It is clear by now that Carlos Slim will go down in history as one of our culture’s largest influences in the world of business. Both the Chinese and Japanese regard him with admiration, he has won over the most powerful groups in the United States and in all of Europe he is considered a respected celebrity. There are only a handful of men in history who have attained and cultivated such power and control while simultaneously attracting fans and critics, love and hate, admiration and envy. There is no doubt that as his empire continues its rise, he will be famous for being the richest man on the planet, but it seems clear that to those who know him, who deal with him, he will be remembered for his honesty and his consistency.
“How will history remember Carlos Slim?” I asked the tycoon one afternoon, while chatting and enjoying some coffee in his office. Undeterred, Slim replied, “I am not interested in them building a monument, or put up a plaque or give me a prize for what I do.” He didn’t explain any further and the matter wasn’t pressed. Obviously he tries not to think about how he will be remembered, Carlos lives in the present, and is focused on the now. He continued to say:
“Personally, what I worry about and think about the future is how it will be for my family. My children, my grandchildren. I want them to be united, to love each other and help each other and their communities. To know that I have taught them how to do this. This is really my main concern. Other than that, I don’t care if I will be remembered, or if the perception of me will be this or that. The people I care about and love will remember me fondly, and that’s all that matters.”
“Well then, what would you consider your legacy to be?” I asked. “My main legacy are my children,” he replied. “Many people think that they need to make their countries better for their children, but I believe in making my children better for the good of my country.” He continues to say,
“Many people have asked me or wondered if I will leave money to my children. I believe that if you leave them a company you leave them work, purpose, responsibility and commitment. Yet if you leave them money, whatever that amount may be, 100 million, or 50 or 20, you would give it to them to encourage them to be lazy, to not have to work. No? Having something to do in order to earn that money is different. When you are the head of a company that you have to administrate, even if you are not there every day and you delegate, it’s a job. It’s a responsibility, an effort you must make for the company and for yourself, and for the country to begin to make money. That’s a very different lifestyle then just going digging into endless bank account, and laying around scratching your stomach all year, and eventually your whole life.”
Slim has taught his children that “We must keep active and do things in life. And we should be careful and responsible and efficient in managing wealth.”
For Carlos Slim family values have been the core of his life and something essential he has transmitted to his many children.
“My dad gave us an education based on well-defined values. He was a kind person of strong character and who lived by a very ethical code. He always made having a strong and united family a priority in his life. Infusing in all of us a sense of happiness and harmony and a profound love and connection, and thus a deep concern for, our country.”
Carlos has a close relationship to both his parents. He remembers them as “open-minded people with great human values. That’s what I’ve passed on to my children, and that’s why I say that they will be my legacy.”
Being a millionaire in a country of enormous social contradictions is seen by some as less of a burden and more of a sin. Mexico’s past has been no stranger to injustices. The fact that Carlos Slim is the richest man in the world and is from Mexico aroused unusual interest, especially since for many years the World’s Richest Men had primarily been American moguls.
On one occasion, the editors of Mexico’s leading financial magazine asked me the question: “How do you think the world will remember Carlos Slim in a hundred years?”
I replied that Carlos Slim, along with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, were the trio of the most richest men on the planet, however it is only Slim who’s connections, charm and political and global pull that make him not only the richest, but one of the six most powerful men in the world, according to Forbes magazine. So if you were a reporter, one hundred years from now, and you were researching Carlos Slim in the year 2012, he would find a Mexican mogul who fit the profile of a modern day conquistador who’s empire spanned across over 20 countries including the United States.
This future reporter would then try to seek out the origins of this man’s exceptional rise to power, the secret behind his wealth, but would be remiss to find only the fact that Carlos Slim’s big secret was simply to negotiate shrewdly and inflexibly, down to the last cent. A mogul that unlike many before him, reinvests his capitol back into the country that helped him make that money instead of taking his wealth out of the country that needs it so. Never wavering from this promise, through revolutions, economical crisis, and turmoil, the Slim family has never left Mexico or stopped investing in her progress.
In one of my meetings with this legendary founder of Grupo Carso, he told me he wanted for Telmex, which for a while was the crown jewel of his empire, before that honor went to América Móvil, to remain in the hands of his family, for at least two generations.
The eldest of his heirs, son Carlos Slim Domit, along with his brothers, all of them stated that they will make sure that the company remains in the family and remain a Mexican company, not only for posterity but as a strategic support system for the country. This mentality and that business acumen is what Carlos Slim has passed on to his descendants.
A Carlos Slim will also be remembered as a man who invested millions so that new technology would be available to everyone, and his work through his many foundations on the advancement of medicine and medical care.
A question that comes up often among us journalists is what will happen to the Slim empire once he retires or is no longer with us? Seemingly, Slim has left nothing to chance and just like he demonstrated when he stepped down from the board of his various companies, he had already ensured that his children and his family were more than well equipped for the task at hand, and with the secure knowledge that they will continue to grow the business in exponential ways, repeating the pattern taught to him by his own father, Julian Slim Haddad, who has spent much time forming Carlos into the man he is today, and inspiring in his son an entrepreneurial spirit. The same was extended to Carlos’s siblings, but it was young Carlos that took the most fervent interest in his father’s business and was the one who would always accompany Julian on his excursions.
His father educated him on the virtues of savings and investment, taking him on weekend business trips where Carlos would learn a lot from his father’s learned colleagues. “They were all very wise, you could learn a lot as a young man by listening.” recalls Slim. The tycoon has followed this example with his own children. For example, when Carlos Jr, Marco Antonio and Patrick (Slim’s sons) were teenagers, Carlos Sr would gather them all in the home library and give them lessons in economics, taking out handwritten notes and teaching his children about the follies and successes of his own companies. Comparing Mexican economics to those in the US and overseas.
Even in the early eighties, Slim used to bring his firstborn to the Stock Exchange. Carlos Slim Jr remembers his father’s teachings: “My father always included us in his business ventures. From a very young age he talked with us about the problems within various enterprises and the solutions you could find by tackling the problem uniquely.”
Thanks to these life lessons and a lifetime of insight from the world’s most successful business man, Slims children have made fundamental decisions in the advancement of the Slim empire. Some close to the company recall an instance of Slim’s son Carlos Jr, figured out the link between a drop in profit margins in one of his 200 stores and the electric bill of that location. It’s that obsession for detail that has been passed down from father to son, and it’s what will keep the enterprise going strong.
“I have to stress,” recalls Slim, “that I always had my family’s support. Which is not at all limited to the material and the monetary, but more so in the moral example and the time dedicated to me and my development. When I was twelve, with the hopes of one day helping with the organization and management of the family’s finances, my father set up a savings account for me in order to see how I would invest it. At the end of every week we would go through the activity together. And so it went for several years. Thus, in January 1955, just three years after I had been given this saving account, I had $5523.32 pesos in the bank, and by August 1957 it had increased to $31,969.26 pesos and continued to grow. Mainly through investments in shares of the National Bank of Mexico, and other smaller investments, by early 1966 my personal capital in that savings account had increased to $5 million.”
It’s clear that Slim has prepared his progeny well and that they are more than equipped to carry the torch and ensure the legacy. Carlos Jr, Marco Antonio and Patrick all have common traits. They are all charming, sociable and there is no rivalry or competition between them. They seem to share victories and triumphs together.
Of his children’s work conduct Carlos Slim says,
“If my kids had wanted to be boxers or athletes they would be forced to compete against each other. Real life is not like that. You are only truly happy when you’re not competing with anyone.”
“I think we all have different vocations in life,” says Slim, “there are some who are born bullfighters, other have the drive to be doctors, another person winds up a journalist, for me, I always liked investments.”
Slim’s children have stated that their father never pressured them to work in the family business, and always encouraged them to find their own passion.
“We always had the freedom to study or not to study, to work or not to work. To feel free to try different things.” Carlos Jr remembers, “Besides, the way our parents raised us was to do something with your life for the pleasure or the responsibility of it, not for the ambition or the power. My dad says it’s always worse to do something you don’t love, you’ll be hurting yourself and your business. If you don’t feel you’re doing something that makes you a better person, or makes you feel better then change course, do something else.”
Carlos Jr began working for his father at a very young age and, like the other two heirs, studied business administration at the Universidad Anáhuac. And all three are aware of the large responsibility and expectations that have fallen on their shoulders.
Marco Antonio has a passion for mathematics and is considered the financial guru of the family. He heads Grupo Financiero Inbursa and Patrick, the youngest, works with his brother in law Daniel Hajj, in America Movil and oversees everything related to telecommunications within the Slim empire, and since Patrick took over as president of America Movil the companies worth has tripled and Patrick is now considered one of the main new sources of the family’s expanding wealth.
To explain why there is no nepotism behind his choices Slim uses a simple baseball metaphor.
“These positions in my companies, my children don’t have them simply because they are my children. It you’re playing baseball and your pitching, what do you do when your son comes up to bat? … You strike him out! Obviously. And if you’re the one at bat, and your father’s pitching, you still try to get that hit. Otherwise it’s bad baseball. You have a responsibility to the team and the people to give it all you’ve got regardless of who’s at bat. I think it’s a bad decision to give a child a great job simply because he is your child, and I don’t like it when someone places too much pressure or over expects from them because they are your child. You must find the job that goes with their strength, their talents, their personality, pleasure and drive. Otherwise no one wins.”
Thus, the larger of the heirs, Carlos Slim Domit toured during training every corner of the empire of his father, was soaked and raised in the area of operations Inbursa financial, immersed himself in the business of Hotels, paper mills, Sanborns chain, department stores and Telmex.
Mr. Slim’s decision to entrust the success of their companies to his children seemed like a lot to handle for a young trio of brothers. The decision was first met with some criticism, but the fact is that the heirs have continued to grow the business substantially. The three brothers have given ample proof of his leadership, and are handling the responsibility of shepherding the empire into the new phase of it’s dynasty.
The decision to carry out the generational change in power occurred because Carlos Slim Helú faced a severe health problem in December of 1992. The tycoon was rushed to a hospital in Houston, because of an aortic aneurysm, where a team of specialists proceeded to extract the blood that had invaded his heart. Slim recovered a few hours after the surgery. In October of 1997, he underwent surgery again to address a problem that lingered from the previous surgery. This time his recovery took three and a half months, prompting a series of rumors speculating the “death” of the Carlos Slim. The experience of being on the verge of death made him reconsider his own style of doing business. Upon his return he gathered his staff and board members and announced he was stepping down and entrusting the companies to his sons.
So, Carlos Slim Domit Jr came to be the general director of Grupo Carso and The Sanborns Group. Patrick Slim Domit became general director of Condumex-Nacobre and all manufacturing and industrial subsidiaries resulting from these companies, and Marco Antonio Slim Domit became the head of Grupo Financiero lnbursa and its subsidiaries. Taking command of Telmex was Jaime Chico Pardo and Slim’s son in law, Arturo Elias Ayub. Another of Slim’s son in laws, Daniel Hajj, was appointed CEO of Telcel. He then went on to America Movil, where he works closely with Patrick Slim Domit. The main piece of advice that Slim has given his successors is “Always stay away from politicians.”
‘I think,” says Carlos Slim, “a business man must stick to his business and his community, and stay away from political interests, projects, and agendas. I’m not a member of any political party nor do I ever care to become one.” Slim jokes that his children are “vaccinated” against the temptations of political power.
To further explore Carlos’s disdain for politics and nepotism the Slim empire has had many people that are not in the Slim family raise to the highest ranks of the company and entrusted with many parts of the empire. Likewise many family members have been let go after honestly assessing that they were not adding value. However this is rare since the Slim Clan is made up of fervent and intelligent hard workers. Even his son in law, Daniel Hajj, one of the executives with the greatest authority at the company he works at and one of the best work ethics. Hajj is the first to arrive and one of the last to leave.
On the shoulders of Carlos Slim Helú’s children rests a huge responsibility: to continue the expansion and maintain his vast empire. Carlos, Marco Antonio and Patrick are the heirs of the planet’s largest fortune. All three have helped to consolidate their businesses. They are billionaires, famous and have a name that surely will open the doors in all areas all over the globe. All three hold distinct talents and different keys to the expansion of their businesses. And it is up to them to write the story of what happens next to one of the world’s most important dynasties.