Peak Wealth Mastery Speaker Series September: An Exclusive Interview with Jim Keyes, Former CEO of 7-Eleven & Blockbuster, Author of Education is Freedom

In our recent interview, Jim Keyes shared his remarkable journey from humble beginnings to becoming the CEO of two Fortune 500 companies. Growing up in a shack in Massachusetts, Jim faced severe adversity, including not having basic amenities like running water or indoor plumbing until the age of 12. Through faith, education, and resilience, he overcame these challenges, emphasizing that education was his path to freedom—a central theme in his book Education is Freedom.

Jim discussed his personal and professional journey, from business transformation of both 7-Eleven and Bockbuster, managing through two worldwide economic crises, crediting education as the driving force that helped him break the cycle of poverty.

He passionately shared his vision for revolutionizing education, advocating for integrating technology and AI into learning to offer personalized and engaging experiences.

A core theme of the discussion was leadership, where Jim introduced his philosophy that "fear is the path to the dark side." He explained how fear leads to anger, hatred and even violence.  Replacing fear with knowledge and faith brings understanding, peace, and hope. He believes that leaders must balance faith and reason to help guide others through uncertainty, turning fear into opportunities for growth and success.

When Vera asked Jim what his leadership style was. Jim highlighted his belief that change equals opportunity and discussed the importance of adaptability in leadership. He has coined the acronym C.E.O.  standing for Change Equals Opportunity.

He shared his personal productivity strategies, including relying on a strong team to compensate for his disorganized nature.

As a modern renaissance man, Jim considers himself a generalist and stressed the value of equipping younger generations with broad-spectrum knowledge before they narrow down into niche fields. This, he believes, will enable them to adapt and succeed in an ever-changing world.

Jim also touched on the importance of curiosity, creativity, emotional intelligence, and character education in today’s workforce. He remains deeply committed to his mission of transforming public education, working with influential individuals to drive significant investment and change. His hope is to inspire others to pursue not just financial success, but freedom through continuous learning and personal growth.

Jim’s story is a testament to overcoming adversity, embracing education, and cultivating a mindset of lifelong learning—qualities he believes every leader and future generation should embody. You can purchase his book Education is Freedom here.

Vera Wang Cassara, Host of Peak Wealth Mastery and Managing Partner at Peak Square Ventures, also shared her experiences with building wealth, stressing the importance of equity value and the power of compounding. She expressed her passion for helping others make their money work for them in a tax-free environment. This strategy that Peak Square Ventures has deployed makes 401k investment look like a complete scam. Most people don’t realize when you invest into 401K you are paying hidden fees, 1% of fee charge can eat up to 63% of your potential gains over 50 years. The wall street is getting rich with your money and you are taking all the risk. You have 0 control over your investment. There is a better way to build weath. Please reach out to us if you have are interested to find out how.  https://peaksquareventures.com/contact

Looking forward to seeing you at our next event!