How do we define success?
Mixon on success
Transcript
Well, success is a relative term. And it's very easy to look at all these billionaires out there, Warren Buffett, and Gates, and feel like you're a failure in life.
But at some point, you get enough money that you have basically the things you want. I'm not a collector of art, or I don't have any particular collecting type desires. So making money to me is sort of a game. I don't think you ever change your stripes. But I'm still as competitive as I ever was. It's not because I need the money, it's just something I like to do. And I still like making money. But I'm giving more of it away.
And I'll tell you an interesting story. I thought it was interesting. My last Harvard reunion, I was on a panel, and I was the only businessman on the panel. We had a professor, and a doctor, and very impressive group. And one of the questions posed was, What do we want to do with the rest of our lives? Now here's where we are. And I remember all the bright kids in my class who were going to solve all the world's problems. They went in the Peace Corps, they went to work for the government, they went into research. They were a lot of, you know, very brilliant kids. And old Mal just says, "I've got to make a living," you know? And so I started working.
And about half our class that went out to solve all the world's problems don't have any money now at age 65, and they're worried about security in their future. And so there's been a role reversal. Now people like me are saying, "How can I use my money to make the world a better place?" And so my wife and I decided that we're going to give more of our money away while we're alive and enjoy it, rather than just create a foundation, and have it given away after we die.
One story. I created a Mixon Scholar in each class at Harvard. And these kids write me a letter every year, and tell me how they're doing. And I set up a provision that they had to be from either Oklahoma, or Northeast Ohio, where I'd made my money. And recently I had a black girl from Enid, Oklahoma become a Rhodes Scholar on the Mixon Scholarship. That to me is as satisfying as anything you could ever hope for with your life. And, you know, I believe the purpose of all of us is to try to make the world a little better place for the next generation.