Fortune Favors the Bold: Celebrating Crossing The Finish Line of Our First Audacious Goal

I am immensely proud to share that for the very first time Global Payments has earned a position on the Fortune 500 list.  

We set our sights on becoming a Fortune 500 company in 2013, and today this accomplishment serves as a significant milestone in our growth and evolution. It represents the culmination of nearly eight years of work by our team members to double the size of the company – and solidifies Global Payments as a global force at scale in the dynamic financial technology industry. 

Credit for this achievement belongs to our exceptional team members worldwide, who everyday bring dedication, passion and relentless pursuit of excellence to their roles. Our success is also shared with customers and partners, who encourage and push us to reimagine the products and services that drive their growth and the future of digital commerce.

As we celebrate this momentous occasion, I find myself reflecting on how we got here. I joined Global Payments as President in 2010 and became Chief Executive Officer in 2013. At that time, we set out to join the venerable Fortune 500 list within a decade. It was important for us to have a long-term, quantifiable goal to grow our company, and Fortune 500 became our mission.

Fortune 500 status was then and is now important to us as a validation of our hard work, scale and substantial investment. Aiming to be recognized by Fortune as one of the 500 largest companies globally measured by revenue was an easily understood, alternative way of saying we intended to double revenue and more than double profit and market value. In those seven plus years, our stock price is up 700 percent. And today we are now the sixth largest company by market value headquartered in Georgia, and Georgia’s largest financial technology company.

By all measures, Fortune 500 was a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal – or BHAG – as Jim Collins might have called it. A BHAG can be a powerful tool to stimulate progress within an organization. Accomplishing a BHAG requires an ongoing process of setting incremental short-term goals that get you closer to a bigger objective, and the Fortune designation was that steady north star; a proxy for everything we wanted to achieve. 

A BHAG also works to cultivate a sense of team spirit and camaraderie on the path to achieving a goal. Although we all come from different backgrounds and companies through a variety of partnerships and mergers, we work together as a unified team. We all knew what we were working towards. 

I have also experienced the importance of empathetic leadership while pursuing this BHAG. The pandemic put a spotlight on empathy this past year, and operating in lockstep with the needs of our team members has been an essential element of our culture and success.

My approach to achieving a BHAG resembles my approach to tackling century bicycle rides, in which I compete. Much like the goal to achieve Fortune 500 status, embarking on a 100-mile ride sounds audacious at the start – but breaking it up into pieces will help get you to the finish line. The first part of the journey is grueling because you know you have a long road ahead, but it's critical to put your head down and do the work. For Global Payments, that meant investing in technology, achieving enough scale to make a difference and being worldwide in scope physically and virtually. After that, you settle into a rhythm and achieving your goal begins to feel more attainable; you just have to keep moving forward. Toward the end, it's a sprint. Your momentum carries you forward and you can accelerate confidently into the finish line. And much like the end of a race, joining the Fortune 500 symbolizes the end of one goal and the beginning of another. 

Every person across the Global Payments family – especially our team members and partners – has a reason to celebrate the finish line for this goal while also looking forward to what’s next.  We will be rolling out our next BHAG at our investor day in September 2021.  Stay tuned.

Whether you’re part of the Global Payments team or not, I challenge you to set a big, hairy, audacious goal. It could be a 100-mile bike ride, dramatically elevating your career goals or pursuing something personally or professionally that takes you way out of your comfort zone. You'll be surprised at what you can accomplish.