Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Café and founder of the House of Blues, delivered the keynote speech at the 15th annual Undergraduate Business School Leadership Conference (UBSLC) in the Goizueta Business School on Thursday.
The student-run conference encouraged participants to explore unknown passions and interests, according to B-School junior and UBSCL 2014 Chairman Jonathan Robeny. Participants from across the United States and abroad attended.
Tigrett opened the address by saying, "I'm a weird cat. I'm going to say a lot of things that you are not going to like."
According to Tigrett, the 1960s was a time of amazing culture. Then social revolution occurred. People dropped out of school. With the new movement came new clothing and new music.
"I never thought in my lifetime I would see another major cultural change, until the last 10 years with technology," Tigrett said.
Tigrett said he began making his fortune selling cars. He found a window in the car market and started bringing cars to the United States. By the time he was 18, he had accumulated $250,000.
"I was blessed to go through the most incredible change of the 1960s," Tigrett said. "We had a women's feminist movement, we had a civil rights movement going on and we had an amazing pill called lysergic acid."
During the event, Tigrett turned off the lights and played "It's Alright Ma" by Bob Dylan for a meditation session to add perspective to the culture through which he lived.
According to Tigrett, much of his success came from the Hard Rock Café and the House of Blues. The Hard Rock in London became the first American restaurant in Europe. However, Tigrett emphasized that the Hard Rock became the first classless restaurant in London.
"When I went there, it was a place where a baker and a banker were allowed to commune," Tigrett said.
According to the UBSLC Keynote Biography, Tigrett created more than $1 billion in equity for his investors and took the Hard Rock Café through three successful public offerings in the United States and Europe.
"You do not exploit culture," Tigrett said. "You have to represent it. That is what we spent the first 15 years [of Hard Rock] trying to do."
According to Tigrett, the mind and the heart need to be balanced.
"You don't go to church on Sunday and pray for peace and go out on Monday and screw someone out of a million bucks," Tigrett said.
At the end of the address, Tigrett put up a slide stating that thought, word and deed must always be the same.
He clarified that one should not catch him or himself saying one thing and meaning another.
Calman Hilkert was one of the many participants at the address. Hilkert is a junior at the Wisconsin School of Business studying operations mangement and supply chain.
"I thought the keynote was really great," he said. "I think it was a different perspective, and it needed to be brought about especially with how the world is today and that love and peace is important."
According to Robeny, the UBSLC was able to schedule Tigrett as the keynote speaker with the assistance of Holli Semetko, Asa Griggs Candler professor of Media and International Affairs at Emory University and Ajit Kumar, Consulate General of India.
"I think today's keynote is very unique because it differs from the traditional keynote," he said. "Often there is a very big structure on the keynote, but he was being himself. When you are being yourself, it has the biggest impact on the audience."
– By Brandon Fuhr
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