Meet Yoram Solomon | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yoram Solomon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yoram, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind the success level I currently enjoy, and the success level I will enjoy in the future, is the product of my focus on what I do uniquely (research the topic of trust) and the amount of work that went into it. My ability to say no to opportunities that fall outside of my focus area is critical, and it keeps me focused and grow my #1 area of expertise, trust. I am often approached by professional speakers, consultants, and others who currently work in another job. They ask for advice on how to grow their consulting or speaking business “on the side,” while still working a full-time job. In return, I ask them about their commitment to building their new business. Are you willing to commit to work one hour every weekday to build your business? Many seem to be somewhat apprehensive about it. There’s work. There’s family. There are other things that need to be taken care of. Before they respond, I continue: are you willing to commit five hours every weekend to build your business on top of that one hour every weekday? Many think I ask too much. Well, let’s say you are willing to make that commitment. This will get you to 10 hours of building your business every week. Commit to it 50 weeks a year (hey, you get two weeks off!…) This would put you at 500 hours a year of building your business. To put things in perspective, I did the math, and realized that my business became viable, reached the turning point, customers started calling out of the blue, I started getting my full listed fees, after I spent approximately 12,000 hours on building it. If you spend 500 hours a year on building the business, it will take you 24 years to get to that turning point. Now, how committed are you to build your business?

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
For many years I helped companies and organizations, whether I worked there or not, be more innovative. In 2008, I had to come up with a topic for my PhD dissertation. In a conversation with my mentor and committee char, I couldn’t come up with a topic that would meet his criteria (“something that will improve your life and the lives of others.”) He finally asked me a pivotal question, “what pisses you off?” Without thinking twice, I asked, “why are people do much more creative when they work in startups than when they work in large, mature companies?” There was silence from the other side of the call, and then he said, “I think we have a topic.” For the next two years I researched that exact question. After two years, I had the answer. It was “Innovation Culture.” Startups typically have it, and large, mature companies don’t. But this could change. So, I started helping companies build a culture of innovation, made of leaders giving their employees autonomy, employees taking accountability, and teams becoming capable of holding constructive disagreements, willing to be vulnerable, provide direct feedback, and receptive to such feedback. But then I realized that the foundation for innovation culture is TRUST. So, I started researching trust. In 2017, I asked 20 of my closest, trusted friends if they think I should stick with innovation as my main topic, or switch to focus on trust. 19 of them said, “stick to innovation.” So, I switched to trust… I wrote The Book of Trust (already came out in a second edition), the book series “Can I TRUST You?” etc. The rest is history…

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Restaurant: Texas de Brazil, and Legacy Hall in Legacy west. Plano parks (Oak Point and many, many more…)

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Yes, to the late Sam Johnson. He is well known in the Dallas area. Sam was a fighter pilot in the Korean and Vietnam wars, was shot down in Vietnam, and was held seven years in captivity. He also flew for the USAF Thunderbirds. When he left the Air Force, he ran for office, and served 23 years as our U.S. Congressman for TX-03 district. If someone know about trust, he does. Sam was generous enough to write the introduction for my book, The Book of Trust. He passed away three months after the book came out. Generally, I want to thank all our veterans and first responders for their continuing sacrifice.

Website: https://www.yoramsolomon.com/
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