you learn to embrace uncertainty in
chaos
life is inherently chaotic and it
doesn’t fit into our tidy formulas not
only does this not make you anxious but
you find chaos and uncertainty deeply
exciting and stimulating slowly adopting
this as an overall philosophy will
naturally loosen the mind up and give it
greater creative flow you will naturally
consider more options and possibilities
the reason that most people are not
successful but not wealthy is not
because they set their goals too high
and miss them it’s cause they set them
to go low and hit them get that it’s not
because you set your goals too high and
miss you set your goals too low and you
hit them and you get caught up in the
average daily struggle of averages and
mediocrity that’s what kills people
everybody raise your hand for a second
please raise your hand now raise it as
high as you can
I’m gonna crouch so I can see okay now
just raise it a bit higher one higher
why the hell happened
I say raising as high as you can and ham
I said okay then alone i okay wants to
really mean it right to get it it’s that
extra inch that’s where you want to set
your goal not pie in the sky and add a
control like it’s never gonna happen cuz
that’s a load of crap do people let
those sort of goals they abandon those
goals don’t get to that later
but the idea here is you want to set the
goals just above your comfort zone
so now think about it for a second think
about your goals right now how do you
set up you setting them very low and
hitting them if that’s the case then
give yourself a ten are you setting
goals that don’t aspire you some people
say goes in like behind but they’re
crappy goals they’re not the sort of
goals that make you jump out of bed in
the morning make you want to go to work
for yourself to secure the future not
just for you but for your family so you
know if they’re compromised or acquiesce
to anybody unless you love them unless
you want to
I want you to get over this notion that
I find so annoying that so many people
have that success and power in life is
dependent on something like genetics I
some people are born with a larger brain
or they have wealthy parents who are
able to send them to the right school or
or it’s a lot a matter of luck what
really makes people successful and
powerful in life and it’s not just me
saying this
I read hundreds of books on the subject
what makes people successful is their
degree of motivation I could repeat it a
hundred times but it’s true every time I
say it when you are motivated when you
feel yourself emotionally engaged in the
subject you learn faster you learn what
could take somebody 10 years to learn
you can learn in two years when you feel
emotionally engaged with something
you’re able to push past ops all the
obstacles the sense that it’s genetics
or the size of our brain or our parents
money you can’t control any of that
obviously and they could become kind of
crutches for some people
but the amount of motivation you feel
the emotional connection you have to
what you’re studying or doing that is
something within your control that is
something you can choose to take and it
is you you’re gonna find people giving
you all kinds of great advice about your
careers about where you should go you
know for your MBA etc but if there’s one
piece of advice that I think is more
important than that is that is it is
this idea of following this these
natural inclinations and creating your
own career path and finding a way to
engage those deepest motivating parts of
your site when I started Microsoft I
didn’t think of it as all that risky I
mean I was so excited about what we were
doing it’s true I could have gone
bankrupt but you know I had a set of
skills that were highly employable and
in fact my parents were still willing to
let me go back to Harvard and finish my
education if I wanted to you’ve always
got a job with a bill and the only the
thing that was scary to me wasn’t
quitting and starting the company it was
when I started hiring my friends and
they expected to be paid and then we had
customers who went bankrupt customers
that I’d counted on to come through and
so then I got this incredibly
conservative approach that I wanted to
have enough money in the bank to pay a
year’s worth of payroll even if we
didn’t get any any payments coming in
and I’m almost heard of that the whole
time we have about ten billion now which
anyway you know I if you’re gonna start
a company it takes so much energy that
you know you better overcome your your
feeling of risk I don’t think that you
necessarily if you’re gonna start a
company should do it at the start of
your career I think there’s a lot to be
said for working for a company learning
how they do things you know if you’re
young it’s hard to go lease premises
they made that hard for me you couldn’t
rent a car when you were under 25 at the
time so I was always taking taxis to go
see customers people would you know
people say well we’re gonna go have a
discussion in the bar well I could go to
the bar and that’s fun because I’ll tell
you
when people are first skeptical and then
go this kid doesn’t know anything then
when you show them you’ve really got a
good product and you know something they
actually tend to go overboard and they
think whoa you know they know a lot
let’s really do an incredible amount
with these people so our youth at least
in this country was a huge asset for us
once we reached a certain threshold it
is hard it’s hard to hire old older
people because they’ll be a little bit
conservative about whether they should
come in and take the risk and it took
three or four years before we could go
out into the normal sort of employment
school but those those problems that
come with starting to firm you better
think of those as part of the the
pleasure part of the the challenge that
that is part of the excitement I’ll
never forget a recent experience
doing my business on Wall Street getting
on the train to come back to Midtown one
o’clock in the afternoon normally
there’s a low this train should be empty
but on this day the train was full full
of people all in business suits a guy
recognizes me comes over and says hey
are you Chris Gardner we started talking
turns out I’m in the car with the first
wave of the 55,000 people who had just
been laid off by Citibank and I noticed
something everyone’s holding a box
you’ve seen the boxes you’ve seen them
on television they’ve got the houseplant
the coffee mug the pictures of their
kids and they’re all going home they’re
all going home to tell their wife their
husband their children and the Landlord
they don’t have a job I began to share
with this young guy that do you know
what yeah you lost your job but you
haven’t lost your skills your talent or
your expertise but we’ve got to do now
is create opportunities for the skilled
talent and expertise can be transferable
creating an opportunity and looking for
a job are two different things this
could be prime time for pushing your
button rather finding your button what
do I mean by that prime time to find
that one thing that you love to do so
much you would get up in the morning and
do it free prime time to find that one
thing that the Sun cannot comes up soon
enough in the morning because you want
to go do your thing this could be that
time in your life well there’s a ton of
failures along the way that’s for sure
[Music]
like I said as I said for for SpaceX the
first three launches failed and we were
just barely able to scrape together
enough parts and money
to the fourth launch that both launched
at failed we would have been dead so
multiple failures along the way I tried
very hard to get the right expertise in
for for SpaceX I tried hard to to find a
great chief engineer for the rocket but
it but the good chief engineers wouldn’t
join and the bad ones well there’s no no
point in hiring them so I ended up a
chief engineer at the rocket so if I
could have found somebody better then we
would have maybe had less than three
failures I met my best when I’m around
people who believe what I believe I know
it seems silly but I try very very hard
to sort of stack the deck you know to
put myself in a position of strength so
for example you know somebody asked me
just yesterday have you ever had sort of
a bad you know engagement I was thinking
myself I’m like not really but it’s not
because I’m some sort of sort of genius
a nice ending anything like that it’s
because I stack the deck it’s because I
want to be there I want to be around
people who want me there in other words
if I’m somebody’s tenth choice and like
you know I’ll probably turn it down
whereas if I’m their first choice they
really want me there and so I’m more
likely to have a good engagement they’re
supportive of me I’m supportive of them
and so yeah I’m at my best when I stack
the deck when I choose to be in an
environment where where my strengths are
are there I worked most of my life in
high school there was Stuart’s cleaners
after school would go there I would put
the drape on the hanger the sleeve on
the hanger and the janitor of all the
cleaners clean everything up I worked
for a dollar and a quarter an hour
the only reason was a dollar and a
quarter in hours because the steward had
to pay that it was required by law or
he’d be giving me 50 cents an hour it
was a very tight very tight wad guy so I
come in one day after school and he says
to me to go to work he says Johnny come
here I want to talk to us okay taja
story says Johnny I was upstairs
yesterday and I napped after I finished
working I was tired and I dropped my
watch on the floor I put on the table
one on the floor and I went down I
picked it up and I noticed under the cot
I was lying on there was no dust
I moved the
there was no dust I looked behind the
filing cabinets there was no dust or
whatsoever zero dust you really are a
great janitor I said it’s my job to do
what I do when I do it not when someone
else is looking tie this guy in the
world gave me a 25 cent raise $2 50
where I went to high school a
highest-paid kid and maybe a dolphin the
neighborhood we didn’t have a lot of
money in those days
what it was was if people if humans can
imagine doing what you have to do when
nobody is watching you you’re doing as
if someone is right there watching you
and in your free time you’re not funny
elongate something you’re doing what you
should do without people watching you do
it
I think there’s massive confusion around
entrepreneurship entrepreneurship sucks
I mean it’s lonely it’s high-risk I mean
I can’t live without it but it’s like a
bad boyfriend right a girlfriend right
like like it’s there’s a ton of bad days
being an entrepreneur not to mention 98%
of entrepreneurial ventures are gonna
fail so there’s gonna be a really bad
day in your future you know hopefully
not for you you know for me I don’t you
know I think this is a very personal
question I I think it’s how you’re wired
I’m so all-in entrepreneur I prefer the
pain I think one of the reasons I love
the Jets so much is because they bring
me so much pain you know I I love the
climb to me the setback is exciting I
love when something goes wrong it’s
where I shine the most but that’s not
for everybody right I mean it could be
very difficult and when you start
affecting your life and your loved ones
and all the other things it can get real
nasty to me the way I handle things even
though the few rare days when I really
struggle I take a real step back and
make pretend that somebody called me and
told me that my mother or daughter were
killed and I know that’s very dark and I
apologize but it’s really what I do I
literally am able to at my deepest most
struggling moment within this
take a step back and remind myself that
I could make a trillion dollars tomorrow
on Bitcoin and and if something bad
happened to the people I love the most
that it would mean nothing and it very
consistently rewires me very quickly
I just put business in perspective at
the end of the day you know it’s it’s
money for me it’s not really money it’s
my legacy so I get hurt by it a little
bit more but yeah I mean it’s you know I
put in perspective it’s money and you
know what up until I had a daughter even
while I was married up until when I had
Nisha four years ago I secretly wanted
to lose all my money I had this weird
with the dark fantasy of losing
everything just to rise again like a
phoenix I mean there’s so many mistakes
salespeople make I think you need to get
down to like the main ones but you’re
not selling the solution I mean that
even before that though I would say
karenins is the biggest mistake people
are not excited they’re not alive
they’re not they’re not showing interest
in the cycle and they lose interest I
was in Barcelona recently and I was
looking at a watch and the cycle didn’t
didn’t close I could have bought the
watch I was qualified to buy the watch
I’m the one that walked myself in the
shop on my vacation to look at the watch
I know exactly the watch I was looking
for and when I left my wife said what
could he have done to close the sale I
said well he could have kept a life in
the cycle he could have kept the cycle
open so what I mean by that is look if
you’re not interested if you don’t
believe the cycle can be closed it will
not close so the number one mistake I
think salespeople managers and the store
makes is they assume a closed can’t be
had that day I go into every cycle every
sales cycle with every prospect every
phone call every no matter how complex
the sale is or how simple it is with the
belief that I can sell that product that
day this time now focus on things
that are AI driven artificial
intelligence driven whether it’s machine
learning deep learning learning neural
networks medical applications but within
ai ai is a buzzword that everybody is
using right now you know every in and to
that point you know we as all guys we go
back and it’s like 1995 we talk about
the Internet and I would say to people
back in 1995 look if you don’t
understand the Internet you’re not gonna
be able to do business and now that’s
just blocking attack lane that seems
obvious back then it wasn’t right I
could even take you further back to my
first company you know what we did was a
company called micro solutions and we
did local area networks on wide area
networks and I used to walk into
companies and say you’re gonna have to
hook these pcs together at some point
that’ll make you more productive more
effective you know give you a
competitive advantage and people are
like now I just carry this floppy from
this PC to that PC yeah okay
but today we’re at the same type of
inflection point with artificial
intelligence you don’t have to be an
expert and be able to put together your
own neural network you know you don’t
have to know what weights and biases are
but but you have to have more than just
a cursory understanding just like you
have to know the difference between you
know different types of websites and you
have to understand ecommerce if you’re
in the e-commerce you have to have a
cursory understanding of how apps work
you’re gonna have to have at least if
not more cursory understanding of
artificial intelligence because it will
change everything we do and if the
internet was 10x in terms of change to
business artificial intelligence will be
100 X or more if you go to my house
right next to my bed there’s a book
machine learning for dummies if you go
into my bathroom there’s deep neural
networks for dummies right if you go
home there’s a something for dummies in
every room of my house you know you can
go to ways I know but I’m just telling
you put the time I mean I’ve taken you
know I can’t even tell you how many
hours now I spent every week if not
daily working like I’ll go into Amazon
AWS and
go through their machine learning
tutorials don’t think to yourself I’m
not technical enough or I’m not going to
get this or I don’t get into this or
it’s too much try it get as far as you
can because it’s like doing a basic
website and a little bit of HTML just
having done that you feel smarter and
you feel a little bit more confident
about this you know I don’t want to be
an alarmist but I’m trying to scare the
hell out of you because it’s important
if I had email I would be inundated I
choose not to have email or ever turn a
computer on now all my companies are
state of the art technologically
advanced if I want something printed out
its printed out for me but I do this out
of choice I’d rather make a phone call
to you or write you a letter and
communicate the way you deserve to be
communicated with no disrespecting
people on email and I’d be so inundated
my gosh I’d be on that computer all day
long I prefer to have that personal
touch and it seems to work with all the
companies I have that I’m quite active
in but I have great presence running
most of them thank God a very bless our
right to take care of the details but
I’m still hands on in many many of the
businesses here and it’s I could work
better that way and it goes down to this
pay attention to the vital few ignore
the trivia many if I’d email no
disrespect there’d be a lot of trivia on
there I be answering I try and pay
attention to the vital for you and
ignore the trivial what do you
differentiate those those two categories
to be like where would let’s say you’re
president be and where would like the
head of a sales division be are they on
two sides of that equation no what it is
is if it’s one of my companies you could
call me directly but people know call me
directly if you have to but don’t bother
me with something someone else can
handle then you do it it works really
really fine works really well but what’s
important would be obviously presence of
company anyone that’s involved with me
either fill entropically the main people
feeling properly are the main people my
business is or places or countries I
want to reach out to of the head of a
country will call me I’ll call them
right back you know things are very very
significant insignificant are I’ll give
you an example in my life it has been
significant I’m hit up every months for
hundreds of requests send me a hundred
dollars send me a two million dollars
you have all the money share it with me
and I just I don’t even touch it I can’t
I’m swarmed I do so much philanthropy
now everyone expects that whether it’s a
two million dollar mortgage or hey I
want to start a new business send me 50
thousand dollars because you have money
I don’t that people should do it well
that’s not true
I spend millions on philanthropic work
but I do it through our foundation where
it really makes sense not where I have
to go through it all so my question is
how do you begin to set up that system
so that you have the and I’ll call it a
luxury in some ways of communicating as
you see fit when you see fit with those
key decision-makers well for starters
I’m the chairman of the board okay of
the major company so I know detail
what’s going on from the chairman of the
board’s point of view I also know that
the people that I’ve hired can do what
they’re doing much better than I can and
I know what I need to know and so do
they so they could pick up the phone and
call me JP we just did this or look what
we’re doing here I also attend meetings
on a regular basis to see where we’re at
and where we’re going and meet with
marketing people meet with promotional
people meet with our educational people
sports marketing people to get a
hands-on feel for what we’re doing where
we’re going and those really important
meetings Isen and to help meet the
decisions diversified identity in some
fashion I think this is important so
that your self-worth isn’t only
associated with your startup that’s
probably a controversial recommendation
what that means is you should actually
spend time involved with other skills so
in San Francisco for instance many
startup founders I know who are very
efficient and effective have their
startup rock climbing they get outside
they do a few things so that if one goes
well they can they can remain optimistic
each week which is very difficult if
you’re only directed at your startup my
assistants got a great thing now in this
once in every four months somebody sends
an email saying I’ve got a huge startup
that I want you to invest in but you’ve
got to sign this NDA right which
literally every time gets an email back
that says ha Q right and and the reason
is I’m a humongous believer that ideas
are shaped and that executions the game
right we’ve all got ideas everybody’s
got ideas doing ideas we all have here
we can probably sit here for the next
two hours draw them all out record them
and predict the next 78 great startups
over the next nine years
and so I think the thing that is another
theme in entrepreneurship is there is
way too much fodder brought to the idea
who burr was magic cab three years
earlier
uber is not an idea we’re existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
execute it sucked so they lost so I
think you know if there’s any level of
romance left in this room about your
idea
I’d like to suffocate it because I think
the actual situation is what you
actually do with it I’m gonna put the
vast majority of my energy attention and
dollars into building a great product or
service and put a smaller amount into
shouting about it marketing it because I
know if I build a great product or
service my customers will tell each
other you have to mix in some patience
with that and what business it becomes
the business but what you’re doing is
you’re you’re you know painting a pitch
you’re trying to you’re trying to create
create somebody to make a difference to
other people’s lives you have a blank
canvas and you’re filling in in every
little bit of that canvas to get every
and if that canvas you know sings out at
you at the end and it’s you know it’s a
beautiful picture you your business is
going to be successful if you know if
bits of the canvas are not quite right
your business may fail so if you set up
to change people’s lives you’ve got to
get every single little detail right
you’ve got to make sure that the people
that you’re working with a hundred
percent believe in what you’re trying to
do and you’ve got to you’ve got to make
sure that what you’re trying to do is
it’s worthwhile spending your time on
and in the end of the day you want to be
sure that you know the people’s lives
you’ve affected
you’ve really Bennett you’ve affected
them and benefited them and if you get
all that right you know hope you build
to pay the bills at the end of the year
you see the greatest motivational
principle in the world the greatest
motivational principle in the world is
that people do what people see and and
too many too many travel agents too many
travel agents they’re like um or too
many leaders too many leaders are like
they’re like travel agents they’re
sending people where they’ve never been
themselves and you want to be a tour
guide you want to take people with you
you want to say this is the area where
I’ve been this is where I live this is
the area where I lead come along and
follow me and at level number three your
leadership begins to gain credibility
because now you are fleshing out for the
people around you and you are modeling
for them things that they want to see
and you are starting to produce they
work to your potential not your quota if
you want to stay really motivated if you
want to answer the question to why
people that have already made it keep
pushing it is because they don’t operate
on quotas they operate off potential
they’re driven to reach their potential
this is also tied to their ethical
obligation they know what they’re
capable of nobody can tell you what
you’re capable of you’re the only one
that knows okay
so work to your potential not your quota
quotas are numbers who made them up some
guy says okay your quota is blah blah
okay
based on what how do you come up with
that quota he only picked that quota
that number because he thinks
significant are compared to other people
maybe in your industry
look don’t operate on quotas you want
them clearly you want them but you want
to be driven to reach your potential not
just some numbers some mechanics hey my
potential I know nobody else knows that
I know what it is you know yours work to
your potential not just a quota and I
promise you you will be on fire
day and night one of the big challenges
for every having a unique idea and then
taking us through to fruition
there’s always hard right it’s never
easy there’s always people are going to
question you and being able to take that
first step and fight through all the
naysayers you know it it it’s a process
but once you start to get traction
whether it’s uber whoever maybe you know
and you’re taking steps that nobody else
has that’s when you really have to fight
and you know now particularly where we
don’t have an administration that’s
particularly tech literate I think
there’s going to be new challenges and
so the companies that are emerging today
maybe some of them are here at South by
Southwest you know maybe it’s gonna be a
little bit more difficult but still
there’s there’s no less need and it’s no
less important you know it’s as the
world changes and I think it’s going to
change more over the next ten years
technologically than has the past thirty
we’re gonna need people to disrupt and
make our make the world better I talked
to my dad I talked to Warren I talked to
my wife Melinda so I I have enough
people that know me and actually know
where my judgment isn’t its strongest
where I might get overexcited about
something or you know forget to think
about something and so they’re good at
correcting particularly good at
correcting whatever those blind spots
are and I think it’s good to encourage
your friends and advisers to really give
them that license you know I can go to a
party and forget to say hello to various
people or something that’s a very minor
you know a small number of people that
you can turn to on on certain key things
is a great great asset if you want to
make progress and things I think that
but the the best analytical framework
for us and in the future is physics
I’d recommend studying the the thinking
process around physics like not just not
the equations I mean the equations
certainly they’re helpful but the way of
thinking in physics is the that’s the
best framework for understanding things
that are counterintuitive and and you
know always taking the position that you
are some degree wrong and your goal is
to be less wrong over time the one of
the biggest mistakes people generally
make and I’m guilty of it too is wishful
thinking you know like you want
something to be true even if it isn’t
true
and so you ignore the things that you
ignore the real truth because of what
you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of your oyster some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
wrong and and solicit critical feedback
particularly from friends like your
friends particularly friends if somebody
loves you they want the best for you
they don’t want to tell you the bad
things so you have to ask them ok you
know it said really I really do want to
know and and then they will tell you how
do I get over my block of I am never
good enough especially when my
significant other has high expectations
but does not support me in reaching
those expectations ok so we have two
issues so first of all getting over your
block of I’m not good enough for
me the thing that absolutely destroyed
all of that is my unflagging belief in
one simple thing I can learn anything so
I may not be good at that thing now I
may really not be good enough like when
I think about building a studio to rival
Disney I’m not good enough yet there’s a
huge chasm and skill set between me and
Bob Iger and being able to do that I
fully understand that and I have to do
something different which is found this
create all the energy whereas Bob Iger
came in wait I mean they’ve been in
business for like 75 years or something
by the time he came along so it is a
really intriguing skill set to be able
to both build and create something scale
it and then run it once it’s big so I
know full well that I am not yet the
person that I need to be in order to do
that and so my time and energy is spent
in building that skill set so I don’t
freak out over the fact that I’m not
good enough that’s very easy for me to
admit I instead spend my time thinking
about how do i acquire those skills in
order to actually become good enough so
don’t let your self-worth be tied up in
that notion of good enough humans are
the ultimate adaptation machine from
that I derive my sort of high-level
sense of worth it hey every human being
has worth because they’re an ultimate
adaptation machine and they can become
anything they want that’s just really
cool and amazing and then also I just am
deeply compassionate for the human
condition so yeah regardless of where
people fall on that path of actually
executing against that potential I get
it man being a human is both beautiful
amazing all this potential it’s really
hard so have compassion for yourself
which i think is incredibly important
and know that this is hard and then
believe that you can become anything
that you set your mind to and then just
be honest with yourself you don’t have
to want to be the greatest in the world
so whether you let somebody else apply
those high standards to you or not is
completely your choice just remember
it’s a choice and you’re not not great
because you can’t be you’re not great
because you haven’t applied yourself to
that so that is the key for me like
understanding that my life is an exact
reflection of my choices is entirely
liberating so remember your life is an
exact reflection of your choices if you
want a different result you simply need
to make a different choice the ability
to adjust is the entire game like I’m
so proud that I changed my mind every
day my dad used to get so pissed when I
was building wine library he would
always be like he’s like he would say
like three months ago you said Ricky was
gonna be the best employee I’m like I
changed my mind he should fire him or or
he’s like you said sparkling wine was
important now you’re just eliminated it
from the key spot I’m like I changed my
mind like my ability to only be
comfortable in massive chaos has been my
biggest asset as an entrepreneur like I
would never take a note like that scares
the piss out of me what these three
people are doing right now right and so
now you know now that may work for them
and I’m not like back to the opening
statement like you need to do you like
some plenty of people that make a lot
more money than me and one bigger take
notes the key the key though the key is
way too many people are doing like
here’s a good one you know what really
pissed me the baba i’m completely driven
by like happiness and like I’m crippled
by like chaos like you know vaynermedia
vaynermedia is like completely dictated
by like I’m a dictator of HR like all I
care about is the atmosphere all I care
about is how people intern all I care
about is like how people roll like I
think I’ve fired four most talented
smartest people that have worked for me
because if you don’t know how to play
with the other boys and girls you’re out
because I suffocate under you know
conflict and negativity and like
nobody’s better than me so you got to go
so what really pissed me off in tech
world was when Steve Jobs his book came
out when he was dying when it was all
about Steve three or four years ago I
literally watched a lot of my tech
startup friends start being like a to
their staff because jobs was tough
everybody fell into the romance of like
I have this big vision and I’m gonna be
a dog like Steve right and I thought
that was really interesting for me to
watch that half decade of like literally
watching people I know and then watching
them act differently because the status
or the icon of the moment and you see a
lot of that and so like that is probably
the energy I’m trying to bring to this
class today which is you can look at
like how people roll and like it’s great
to admire and things of that nature but
it’s so damn important to stick to like
your DNA right and like what you’re good
at and to recognize that you need to
surround yourself whether it’s your
co-founder or whether it’s the people
that work for you like all I do is hire
the people that are the opposite of me
that bring the other value that bring me
the ability to remember what that
meeting was about and go make sure it
happens you know like whatever it may be
right and so I think that’s another
thing that I would highly recognize
there were four levels of learning okay
let me think what the levels are some of
you might know you’ve been through any
self-development this is a very basic
stuff but it’s important here first
level is called being unconsciously
incompetent
and what that means is this when you
first start doing something you know so
little about it you basically know
nothing you don’t know what you don’t
know this is a very scary spot to be in
when you’ve grown into a situation and
you’re a complete novice you said geez
I’d love to get better at this but I
haven’t the slightest idea what I don’t
know everyone follow that concept this
is what most people start off okay the
next level is becoming consciously
incompetent that means that you’re like
Jesus Christ I don’t know anything
you’re like I’ve is this the staff does
that sewing strategy they all suck it I
don’t know them that’s the next level
next level above that it’s called being
consciously confident consciously
confident means that you’re good at
something but you can’t really do it
with your eyes closed yet you’re good
with requires all your focus in your
mental energy like we remember we were
kids growing up you know even tie your
shoe in the beginning you’re like toys
you’re like putting your things across
and someone says excuse me I don’t know
you can’t tie your shoe and have a
conversation at the same time right
that’s when you’re consciously
confidently it requires all your
conscious focus the next level above
that is called being
unconscious competence and that means
when you’re really really great at
something you can do it without and the
only way to get from conscious
competence to unconscious competence is
through practice there’s no other way by
drilling it into your head again and
again and again and again and again
until your brain just clicks and all of
a sudden using the unconscious part of
your mind which is infinitely more
powerful than your conscious mind what
we have always wanted to do it’s raised
the standard for what it means to be
customer centric to such a degree that
other organizations whether they be
other companies or whether they be
hospitals or government agencies
whatever the organization is they should
look at Amazon as a role model and say
how can we be as customer centric as
Amazon even we editors I imagine right
hopefully competitors as well but if we
could make you know if that could be our
legacy that we kind of raised the
general idea of what it means to be
customer centric that would be a huge
accomplishment it would be accomplishing
a mission that’s much bigger than
ourself what is your best piece of
advice for the next generations
influencers I think it’s really to be
true to yourself and listen as much as
one is able to other people whose
opinions you respect and look up to but
in the end it has to come from from you
and you you can’t really worry too much
by looking to the left or the right
about what the competition might be
doing or other people in your field
might be doing it has to be a true
vision you got to make a commitment to
service you got to make a commitment to
like hey I have a target I know that
when we don’t achieve targets here in my
office the first thing I ask regardless
the internet department if it’s my
accounting department on collections or
it’s my sales department I’m gonna ask a
question what is the target
no target results in no sales so if
you’re in parts if you’re in service
look have a target
measure that target hourly if you really
want to get results measure your target
every hour to see what do we get in the
last 60 minutes I promise you do those
two simple things don’t even learn
anything about how to sell anybody
anything have a target measure at every
hour and I guarantee your sales will
come up connecting increases your
influence in every situation for the
foundation of the teaching today I want
to make sure that we really have a grasp
of why connecting with people is so
vital so if you’ll go to the very first
sentence in your note – the number one
criteria for advancement and promotion
for professionals is an ability to
communicate effectively that I do
believe I think the ability to connect
and communicate so number one criteria
for success with your family with your
marriage with your children with your
friends in the workplace the marketplace
in the community if you have the ability
to connect with people if you can
communicate and connect not just
communicate it takes you and literally
gives you an eye a decided edge over
others in the advancement of what we’re
trying to accomplish for example in your
notes presidential historian Robert Alec
says that the success that successful
presidents exhibit five skills and
qualities that enable them to achieve
things that others don’t so he’s talking
about leaders and presidents and people
what makes some achieve better than
others here are the five things they do
well number one is vision number two
pragmatism number three consensus
building the ability to put together a
team and get consensus number four
charisma and number five trustworthiness
being a trustworthy kind of a person now
what is interesting about these five
these five things that set the better
presidents apart from maybe the average
ones for the five deal with connecting
visitors are deafening they’re
connecting skill the ability to to cast
a future vision consensus-building
getting people to work together you have
to be able to connect to do that
charisma of course that’s why people
follow the quote the Pied Piper and
trustworthy four of the five of the
skills needed to be successful as a
leader had a lot to do with connecting
so let me define connecting because
that’s what this book is all about
connecting is the ability to identify
with people and relate to them in such a
way that it increases our influence with
them in other words we can identify with
them until they say he or she
understands exactly what I know and what
I’m going through and we can relate with
them until we because of that ability we
begin to increase our influence with
them and of course what do I teach about
leadership very simple leadership is
influence one of the most difficult
choices I have ever faced in life was
was in 2008 and I think I had maybe
maybe thirty million dollars left thirty
or forty one dollars left in 2008 I had
two choices I could put it all into one
company and then the other company would
definitely die or split it between the
two companies and but if I split it
between two companies then both might
die and when you put your blood sweat
and tears into creating something a
and so it’s like which one am I gonna
let want to starve to death
I can bring myself to do it surprise I
split the money between two fortunately
thank goodness they both came through
the nature of capitalism is that people
want to come in and take your castles
perfectly understandable I mean if I’m
selling television sets or something
there’s gonna be ten other people who
are gonna try and sell a better
television set if I have a restaurant
here in Omaha people are gonna try and
copy my menu and get more parking and
take my Chef and so on so capitalism is
all about somebody coming and trying to
take the castle now what you need is you
need
castle that has some durable competitive
advantage some castle that has a moat
around and that moat that’s one of the
best moats in many respects is to be a
low-cost producer but sometimes the
motors just having more talent I mean if
you’re the heavyweight champion in the
world and you keep knocking out people
you’ve got a competitive advantage as
long as you can keep doing it and it’s
very profitable if you’re the one that
happens to be able to do it you can turn
out great motion pictures I mean you
know Steven Spielberg I mean he he he’s
a fella Tibet on and and it has enormous
economic value almost 90 percent of
sales managers say they don’t have truck
time you know and again it goes back to
look if you knew it was gonna bank you
money today would you make time for it
so they would they would make time for
because they make time for the things
that make the money
if you if you have a customer hopefully
if you have a customer and you’re
working to deal with that customer and
you got a hamburger in front of you
hopefully you’re going to push the
hamburger aside and work that deal
because the priority is to make money on
in the same in the same conversation
that sales manager does not believe that
sales training converts to ROI or money
so he doesn’t make the time for it when
you say you don’t have time it’s the
truth is you’re saying I’m not making it
a priority because I don’t think it
makes me money most people don’t have a
compelling vision for their own future
you know they move through life setting
goals and goals have no power we’re
almost fear at this point your goals on
power 1959 when Earl Nightingale rumors
I hear of goal-setting and it was like
wow I’m a goal-oriented person and that
was great it worked like 20 years
everyone set goals and they and they got
results but then all of a sudden you
know you set goals and sometimes you hit
them sometimes you know most most times
you don’t okay that’s okay
but goals almost became like a synonym
for like oh I’m gonna set a goal who
gives you what really happens afterwards
it almost synonymous with death
now goal-setting something above and I
believe in setting goals but there’s
gotta be something above your goals and
that’s your vision for the future and
it’s not just about it doesn’t have like
an ending points about the world being a
certain way and that’s inspiring to you
and you when you truly have a vision for
your future that inspires you you’re
gonna jump up out of bed in the morning
and feel great about going at life
versus being miserable and going through
a job you hate or living a life that
doesn’t empower you and just you know
every day moving through just almost
like an automaton not really you know
having the zest and the great the
greatness of life and I’m joking I’ve
been there myself when I felt like I
didn’t really have a compelling vision
for my own future and I felt like I was
wallowing but at least I’m conscious of
that once you become conscious of that
you can consciously create a vision for
your future it doesn’t happen in once in
one minute or an hour you write it down
you work on until it I mean you finally
hit on it you know you know you got it
when when you read it back to yourself
your vision statement and it moves you
and you feel inspired okay and you know
so people have that and and what happens
is every human being is thirsty for a
vision everyone is and so few people
happen to what I do they gravitate
towards someone who has a vision for the
future because they want to be a part of
the vision part of being a great
entrepreneur is having that vision
people to create the vision and then
sell that vision to other people to get
them to want to be inspired to buy into
it then put in their time their hard
work their elbow grease to help you
achieve your vision if you’re a small
firm then you spread the wealth around
it’s a it’s a win-win for everybody
you’re going to as of right now this
moment you’re gonna focus entirely on
one thing getting so good you cannot be
ignored now what do I mean by that
getting so that you deliver results
deliver results for yourself to deliver
results for other people I would just
tell you every business owner on the
planet is looking for people that can
help them grow their business that’s it
they care about one thing and one thing
only can you deliver results so the good
news here is you can always count on
humans to be selfish and I don’t mean
that in a bad way I mean they’re
passionate about the things that they’re
passionate about they’re trying to
accomplish the things are trying to
accomplish and if you can show how you
can help with
people are gonna want you no matter what
I don’t give a shit if you have a
college education like that is so
irrelevant to me a college education
merely tells me that you’ve been
formally trained it doesn’t tell me if
you’re actually good now on a resume can
be very powerful because I’ll look at
that in a shorthand I’ll say oh like
they probably are ahead of somebody that
doesn’t have those things but if you’re
out in the real world getting results
I’m all for that and let me tell you how
fast you can convey that with something
like if I’m like right now hey everybody
by the way PS if you’re a director of
marketing we want to hear from you
especially if you understand content
marketing so I think most people in this
community know that Jarrod has moved up
to San Jose
I don’t do remote employees he’s chasing
his own thing that guy was amazing and
I’m super heartbroken that he left but
now we’re looking for somebody to
replace him with and what I look for is
I look for people that have done I don’t
actually don’t even look at their
college education I don’t even scan that
far down in the resume I just want to
know what are you doing what have you
accomplished and like can you put
together a comp like what is the word
I’m looking a stroke
comprehensive isn’t the word when I’m
gonna stick with it cohesive there we go
can you put together a cohesive coherent
resume which you’d be shocked how few
people actually can so put that together
maybe a super brief cover letter maybe
you hit the person up on social whatever
anyway it is really easy if you’re
actually good it’s really easy to
convince other people that you’re
actually good so focus all your time and
energy on actually getting good I talked
to so many smart fantastic ambitious
idealistic hard-working kids and they’re
right out of college they’re in their
entry-level jobs and I’ll ask them how
is it going and they’ll say I think I’m
gonna quit and I’m like why they say to
me I’m not making an impact I’m like you
they treat the sense of fulfillment or
even love like it’s a scavenger hunt
like it’s something you look for my
millennial friends they’ve gone through
so many jobs they’re either getting
fired I mean it was mutual or they’re
quitting because they’re not making an
impact or they’re not finding the thing
they’re looking for they’re not feeling
fulfilled as if it’s a scavenger hunt
love a job you find joy from is not
something you discover it’s not like I
found love here it is I found a job I
love that’s not how it works both of
those things require hard work you are
in love because you work very hard every
single day of your life to stay in love
you find a job that brings you ultimate
joy because you work hard every single
day to serve those around you and you
maintain that joy it’s not a discovery
but the problem is the sense of
impatience it’s as if an entire
generation of standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain this large a
movable object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
our journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and on to the
next well I’m very driven by what I do I
am certainly very competitive what else
am i needy I’m probably very needy yes
a bitch perfectionist that’s right bitch
first well I I hope I’m not right I like
people who represent the best of what
they do and if that turns you into
perfectionist then maybe
almost seven years ago now I started
this most incredible journey called
amazon.com actually at that time it
wasn’t even called amazon.com it was
called Cadabra Inc as an abracadabra
that was the original name of the
company and I had phoned a lawyer on the
way to Seattle from a cell phone and he
said well what do you to incorporate the
company he says what do you want the
company to be called and I said Cadabra
he said cadaver and I knew that was a
bad name we changed it a few months
later but we launched Virgin Atlantic 30
years ago the New York Times did a
review and they did some market research
and they said you know first of all with
a name like virgin it’s not going to go
the whole way but but second but
secondly that and they did market
research which said only 7% of people
would fly on an airline called virgin
and and we put our hands up and said 7%
would be just fine so so we carried on
with it but there were a lot of there
were a lot of skeptics out there and
there always will be lots of skeptics
when you want to start something new
everybody will tell you why it’s a bad
idea why you shouldn’t do it why you’ll
you don’t lose everything you’ve got and
in the end you just got to get out and
try to prove them wrong
but good luck I only invest in things
that I understand and things that I use
or would use myself this is really
really really important
any time I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really hard and I lose my money
I think it’s it’s critical to as an
entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it’s as
an investor I look for people who are
scratching their own itch I think
success first of all is knowing my
purpose in life as I have watched and
observed successful people what I have
discovered about them is they really
have figured out why they’re here they
really do have their act together and
and and knowing their purpose in life is
a stability for them so that when
everyone else is rocking and rolling and
and things are a little unsteady and
people are kind of leaving the ship and
people are kind of abandoning their
causes with these people they hold
steady right throughout the storm
because they they have a true North Star
they truly are focused it becomes an it
comes an anchor in their life that just
holds them steady and the anchor is a
confidence based upon a knowledge of
purpose [Music]
chaos
life is inherently chaotic and it
doesn’t fit into our tidy formulas not
only does this not make you anxious but
you find chaos and uncertainty deeply
exciting and stimulating slowly adopting
this as an overall philosophy will
naturally loosen the mind up and give it
greater creative flow you will naturally
consider more options and possibilities
the reason that most people are not
successful but not wealthy is not
because they set their goals too high
and miss them it’s cause they set them
to go low and hit them get that it’s not
because you set your goals too high and
miss you set your goals too low and you
hit them and you get caught up in the
average daily struggle of averages and
mediocrity that’s what kills people
everybody raise your hand for a second
please raise your hand now raise it as
high as you can
I’m gonna crouch so I can see okay now
just raise it a bit higher one higher
why the hell happened
I say raising as high as you can and ham
I said okay then alone i okay wants to
really mean it right to get it it’s that
extra inch that’s where you want to set
your goal not pie in the sky and add a
control like it’s never gonna happen cuz
that’s a load of crap do people let
those sort of goals they abandon those
goals don’t get to that later
but the idea here is you want to set the
goals just above your comfort zone
so now think about it for a second think
about your goals right now how do you
set up you setting them very low and
hitting them if that’s the case then
give yourself a ten are you setting
goals that don’t aspire you some people
say goes in like behind but they’re
crappy goals they’re not the sort of
goals that make you jump out of bed in
the morning make you want to go to work
for yourself to secure the future not
just for you but for your family so you
know if they’re compromised or acquiesce
to anybody unless you love them unless
you want to
I want you to get over this notion that
I find so annoying that so many people
have that success and power in life is
dependent on something like genetics I
some people are born with a larger brain
or they have wealthy parents who are
able to send them to the right school or
or it’s a lot a matter of luck what
really makes people successful and
powerful in life and it’s not just me
saying this
I read hundreds of books on the subject
what makes people successful is their
degree of motivation I could repeat it a
hundred times but it’s true every time I
say it when you are motivated when you
feel yourself emotionally engaged in the
subject you learn faster you learn what
could take somebody 10 years to learn
you can learn in two years when you feel
emotionally engaged with something
you’re able to push past ops all the
obstacles the sense that it’s genetics
or the size of our brain or our parents
money you can’t control any of that
obviously and they could become kind of
crutches for some people
but the amount of motivation you feel
the emotional connection you have to
what you’re studying or doing that is
something within your control that is
something you can choose to take and it
is you you’re gonna find people giving
you all kinds of great advice about your
careers about where you should go you
know for your MBA etc but if there’s one
piece of advice that I think is more
important than that is that is it is
this idea of following this these
natural inclinations and creating your
own career path and finding a way to
engage those deepest motivating parts of
your site when I started Microsoft I
didn’t think of it as all that risky I
mean I was so excited about what we were
doing it’s true I could have gone
bankrupt but you know I had a set of
skills that were highly employable and
in fact my parents were still willing to
let me go back to Harvard and finish my
education if I wanted to you’ve always
got a job with a bill and the only the
thing that was scary to me wasn’t
quitting and starting the company it was
when I started hiring my friends and
they expected to be paid and then we had
customers who went bankrupt customers
that I’d counted on to come through and
so then I got this incredibly
conservative approach that I wanted to
have enough money in the bank to pay a
year’s worth of payroll even if we
didn’t get any any payments coming in
and I’m almost heard of that the whole
time we have about ten billion now which
anyway you know I if you’re gonna start
a company it takes so much energy that
you know you better overcome your your
feeling of risk I don’t think that you
necessarily if you’re gonna start a
company should do it at the start of
your career I think there’s a lot to be
said for working for a company learning
how they do things you know if you’re
young it’s hard to go lease premises
they made that hard for me you couldn’t
rent a car when you were under 25 at the
time so I was always taking taxis to go
see customers people would you know
people say well we’re gonna go have a
discussion in the bar well I could go to
the bar and that’s fun because I’ll tell
you
when people are first skeptical and then
go this kid doesn’t know anything then
when you show them you’ve really got a
good product and you know something they
actually tend to go overboard and they
think whoa you know they know a lot
let’s really do an incredible amount
with these people so our youth at least
in this country was a huge asset for us
once we reached a certain threshold it
is hard it’s hard to hire old older
people because they’ll be a little bit
conservative about whether they should
come in and take the risk and it took
three or four years before we could go
out into the normal sort of employment
school but those those problems that
come with starting to firm you better
think of those as part of the the
pleasure part of the the challenge that
that is part of the excitement I’ll
never forget a recent experience
doing my business on Wall Street getting
on the train to come back to Midtown one
o’clock in the afternoon normally
there’s a low this train should be empty
but on this day the train was full full
of people all in business suits a guy
recognizes me comes over and says hey
are you Chris Gardner we started talking
turns out I’m in the car with the first
wave of the 55,000 people who had just
been laid off by Citibank and I noticed
something everyone’s holding a box
you’ve seen the boxes you’ve seen them
on television they’ve got the houseplant
the coffee mug the pictures of their
kids and they’re all going home they’re
all going home to tell their wife their
husband their children and the Landlord
they don’t have a job I began to share
with this young guy that do you know
what yeah you lost your job but you
haven’t lost your skills your talent or
your expertise but we’ve got to do now
is create opportunities for the skilled
talent and expertise can be transferable
creating an opportunity and looking for
a job are two different things this
could be prime time for pushing your
button rather finding your button what
do I mean by that prime time to find
that one thing that you love to do so
much you would get up in the morning and
do it free prime time to find that one
thing that the Sun cannot comes up soon
enough in the morning because you want
to go do your thing this could be that
time in your life well there’s a ton of
failures along the way that’s for sure
[Music]
like I said as I said for for SpaceX the
first three launches failed and we were
just barely able to scrape together
enough parts and money
to the fourth launch that both launched
at failed we would have been dead so
multiple failures along the way I tried
very hard to get the right expertise in
for for SpaceX I tried hard to to find a
great chief engineer for the rocket but
it but the good chief engineers wouldn’t
join and the bad ones well there’s no no
point in hiring them so I ended up a
chief engineer at the rocket so if I
could have found somebody better then we
would have maybe had less than three
failures I met my best when I’m around
people who believe what I believe I know
it seems silly but I try very very hard
to sort of stack the deck you know to
put myself in a position of strength so
for example you know somebody asked me
just yesterday have you ever had sort of
a bad you know engagement I was thinking
myself I’m like not really but it’s not
because I’m some sort of sort of genius
a nice ending anything like that it’s
because I stack the deck it’s because I
want to be there I want to be around
people who want me there in other words
if I’m somebody’s tenth choice and like
you know I’ll probably turn it down
whereas if I’m their first choice they
really want me there and so I’m more
likely to have a good engagement they’re
supportive of me I’m supportive of them
and so yeah I’m at my best when I stack
the deck when I choose to be in an
environment where where my strengths are
are there I worked most of my life in
high school there was Stuart’s cleaners
after school would go there I would put
the drape on the hanger the sleeve on
the hanger and the janitor of all the
cleaners clean everything up I worked
for a dollar and a quarter an hour
the only reason was a dollar and a
quarter in hours because the steward had
to pay that it was required by law or
he’d be giving me 50 cents an hour it
was a very tight very tight wad guy so I
come in one day after school and he says
to me to go to work he says Johnny come
here I want to talk to us okay taja
story says Johnny I was upstairs
yesterday and I napped after I finished
working I was tired and I dropped my
watch on the floor I put on the table
one on the floor and I went down I
picked it up and I noticed under the cot
I was lying on there was no dust
I moved the
there was no dust I looked behind the
filing cabinets there was no dust or
whatsoever zero dust you really are a
great janitor I said it’s my job to do
what I do when I do it not when someone
else is looking tie this guy in the
world gave me a 25 cent raise $2 50
where I went to high school a
highest-paid kid and maybe a dolphin the
neighborhood we didn’t have a lot of
money in those days
what it was was if people if humans can
imagine doing what you have to do when
nobody is watching you you’re doing as
if someone is right there watching you
and in your free time you’re not funny
elongate something you’re doing what you
should do without people watching you do
it
I think there’s massive confusion around
entrepreneurship entrepreneurship sucks
I mean it’s lonely it’s high-risk I mean
I can’t live without it but it’s like a
bad boyfriend right a girlfriend right
like like it’s there’s a ton of bad days
being an entrepreneur not to mention 98%
of entrepreneurial ventures are gonna
fail so there’s gonna be a really bad
day in your future you know hopefully
not for you you know for me I don’t you
know I think this is a very personal
question I I think it’s how you’re wired
I’m so all-in entrepreneur I prefer the
pain I think one of the reasons I love
the Jets so much is because they bring
me so much pain you know I I love the
climb to me the setback is exciting I
love when something goes wrong it’s
where I shine the most but that’s not
for everybody right I mean it could be
very difficult and when you start
affecting your life and your loved ones
and all the other things it can get real
nasty to me the way I handle things even
though the few rare days when I really
struggle I take a real step back and
make pretend that somebody called me and
told me that my mother or daughter were
killed and I know that’s very dark and I
apologize but it’s really what I do I
literally am able to at my deepest most
struggling moment within this
take a step back and remind myself that
I could make a trillion dollars tomorrow
on Bitcoin and and if something bad
happened to the people I love the most
that it would mean nothing and it very
consistently rewires me very quickly
I just put business in perspective at
the end of the day you know it’s it’s
money for me it’s not really money it’s
my legacy so I get hurt by it a little
bit more but yeah I mean it’s you know I
put in perspective it’s money and you
know what up until I had a daughter even
while I was married up until when I had
Nisha four years ago I secretly wanted
to lose all my money I had this weird
with the dark fantasy of losing
everything just to rise again like a
phoenix I mean there’s so many mistakes
salespeople make I think you need to get
down to like the main ones but you’re
not selling the solution I mean that
even before that though I would say
karenins is the biggest mistake people
are not excited they’re not alive
they’re not they’re not showing interest
in the cycle and they lose interest I
was in Barcelona recently and I was
looking at a watch and the cycle didn’t
didn’t close I could have bought the
watch I was qualified to buy the watch
I’m the one that walked myself in the
shop on my vacation to look at the watch
I know exactly the watch I was looking
for and when I left my wife said what
could he have done to close the sale I
said well he could have kept a life in
the cycle he could have kept the cycle
open so what I mean by that is look if
you’re not interested if you don’t
believe the cycle can be closed it will
not close so the number one mistake I
think salespeople managers and the store
makes is they assume a closed can’t be
had that day I go into every cycle every
sales cycle with every prospect every
phone call every no matter how complex
the sale is or how simple it is with the
belief that I can sell that product that
day this time now focus on things
that are AI driven artificial
intelligence driven whether it’s machine
learning deep learning learning neural
networks medical applications but within
ai ai is a buzzword that everybody is
using right now you know every in and to
that point you know we as all guys we go
back and it’s like 1995 we talk about
the Internet and I would say to people
back in 1995 look if you don’t
understand the Internet you’re not gonna
be able to do business and now that’s
just blocking attack lane that seems
obvious back then it wasn’t right I
could even take you further back to my
first company you know what we did was a
company called micro solutions and we
did local area networks on wide area
networks and I used to walk into
companies and say you’re gonna have to
hook these pcs together at some point
that’ll make you more productive more
effective you know give you a
competitive advantage and people are
like now I just carry this floppy from
this PC to that PC yeah okay
but today we’re at the same type of
inflection point with artificial
intelligence you don’t have to be an
expert and be able to put together your
own neural network you know you don’t
have to know what weights and biases are
but but you have to have more than just
a cursory understanding just like you
have to know the difference between you
know different types of websites and you
have to understand ecommerce if you’re
in the e-commerce you have to have a
cursory understanding of how apps work
you’re gonna have to have at least if
not more cursory understanding of
artificial intelligence because it will
change everything we do and if the
internet was 10x in terms of change to
business artificial intelligence will be
100 X or more if you go to my house
right next to my bed there’s a book
machine learning for dummies if you go
into my bathroom there’s deep neural
networks for dummies right if you go
home there’s a something for dummies in
every room of my house you know you can
go to ways I know but I’m just telling
you put the time I mean I’ve taken you
know I can’t even tell you how many
hours now I spent every week if not
daily working like I’ll go into Amazon
AWS and
go through their machine learning
tutorials don’t think to yourself I’m
not technical enough or I’m not going to
get this or I don’t get into this or
it’s too much try it get as far as you
can because it’s like doing a basic
website and a little bit of HTML just
having done that you feel smarter and
you feel a little bit more confident
about this you know I don’t want to be
an alarmist but I’m trying to scare the
hell out of you because it’s important
if I had email I would be inundated I
choose not to have email or ever turn a
computer on now all my companies are
state of the art technologically
advanced if I want something printed out
its printed out for me but I do this out
of choice I’d rather make a phone call
to you or write you a letter and
communicate the way you deserve to be
communicated with no disrespecting
people on email and I’d be so inundated
my gosh I’d be on that computer all day
long I prefer to have that personal
touch and it seems to work with all the
companies I have that I’m quite active
in but I have great presence running
most of them thank God a very bless our
right to take care of the details but
I’m still hands on in many many of the
businesses here and it’s I could work
better that way and it goes down to this
pay attention to the vital few ignore
the trivia many if I’d email no
disrespect there’d be a lot of trivia on
there I be answering I try and pay
attention to the vital for you and
ignore the trivial what do you
differentiate those those two categories
to be like where would let’s say you’re
president be and where would like the
head of a sales division be are they on
two sides of that equation no what it is
is if it’s one of my companies you could
call me directly but people know call me
directly if you have to but don’t bother
me with something someone else can
handle then you do it it works really
really fine works really well but what’s
important would be obviously presence of
company anyone that’s involved with me
either fill entropically the main people
feeling properly are the main people my
business is or places or countries I
want to reach out to of the head of a
country will call me I’ll call them
right back you know things are very very
significant insignificant are I’ll give
you an example in my life it has been
significant I’m hit up every months for
hundreds of requests send me a hundred
dollars send me a two million dollars
you have all the money share it with me
and I just I don’t even touch it I can’t
I’m swarmed I do so much philanthropy
now everyone expects that whether it’s a
two million dollar mortgage or hey I
want to start a new business send me 50
thousand dollars because you have money
I don’t that people should do it well
that’s not true
I spend millions on philanthropic work
but I do it through our foundation where
it really makes sense not where I have
to go through it all so my question is
how do you begin to set up that system
so that you have the and I’ll call it a
luxury in some ways of communicating as
you see fit when you see fit with those
key decision-makers well for starters
I’m the chairman of the board okay of
the major company so I know detail
what’s going on from the chairman of the
board’s point of view I also know that
the people that I’ve hired can do what
they’re doing much better than I can and
I know what I need to know and so do
they so they could pick up the phone and
call me JP we just did this or look what
we’re doing here I also attend meetings
on a regular basis to see where we’re at
and where we’re going and meet with
marketing people meet with promotional
people meet with our educational people
sports marketing people to get a
hands-on feel for what we’re doing where
we’re going and those really important
meetings Isen and to help meet the
decisions diversified identity in some
fashion I think this is important so
that your self-worth isn’t only
associated with your startup that’s
probably a controversial recommendation
what that means is you should actually
spend time involved with other skills so
in San Francisco for instance many
startup founders I know who are very
efficient and effective have their
startup rock climbing they get outside
they do a few things so that if one goes
well they can they can remain optimistic
each week which is very difficult if
you’re only directed at your startup my
assistants got a great thing now in this
once in every four months somebody sends
an email saying I’ve got a huge startup
that I want you to invest in but you’ve
got to sign this NDA right which
literally every time gets an email back
that says ha Q right and and the reason
is I’m a humongous believer that ideas
are shaped and that executions the game
right we’ve all got ideas everybody’s
got ideas doing ideas we all have here
we can probably sit here for the next
two hours draw them all out record them
and predict the next 78 great startups
over the next nine years
and so I think the thing that is another
theme in entrepreneurship is there is
way too much fodder brought to the idea
who burr was magic cab three years
earlier
uber is not an idea we’re existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
execute it sucked so they lost so I
think you know if there’s any level of
romance left in this room about your
idea
I’d like to suffocate it because I think
the actual situation is what you
actually do with it I’m gonna put the
vast majority of my energy attention and
dollars into building a great product or
service and put a smaller amount into
shouting about it marketing it because I
know if I build a great product or
service my customers will tell each
other you have to mix in some patience
with that and what business it becomes
the business but what you’re doing is
you’re you’re you know painting a pitch
you’re trying to you’re trying to create
create somebody to make a difference to
other people’s lives you have a blank
canvas and you’re filling in in every
little bit of that canvas to get every
and if that canvas you know sings out at
you at the end and it’s you know it’s a
beautiful picture you your business is
going to be successful if you know if
bits of the canvas are not quite right
your business may fail so if you set up
to change people’s lives you’ve got to
get every single little detail right
you’ve got to make sure that the people
that you’re working with a hundred
percent believe in what you’re trying to
do and you’ve got to you’ve got to make
sure that what you’re trying to do is
it’s worthwhile spending your time on
and in the end of the day you want to be
sure that you know the people’s lives
you’ve affected
you’ve really Bennett you’ve affected
them and benefited them and if you get
all that right you know hope you build
to pay the bills at the end of the year
you see the greatest motivational
principle in the world the greatest
motivational principle in the world is
that people do what people see and and
too many too many travel agents too many
travel agents they’re like um or too
many leaders too many leaders are like
they’re like travel agents they’re
sending people where they’ve never been
themselves and you want to be a tour
guide you want to take people with you
you want to say this is the area where
I’ve been this is where I live this is
the area where I lead come along and
follow me and at level number three your
leadership begins to gain credibility
because now you are fleshing out for the
people around you and you are modeling
for them things that they want to see
and you are starting to produce they
work to your potential not your quota if
you want to stay really motivated if you
want to answer the question to why
people that have already made it keep
pushing it is because they don’t operate
on quotas they operate off potential
they’re driven to reach their potential
this is also tied to their ethical
obligation they know what they’re
capable of nobody can tell you what
you’re capable of you’re the only one
that knows okay
so work to your potential not your quota
quotas are numbers who made them up some
guy says okay your quota is blah blah
okay
based on what how do you come up with
that quota he only picked that quota
that number because he thinks
significant are compared to other people
maybe in your industry
look don’t operate on quotas you want
them clearly you want them but you want
to be driven to reach your potential not
just some numbers some mechanics hey my
potential I know nobody else knows that
I know what it is you know yours work to
your potential not just a quota and I
promise you you will be on fire
day and night one of the big challenges
for every having a unique idea and then
taking us through to fruition
there’s always hard right it’s never
easy there’s always people are going to
question you and being able to take that
first step and fight through all the
naysayers you know it it it’s a process
but once you start to get traction
whether it’s uber whoever maybe you know
and you’re taking steps that nobody else
has that’s when you really have to fight
and you know now particularly where we
don’t have an administration that’s
particularly tech literate I think
there’s going to be new challenges and
so the companies that are emerging today
maybe some of them are here at South by
Southwest you know maybe it’s gonna be a
little bit more difficult but still
there’s there’s no less need and it’s no
less important you know it’s as the
world changes and I think it’s going to
change more over the next ten years
technologically than has the past thirty
we’re gonna need people to disrupt and
make our make the world better I talked
to my dad I talked to Warren I talked to
my wife Melinda so I I have enough
people that know me and actually know
where my judgment isn’t its strongest
where I might get overexcited about
something or you know forget to think
about something and so they’re good at
correcting particularly good at
correcting whatever those blind spots
are and I think it’s good to encourage
your friends and advisers to really give
them that license you know I can go to a
party and forget to say hello to various
people or something that’s a very minor
you know a small number of people that
you can turn to on on certain key things
is a great great asset if you want to
make progress and things I think that
but the the best analytical framework
for us and in the future is physics
I’d recommend studying the the thinking
process around physics like not just not
the equations I mean the equations
certainly they’re helpful but the way of
thinking in physics is the that’s the
best framework for understanding things
that are counterintuitive and and you
know always taking the position that you
are some degree wrong and your goal is
to be less wrong over time the one of
the biggest mistakes people generally
make and I’m guilty of it too is wishful
thinking you know like you want
something to be true even if it isn’t
true
and so you ignore the things that you
ignore the real truth because of what
you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of your oyster some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
wrong and and solicit critical feedback
particularly from friends like your
friends particularly friends if somebody
loves you they want the best for you
they don’t want to tell you the bad
things so you have to ask them ok you
know it said really I really do want to
know and and then they will tell you how
do I get over my block of I am never
good enough especially when my
significant other has high expectations
but does not support me in reaching
those expectations ok so we have two
issues so first of all getting over your
block of I’m not good enough for
me the thing that absolutely destroyed
all of that is my unflagging belief in
one simple thing I can learn anything so
I may not be good at that thing now I
may really not be good enough like when
I think about building a studio to rival
Disney I’m not good enough yet there’s a
huge chasm and skill set between me and
Bob Iger and being able to do that I
fully understand that and I have to do
something different which is found this
create all the energy whereas Bob Iger
came in wait I mean they’ve been in
business for like 75 years or something
by the time he came along so it is a
really intriguing skill set to be able
to both build and create something scale
it and then run it once it’s big so I
know full well that I am not yet the
person that I need to be in order to do
that and so my time and energy is spent
in building that skill set so I don’t
freak out over the fact that I’m not
good enough that’s very easy for me to
admit I instead spend my time thinking
about how do i acquire those skills in
order to actually become good enough so
don’t let your self-worth be tied up in
that notion of good enough humans are
the ultimate adaptation machine from
that I derive my sort of high-level
sense of worth it hey every human being
has worth because they’re an ultimate
adaptation machine and they can become
anything they want that’s just really
cool and amazing and then also I just am
deeply compassionate for the human
condition so yeah regardless of where
people fall on that path of actually
executing against that potential I get
it man being a human is both beautiful
amazing all this potential it’s really
hard so have compassion for yourself
which i think is incredibly important
and know that this is hard and then
believe that you can become anything
that you set your mind to and then just
be honest with yourself you don’t have
to want to be the greatest in the world
so whether you let somebody else apply
those high standards to you or not is
completely your choice just remember
it’s a choice and you’re not not great
because you can’t be you’re not great
because you haven’t applied yourself to
that so that is the key for me like
understanding that my life is an exact
reflection of my choices is entirely
liberating so remember your life is an
exact reflection of your choices if you
want a different result you simply need
to make a different choice the ability
to adjust is the entire game like I’m
so proud that I changed my mind every
day my dad used to get so pissed when I
was building wine library he would
always be like he’s like he would say
like three months ago you said Ricky was
gonna be the best employee I’m like I
changed my mind he should fire him or or
he’s like you said sparkling wine was
important now you’re just eliminated it
from the key spot I’m like I changed my
mind like my ability to only be
comfortable in massive chaos has been my
biggest asset as an entrepreneur like I
would never take a note like that scares
the piss out of me what these three
people are doing right now right and so
now you know now that may work for them
and I’m not like back to the opening
statement like you need to do you like
some plenty of people that make a lot
more money than me and one bigger take
notes the key the key though the key is
way too many people are doing like
here’s a good one you know what really
pissed me the baba i’m completely driven
by like happiness and like I’m crippled
by like chaos like you know vaynermedia
vaynermedia is like completely dictated
by like I’m a dictator of HR like all I
care about is the atmosphere all I care
about is how people intern all I care
about is like how people roll like I
think I’ve fired four most talented
smartest people that have worked for me
because if you don’t know how to play
with the other boys and girls you’re out
because I suffocate under you know
conflict and negativity and like
nobody’s better than me so you got to go
so what really pissed me off in tech
world was when Steve Jobs his book came
out when he was dying when it was all
about Steve three or four years ago I
literally watched a lot of my tech
startup friends start being like a to
their staff because jobs was tough
everybody fell into the romance of like
I have this big vision and I’m gonna be
a dog like Steve right and I thought
that was really interesting for me to
watch that half decade of like literally
watching people I know and then watching
them act differently because the status
or the icon of the moment and you see a
lot of that and so like that is probably
the energy I’m trying to bring to this
class today which is you can look at
like how people roll and like it’s great
to admire and things of that nature but
it’s so damn important to stick to like
your DNA right and like what you’re good
at and to recognize that you need to
surround yourself whether it’s your
co-founder or whether it’s the people
that work for you like all I do is hire
the people that are the opposite of me
that bring the other value that bring me
the ability to remember what that
meeting was about and go make sure it
happens you know like whatever it may be
right and so I think that’s another
thing that I would highly recognize
there were four levels of learning okay
let me think what the levels are some of
you might know you’ve been through any
self-development this is a very basic
stuff but it’s important here first
level is called being unconsciously
incompetent
and what that means is this when you
first start doing something you know so
little about it you basically know
nothing you don’t know what you don’t
know this is a very scary spot to be in
when you’ve grown into a situation and
you’re a complete novice you said geez
I’d love to get better at this but I
haven’t the slightest idea what I don’t
know everyone follow that concept this
is what most people start off okay the
next level is becoming consciously
incompetent that means that you’re like
Jesus Christ I don’t know anything
you’re like I’ve is this the staff does
that sewing strategy they all suck it I
don’t know them that’s the next level
next level above that it’s called being
consciously confident consciously
confident means that you’re good at
something but you can’t really do it
with your eyes closed yet you’re good
with requires all your focus in your
mental energy like we remember we were
kids growing up you know even tie your
shoe in the beginning you’re like toys
you’re like putting your things across
and someone says excuse me I don’t know
you can’t tie your shoe and have a
conversation at the same time right
that’s when you’re consciously
confidently it requires all your
conscious focus the next level above
that is called being
unconscious competence and that means
when you’re really really great at
something you can do it without and the
only way to get from conscious
competence to unconscious competence is
through practice there’s no other way by
drilling it into your head again and
again and again and again and again
until your brain just clicks and all of
a sudden using the unconscious part of
your mind which is infinitely more
powerful than your conscious mind what
we have always wanted to do it’s raised
the standard for what it means to be
customer centric to such a degree that
other organizations whether they be
other companies or whether they be
hospitals or government agencies
whatever the organization is they should
look at Amazon as a role model and say
how can we be as customer centric as
Amazon even we editors I imagine right
hopefully competitors as well but if we
could make you know if that could be our
legacy that we kind of raised the
general idea of what it means to be
customer centric that would be a huge
accomplishment it would be accomplishing
a mission that’s much bigger than
ourself what is your best piece of
advice for the next generations
influencers I think it’s really to be
true to yourself and listen as much as
one is able to other people whose
opinions you respect and look up to but
in the end it has to come from from you
and you you can’t really worry too much
by looking to the left or the right
about what the competition might be
doing or other people in your field
might be doing it has to be a true
vision you got to make a commitment to
service you got to make a commitment to
like hey I have a target I know that
when we don’t achieve targets here in my
office the first thing I ask regardless
the internet department if it’s my
accounting department on collections or
it’s my sales department I’m gonna ask a
question what is the target
no target results in no sales so if
you’re in parts if you’re in service
look have a target
measure that target hourly if you really
want to get results measure your target
every hour to see what do we get in the
last 60 minutes I promise you do those
two simple things don’t even learn
anything about how to sell anybody
anything have a target measure at every
hour and I guarantee your sales will
come up connecting increases your
influence in every situation for the
foundation of the teaching today I want
to make sure that we really have a grasp
of why connecting with people is so
vital so if you’ll go to the very first
sentence in your note – the number one
criteria for advancement and promotion
for professionals is an ability to
communicate effectively that I do
believe I think the ability to connect
and communicate so number one criteria
for success with your family with your
marriage with your children with your
friends in the workplace the marketplace
in the community if you have the ability
to connect with people if you can
communicate and connect not just
communicate it takes you and literally
gives you an eye a decided edge over
others in the advancement of what we’re
trying to accomplish for example in your
notes presidential historian Robert Alec
says that the success that successful
presidents exhibit five skills and
qualities that enable them to achieve
things that others don’t so he’s talking
about leaders and presidents and people
what makes some achieve better than
others here are the five things they do
well number one is vision number two
pragmatism number three consensus
building the ability to put together a
team and get consensus number four
charisma and number five trustworthiness
being a trustworthy kind of a person now
what is interesting about these five
these five things that set the better
presidents apart from maybe the average
ones for the five deal with connecting
visitors are deafening they’re
connecting skill the ability to to cast
a future vision consensus-building
getting people to work together you have
to be able to connect to do that
charisma of course that’s why people
follow the quote the Pied Piper and
trustworthy four of the five of the
skills needed to be successful as a
leader had a lot to do with connecting
so let me define connecting because
that’s what this book is all about
connecting is the ability to identify
with people and relate to them in such a
way that it increases our influence with
them in other words we can identify with
them until they say he or she
understands exactly what I know and what
I’m going through and we can relate with
them until we because of that ability we
begin to increase our influence with
them and of course what do I teach about
leadership very simple leadership is
influence one of the most difficult
choices I have ever faced in life was
was in 2008 and I think I had maybe
maybe thirty million dollars left thirty
or forty one dollars left in 2008 I had
two choices I could put it all into one
company and then the other company would
definitely die or split it between the
two companies and but if I split it
between two companies then both might
die and when you put your blood sweat
and tears into creating something a
and so it’s like which one am I gonna
let want to starve to death
I can bring myself to do it surprise I
split the money between two fortunately
thank goodness they both came through
the nature of capitalism is that people
want to come in and take your castles
perfectly understandable I mean if I’m
selling television sets or something
there’s gonna be ten other people who
are gonna try and sell a better
television set if I have a restaurant
here in Omaha people are gonna try and
copy my menu and get more parking and
take my Chef and so on so capitalism is
all about somebody coming and trying to
take the castle now what you need is you
need
castle that has some durable competitive
advantage some castle that has a moat
around and that moat that’s one of the
best moats in many respects is to be a
low-cost producer but sometimes the
motors just having more talent I mean if
you’re the heavyweight champion in the
world and you keep knocking out people
you’ve got a competitive advantage as
long as you can keep doing it and it’s
very profitable if you’re the one that
happens to be able to do it you can turn
out great motion pictures I mean you
know Steven Spielberg I mean he he he’s
a fella Tibet on and and it has enormous
economic value almost 90 percent of
sales managers say they don’t have truck
time you know and again it goes back to
look if you knew it was gonna bank you
money today would you make time for it
so they would they would make time for
because they make time for the things
that make the money
if you if you have a customer hopefully
if you have a customer and you’re
working to deal with that customer and
you got a hamburger in front of you
hopefully you’re going to push the
hamburger aside and work that deal
because the priority is to make money on
in the same in the same conversation
that sales manager does not believe that
sales training converts to ROI or money
so he doesn’t make the time for it when
you say you don’t have time it’s the
truth is you’re saying I’m not making it
a priority because I don’t think it
makes me money most people don’t have a
compelling vision for their own future
you know they move through life setting
goals and goals have no power we’re
almost fear at this point your goals on
power 1959 when Earl Nightingale rumors
I hear of goal-setting and it was like
wow I’m a goal-oriented person and that
was great it worked like 20 years
everyone set goals and they and they got
results but then all of a sudden you
know you set goals and sometimes you hit
them sometimes you know most most times
you don’t okay that’s okay
but goals almost became like a synonym
for like oh I’m gonna set a goal who
gives you what really happens afterwards
it almost synonymous with death
now goal-setting something above and I
believe in setting goals but there’s
gotta be something above your goals and
that’s your vision for the future and
it’s not just about it doesn’t have like
an ending points about the world being a
certain way and that’s inspiring to you
and you when you truly have a vision for
your future that inspires you you’re
gonna jump up out of bed in the morning
and feel great about going at life
versus being miserable and going through
a job you hate or living a life that
doesn’t empower you and just you know
every day moving through just almost
like an automaton not really you know
having the zest and the great the
greatness of life and I’m joking I’ve
been there myself when I felt like I
didn’t really have a compelling vision
for my own future and I felt like I was
wallowing but at least I’m conscious of
that once you become conscious of that
you can consciously create a vision for
your future it doesn’t happen in once in
one minute or an hour you write it down
you work on until it I mean you finally
hit on it you know you know you got it
when when you read it back to yourself
your vision statement and it moves you
and you feel inspired okay and you know
so people have that and and what happens
is every human being is thirsty for a
vision everyone is and so few people
happen to what I do they gravitate
towards someone who has a vision for the
future because they want to be a part of
the vision part of being a great
entrepreneur is having that vision
people to create the vision and then
sell that vision to other people to get
them to want to be inspired to buy into
it then put in their time their hard
work their elbow grease to help you
achieve your vision if you’re a small
firm then you spread the wealth around
it’s a it’s a win-win for everybody
you’re going to as of right now this
moment you’re gonna focus entirely on
one thing getting so good you cannot be
ignored now what do I mean by that
getting so that you deliver results
deliver results for yourself to deliver
results for other people I would just
tell you every business owner on the
planet is looking for people that can
help them grow their business that’s it
they care about one thing and one thing
only can you deliver results so the good
news here is you can always count on
humans to be selfish and I don’t mean
that in a bad way I mean they’re
passionate about the things that they’re
passionate about they’re trying to
accomplish the things are trying to
accomplish and if you can show how you
can help with
people are gonna want you no matter what
I don’t give a shit if you have a
college education like that is so
irrelevant to me a college education
merely tells me that you’ve been
formally trained it doesn’t tell me if
you’re actually good now on a resume can
be very powerful because I’ll look at
that in a shorthand I’ll say oh like
they probably are ahead of somebody that
doesn’t have those things but if you’re
out in the real world getting results
I’m all for that and let me tell you how
fast you can convey that with something
like if I’m like right now hey everybody
by the way PS if you’re a director of
marketing we want to hear from you
especially if you understand content
marketing so I think most people in this
community know that Jarrod has moved up
to San Jose
I don’t do remote employees he’s chasing
his own thing that guy was amazing and
I’m super heartbroken that he left but
now we’re looking for somebody to
replace him with and what I look for is
I look for people that have done I don’t
actually don’t even look at their
college education I don’t even scan that
far down in the resume I just want to
know what are you doing what have you
accomplished and like can you put
together a comp like what is the word
I’m looking a stroke
comprehensive isn’t the word when I’m
gonna stick with it cohesive there we go
can you put together a cohesive coherent
resume which you’d be shocked how few
people actually can so put that together
maybe a super brief cover letter maybe
you hit the person up on social whatever
anyway it is really easy if you’re
actually good it’s really easy to
convince other people that you’re
actually good so focus all your time and
energy on actually getting good I talked
to so many smart fantastic ambitious
idealistic hard-working kids and they’re
right out of college they’re in their
entry-level jobs and I’ll ask them how
is it going and they’ll say I think I’m
gonna quit and I’m like why they say to
me I’m not making an impact I’m like you
they treat the sense of fulfillment or
even love like it’s a scavenger hunt
like it’s something you look for my
millennial friends they’ve gone through
so many jobs they’re either getting
fired I mean it was mutual or they’re
quitting because they’re not making an
impact or they’re not finding the thing
they’re looking for they’re not feeling
fulfilled as if it’s a scavenger hunt
love a job you find joy from is not
something you discover it’s not like I
found love here it is I found a job I
love that’s not how it works both of
those things require hard work you are
in love because you work very hard every
single day of your life to stay in love
you find a job that brings you ultimate
joy because you work hard every single
day to serve those around you and you
maintain that joy it’s not a discovery
but the problem is the sense of
impatience it’s as if an entire
generation of standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain this large a
movable object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
our journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and on to the
next well I’m very driven by what I do I
am certainly very competitive what else
am i needy I’m probably very needy yes
a bitch perfectionist that’s right bitch
first well I I hope I’m not right I like
people who represent the best of what
they do and if that turns you into
perfectionist then maybe
almost seven years ago now I started
this most incredible journey called
amazon.com actually at that time it
wasn’t even called amazon.com it was
called Cadabra Inc as an abracadabra
that was the original name of the
company and I had phoned a lawyer on the
way to Seattle from a cell phone and he
said well what do you to incorporate the
company he says what do you want the
company to be called and I said Cadabra
he said cadaver and I knew that was a
bad name we changed it a few months
later but we launched Virgin Atlantic 30
years ago the New York Times did a
review and they did some market research
and they said you know first of all with
a name like virgin it’s not going to go
the whole way but but second but
secondly that and they did market
research which said only 7% of people
would fly on an airline called virgin
and and we put our hands up and said 7%
would be just fine so so we carried on
with it but there were a lot of there
were a lot of skeptics out there and
there always will be lots of skeptics
when you want to start something new
everybody will tell you why it’s a bad
idea why you shouldn’t do it why you’ll
you don’t lose everything you’ve got and
in the end you just got to get out and
try to prove them wrong
but good luck I only invest in things
that I understand and things that I use
or would use myself this is really
really really important
any time I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really hard and I lose my money
I think it’s it’s critical to as an
entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it’s as
an investor I look for people who are
scratching their own itch I think
success first of all is knowing my
purpose in life as I have watched and
observed successful people what I have
discovered about them is they really
have figured out why they’re here they
really do have their act together and
and and knowing their purpose in life is
a stability for them so that when
everyone else is rocking and rolling and
and things are a little unsteady and
people are kind of leaving the ship and
people are kind of abandoning their
causes with these people they hold
steady right throughout the storm
because they they have a true North Star
they truly are focused it becomes an it
comes an anchor in their life that just
holds them steady and the anchor is a
confidence based upon a knowledge of
purpose [Music]
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