a few years ago I because I remember
someone Nate someone’s name it led to
business that how many people believe
we’re Marie names is important because
if you forget someone’s name what’s the
communication you’re sending them that
they’re not what important how are you
gonna show somebody or care for their
business or future the finances their
health if you don’t parent us to
remember them right and so I remember
someone’s name it lets his business for
20th Century Fox and was for the
chairman and I was training him and his
executive team out of Friday and I go
there and because I was in state because
I saw this avatar like like memorabilia
and I saw this movie poster with Star
Wars I was like a kid right so I gave my
best training ever and afterwards they
really felt it he was like gave me a
tour of the whole place and everything
and I saw this movie poster of Wolverine
I don’t this for me is a big deal but
moving coming out I was like wow I can’t
afford a film to come out and he picks
up the chairman picks up the phone and
five minutes later I’m in the Fox
Studios with 3d glasses watching Hugh
Jackman fight all these super ninjas
right and I’m in my bliss on a Friday
afterwards he comes to me he says Jim
how was the movie I was like spray thank
you so much
I tell my story how I grew up with
learning disabilities I taught myself
how to read by reading comic books my
favorite comic book or the x-men
Wolverine and the x-men and not because
they were strongest is because they
didn’t fit in because I felt like I
didn’t fit in growing up as a kid does
that make sense with this disability and
the boy with the broken brain and the
highlight of the comic books for me was
when I read that the school for the
gifted for the superheroes was in for
x-men was in Westchester New York as a
suburb of New York City and that’s where
I grew up so when I was nine years old I
used to ride my bicycle all around the
neighborhood trying to find this school
because I wanted I wanted to run away I
wanted to find my superpower something
that I was good at and I want to find my
super friends because when you’re the
boy with the broken brain you don’t you
don’t connect with a lot of people
because you don’t feel like you have a
lot to offer right so I used to do that
I’m telling him this story the Chairman
is like Jim I don’t like superheroes do
you want to go to comic-con now what the
how many people familiar with comic-con
right tens of thousands people getting
together San Diego dress up like like
you know superheroes
I like when is it it’s like a Friday
Saturday Sunday now notice my mind I go
from a 9 year old to a 99 year old
because I’m like I’m in LA how many get
to San Diego on a Friday right there’s
any lines or
traffic I have nothing to wear up all
these meetings in LA and noticed like
the critic that comes in right because
sometimes we have to get out of our own
way and it mentally I just became an old
person in my mind and then I was like
just like Jim do you want to go I’m
going tomorrow and he was like I was
like oh you’re going tomorrow I want to
go with you so he picked me up Saturday
morning and we instead of driving down
there we get on his plane and I swear to
you on that planes the entire cast of
x-men and they’re gonna surprise
comic-con right with their presence for
the new movie that’s coming out and I
spend the entire like I go on there and
I see Wolverine and and Patrick’s like
you know professor axe I’ve seen between
Jennifer Lawrence and Halle Berry going
to comic-con right and we spend the
entire day amazing we come back here’s
here’s here’s the lesson we come back
and chairman like how was it I was like
the best day ever thank you so much he
was like he’s like you know my something
else for you like I don’t want anything
else what can I do for you he was like
they really loved you how would you like
to go to Montreal they were filming the
last 30 days in the new movie I’m like
oh wow I’ve never been on film Sal but
love to do but what can I do for you
he says Jim just do what you did with us
just chair teach him out his speed read
scripts memorize their lines faster be
present and focus on Seth and I was like
all I could totally do that
Sunday morning we’re on but they called
the x-jet and we’re going to Montreal
and I’m brain training these amazing
individuals that inspired me like
growing up right and I got to see like
unsaid it was actually taking place at
the school and I got to see my real-life
heroes come to life in front of me as a
nine-year-old boy now when I got home
there was a package waiting for me I
opened up I don’t if you could put this
the last the slide on please I open it
up and there’s this photograph on the
screen there’s a photograph of me and
the entire cast of x-men and even better
than Halle Berry and Jennifer Luntz
everything that’s on there was the note
from the Chairman it said this Jim thank
you so much for sharing your superpowers
with all of us I know you’ve been
looking for your superhero school since
you were kid
here’s your class photo
but the lesson that it that everyone
gets different lessons out of this for
me is me being in that childhood
vulnerable state that allowed something
like that to happen and the what I would
leave for you is this homework if you is
that okay if I give you some homework is
this movie was called Days of Future
past it takes place in the future and
it’s there’s Armageddon I mean it’s the
most dreaded future you could ever
imagine and Professor X sends Wolverine
because Wolverine has healing abilities
with his mind sends him back in time as
like the communicator to talk to his
younger self
so Professor X sends Wolverine back in
time to talk to the younger version of
Professor X to tell him something so
that way the future gets changed does
that make sense so my question for you
is this if you could go back to that
child inside of you that younger self
and right now tell them something that
they need to hear what would that be if
you could go back and pass on a message
to your younger self what would it be
and if you were to go in the future
one year two years five years ten years
and in the future I believe you have
wisdom inside of you I believe you have
greatness inside of you and genius that
you not even ain’t even tapped in those
states if you were to project ten years
ahead of time and look back on this day
right now what is your current self need
to hear from your future self I have a
quote that I get quote on more than
anything else
it talks about an egg and stress that
your egg is like your life if an egg is
broken by an outside force life ends but
if it’s broken by an inside force life
begins if you don’t believe in yourself
if you don’t believe that you can
overcome obstacles if you don’t believe
you have the work ethic if you don’t
believe you have the inner confidence to
project to other people it’ll never
happen
because part of starting a business is
not having not only having the vision of
an idea you’ve got to build around you a
team of stakeholders who believe in you
people follow leaders people invest in
leaders people support people who have a
vision and are willing to and are able
to articulate it and not just the
ability you know a lot of people good
got a good gift for gab it’s the ability
to convince people that you’re gonna be
part of something that’s going to be
successful you’re going to share in the
success it’s going to be beneficial to
you and your family in the long run
you’re going to be respected for what
you contribute and you’re going to have
an opportunity to fulfill your own
dreams consistent with the dreams the
person you’re working with if you can
convey that sense of confidence and that
consent because that sense of leadership
and focus on giving people an
opportunity to grow and be successful
with you you’re gonna have people and I
mean really smart people coming to be a
part of what you do 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
bellman and the only the thing that was
scary to me wasn’t quitting and starting
the company it was when I started hiring
and 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 in heat any payments
coming in and you know I’m almost heard
of that the whole time we have about ten
billion now which is pretty much enough
for the next year anyway you know I if
you’re gonna start a company it takes so
much energy that you know you get 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 the
people would you know people say well
we’re gonna go have a discussion in the
and you know 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 of
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
pool but those those problems that come
with starting the firm you better think
of those as part of the the pleasure
part of the the challenge that that is
part of the excitement do the best we
can with what we have see we want to
live in the now and you see when you’re
down and out or having difficulties your
mind is working very fast not your being
your mind is working very fast and it’s
working off a lot of nails from the past
so a lot of experiences from the past
and worries of what may happen the
future going through your mind well if
you could eliminate that by saying okay
there’s nothing to do about the past
that’s done yesterday’s newspapers can’t
change them and who knows for sure
what’s could happen the future let’s be
here right now take what resources we
have right now act upon them and act
towards a good future goal so you are
actually going along the street trading
in you know bottles to get a nickel
apiece and in those days actually was a
second time over so it’s okay but in
those days you got two cents for a
little pop bottle five cents for a big
one in every grocery store in every
liquor store you would just bring them
to and they’d give you the money and you
know you do what you have to do exist of
if times are lean but alesis nation
affords that opportunity if you know
where you’re at well how can I best make
it a survive not oh poor me how do i
entrench myself for long term
survivalists how do I survive right now
get myself to the next step
the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is gonna get hard and
you’re gonna want to quit sometimes but
it’ll be colored by who you are and more
who you want to be I definitely found
that wanting to be an actor stems from
wanting to be somebody and wanting to
say something to people talk to my dad I
talked to Warren I had 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
particular Melinda 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
example of my client spot a small number
of people that you can turn to on on
certain key things is a great great
asset well here in the same business I
mean if you’re running the same business
as somebody else
the first thing I would do is sit down
and talk about can we merge and get the
scale that’s the first thing I would do
there’s no way in the world if I were
running a company let’s say I was in the
security business providing security to
companies and then there’s another guy
named Fred who had a security company
and another guy named and a person named
Mary had a security come three security
companies all vying for the contracts I
would say why don’t we merge get the
scale reduce our overhead costs and go
out and become the preeminent security
firm in the city of Charlotte there is
no way in the world I would be competing
against them that’s
first thing I would do only thing that
that I can see and you can never really
look at yourself the only thing that I
see that is distinctly different about
me is I’m not afraid to die on a
treadmill right I will run it would not
be outworked I will not be be outworked
right period yeah you know you might
have more talent than me you might be
smarter than me you might be sexier than
me you might be all of those things you
got it on me in nine categories but if
we get on the treadmill together right
there’s two things you’re getting off
first yeah or I’m gonna die it’s really
that simple right so let’s go back to
the question about what if people block
me out it’s do is going to be two
options yeah I’m gonna get back in or
I’m going to be dead Yeah right it’s
like you’re not going to outwork me it’s
a it’s a very is such a simple basic
concept is the the guy who is willing to
hustle the most is gonna be the guy that
just gets that loose ball you know he
got that oh okay he got two oh god he’s
hustling grabbed out my dad was gonna be
out of bounds but he saved it back in
it’s like the commodity that I see the
majority of people who aren’t getting
the places they want or aren’t achieving
the things that they want in this
business is strictly based on hustle
it’s strictly based on being outworked
it’s strictly based on missing crucial
opportunities I say all the time if you
stay ready you ain’t got to get ready
well you get there through one believing
in yourself as you know so well when we
started we had $700 made a day to day
barely but we believe what we did was
the very very best and it goes on the
premise if you realize that you’re gonna
run across a lot of rejection I say this
time and in time
be prepared for the rejection no matter
how bad it is
don’t let it overcome you or influence
you keep on going towards what you want
to do no matter what no matter whether
your bills are paid not paid someone
says no a thousand times again go back
to be as enthusiastic on door number 108
we’re on door number one but believe in
yourself and it’s really all about
knowing you have a great service or a
great product that’ll put you in the
reorder business so you’re never selling
you’re trying to get it in someone’s
hands whether it’s a service or a
product knowing it’s so darn good that
they’re gonna want to order it again or
tell a friend about it to order and
that’s the real secret there just 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
said 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 we were
gonna start a car company and be
successful at it well I didn’t really
think Tesla would be successful I
thought we would most likely fail but I
thought that we at least could address
the false perception that people had
that an electric car had to be ugly and
slow and and boring like a golf cart but
you say you didn’t expect the company be
successful and why try if something’s
important enough you should try even if
you probably outcome is failure home was
twice in my life when you’re down and
out it’s not an easy thing first time I
was homeless I was 23 years old second
time is when I started John Paul
Mitchell Systems and I was in my 30s and
started thinking how bad things are and
oh my god things are bad how do I exist
in this bad situation I looked at how do
I get out of it one time I had no money
had a car that a broken radiator had to
keep on putting water in it but I would
go around collecting old soda pop
bottles take him in two cents for little
one five cents for a big one get some
money and look for part-time jobs
matter what they pay I wanted to get out
of it I didn’t want to be okay I’m gonna
have to stay this way for a while how do
I survive I look at how I got out of it
and by gosh you can get out of it
America does work you just have to do
something
I want to thank Harvard for this honor
I’ll be changing my job next year and it
will be nice to finally have a college
degree on my resume
I applaud the graduates for taking a
much more direct route to your degrees
from our my part I’m just happy that the
Crimson called me Harvard’s most
successful dropout I guess that makes me
valedictorian of my own special class I
did the best of everyone who failed but
I also want to be recognized as the guy
who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of
I’m a bad influence that’s why I was
invited to speak at your graduation if
I’d spoken at your orientation fewer of
you might be here today focus on on
signal over noise a lot of companies get
gift confused they they spend money on
things that don’t actually make the
product better for example at Tesla
we’ve never spent any money on
advertising we put all the money into
R&D and manufacturing and design to try
to make the car as good as possible and
I think that’s that’s the way to go
before for any given company just keep
thinking about are these efforts that
people are expending are they resulting
in a better product or service sometimes
a lot of people may try a new initiative
and then they don’t get an immediate
reaction they and they think it’s a
failure right I want to add to your
YouTube videos with the Wine Library you
know you had so much content out there
how did you stick in there how did you
keep yourself motivated because I
believe in my strategies and I’m patient
ish like all great stuff especially when
you’re innovating doesn’t happen right
away this notion that like Oh Gary I
tried it I spent 500 bucks on Facebook
Ads it doesn’t work well what if your
video sucked what if your product and
service sucks I I tend to do things that
are very early that has been my career
you think I when I do things I believe
in them
I stick with them based on intuition
even though for 18 months nobody watched
my wine videos at all I knew it was
right I was right there’s been things
I’ve done that I’ve jumped off of very
quickly I started to Gary v app V chat
ve like WeChat that was funny for my
fans great CRM one on one didn’t feel
right after a week or two spend plenty
money building it knew it stopped it
after you know a couple months Wine
Library TV five years every day YouTube
decided to change at the daily grape
insular app you could buy stuff
subscription for reviews it was a lot of
fun only did it for five months stopped
it because I didn’t feel right anymore
it’s always hard to know when to jump
off something new but I find that people
don’t believe in what they’re doing they
hear a guru and they do it begrudgingly
because their boss wants them to or
they’re like well Gary’s right a lot so
let me do it but they don’t believe it
and so then they jump they’re looking
for nose instead of yes is everything I
do every business development every
event I do every time I try new
marketing tactic for sales tactic I’m
looking for the yes right I’m looking
for the yes and if the no punches me
well then I’m like crap
then no punched me I believe the
majority of people when they try new
tactics are looking for the no mm-hmm
and you’re getting getting a lot of
subtle knows immediately right and so I
think that’s why that happens make sure
that you are focused on something you’re
passionate about so if you look at the
early internet companies they were
started and focused on doing something
that they thought was very interesting
long before the internet was fashionable
in anyway you know I I you know we are
currently an underdog once again we’ve
been in business for six years and there
was exactly one year where we were not
the underdog and that was 1999 I like
the the underdog years because it makes
you know I liked it when all the people
we hired their parents told them they
were crazy like that was the that was
kind of the good era fortunately it’s
back in 1999 all the parents were like
you know given their brothers and
sisters high fives you know my son is
working at amazon.com so that’s a very
you can’t follow the fashion when you’re
trying to do a startup company or I
think really anything in life but you
have to as an entrepreneur if you’re
gonna if you’re gonna build a company
pick something you think is interesting
that has the intersection of genuinely
creating real customer value and then
just stay right there and let the weight
of catch you
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 or 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 or any of you
and you know for me I don’t you know I
think this is a very personal question 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 business 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 uh 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
ARC fantasy of losing everything just to
rise again like a phoenix and remind you
might decide what its gonna be who
you’re gonna be how you’re going to do
it just decide and then from that point
the universe is gonna get out your way
this lets water it once too it wants to
move and go around stuff you know so for
me I want to represent possibilities I
want to represent the idea that you
really can make what you want one of my
favorite books is the The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho and that’s just I just
believe that I believe that I can create
whatever I want to create if I can put
them put my head on it right study it
learn the patterns and you know I just I
it’s hard to put into where it’s real
metaphysical esoteric nonsense but I
feel very strongly that we are who we
choose to be
in nineteen in 2001 it snowed in New
Jersey on December 23rd which was one of
the busiest days of the year
typically December 23rd is the busiest
day of the year in a liquor store and a
woman called us we just started shipping
and her case of behringer White
Zinfandel wasn’t delivered first of all
I appreciate the people that know what
behringer white sin is good job the
entire case by the way 15 pack the
entire 15 pack case cost $45 we’re doing
about $40,000 an hour in the store she
calls I find out about it somehow it was
buzzing I was on the floor selling I am
the premiere salesman on the floor as
you can imagine I find out about it and
we’re debating what to do she needs it
for her Christmas dinner I grab the case
throw it in my car and drive to Bergen
County to deliver it it takes me two and
a half hours to complete the whole thing
the woman was a hundred and ninety four
we didn’t have a lot of lifetime value
on the back end there she looked like
Yoda and the best part was I delivered
it all pumped with myself and she said
great and close the door
awesome everybody especially my dad who
was pissed that I left because all the
customers that came in asking for me or
that I could have sold everybody who’s
baffled I can’t tell you what the ROI of
driving through the snow in my car to
deliver a case of $45 pink shot to a
woman that looked like Yoda was but I
can tell you this over the next two to
three years that story became the
foundation of how we treated every
single customer it became our
competitive edge and those are the
things that matter to me I love black
and white data I’m obsessed with it the
day when the nerd beat me I understood
that the nerds beat me and I respect the
living out of data conversion funnels
all that but I’m telling you right now
that there are way too many bugs running
businesses today with this and not
enough people running businesses with
and again I swear on my life I am not
Mother Teresa and I far from run my
business just on this but I’m telling
you right now the reason I amassed my
following the reason why I continued to
retain it is because my percentage of
this far outweighs everyone in this room
I mean it that’s how I feel and that’s
how I try to roll every day and I
promise you if you were able to figure
out how to afford how to afford the
allocation of this in your business more
your long-term value will be
dramatically higher your long-term
business success will be dramatically
higher your grandparents your
great-grandparents built businesses
based on this it’s how we built the
whole thing we got really lean and mean
when we went to the suburbs and big box
stores are all we cared about was
dollars and it’s great and the data
matters and continue to use it and use
this tool and understand it but I’m
asking you one final thing when you go
home if this talk meant anything and by
the way I fundamentally believe only
three of you were gonna act on this talk
I do because what I talk about is
ridiculously hard and massively
frustrating and takes forever you know
like everything that’s good in life if
you do anything because of this keynote
there’s only one thing I ask you to do
because as any as I got I’m a practical
bob here’s what I want from you when you
go home look yourself in the mirror and
audit everything you and your business
do I promise you that if you audit from
top to bottom of expenses and effort and
time and energy and payroll and all that
if you audit all of it even the best of
us even the InBev’s
which is the company that bought
Budweiser they built their whole
business on like printing on both sides
of the paper and all that horse even the
most efficient ones of us are doing 20%
dumb shot if you take that 8% that 13%
that’s 60% of dumb that you’re
doing paying that person that’s not
bringing any cultural value to your
business having that contract that
you’ve just been in you just renew
because your busiest sock whatever the
you’re doing if you take any piece
of that percentage and you apply it to
giving a about your customer it
will be better for your business going
forward because
first time since we all lived in small
towns where your reputation was the
complete backbone of how you did
business for the first time because
technology is bringing us back together
in a small town for the first time being
good and caring and following up matters
it matters how about doing something
random act of kindness for a current
customer not the ones that unsubscribed
or left you know how you always do nice
when they’re going how about while
you’ve got them reallocate your thought
process I’m telling you because the
tools that the is the umbrella of this
organism en’t are getting so good so
good you know what that means
all that shit’s about to become a
commodity emotional e.q is going to
dominate business over the next decade
and I implore you start paying attention
and oh by the way I’ll leave you with
this you know what the best part is it
feels good 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 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
ourselves the most important thing is to
make sure it is to attract great people
so either be will join a group that’s
amazing that you’ve really respect or if
you’ve building a company you’ve got to
gather great people I mean all the
company is is a group of people that
have gathered together to create a
product or service and so depending upon
how talented and hardworking that group
is and the greeter which they are
focused cohesively in a good direction
that will determine the success of the
company
so do everything you can to to gather
great people if you’re creating a
company you can hold a rock concert and
that can be successful just don’t hold a
ballet and advertise it as a rock
concert and so you need to be clear with
all of your stakeholders with you know
are you holding a ballet or are you
holding a rock concert and then people
get to self-select in you know we hire
people who are who are really motivated
by building new customer experiences
they like to pioneer they like the rate
of change they they wake up in the
shower motivated by thinking about
customers and occasionally somebody
joins Amazon who their primary
motivation comes from being thinking
about competition or competitors those
people can find Amazon a little Dolph
you know so and again it’s not about
right or wrong it’s just that different
people are motivated by different things
and what happens with corporate cultures
is that over time that you people
collect themselves you know in a way
where they like that culture and then it
becomes self-sustaining thing would be
in your category make it the best you
possibly can so when the end result is
the consumer is tasting it is it
something they want to get again that’s
number one
second thing is have a story or
excitement behind it which is true we
did that with patron for example we had
a tequila tasting test back in 1989 is
Spago’s restaurant and we just want
hands down so there was some validity
not just from taste but from what was
going on
but in any product let’s say you want to
start an envelope company Steve I think
you come in anything you have to know
yourself that it’s the best you can do
and then you have to be willing to tell
enough people until enough people say
yes once they say yes you have to put
your personality into it go by and thank
them make sure it’s going well a lot of
people just shoot something out to get
can I get a thousand customers where
they have the first fifty or hundred and
don’t pay attention to them you must pay
attention to your first customers unreal
attention it’s easier to keep somebody
then this is try and get somebody new so
if you’re listening in you’re over 42
let’s just use my age there’s something
interesting you said something that I
helped a lot of people that are younger
it only has to do with one thing they
actually believe in the technology we
live in right this room is filled with
the eyes right now who’ve taken
advantage of YouTube or Instagram or
just the Facebook’s of the world and the
only thing I need to do to break through
somebody who’s 47 in the suburbs of
London who has a mortgage debt and three
children is for them to understand that
unlike when he or she and I grew up and
there was no internet the thought of
like having a happy life was separate
than taking care of what you were
supposed to take care of the fact that
everybody can come home tonight at 6 7 8
9 p.m. and then take out their phone or
their iPad or whatever and get to work
for three more hours and go to sleep at
midnight get their good six or seven
hours of sleep I’m not talking about
don’t sleep a lot of people get me
confused my big thing is if you’re not
happy if you’re happy and you make
thirty seven thousand pounds a year
Mazel Tov do you but if you are not
happy if you hate your job right you can
do something about it instead of blaming
brexit or blaming Trump or blaming your
mom like do something about it and my point is it’s the Internet
someone Nate someone’s name it led to
business that how many people believe
we’re Marie names is important because
if you forget someone’s name what’s the
communication you’re sending them that
they’re not what important how are you
gonna show somebody or care for their
business or future the finances their
health if you don’t parent us to
remember them right and so I remember
someone’s name it lets his business for
20th Century Fox and was for the
chairman and I was training him and his
executive team out of Friday and I go
there and because I was in state because
I saw this avatar like like memorabilia
and I saw this movie poster with Star
Wars I was like a kid right so I gave my
best training ever and afterwards they
really felt it he was like gave me a
tour of the whole place and everything
and I saw this movie poster of Wolverine
I don’t this for me is a big deal but
moving coming out I was like wow I can’t
afford a film to come out and he picks
up the chairman picks up the phone and
five minutes later I’m in the Fox
Studios with 3d glasses watching Hugh
Jackman fight all these super ninjas
right and I’m in my bliss on a Friday
afterwards he comes to me he says Jim
how was the movie I was like spray thank
you so much
I tell my story how I grew up with
learning disabilities I taught myself
how to read by reading comic books my
favorite comic book or the x-men
Wolverine and the x-men and not because
they were strongest is because they
didn’t fit in because I felt like I
didn’t fit in growing up as a kid does
that make sense with this disability and
the boy with the broken brain and the
highlight of the comic books for me was
when I read that the school for the
gifted for the superheroes was in for
x-men was in Westchester New York as a
suburb of New York City and that’s where
I grew up so when I was nine years old I
used to ride my bicycle all around the
neighborhood trying to find this school
because I wanted I wanted to run away I
wanted to find my superpower something
that I was good at and I want to find my
super friends because when you’re the
boy with the broken brain you don’t you
don’t connect with a lot of people
because you don’t feel like you have a
lot to offer right so I used to do that
I’m telling him this story the Chairman
is like Jim I don’t like superheroes do
you want to go to comic-con now what the
how many people familiar with comic-con
right tens of thousands people getting
together San Diego dress up like like
you know superheroes
I like when is it it’s like a Friday
Saturday Sunday now notice my mind I go
from a 9 year old to a 99 year old
because I’m like I’m in LA how many get
to San Diego on a Friday right there’s
any lines or
traffic I have nothing to wear up all
these meetings in LA and noticed like
the critic that comes in right because
sometimes we have to get out of our own
way and it mentally I just became an old
person in my mind and then I was like
just like Jim do you want to go I’m
going tomorrow and he was like I was
like oh you’re going tomorrow I want to
go with you so he picked me up Saturday
morning and we instead of driving down
there we get on his plane and I swear to
you on that planes the entire cast of
x-men and they’re gonna surprise
comic-con right with their presence for
the new movie that’s coming out and I
spend the entire like I go on there and
I see Wolverine and and Patrick’s like
you know professor axe I’ve seen between
Jennifer Lawrence and Halle Berry going
to comic-con right and we spend the
entire day amazing we come back here’s
here’s here’s the lesson we come back
and chairman like how was it I was like
the best day ever thank you so much he
was like he’s like you know my something
else for you like I don’t want anything
else what can I do for you he was like
they really loved you how would you like
to go to Montreal they were filming the
last 30 days in the new movie I’m like
oh wow I’ve never been on film Sal but
love to do but what can I do for you
he says Jim just do what you did with us
just chair teach him out his speed read
scripts memorize their lines faster be
present and focus on Seth and I was like
all I could totally do that
Sunday morning we’re on but they called
the x-jet and we’re going to Montreal
and I’m brain training these amazing
individuals that inspired me like
growing up right and I got to see like
unsaid it was actually taking place at
the school and I got to see my real-life
heroes come to life in front of me as a
nine-year-old boy now when I got home
there was a package waiting for me I
opened up I don’t if you could put this
the last the slide on please I open it
up and there’s this photograph on the
screen there’s a photograph of me and
the entire cast of x-men and even better
than Halle Berry and Jennifer Luntz
everything that’s on there was the note
from the Chairman it said this Jim thank
you so much for sharing your superpowers
with all of us I know you’ve been
looking for your superhero school since
you were kid
here’s your class photo
but the lesson that it that everyone
gets different lessons out of this for
me is me being in that childhood
vulnerable state that allowed something
like that to happen and the what I would
leave for you is this homework if you is
that okay if I give you some homework is
this movie was called Days of Future
past it takes place in the future and
it’s there’s Armageddon I mean it’s the
most dreaded future you could ever
imagine and Professor X sends Wolverine
because Wolverine has healing abilities
with his mind sends him back in time as
like the communicator to talk to his
younger self
so Professor X sends Wolverine back in
time to talk to the younger version of
Professor X to tell him something so
that way the future gets changed does
that make sense so my question for you
is this if you could go back to that
child inside of you that younger self
and right now tell them something that
they need to hear what would that be if
you could go back and pass on a message
to your younger self what would it be
and if you were to go in the future
one year two years five years ten years
and in the future I believe you have
wisdom inside of you I believe you have
greatness inside of you and genius that
you not even ain’t even tapped in those
states if you were to project ten years
ahead of time and look back on this day
right now what is your current self need
to hear from your future self I have a
quote that I get quote on more than
anything else
it talks about an egg and stress that
your egg is like your life if an egg is
broken by an outside force life ends but
if it’s broken by an inside force life
begins if you don’t believe in yourself
if you don’t believe that you can
overcome obstacles if you don’t believe
you have the work ethic if you don’t
believe you have the inner confidence to
project to other people it’ll never
happen
because part of starting a business is
not having not only having the vision of
an idea you’ve got to build around you a
team of stakeholders who believe in you
people follow leaders people invest in
leaders people support people who have a
vision and are willing to and are able
to articulate it and not just the
ability you know a lot of people good
got a good gift for gab it’s the ability
to convince people that you’re gonna be
part of something that’s going to be
successful you’re going to share in the
success it’s going to be beneficial to
you and your family in the long run
you’re going to be respected for what
you contribute and you’re going to have
an opportunity to fulfill your own
dreams consistent with the dreams the
person you’re working with if you can
convey that sense of confidence and that
consent because that sense of leadership
and focus on giving people an
opportunity to grow and be successful
with you you’re gonna have people and I
mean really smart people coming to be a
part of what you do 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
bellman and the only the thing that was
scary to me wasn’t quitting and starting
the company it was when I started hiring
and 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 in heat any payments
coming in and you know I’m almost heard
of that the whole time we have about ten
billion now which is pretty much enough
for the next year anyway you know I if
you’re gonna start a company it takes so
much energy that you know you get 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 the
people would you know people say well
we’re gonna go have a discussion in the
and you know 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 of
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
pool but those those problems that come
with starting the firm you better think
of those as part of the the pleasure
part of the the challenge that that is
part of the excitement do the best we
can with what we have see we want to
live in the now and you see when you’re
down and out or having difficulties your
mind is working very fast not your being
your mind is working very fast and it’s
working off a lot of nails from the past
so a lot of experiences from the past
and worries of what may happen the
future going through your mind well if
you could eliminate that by saying okay
there’s nothing to do about the past
that’s done yesterday’s newspapers can’t
change them and who knows for sure
what’s could happen the future let’s be
here right now take what resources we
have right now act upon them and act
towards a good future goal so you are
actually going along the street trading
in you know bottles to get a nickel
apiece and in those days actually was a
second time over so it’s okay but in
those days you got two cents for a
little pop bottle five cents for a big
one in every grocery store in every
liquor store you would just bring them
to and they’d give you the money and you
know you do what you have to do exist of
if times are lean but alesis nation
affords that opportunity if you know
where you’re at well how can I best make
it a survive not oh poor me how do i
entrench myself for long term
survivalists how do I survive right now
get myself to the next step
the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is gonna get hard and
you’re gonna want to quit sometimes but
it’ll be colored by who you are and more
who you want to be I definitely found
that wanting to be an actor stems from
wanting to be somebody and wanting to
say something to people talk to my dad I
talked to Warren I had 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
particular Melinda 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
example of my client spot a small number
of people that you can turn to on on
certain key things is a great great
asset well here in the same business I
mean if you’re running the same business
as somebody else
the first thing I would do is sit down
and talk about can we merge and get the
scale that’s the first thing I would do
there’s no way in the world if I were
running a company let’s say I was in the
security business providing security to
companies and then there’s another guy
named Fred who had a security company
and another guy named and a person named
Mary had a security come three security
companies all vying for the contracts I
would say why don’t we merge get the
scale reduce our overhead costs and go
out and become the preeminent security
firm in the city of Charlotte there is
no way in the world I would be competing
against them that’s
first thing I would do only thing that
that I can see and you can never really
look at yourself the only thing that I
see that is distinctly different about
me is I’m not afraid to die on a
treadmill right I will run it would not
be outworked I will not be be outworked
right period yeah you know you might
have more talent than me you might be
smarter than me you might be sexier than
me you might be all of those things you
got it on me in nine categories but if
we get on the treadmill together right
there’s two things you’re getting off
first yeah or I’m gonna die it’s really
that simple right so let’s go back to
the question about what if people block
me out it’s do is going to be two
options yeah I’m gonna get back in or
I’m going to be dead Yeah right it’s
like you’re not going to outwork me it’s
a it’s a very is such a simple basic
concept is the the guy who is willing to
hustle the most is gonna be the guy that
just gets that loose ball you know he
got that oh okay he got two oh god he’s
hustling grabbed out my dad was gonna be
out of bounds but he saved it back in
it’s like the commodity that I see the
majority of people who aren’t getting
the places they want or aren’t achieving
the things that they want in this
business is strictly based on hustle
it’s strictly based on being outworked
it’s strictly based on missing crucial
opportunities I say all the time if you
stay ready you ain’t got to get ready
well you get there through one believing
in yourself as you know so well when we
started we had $700 made a day to day
barely but we believe what we did was
the very very best and it goes on the
premise if you realize that you’re gonna
run across a lot of rejection I say this
time and in time
be prepared for the rejection no matter
how bad it is
don’t let it overcome you or influence
you keep on going towards what you want
to do no matter what no matter whether
your bills are paid not paid someone
says no a thousand times again go back
to be as enthusiastic on door number 108
we’re on door number one but believe in
yourself and it’s really all about
knowing you have a great service or a
great product that’ll put you in the
reorder business so you’re never selling
you’re trying to get it in someone’s
hands whether it’s a service or a
product knowing it’s so darn good that
they’re gonna want to order it again or
tell a friend about it to order and
that’s the real secret there just 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
said 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 we were
gonna start a car company and be
successful at it well I didn’t really
think Tesla would be successful I
thought we would most likely fail but I
thought that we at least could address
the false perception that people had
that an electric car had to be ugly and
slow and and boring like a golf cart but
you say you didn’t expect the company be
successful and why try if something’s
important enough you should try even if
you probably outcome is failure home was
twice in my life when you’re down and
out it’s not an easy thing first time I
was homeless I was 23 years old second
time is when I started John Paul
Mitchell Systems and I was in my 30s and
started thinking how bad things are and
oh my god things are bad how do I exist
in this bad situation I looked at how do
I get out of it one time I had no money
had a car that a broken radiator had to
keep on putting water in it but I would
go around collecting old soda pop
bottles take him in two cents for little
one five cents for a big one get some
money and look for part-time jobs
matter what they pay I wanted to get out
of it I didn’t want to be okay I’m gonna
have to stay this way for a while how do
I survive I look at how I got out of it
and by gosh you can get out of it
America does work you just have to do
something
I want to thank Harvard for this honor
I’ll be changing my job next year and it
will be nice to finally have a college
degree on my resume
I applaud the graduates for taking a
much more direct route to your degrees
from our my part I’m just happy that the
Crimson called me Harvard’s most
successful dropout I guess that makes me
valedictorian of my own special class I
did the best of everyone who failed but
I also want to be recognized as the guy
who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of
I’m a bad influence that’s why I was
invited to speak at your graduation if
I’d spoken at your orientation fewer of
you might be here today focus on on
signal over noise a lot of companies get
gift confused they they spend money on
things that don’t actually make the
product better for example at Tesla
we’ve never spent any money on
advertising we put all the money into
R&D and manufacturing and design to try
to make the car as good as possible and
I think that’s that’s the way to go
before for any given company just keep
thinking about are these efforts that
people are expending are they resulting
in a better product or service sometimes
a lot of people may try a new initiative
and then they don’t get an immediate
reaction they and they think it’s a
failure right I want to add to your
YouTube videos with the Wine Library you
know you had so much content out there
how did you stick in there how did you
keep yourself motivated because I
believe in my strategies and I’m patient
ish like all great stuff especially when
you’re innovating doesn’t happen right
away this notion that like Oh Gary I
tried it I spent 500 bucks on Facebook
Ads it doesn’t work well what if your
video sucked what if your product and
service sucks I I tend to do things that
are very early that has been my career
you think I when I do things I believe
in them
I stick with them based on intuition
even though for 18 months nobody watched
my wine videos at all I knew it was
right I was right there’s been things
I’ve done that I’ve jumped off of very
quickly I started to Gary v app V chat
ve like WeChat that was funny for my
fans great CRM one on one didn’t feel
right after a week or two spend plenty
money building it knew it stopped it
after you know a couple months Wine
Library TV five years every day YouTube
decided to change at the daily grape
insular app you could buy stuff
subscription for reviews it was a lot of
fun only did it for five months stopped
it because I didn’t feel right anymore
it’s always hard to know when to jump
off something new but I find that people
don’t believe in what they’re doing they
hear a guru and they do it begrudgingly
because their boss wants them to or
they’re like well Gary’s right a lot so
let me do it but they don’t believe it
and so then they jump they’re looking
for nose instead of yes is everything I
do every business development every
event I do every time I try new
marketing tactic for sales tactic I’m
looking for the yes right I’m looking
for the yes and if the no punches me
well then I’m like crap
then no punched me I believe the
majority of people when they try new
tactics are looking for the no mm-hmm
and you’re getting getting a lot of
subtle knows immediately right and so I
think that’s why that happens make sure
that you are focused on something you’re
passionate about so if you look at the
early internet companies they were
started and focused on doing something
that they thought was very interesting
long before the internet was fashionable
in anyway you know I I you know we are
currently an underdog once again we’ve
been in business for six years and there
was exactly one year where we were not
the underdog and that was 1999 I like
the the underdog years because it makes
you know I liked it when all the people
we hired their parents told them they
were crazy like that was the that was
kind of the good era fortunately it’s
back in 1999 all the parents were like
you know given their brothers and
sisters high fives you know my son is
working at amazon.com so that’s a very
you can’t follow the fashion when you’re
trying to do a startup company or I
think really anything in life but you
have to as an entrepreneur if you’re
gonna if you’re gonna build a company
pick something you think is interesting
that has the intersection of genuinely
creating real customer value and then
just stay right there and let the weight
of catch you
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 or 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 or any of you
and you know for me I don’t you know I
think this is a very personal question 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 business 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 uh 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
ARC fantasy of losing everything just to
rise again like a phoenix and remind you
might decide what its gonna be who
you’re gonna be how you’re going to do
it just decide and then from that point
the universe is gonna get out your way
this lets water it once too it wants to
move and go around stuff you know so for
me I want to represent possibilities I
want to represent the idea that you
really can make what you want one of my
favorite books is the The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho and that’s just I just
believe that I believe that I can create
whatever I want to create if I can put
them put my head on it right study it
learn the patterns and you know I just I
it’s hard to put into where it’s real
metaphysical esoteric nonsense but I
feel very strongly that we are who we
choose to be
in nineteen in 2001 it snowed in New
Jersey on December 23rd which was one of
the busiest days of the year
typically December 23rd is the busiest
day of the year in a liquor store and a
woman called us we just started shipping
and her case of behringer White
Zinfandel wasn’t delivered first of all
I appreciate the people that know what
behringer white sin is good job the
entire case by the way 15 pack the
entire 15 pack case cost $45 we’re doing
about $40,000 an hour in the store she
calls I find out about it somehow it was
buzzing I was on the floor selling I am
the premiere salesman on the floor as
you can imagine I find out about it and
we’re debating what to do she needs it
for her Christmas dinner I grab the case
throw it in my car and drive to Bergen
County to deliver it it takes me two and
a half hours to complete the whole thing
the woman was a hundred and ninety four
we didn’t have a lot of lifetime value
on the back end there she looked like
Yoda and the best part was I delivered
it all pumped with myself and she said
great and close the door
awesome everybody especially my dad who
was pissed that I left because all the
customers that came in asking for me or
that I could have sold everybody who’s
baffled I can’t tell you what the ROI of
driving through the snow in my car to
deliver a case of $45 pink shot to a
woman that looked like Yoda was but I
can tell you this over the next two to
three years that story became the
foundation of how we treated every
single customer it became our
competitive edge and those are the
things that matter to me I love black
and white data I’m obsessed with it the
day when the nerd beat me I understood
that the nerds beat me and I respect the
living out of data conversion funnels
all that but I’m telling you right now
that there are way too many bugs running
businesses today with this and not
enough people running businesses with
and again I swear on my life I am not
Mother Teresa and I far from run my
business just on this but I’m telling
you right now the reason I amassed my
following the reason why I continued to
retain it is because my percentage of
this far outweighs everyone in this room
I mean it that’s how I feel and that’s
how I try to roll every day and I
promise you if you were able to figure
out how to afford how to afford the
allocation of this in your business more
your long-term value will be
dramatically higher your long-term
business success will be dramatically
higher your grandparents your
great-grandparents built businesses
based on this it’s how we built the
whole thing we got really lean and mean
when we went to the suburbs and big box
stores are all we cared about was
dollars and it’s great and the data
matters and continue to use it and use
this tool and understand it but I’m
asking you one final thing when you go
home if this talk meant anything and by
the way I fundamentally believe only
three of you were gonna act on this talk
I do because what I talk about is
ridiculously hard and massively
frustrating and takes forever you know
like everything that’s good in life if
you do anything because of this keynote
there’s only one thing I ask you to do
because as any as I got I’m a practical
bob here’s what I want from you when you
go home look yourself in the mirror and
audit everything you and your business
do I promise you that if you audit from
top to bottom of expenses and effort and
time and energy and payroll and all that
if you audit all of it even the best of
us even the InBev’s
which is the company that bought
Budweiser they built their whole
business on like printing on both sides
of the paper and all that horse even the
most efficient ones of us are doing 20%
dumb shot if you take that 8% that 13%
that’s 60% of dumb that you’re
doing paying that person that’s not
bringing any cultural value to your
business having that contract that
you’ve just been in you just renew
because your busiest sock whatever the
you’re doing if you take any piece
of that percentage and you apply it to
giving a about your customer it
will be better for your business going
forward because
first time since we all lived in small
towns where your reputation was the
complete backbone of how you did
business for the first time because
technology is bringing us back together
in a small town for the first time being
good and caring and following up matters
it matters how about doing something
random act of kindness for a current
customer not the ones that unsubscribed
or left you know how you always do nice
when they’re going how about while
you’ve got them reallocate your thought
process I’m telling you because the
tools that the is the umbrella of this
organism en’t are getting so good so
good you know what that means
all that shit’s about to become a
commodity emotional e.q is going to
dominate business over the next decade
and I implore you start paying attention
and oh by the way I’ll leave you with
this you know what the best part is it
feels good 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 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
ourselves the most important thing is to
make sure it is to attract great people
so either be will join a group that’s
amazing that you’ve really respect or if
you’ve building a company you’ve got to
gather great people I mean all the
company is is a group of people that
have gathered together to create a
product or service and so depending upon
how talented and hardworking that group
is and the greeter which they are
focused cohesively in a good direction
that will determine the success of the
company
so do everything you can to to gather
great people if you’re creating a
company you can hold a rock concert and
that can be successful just don’t hold a
ballet and advertise it as a rock
concert and so you need to be clear with
all of your stakeholders with you know
are you holding a ballet or are you
holding a rock concert and then people
get to self-select in you know we hire
people who are who are really motivated
by building new customer experiences
they like to pioneer they like the rate
of change they they wake up in the
shower motivated by thinking about
customers and occasionally somebody
joins Amazon who their primary
motivation comes from being thinking
about competition or competitors those
people can find Amazon a little Dolph
you know so and again it’s not about
right or wrong it’s just that different
people are motivated by different things
and what happens with corporate cultures
is that over time that you people
collect themselves you know in a way
where they like that culture and then it
becomes self-sustaining thing would be
in your category make it the best you
possibly can so when the end result is
the consumer is tasting it is it
something they want to get again that’s
number one
second thing is have a story or
excitement behind it which is true we
did that with patron for example we had
a tequila tasting test back in 1989 is
Spago’s restaurant and we just want
hands down so there was some validity
not just from taste but from what was
going on
but in any product let’s say you want to
start an envelope company Steve I think
you come in anything you have to know
yourself that it’s the best you can do
and then you have to be willing to tell
enough people until enough people say
yes once they say yes you have to put
your personality into it go by and thank
them make sure it’s going well a lot of
people just shoot something out to get
can I get a thousand customers where
they have the first fifty or hundred and
don’t pay attention to them you must pay
attention to your first customers unreal
attention it’s easier to keep somebody
then this is try and get somebody new so
if you’re listening in you’re over 42
let’s just use my age there’s something
interesting you said something that I
helped a lot of people that are younger
it only has to do with one thing they
actually believe in the technology we
live in right this room is filled with
the eyes right now who’ve taken
advantage of YouTube or Instagram or
just the Facebook’s of the world and the
only thing I need to do to break through
somebody who’s 47 in the suburbs of
London who has a mortgage debt and three
children is for them to understand that
unlike when he or she and I grew up and
there was no internet the thought of
like having a happy life was separate
than taking care of what you were
supposed to take care of the fact that
everybody can come home tonight at 6 7 8
9 p.m. and then take out their phone or
their iPad or whatever and get to work
for three more hours and go to sleep at
midnight get their good six or seven
hours of sleep I’m not talking about
don’t sleep a lot of people get me
confused my big thing is if you’re not
happy if you’re happy and you make
thirty seven thousand pounds a year
Mazel Tov do you but if you are not
happy if you hate your job right you can
do something about it instead of blaming
brexit or blaming Trump or blaming your
mom like do something about it and my point is it’s the Internet
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