Maize, who was the leading mortgage banker in the
Richard Maize has generously supported organizations and causes including the American Cancer Society, Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, Hurricane Katrina, Los Angeles Police Foundation, and Cedars Sinai Board of Governors and the Maccabiah Sports Games in
"Success does not mean solely making money," says Richard Maize. "People have passions for different endeavors. Some people love to teach or coach kids. Not much money earned; but the reward with a successful career typically will outweigh the higher wage earner. Some people will give of their time for non profits and charitable organizations. There is very little by way or monetary reward. But, there is nothing that can take the place of that reward especially if their jobs are carried out properly."
Maize adds: "The answer to the question is simply no matter what you chose for self gratification, you must not be lazy, you must be organized, you have to deal with people honestly and forthright, a very important aspect of being a success is that you are available and you must be responsible to your job and others that count on you."
Maize says that the most important tool to be successful is that you must care about what you do and if you are self employed, you must love what you do.
When asked about how to create productive business relationships, Richard Maize responds: "You have to create respect for who you are and your ability in your field. A client business associate wants to hand off a duty to a professional and feels that they gave it to the best (or close to) and that person can do the job better than the client themselves. You have to show your business associate that you are honest and available. The next thing you must make apparent to your prospective associate is that you have fresh ideas and that you know your business as well as anyone. You should glow with confidence without going over the line of cocky.
How many hours per day should you put into your work?
Maize states that if you are an employee, that question is answered for you by your contracted work hours (unless of course you go the extra mile and stay longer for special jobs or projects). Maize says expecting and showing you are staying late for extra money is not always the way to succeed in a salaried position. For a self directed entrepreneur, the hours you put in to a day is made up of mandatory hours as you need to get something completed whether it is an idea to fully develop or an actual project. Also, for a service job, Maize says that one needs to basically be available 24/7.
"Clients love that. Available and encroaching too much on your family life has to be guided with great direction," says Maize. "A very important aspect of time for work is also directed by your mental and physical state for the day. On great feeling and sharp days, take advantage of them. Write out new ideas on current and future projects."
Richard Maize, who has faced some of the highest peaks and lowest valleys, was asked how should one handle adversity?
"This can be tricky," says Maize. "If you have backing and are an honest person, adversity is just a bump in the road. You are allowed a couple of those. If the adversity is simply a business crisis, you need to face it head on and understand you are the best in the field and can work it out. Another idea in your field can sometimes be helpful. If the adversity is a bit more than a simple business crisis, you need to get the strength to lift above it. You know the person you are and must lift above the challenge knowing it will pass. Don’t put your head in the sand. You need to deal with all problems with dignity and decorum. Be happy and continue to show both strength and confidence."
Maize says that many global leaders and American Presidents when faced with their most challenging moments, when the entire world appears to be stacked against them, takes the good advice of their PR advisors to "act and be Presidential in all you say and do." Maize says that by exhibiting such confidence during a crisis, one places those around him or her in a comfort zone of security. And this is one of nature's most basic principles for leadership.
Is there a connection between team sports and business success?
"As an athlete that understands working with others to a achieve victory, I think team sports may have been the single most important ingredient to a successful business life," says Maize. "In team sports, you are taught playing fair, yet aggressive. You are taught the importance of your teammates as if they were in your own family and their success is vital to your own success. Helping others (your teammates) go forward is also helping you going forward. One thing you are not taught but are inherent in sports as a whole if you are an athlete, are the internal competitions which give those that have a successful operation have the competitive edge. It teaches you had to get both mentally as well as physically prepared to meet your next opponent. The better you are prepared, the more likely victory will come your way. And then, you go through victory and loss. You get to react and learn how to accept both in a professional and fair way."
How does one balance both their personal and business lives?
"When you are successful in business, the two intersect often," says Richard Maize. "As a successful business person, you yield confidence that is felt in your personal life. You are more apt to be a leader amongst your friends and family. In my opinion, personal is way more important. Friends and family is not easily lost and rebuilt. For a successful business person, you often can make the wrong choice in fields or investment options due to choice or financial shifts, but can rebuild that just as easily as losing."
Maize continues: "I feel, unlike others if asked this question (whereby they may say business first), is that I would always make time for my friends and family and have plenty of time for my business matters in between (there are obviously exceptions to that rule if a business matter is pressing). In general an ingredient to a successful business is to have a successful personal life."
How important is formal education?
Richard Maize smiles, looks down and again makes direct eye contact with a warm, youthful pose."An education is important for a couple of general reasons. By the way, education could, but often does not, come from pure experience depending on what type of individual you are. If you are a professional such as a doctor, lawyer, journalist or scientist, a formal education is mandatory. There too, you get your best education by on duty learning by those with more experience. That holds true with any type of career. It is very important (and lucky in most cases) to find the right mentor to learn from. Your business career in some instances can be so influenced by the first mentor out of school you learn from."
Maize concludes: "I truly believe a formal education is important, not to remember facts you learn in school (which is likely forgotten during our lives). It is to massage your brain so that you have the tools to logically figure out problems that will be in front of you. To have good inductive and deductive skills, is more important in the business world than to have pure facts."
"A solid pre and post University graduate education will also empower you with the potent tools to find the urgent answers to the many unexpected questions you will face down life's long and winding road."
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