The Best Business Advice Ever | Don Ghermezian

My name is Don Ghermezian. I'm the CEO here at American Dream, and it's a real pleasure for me to be able to share some of my own personal stories with Shmirat Einayim. I was at a function a couple of weeks ago, and a group of young guys came to see me. And they asked me, Mr. Ghermezian, can you give us some good business advice? I'm, like: Yeah, I'll give you good business advice, on one condition. They said: What's the condition? That you listen to the advice I give you. So they asked me: What's the business advice? And I said: Guard your eyes. And they looked at me, like, That's your business advice? I said: You asked me for business advice. I've been in business for 40 years. I'm giving you the best advice I could ever give you. I don't care what business you're in, I don't care if you manufacture toothpicks, I don't care if you plant flowers, doesn't make a difference. If you keep your eyes pure, especially in today's day and age, that means you're going outside of your own natural abilities, because it's very hard to keep your eyes pure, then Hashem will go outside, although there's no ‘outside’ for Hashem, but Hashem will go outside for you, as well. I invited these guys over to my house for Shabbat, and we continued to talk about all the challenges of keeping your eyes pure. Anyways, after Shabbat, one of the guys called me on I want to say it was Monday or Tuesday. He says: Don, I have to tell you an incredible story. I said: Yeah? So he says: After Shabbat, I have an app. I decided I'm going to delete the app. And then I brought the app back. On Sunday, I deleted the app, and then I brought the app back. And then I deleted it again on Monday and I said: That's it, I'm deleting this app. There's no more, finished. Don said: Guard your eyes is the best business advice. That's what I'm doing. Later that afternoon, he got a phone call. And he's been chasing this particular client for years and years and years, and for whatever reason, this client has not given him the time of day. Everything he's done, everything he's done to get this business, no response, nothing, no positive. He says the last time he deleted the app, a few minutes after that, he got a phone call from the client that he's been chasing for years. Out of the blue. Client calls him to tell him, I’ve been thinking about moving my business over. I want to move my business over to you. Can you handle taking my business? And the kid's telling me the story, and he's completely dumbfounded that within minutes, minutes, of him showing Hashem that he was serious about protecting his eyes, Hashem delivered for him right then and there, so that there can be no mistaking it, so that there's no such thing as coincidence. This guy went and did the difficult thing, Hashem immediately turned and gave him the business. I asked him: How much is that business worth for you on an annual basis? And he told me it's worth $30 million. $30 million. You think, I think, we all think, keeping our eyes pure is a very difficult thing. It is. Very difficult thing. But when you want business advice, I'm giving you the best business advice that not only do I live by, the Ghermezian family lives by, and we do our best wherever possible, to try and keep people, even in our own shopping center, out of harm's way. It's not always possible, but we do our best. Best business advice you'll ever get from me is to keep your eyes pure. And it doesn't make a difference what business you go into. Doesn't matter at all. When Hashem sees that you're trying, Hashem will try for you.