Page 154 - The Way to the Top

Marilyn Carlson NELSON

Chairman and CEO of Carlson Companies

Perseverance—never, ever giving up—is the final line of our Carlson
Credo, our family’s guiding principles: “Whatever you do, do with
Integrity. Wherever you go, go as a Leader. Whomever you serve, serve

with Caring. Whenever you dream, dream with your All. And never, ever
give up.”

My own personal and business life is rife with instances where hanging
onto a plan, a hope, or a dream—in some cases just a little longer than
one’s competitors—resulted in success. After all, it’s not the final blow

that breaks the rock, but all the others before it. This approach helped my
father build our business in sixty years from an unknown trading-stamp
company founded on a borrowed $55 into a global organization that nets

$20 billion and operates popular brands like Radisson hotels,
T.G.I.Friday’s restaurants, and Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

Today my father is gone, but his advice lives on, inscribed on a bronze
statue for which he posed on the occasion of our company’s fiftieth
anniversary. The night before casting, the sculptor called him and asked

him what advice he would like to leave for future generations. The
sculptor wanted him to write it on the back of the statue for all time.
Without hesitation, my father wrote the following: “Illegitimi non
Carborundum,” which is Latin for “Don’t let the bastards grind you

down.”

Illegitimi non Carborundum