Page 26 - gs260802

Cover Story continued

change early and becoming the trusted standard in The challenge isn't seeing it. The challenge is believing it
their industry. Change happens one decision at a time. before you're forced to live it.
One opportunity. One acquisition. One shortcut. One
compromise that makes perfect sense in the moment. People rarely change because they see the future. They
Then another. And another. change because they finally feel the pain. Years ago, I
watched Jerry Maguire. The scene that stayed with me
Until one day you wake up and realize you're running a wasn't "Show me the money." It was the advice given by
very different company than the one you originally set Jerry's mentor, Dicky Fox who said, "Hey, I don't have all
out to build. I've watched it happen more times than I can the answers. In life, to be honest, I've failed as much as
count. Usually because people stopped asking themselves succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish
one simple question: Does this decision strengthen the you my kind of success."
reason people trusted us in the first place? I've become a
very simple person over the years. Sometimes writing down what you believe forces you
to decide whether you're actually living it. That's why I
Experience has a way of stripping away unnecessary finally wrote this, "Technology will continue changing,
complexity. Most important decisions eventually come but integrity shouldn't."
down to one question: Does this strengthen trust or
weaken it? If it strengthens trust, it's usually worth doing. The great convergence
If it weakens trust, it probably isn't. Every industry eventually reaches a point where the lines
begin to blur. Payments is there now. When I entered
One advantage of spending decades in the same industry this business, everyone understood their role. Processors
is recognizing patterns. Disruption rarely arrives all at processed. Gateways connected systems. ISOs built
once. It arrives quietly through acquisitions, strategy relationships. Software companies built software. Each
shifts, and leadership changes that seem insignificant part of the ecosystem depended on the others because each
until years later. I've spent years telling partners that the brought something different to the table. Somewhere along
writing is almost always on the wall. the way, that changed. Companies expanded into adjacent

WE ARE HIRING!

Choose Your Success Path with BLUU