L.E. Gant

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Welcome to our show called "Extraordinary People" where we interview ordinary people who tell their extraordinary stories. 
Click here, if you would like to be spotlighted on one of our upcoming shows.

Today we’re joined by someone who has shared thoughtfully inspiring  business advice here on Blogit and with many people around the world. Thanx for stopping by our studio today L.E Gant.  

Before we get started with our interview, give our listeners a little insight into who L.E Gant really is?
I often refer to myself as a "flutterby" - a butterfly with a sting in its tale. I have a very wide range of interests and I am constantly adding to them. Unlike a dilettante, I give whatever catches my interest 100% attention and 100% commitment. I'll dig into a subject area for as long as it takes me to effectively master it. Although I'm a fast learner, the time required can go from a matter of hours through to years. Whatever time it takes, it is not important.

My main advantage in doing this kind of thing is that I learned a very long time ago how to distinguish between what is important in the subject area and what is not essential. I can then make things simple, and re-construct the subject matter to effectively any level required. I distinguish between the complex and the complicated - most complex subjects tend to consist of many simple things, while the complications come from people trying to make the simple complex.

So I’ll be answering your interview questions in the context of me as a flutterby...
What is the name of your company and what products or services does it provide?
L.E Gant: At the moment, I'm mastering real estate sales. I'm committed to this for the next few years - the time it takes in New Zealand to become a legal agent (rather than simply a sales person).

However, my wife and I do have a couple of small companies that we use for various experiments. One is The Panda Rope Collective, which is set up to handle family funds and investments. It's what we use to buy property, shares and so on. (www.prcre.info)

The other is one we call Formula Three Five. This one is more about working on business - consulting, writing, coaching. We retired its web site about a year ago, but we are strongly considering re-activating it, to put my books (in e-book format) into the market again - they did do quite well for a while, but stopped when we dropped the site. Will add to the blogs when we do.
What role do you play in your organization?
L.E Gant: In real estate, primarily sales person, but also marketer (there IS a difference between selling and marketing) of people's homes.

In the others: "Creative Director" - collecting and putting together information for clients and ourselves. I've done a lot of ghost writing, being paid directly for the product. I'll design systems (manual and computer) for businesses, and anything else that strikes me as being an interesting problem requiring a solution.

We still do a bit of long-distance consulting and coaching (just send questions to legant@xtra.co.nz) and we'll see what we can do for you.

As a successful business person, how did you get started?L.E Gant: Initially, to find ways of surviving on terms meaningful to me. But the roots might go back much further - just plain curiosity about how things (and people) work. I have an e-book called My Mama Done Told Me, which covers a lot of those roots.

How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
L.E Gant: I'd say that I'm still learning, if you mean in ways that other people recognise as success.

In my own terms, being able to keep digging into areas new and old for more information is the real measure of success. The fact that I've been doing so for about 50 years, and still have the drive to do it is success.

What personal/family activities do you enjoy?
L.E Gant: All of them. :-)
I love spending time by myself (usually late evenings, early mornings, when everybody else is sleeping

I love spending time with my wife

I love spending time with my sons and their families, when they can.

They all realise (even my grandchildren) that I'm fully with them when they are here.

I love working at any task where I can come up with a new view of how to do it.

What experiences in your life have helped you expand who you are as a person?
L.E Gant: All of them. That might sound a bit facetious, but I learn from every experience, and I hate doing things the same way twice, so I can always find something new in me, like a talent I did not know I had, or a skill that I have just mastered.
What are your concerns about the world today?
L.E Gant: Two main ones:
The first is the rise of bureaucracy in every facet of life. It costs, but does not produce wealth. That's why things cost so much - too many companies depend on the bureaucrats, and the bureaucratic empires keep growing - Parkinson's law?

The second is that youngsters (anybody under 25) are taught to think along party lines (the party may be political or other), so that their logic is based solely on what has been declared as right by group think - somewhat along the lines of Big Brother in "1984", but in many ways more like betas and gammas in Huxley's Brave New World.

It frightens me when I find that many of the youngsters really are buying into being alphas betas and gammas.

If you had all the time and all the money you needed, what types of things would you do? Consider money as no object.
L.E Gant: What I do now, only on a bigger scale.
I'd also probably start a school teaching kids how to think for themselves and recognise when they are making assumptions. But that's really only an extension of what I do anyways.

BTW, lack of money does not stop me - but there are only 24 hours in a day.

Are there any tips or advice you would like to offer people?L.E Gant: Learn one very important lesson: if you are not doing what you love, love what you are doing. 

If you love what you are doing, then you can't get bored. if you don't get bored, then you can laugh at all the problems that come your way.

Are people more interesting than product stories?
L.E Gant: It took me some time to get to grips with this question. Naturally, people are more interesting than things. People THINK, and some of their thoughts are completely alien to me - that piques my curiosity, and often shows new ways of getting results.

However, product stories are really about the people behind the products, and that means really more people stories.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
L.E Gant: Immediate - make a reasonable career in real estate sales.

Longer-term - write a best selling book.

Eventual - win a lottery, just for the experience.

What obstacles do you have to overcome to achieve your goals?
L.E Gant: As always, me.
The trouble with always looking for the new is that the old (that is, staying on a single path to success) is that I leave things behind, because I know I've done it.

Which people have been role models to you?
L.E Gant: My Mother - the art of giving people my full attention

My Father - how to stick to tasks until the results happen

R. Buckminster Fuller - the concept of syntropy (as opposed to entropy)

Nikola Tesla - the concept of complexity coming from simplicity.

What are your favorite books, computer programs, or forms of entertainment?
L.E Gant: Whatever book I happen to be into at the moment, although I have a distinct preference for science fiction and fantasy.

Computer programs - well, although I've made a living (and then some) with computer systems, I have an innate dislike of the things - too many people use them to do their thinking.

Other forms of entertainment - playing golf, when I get the chance.

What time of the day are you at your best?
L.E Gant: Depends on what people are looking for.
If you want me creative, then late afternoon/early evening.
If you want me as a raconteur, then a couple of hours either side of midnight.  If you want me to do what I consider "non-thinking" work, when I get up through to noon.

If you want to consult, early afternoon.

But then, even when I'm supposed to be sleeping, my mind is searching for new ways to look at life, reality and the universe.