Jim Hays, Founder & CEO, The Hays Companies

Why Miami?
Weather, and most of our growth has been outside the state of Minnesota.

On your company website you say if you could have lunch with anyone, it would be Neil Armstrong. Why?
I was a good friend of Neil Armstrong’s for years. He’s the most spectacular guy I’ve ever met. We met about 15 years ago and became close friends. I’m still very close to his family. He was one great American.

Tell us something about Neil Armstrong.
He was the most humble guy you ever met. He never used his name for commercial purposes. I have hours and hours of film from when we would go to Scotland and play golf for 10 days. We’d be sitting in a dining room with a bunch of guys—Bobby Knight, Harmon Killebrew, John Havlicek, Jim MacArthur, who played “Danno” Williams on “Hawaii Five-O.” These guys were all my idols as a kid.

How did you come to play golf with these guys?
I played golf in various places and networked my way to them. I set about to meet them—and befriended all of them by never asking them for anything. Bobby Knight knew Havlicek. I knew Killebrew. Neil brought Jack Twyman, the old NBA star. Hays Companies sponsored the Jim Marshall Golf Tournament in Minneapolis. I said I would sponsor if I could play golf with “Book ’em, Danno.” MacArthur is amazing. He was the son of Helen Hayes. He grew up with the Barrymores and the Hemingways.

Do you have a favorite Neil Armstrong story?
In Scotland, at Crail Golfing Society, a young boy in an astronaut’s suit walked in the pro shop with his mother and asked the pro if Neil Armstrong was around. He looked at me and asked me. And I said I am not Neil Armstrong, while Neil is two feet away looking at the bulletin board, smiling. He finally confessed and went outside and took several pictures with the boy. Everyone knew he was there, as the caddies all talked. They would wait on the side of the fairways just to walk up and shake his hand.

Tell me a little about your business.
We have revenues of about $200 million plus, in commissions and fees. We have 750 employees. We’re growing an average of about 11%-12% a year organically.

What’s kept you in the business for so long?
I think it’s the best business. It’s the hidden gem of all American businesses. You get to see and work with every type of business. All my kids are in the industry.

When you started Hays Companies, did you envision it becoming such a multifaceted business?
No, not at all. You need to be aware of opportunities and your surroundings and be willing to take risk. The first six months, I had huge regrets. But it all worked out in the end.

Do you travel a lot for work?
Several times a week, mostly domestically. I’m in London once a month. We’re the only insurance brokerage in the world that owns a Lloyd’s syndicate.

What’s your favorite city to visit?
New York or London, depending on the day.

Your favorite actor?
William Powell from The Thin Man. I think actors were better back then. I just like all his movies.

Your favorite musician?
Sinatra.

Writer?
Hemingway—Old Man and the Sea.

Who was your most influential business mentor?
Jack Eugster. He was the chairman and CEO of Musicland. He took me under his wing early. He was always a good sounding board.

What business leader, in any industry, do you most admire?
Maurice Greenberg. I’ve known the guy for years. I think the guy’s outstanding, and I think [Eliot] Spitzer destroyed a legend.

What’s the best advice you ever gave?
Work as hard as you can at what you’re doing, and good things will come.

What’s the most interesting thing in your office?
Busts of Alexander Hamilton and Ronald Reagan. I’m a big fan of Hamilton. I bought a first-edition set of the Federalist Papers.

Why Hamilton?
I was a fan of this guy long before there was a musical about him. This guy was forward thinking in so many ways. He was an abolitionist to start. He set up our banking system. He consolidated war debts. We live in a Hamiltonian society. We don’t live in a Jeffersonian society.

What gives you your leader’s edge?
We outwork everybody and talk to more customers than everybody else. I’m always on our people to talk to our customers. We did it all organically. It’s not that we’re better looking, I can assure you.