not even below average, in every way. He jokingly admits that he graduated from the University of Memphis with the lowest GPA possible to still receive a diploma.

I was reading this morning Turney Steven’s book, “Remarkable, The Inspiring Life of Jim Ayers,” and came across the following:

"First, he knew what he didn't know, so he brought in partners and advisers who knew more than he did about running things the right way. Second, he was an accountant by training and, by now, he knew numbers. He really knew numbers. And, third, in his own words: 'I was just gonna outwork 'em all."

When Mr. Ayers got the opportunity to run his first business, a poorly performing nursing home, he committed to three things that align with two of our core convictions today:

1. Be The Expert - He was an expert at the numbers and surrounded himself with people who knew more than him.
2. Be the Hardest Working Person in the Room - “I was just gonna outwork ‘em all, outwork the guy on my right and outwork the guy on my left.”

Fast forward through a chain of over 30 nursing homes, founding and growing FirstBank, and ultimately taking its parent company public with the largest IPO in Tennessee banking history, giving away over 200 million dollars, and funding over 4,000 scholarships for Tennessee students to be able to go to college. Jim Ayers was a rising tide that lifted a lot of boats.

We tend to overcomplicate things sometimes.

I would say the combination of knowing the numbers, building a great team, some good old-fashioned elbow grease, and a heart of generosity turned out to be a winning formula...for a lot of people.

Now it’s your turn...