In terms of my collaboration with them, they have opened the iconic vault to me, so the team and I are striving to do the best we can alongside of them, and for them and their demographics, also warmly welcoming them into the tobacco industry.
What’s the best piece of business advice someone has ever given you?
“It is never failure but only temporary defeat,” and, “Don’t let people rent space in your head for free.”
If you had to give your younger self advice about working in the premium cigar category, what would that advice be?
I would have not made so many quick decisions, short-term decisions. It all works as it needs to, and it has been so blessed, but I would have told myself to be wiser in terms of how I went about the process of being a tobacco man. I would have definitely told myself to stop drinking way sooner, which had much to do with how certain things turned out.
Business decisions are difficult. Some of them I just made, whereas I could have used some more common sense. I heard recently “Common sense is not all that common.” I wish I would have heard that long ago, but the true success is in knowing just that and working the next steps to be better.
This story first appeared in the July/August 2018 issue of Tobacco Business magazine. Members of the tobacco industry are eligible for a complimentary subscription to our magazine. Click here for details.
– Story by Antoine Reid, an editor and digital content director for Tobacco Business Magazine. You can follow him on Instagram @editor.reid.
