- Derrick Hayes, the founder and CEO of multimillion-dollar restaurant chain Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, struggled with wanting to bring everyone along on his entrepreneurial journey. But not everyone understands his vision and is willing to tread the waters of entrepreneurship—and he tells Fortune that Hollywood director Tyler Perry told him “Sometimes you’ve got to go in the water, row the boat, leave them in the sand.”
When entrepreneurs find their true calling, they might have a vision for their companies that not everyone can get behind. Whether it be the naysayers who doubt it can be done, or supporters who simply can’t keep up with the pace of innovation, achieving success requires cultivating a dedicated circle. Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks CEO Derrick Hayes discussed that lesson on his 38th birthday this year while sharing a roundtable with Hollywood filmmaker Tyler Perry, gospel musician Kirk Franklin, and rapper Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins.
“Tyler Perry said something to me I’ll never forget, because I battle this all the time, I always try to bring everybody with me,” Hayes tells Fortune. “‘Sometimes you’ve got to leave them in the sand. Sometimes you’ve got to go in the water, row the boat, leave them in the sand, and offer to come back and get on the boat’ … Sometimes people aren’t going to understand the mission.”
Hayes has been executing a game plan to take Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks to the top since he opened his first location in a Shell gas station down in Georgia back in 2014. In the decade since, the Philly native has exploded his restaurant empire across the U.S. at 12 locations, with two of Big Dave’s hotspot locations in Atlanta bringing in $1.1 million to $1.8 million in net sales alone last year. The chain currently sells a cheesesteak every 58 seconds, ranging from the basic $11.99 sandwich to $46.99 specialty choices.
The millennial CEO is determined to bring the chain to even bigger heights, and Perry’s words of wisdom have stuck with him on that journey. The 56-year-old filmmaker and actor has learned a thing or two about trials and tribulations of success throughout his 20-year entertainment career. Perry has directed dozens of classics from Madea’s Family Reunion to Meet the Browns—and beyond receiving his industry wisdom, Hayes walked away confident in his pursuit of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks as a go-to food stop.
“I’m on a crazy mission right now, I’m on a mission where this is all I’m doing every day,” Hayes continues. “I am focused on this one thing that I want to see happen, and it’s hard for a lot of humans to grasp it. So right now, I’m leaving a lot of people in the sand.”
Other CEOs staying true to business ambitions and never giving up
No one understands the business goals at hand better than founders—some of the world’s most innovative leaders advise entrepreneurs to stick to their guns, and stay true to their missions. Aravind Srinivas, the cofounder and CEO of $18 billion AI company Perplexity, urged young hopefuls striving for success to ride out their business undertakings despite the challenges that lay ahead.
“It’s only over when you think it’s over,” Srinivas told students at Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurship Summit earlier this year. “Until then, you can always find a way. No matter how hard it feels in that moment, it’s only really over when you give up.”
And Target’s outgoing CEO Brian Cornell also echoed the advice to stay true to the root business mission, and not get caught up in the “what” of company strategy. Gathering the top 50 executives at the $40 billion retail giant last year, Cornell brought attention to the “why” behind decision-making: how a choice ties back to the company’s image, makes customers happy, and is relevant to what customers actually want. Staying true to the core can make or break a business—and Target has been struggling to reconnect with its consumer base, with foot traffic down for the seventh month in a row.
“We spent a lot of time making sure we understood the why—why do we make certain decisions? Why do we make certain investments? Why is culture so important? And having the patience and the time to talk about the whys, not just the what, is critically important,” Cornell said at Fortune’s Global Forum conference in 2024.
Other CEOs are laser-focused in reaching their business goals. After getting a taste of success, it can be tempting to ruminate on those wins and get caught up in the moment. But the CEO of $62 billion software company Workday, Carl Eschenbach, told Fortune that his “first rule of survival” is not lingering on past victories. The chief executive lives by one saying that he jots down everywhere for inspiration, reminding him to keep his eye on the ball and never break focus from his mission at hand.
“It’s literally a quote that’s in every book I ever have. It’s very simple,” Eschenbach said. “There is nothing more dangerous than yesterday’s success.
