Phil Ruthven AM is the Founder and Chairman of IBISWorld, an international corporation providing online business information, forecasting and strategic services. We wanted to find out a few things from Phil Ruthven AM here is what the Economics & Finance Speaker shared with us.
What is the most important advice you have ever received?
Following an IQ test when I was in Grade 7 or 8, I was told I could choose any career I wished, from accountant to brain surgeon! I had been top of my classes all the way through primary school and into high school. But that advice, coupled with an extraordinary mother (with 6 children), who said I could succeed at anything I set my mind to, clinched it. She gave that advice to all six of us and all of us have been successful, although not without setbacks and hardships along the way. Of passing interest is that Paul Hogan, a classmate at my school, had the highest IQ in NSW that year: So that keeps any ego subdued.
Who is your personal finance hero and why?
Warren Buffett because he has the best runs on the board. You need perceptiveness, wisdom and patience in matters of finance; and Buffett has it in spades.
What is the hardest lesson you have ever had to learn?
I probably have two: the first being the reality in life is that you can’t please everybody, so quit the lost-causes before you get frustrated; and the second lesson being that it doesn’t pay to be too far in front of the pack when it comes to innovation where timing is a critical part of success.
What gets you up in the morning?
My family and work matter heaps. I have three sons and eight grandchildren. We have tribal lunches and dinners with all of them and in-laws at least twice a month somewhere. We are a happy and get-along tribe; and I never take that for granted. I happen also to love doing what I do, being a forecaster, strategist writer and public speaker. My company, operating worldwide, is rated the best in its field (online business information) and two of my sons and two of the grandchildren are in the business; and that is a bonus, as I never sought that involvement by them.