WATCH: Insurance Industry Leader Hyatt Brown Shares Keys To Success With Eastern Florida Students

By Space Coast Daily // February 26, 2020

part of the EFSC Simpkins Speaker Series

ABOVE VIDEO: Insurance industry leader Hyatt Brown brought the story of how he became a billionaire to Eastern Florida State College on Tuesday, telling students the secrets to his success include self-discipline, his family and a seven-day-a-week work habit.

Secrets to his success include self-discipline, his family and a seven-day-a-week work habit

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Insurance industry leader Hyatt Brown brought the story of how he became a billionaire to Eastern Florida State College on Tuesday, telling students the secrets to his success include self-discipline, his family and a seven-day-a-week work habit.

It’s all part of what he called his four cornerstones of happiness: family, security, health and discipline.

“This is not scientific, but this is me after 50 years of work every day and on Sundays,” Brown said.

“It’s the goalposts of life, measuring your happiness in life. Family, security, which is how you feel about yourself, health and discipline.”

Discipline, he added, is the most important.

“If you don’t have discipline, you can’t have good health, you can’t be secure, and you can’t have a family. Life is simple, we make it complicated.”

Brown is the chairman of Brown & Brown, Inc., the sixth-largest insurance brokerage in the nation.

He told the story of how he turned a family business into a major firm and became a billionaire in the process as part of the Simpkins Speaker Series on the college’s Melbourne campus, an event open to students, faculty, staff and the public.

Hyatt Brown has been named one of the “50 Most Influential People in Insurance” by Business Insurance Magazine and received awards for industry leadership from Investor’s Business Daily, A.M. Best and the Insurance Federation of New York. (EFSC image)

Brown has been named one of the “50 Most Influential People in Insurance” by Business Insurance Magazine and received awards for industry leadership from Investor’s Business Daily, A.M. Best and the Insurance Federation of New York.

He shared quotes that have helped shape his life and work, including this one:

“In the morning in Africa, a cheetah awakes knowing it will have to run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. In the morning in Africa, a gazelle awakes knowing it will have to run faster than the fastest cheetah or it will die. In the morning, when you get up, whether you are a cheetah or a gazelle you better wake up running.

“It sounds harsh, but it ain’t. It’s like any athletic team, you get up and you do it, and you do it, and you do it, and if you do it well, you will last.”