basically the theory is we’re all born
thinking like entrepreneurs you know
like when we crawl and we start and we
fall you know when we’re trying to walk
we figure it out entrepreneurs always
figure out you’re born thinking like an
entrepreneur that you know what I’m
gonna figure this out regardless and I’m
gonna keep going now often the challenge
is families and friends convinced you
not to be an entrepreneur because when
you say I’m gonna change the world I’m
moving the most famous person I’m gonna
save the seals they say don’t do that
you it didn’t happen before yeah it’s
never happen you’re gonna you’re gonna
you’re gonna fail you can embarrass us I
put the limiters on it they put the
limited they put the blinders on you buy
true entrepreneurs will just keep
figuring it out people say you you have
to have a lot of passion for what you’re
doing and it’s totally true and the
reason is is because it’s so hard that
if you don’t any rational person would
give up it’s really hard and you have to
do it over a sustained period of time so
if you don’t love it if you’re not
having fun doing it you don’t really
love it
you’re gonna give up so just go and do
it try learn from it you know you’ll
fail at some things that’s a learning
experience that you need so that you can
take that on to the next experience and
don’t let people who you may respect and
who you believe know what they’re
talking about don’t let them tell you it
can’t be done because often they will
tell you it can’t be done and it’s just
because they don’t have the courage to
try it I think people that look for
great ideas to make money you know are
nearly as successful as those who say
okay what I really love to do what am I
excited about what I know something
about you know what’s kind of
interesting and compelling it’s very
rewarding when you work on something you
think it’s gonna make a big difference
and
yeah it’s a little bit harder but I
think I think the passion that one might
bring with it brings so much more energy
to that that you’re more likely to
succeed you have to have an emotional
investment in what you’re doing if you
don’t love what you’re doing
failure is pretty much guaranteed
success is not guaranteed by any means
but failure is much more likely if you
don’t love what you’re doing if you know
exactly what you want to be you need to
spend as much time with people that are
actually that already you know one of
the things that I do is I question a lot
of things and you can do that in a good
way in a bad way but hopefully if you
try to get people to motivate why
they’re doing something and their way of
thinking you know the worst thing you
can end up with it’s a situation where
you get told well this is the way it’s
always been
that’s the worst ever that’s a
non-answer instead ask yourself you know
given everything you have today is there
a way we can make this better do
something you’re very passionate about
and don’t try to chase what is kind of
the hot passion of the day I fashion
believe that I can only should expect to
make money and things that I understand
and when I say understand I don’t mean
understand you know what the product
does or anything like that I mean
understand what the economics of the
business are likely to look at look like
10 years from now or 20 years ago I know
in general what the economics will say
Wrigley chewing gum will look like 10
years from now the internet isn’t going
to change the way people chew gum it
isn’t going to change which come they
chew now if you own the chewing gum
market in a big way and you’ve got
double mint spearmint and juicy fruit
those brands will be there ten years
from now so I can’t pinpoint exactly
what the numbers are gonna look like on
Wrigley but I’m not gonna be way off if
I try to look forward on something like
that that evaluating that company is
within what I call my circle of cop
I understand what they do I understand
the economics of it I understand the
competitive aspects of the business so
figuring out the economic consequences
TV
I think there’s I don’t know 20 25
million sets a year sold in the United
States I don’t think there’s one of them
made in the United States anymore I mean
you’d say TV set manufacturer what a
wonderful business I teach everybody how
nobody had a TV in 1950 or thereabouts
45 to 50 everybody has multiple sets now
nobody is in the United States and made
any real money making the sense that
they’re all out of business
you know the Magnavox is the RCA is all
of those companies radio was the
equipment of the 20 over 500 companies
making radios in the 1920s again I don’t
think there’s a u.s. radio manufacturer
at the present time but coca-cola you
know I was at 1884 and Jacobs pharmacy
or whatever and fellow comes up with
something a lot of copiers over the
years but now you’ve got a company that
is selling roughly 1.1 billion eight
ounce servings of its product not all
cokes bright and some others daily
throughout the world 117 years later so
understanding the economic
characteristics of a business is
different than predicting the fact that
an industry is going to do wonderfully
so I look at the internet businesses or
I look at tech messes I say this is a
marvelous thing and I love to play
around on the computer and it now I
ordered my books from Amazon and all
kinds of things but I don’t know who’s
gonna win unless I know who’s gonna win
I’m not interested in the best thing
I’ll just play around on the computer
and defining your circle of competence
is the most important aspect of
investing it’s not how important how
large your circle is you don’t have to
be an expert on everything but knowing
where the perimeter of that circle of
what you know and what you don’t know is
and staying inside of it is all
important
Tom Watson seniors started IBM said in
his book he said I’m no genius he said
but I’m smart in spots I stay around
those spots
and you know that is the key so if I
understand a few things and I stick in
that arena I’ll do okay and if I don’t
understand something but I get all
excited about it because my neighbors
are talking about stocks are going up
everything they start fooling around
someplace else eventually I’ll get
creamed and I should just do my work for
me I’ve always been very utilitarian on
all of this stuff and that’s what coming
from punk rock gave to me where I don’t
feel like I’m anybody and someone wants
me to sign something I’m like sure I
don’t exactly understand why but I’ll do
it for you I don’t think I’m anything
maybe it’s also not just because of the
punk rock mentality it’s also because
you were scooping ice cream not so long
ago and maybe there’s an element of
insecurity in you that unless you keep
working and keep keep striving you could
end up back there oh I kind of figured
that’s eventual I keep moving forward
boldly guess I have nothing to lose I’m
nobody from nowhere you should really
understand that I am from the minimum
wage working world a hundred years ago
but I I don’t ever have it in my head
that that’s any less any more than one
tour away of coming back and so I just I
like to work it’s not about money or
fame or anything it’s about activity and
challenge and so when we’re coming up
with ideas you know we always ask
ourselves what kind of new market is
this creating and then also what what
part of my day and in what problem is it
solving and so I’ve gone as far as
taking an entire catalogue of my day
from the moment I like open my eyes and
writing down every single thing I do and
then asking myself like is there
something here and you know what
everybody wants to hear what they
already believe to be true and so the
last thing that we want to hear is an
original idea that contradicts their
belief system so it’s very hard to even
bring that kind of stuff up but those
are the things those are the only things
things that you believe that everybody
around you doesn’t believe when you’re
right
that create real value in the world
everything else people already know
there’s no value created it’s just
business as usual
so it’s so important to think for
yourself it’s so hard I thought doing
this research I thought going into it
there were authentic people and
inauthentic people who I had I did not
find any evidence of that at all what I
found is authenticity to practice and
you choose it every day sometimes every
hour of every day
and it’s a practice it’s not I just wake
up in ham authentic it’s that when you
walk into a meeting you have to make the
choice am I gonna show up and let myself
be seen am I gonna if I could raise my
hand say wow y’all look super excited I
don’t know what in the hell you’re
talking about you know that’s a choice
yes uh-huh right well and when to be
make that authentic choice yeah let go
of the faker faker ooh I said yeah I
call it to fake a roof but you know what
I have found I mean I consider myself to
be an authentic person but when I am
inauthentic is when I’ve allowed myself
to be around people who were not and
then I have to fake it to be with them
oh it’s contagious yes so they’re faking
it yeah then and you know you’re in that
situation when you do that haha that
kind of haha you’re laughing at jokes
that aren’t funny
you’re pretending to be comfortable when
you’re not and lose your own
authenticity yeah I do it don’t solicit
feedback on your product your idea or
your business just for validation
purposes be really careful about that
you want to tell the people that can
help move your idea forward but if
you’re just looking to your friend
co-worker husband wife for validation be
careful because out of love and concern
a lot of people will express some
concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
because if you build something for
yourself if you build something that you
love that you think is sufficiently epic
if you make something that you love
there’s probably not a billion people in
the world that love it as well you need
to focus on solutions not ideas all of
us here are really creative and we come
up with loads of ideas throughout the
day and we become really excited about
that as a dude we should start a company
around that but that’s when you actually
go to the other side where you topped
over you you know find out what someone
actually a problem a problem that they
have in solve that is is when you know
real value comes out my advice to young
chefs from the age of 16 to sort of 29
30 is 14 years of a sponge you’re
absorbing knowledge don’t take a job for
the sake of money
don’t worry about earning 500 pound a
month for a year more somewhere else
go and get knowledge because that
becomes a bigger passport for anything
the money will come and you’ve mastered
your craft and you become incredibly
talented work for big chefs and find a
different level of comfort when things
get too comfortable and you’re still
living with your parents and you’ve
still got your first job and you want to
move out because there is two cobbler
get out put yourself in a strange
situation in the middle of Barcelona we
serve in the middle of Paris put
yourself in the middle of Belgium and
see what’s available it’s amazing how
much conference gives you more
importantly it’s great
he’s in trouble at the same time
fantastic a lot of times I’ll be in a
tours at Mile Run or something like that
and I’m all jacked up body’s broken
mines broken spirits broken I started to
say what if I can pull this off when I
first walked into the Navy SEAL
recruiters office he looked at me and
said only been 35 african-americans in
70 years make it through you know I said
to myself what if I can be the 36 it’s
the what if I can pull off a miracle
what if I can become someone that no one
thinks I can be and just that just me
talking about that I have a hair going
up on my arms because it makes me just
like what if I can be that guy that
people who called nigger and this and
that and now I’m speaking at tom ferry
event and I think where is the
opportunity the opportunity lie always
lies in the place where people complain
some people sit there complain you think
if I can solve that complaint that’s the
opportunity I would say that the lesson
learned for me to anybody else out there
interested in starting a business is
please find something you’re passionate
about because it’s so much work it’s so
much time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
it’s not gonna be that big of a drag and
it’s not gonna be that bit much work
it’s gonna be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living your the life
that you’re meant to live in areas of
choice you need to work on your
weaknesses for example let’s say I let’s
say I am I’m lazy that’s an area of
choice that’s I mean I’m not naturally
lazy I’m just lazy it’s a choice so I
need to work on that because I in areas
of choices you can make
vast improvement and you can make fast
and proved I’ve never heard this
distinction but yeah yeah yeah actually
helpful oh yeah in choices so attitude
does let’s have a lousy attitude one day
I wake up I said this isn’t getting me
anywhere
I gotta have a good attitude you can go
from a zero to a ten
I mean oma also won’t you see people
they say my gosh
overnight they just yeah got good and
happy your home say okay that’s a choice
vast fast growth in choices in
giftedness DNA wiring your growth is
very very small and it’s very slow so I
think for example a person can maybe
increase their giftedness skill set
maybe two numbers Wow
so if I’m a if I’m a little bit above
average I was six if I really work hard
I can get become an eighth but but an
eighth is powerful yeah eight has a huge
return so what I tell people is in in
areas of giftedness that’s where you
have to work on your strengths if if I’m
a two in something I’m very weak in a
skill if I worked hard I could only
become a force to be blabbering yeah
that’s why I tell people you gotta ask
yourself is going to give me the return
so in the area of strengths you’ve got
to pour yourself into the things that
you’re already good at because I don’t
really set you apart from average yeah
but in areas of choices go for those
weaknesses because you’re not don’t you
know people that are highly skilled but
they have a lousy attitude or they’re
not soft
they’re not self discipline attitude and
they’re never gonna they’re never gonna
they’re never gonna get anywhere and
they’re not going to get anywhere
because they didn’t so in areas of
choices work on your weaknesses but in
areas of strengths and skills just work
on your strings tend to be incredibly
modest in terms of describing your
talents and you you always seem to
belittle your your abilities to a
certain extent when clearly there
there’s a reason why this everything you
do has been working out I was reading
about how you said that to a certain
extent that comes from your your punk
rock roots yep there’s no other choice
in those days there was no idea of this
makes money there’s no idea like this is
my future it was like a week at a time
they have five shows we’re gonna get to
Sunday and even those days were like
fraught with turbulence and so I never
really saw a future none of us did and
some of us you know didn’t make it
some of them are dead and some of them
are just kind of trying to recreate
their past and so I realized that I have
to be very hard-working
because I don’t have kind of the ease of
talent and I come from that and I think
it you know a lot of ways that served me
very well in that I am is kind of
hardworking as I’ve ever been completely
on without confidence and I have none I
don’t I don’t want any because I think
you turn your back on the thing and
that’s when you get gored is when you
think I got this I never think I got
this I think oh man don’t screw this up
and I go at everything like including
you and I sitting here right now I’m
trying to be fully engaged and that
intensity I think has served me quite
well but it comes from punk rock
absolutely last boss I ever had was my
boss at haagen-dazs I my ice cream shop
and to this day he still comes to my
shows and whenever I see Steve who got
me my first apartment who believed I was
living in my car he believed in me
whenever I see him I get all weepy hey
it’s good to see you sir Henry you can
call me Steve I can’t do that sir
because because he trusted me with his
money and and I said let me run your
store I know how to do this I can do
this he’s like well if you screw up
you’re out of here I said I won’t screw
up when I end up being
I ran a store and so um it was but it
was anger that said I’ll be here all
damn week I’ll get this whole thing
right
I fired a staff and rehired a bunch of
people can really work and it’s it was
out of anger like I’ll be back in four
hours to run this $3 and 75 cent an hour
job into the ground and then I joined
Black Flag and I thought I was a
hardworking person then you meet the
guys in Black Flag who are so driven
you’d see Greg Ginn work 23 hour days
like Greg you’re still on the phone I
know Greg when did you eat I don’t know
Greg when the last time you showered do
we have a shower like the guy we we were
not going to be stopped and I kind of go
at that intensity
what kind of anything I do like you’re
very calm good-looking young man look at
me I’m a spaz sitting next to York I’m
doing an interview with you
focus I’m sweating ma’am
and soap but I’d like it’s going to the
airport like ten miles out and so it’s
but it’s anger that has informed kind of
my life and unflatteringly a sense of
vengeance every damn person who said I
wouldn’t be anything I’m crushing them
every day everybody I had to endure in
any band I was in every day into a
powder yeah thank you and I wish them no
ill I just wish to shine brighter and if
it burns my body to a crisp I’m happy to
go right now 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 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 if
you’re not coming up with ten ideas a
day that’s why I’m not coming up when
I’m filling up this page every single
day then my idea muscle will atrophy and
I started this in 2001 and I still do it
every single day like you have to come
up with ideas every single day or the
idea muscle atrophies the good news is
after about six months of doing that
you’re like a machine like people get
surprised at how many ideas you could
just have anywhere the two things we
really zero in on a people are you know
two things they sound simple they’re not
being very difficult courage and genius
courage is the one we talk about a lot
because it’s the one that people can
learn you know courage courage which is
to say not giving up in the face of
adversity you know just being absolutely
determined to succeed you know is
something that you can you can like
force yourself to do it can be very
painful you can force yourself to do it
the genius part
little bit hard to force yourself to do
you know courage without genius might
not get you where you need to go but
genius without courage almost certainly
won’t I was a very headstrong young
person and by nineteen eighty three or
four had started my own publishing
company to publish my own books
realizing that no one else will publish
me and I was right about that and so my
first book I saved my food money from
Black Flag a little here little there
and I saved enough to make a fold and
staple book I couldn’t type so I handed
out the things and I made a dummy that I
could offset print fold and staple and I
sold them for two dollars mainly gave
them away but I sold enough and they
blew out 500 just went and then I took
that money to make another print run of
that and from that money I made my first
paperback and thirty-three years later
that’s a fully staffed company with
books in translation and hardcover
editions and the whole you know the
whole nine yards but it started with I’m
gonna do my thing I’ll be City Lights
jr. without the talent and that’s I did
that at the same time I was doing my
first spoken word gigs and why did I
have the gumption and the audacity to
start my own book company because I come
from punk rock I come from watching Ian
MacKaye invent discord records on his
mom’s kitchen table
I come from folding and gluing picture
sleeves together
black flag had their own label of course
you’d do it yourself you want to make a
book sit down and write it then go to
the printing place where as a printer
getting the phone book and find a
printer we make records make some books
it was you just do it it’s like you
don’t even think about you just do it
and I’m sure that writing is this awful
but I did it and without even hesitation
I’m making my own book companies stopped
me I dare you I never thought about it
twice just because DIY man like let your
voice be heard
I think the reality is just you know not
quite so glamorous they’re sort of but
there’s not a side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly what would you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work say I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems so it’s really important that
you kind of like go in with eyes wide
open optimism has a place but I think
even more so for the first time
entrepreneur you need to be
pragmatically pessimistic what I mean by
that is you need to define all the
worst-case scenarios in terms of
financial loss time loss etc look at
what you will learn if that happens and
accept and come to terms with that
before you ever start if you don’t do
that and you go straight into battling
the world trying to conquer the world
with rose-colored glasses on the first
time you hit a major hiccup you’re gonna
become really demoralized and you will
quit if you don’t love it you won’t make
it through the long period of pain that
is inevitable so make sure that you take
care of yourself during the process make
sure that you take care of your mental
health your physical health while you’re
doing it because it’s a long road the
first thing I want you to know that
success is is not a destination it’s a
journey think of success as a process
let me let me illustrate it and explain
it this way if you go to college you
work hard and then in four or five years
depending on what kind of degree you’re
working on it and in today’s society
sometimes six or seven years but but
eventually you comes the day of
graduation and you’re all excited and
your family is there and your friends
are there and and you’re there with your
classmates you’ve got your cap and your
gown and and you know that there’s going
to be a time in that ceremony where
you’re going to walk across stage and
the president Provost somebody’s gonna
shake your hand hand your diploma
congratulate you and and you’re gonna
get off the other side I’m gonna have
presence waiting for you and they’ll be
taking pictures and everybody I’ll be
shaking your hands say congratulations
today you become a success you’re a
college graduate
now my friend you did not become a
success the day that you got your
diploma now what you did have happen to
you in that ceremony is you got
recognized for success the Diploma is
recognition of what you have done in the
previous four or five years you see you
are a success in your freshman year when
you decided to not drop out of school
like some of the other classmates and
decided to stick to it and your success
every time you studied for a test and
you were success every time you did a
project or or did a writing assignment
you see you’re a success all through all
through school your success every day
success is a daily thing not a
destination thing the day you got the
diploma
you just got recognized for the success
that you already were that’s very
essential because so many times people
have it have a tendency to devalue the
moment today what they do is they
greatly value the destination and so
they kind of talk about well when I get
there or if I arrive there or when I do
that or when I accomplish this and they
don’t understand that success is a daily
thing and I’m here to share with you
that the secret of success is determined
by your daily agenda in fact I wrote a
book a few years ago called today
manners I’m passionate about that book
because what it does is it helps you it
helps me to understand that we make
decisions and then we manage decisions
and and too often we think I will make a
decision for example you’re saying I’m
gonna make a decision to be a coach or
I’m gonna make a decision not you know
what I’m gonna make a decision to to be
a public speaker I want to be a
communicator well congratulate and
congratulations you’ve made a wonderful
decision coach speaking good decisions
but that won’t make you a successful
coach that will make you a successful
communicator it’s not the decision that
makes you you’ve got to make the
decision by managing it and you manage
the decision on a daily basis in other
words what you want to be tomorrow
you’ve got to do today you visualize
tomorrow that gives you hope but that’s
your motivation and that’s your dream
you’ve nothing wrong with that you
visualized tomorrow but you value today
what’s that mean that means that what I
do every day is either getting me closer
to that vision that dream that goal or
it’s really driving me farther away from
it you see every day
we are either repairing or we’re
preparing you see if I messed up
yesterday guess what I get to do today
fix yesterday in other words if I didn’t
do the right thing yesterday what I got
to do today is I’ve got to repair I’ve
got to go back make amends backtrack put
the car in reverse put my life in
reverse I’ve got to go back there I’ve
got to repair now every day I spend
repairing I’m not spending preparing
well you see we repair when we fail to
manage the decisions that we’ve made we
prepare when we on a daily basis manage
the decisions that we’ve made so your
footprints to success are really
footprints of success because every step
that is made and taken based upon the
goals that you have for your life and
you’re managing those goals correctly
every step is the progressive
realization of success in your life and
by the way I want you you’ll get the
Diploma you’ll get the certificate but
when you get that you didn’t arrive
it just is another step in
you to reach your potential each one of
us should live our life as if we’ll
never learn everything we never need to
learn we’ll never be able to accomplish
everything we wanted to accomplish we
won’t be able to experience everything
we wanted to experience we should live
our life every day hungry understanding
that we are to live until we die
see I think success can’t be summarized
in a flippant degree or program or
diploma or arrival I think today if you
are learning to coach if you are
learning to speak if you’re doing the
things that are essential to the
decisions and you’re managing those
decisions well can I say something to
you congratulations you are already a
success now guess what over time it
shows up you’ve heard the expression you
maybe even a said it yourself you’ve
heard the expression I’m sure I’ve
worked all my life to become an
overnight success so it works all of a
sudden somebody recognizes you all of a
sudden somebody congratulate you you
didn’t get good at that moment you’ve
been good for a long time it just showed
up someday
sort of playing the guitar at the age of
12 I felt a passion for it that yeah it
was the first real passion that I that I
that I had and I and I can safely say
because I feel and I felt then the word
ambition has become dirty you know yeah
because I’m Bishan somehow implies that
the result I know I know
[Laughter]
so ambition was a dirty word to me
because it felt like you were working
for some gang or a material or some
status or so I literally don’t remember
going through puberty because I locked
myself in a room at the age of 12 12 13
and I just played the guitar I learned
things off records and taught myself how
to play and it was my life and it was
the only solace it was the only
sanctuary it was the only security it
was the it was my first love I think my
biggest tip is just get started I meet a
lot of young entrepreneurs who have good
ideas or bad ideas or some ideas and you
don’t want to be a person who just talks
and talks and talks you have to actually
go and do something and don’t worry
about if it’s the perfect thing or not
there is this myth of entrepreneurship
that you’ll have the one genius idea and
suddenly everything falls into place it
doesn’t work like that it’s a hard slog
there’s a lot of things to do wrong a
lot of things you’ll do right the sooner
you get started the sooner you’ll get
somewhere you know one of the things
that I tell people when they asked me
for advice about what they should do
when they’re wanting to start their own
business or take a next step in their
career is to actually start small I
think a lot of people try to they kind
of psyched themselves out or they get
too overwhelmed with how big something
can get but the truth is you’ve really
just got to start small and you got to
prove it before you scale it try to do
something that you would want to do
anyway whether it’s doesn’t necessarily
have to be very successful business
because when you do decide to become an
entrepreneur and start a business
chances are it’s not going to
it’s not gonna become like a
multi-million dollar business so at
least do something that you love in the
beginning so that even if it fails you’d
still enjoy it make sure you choose you
know when you’re trying to decide
whether or not an idea is good enough to
pursue or a particular business is
something you want to want to go forward
with make sure that it’s the type of
business that when you’re standing in
the shower it’s the thing you want to
think about for the next 10 or 20 years
I feel a genuine need to communicate
with an audience and it might just be
the attention I didn’t get as a kid I
can’t come from anything good but what I
try and do is bring the best information
I can to the stage and and broadcast it
so I’m it’s reportage from distant
points from a fairly unique standpoint
and so basically I’m not keeping it all
to myself but I earnestly try to us not
about entertainment it’s about
communication warning broadcasting
omitting and trying to leave something
of myself with these with the audience
not just not mere entertainment it’s not
just making people laugh or not
it’s it’s got to hurt me it’s got to
leave lines in my face I don’t like any
artistic endeavor that doesn’t extol a
price on the one doing it so I’m not
looking to get through these things okay
these things are actually very difficult
and very hard on my psyche which makes
me think I’m doing the right thing when
somebody comes and says John I want to
be a leader I always ask him the
question why why do you want to be a
leader I mean you want to be a leader
because you want a corner office do you
want to be a leader because you like to
be in control you like to want to be a
leader because you love to be in the
front of the pack you want to be a
leader because you want to have a good
parking place what do you want to be a
leader
his leadership is an easy leadership a
lot of times isn’t fun leadership a lot
of times it’s kind of lonely there’s
only one reason to be a leader and that
is to add value to people and you and I
will only add value to people if we
truly value them I have a nonprofit
organization equipped this trained
almost two million leaders
internationally around the world and I
kid you not as I go to developing
countries twice a year and I travel
internationally and I sit down sometimes
I had the privilege of in in the office
there’s a presidents of countries and as
I watch these two developing countries
the thing that is the cardinal sin among
leadership so much is that they have
leaders of their countries that truly
don’t value the people and if you and I
don’t value people we will devalue
people number two if you want to add
value to people you have to make
yourself more valuable you just have to
get better you have to keep growing you
have to keep learning you have to keep
developing why very simply if you’re
leading the pack you’ve got to be able
to give what you have and you can’t give
what you don’t have and so therefore
you’ve got to put a lot of good stuff in
so that you can pass it on to others and
share with them and and add value to
them thirdly if you want to add value to
people you have to know and relate to
what other people value you and I have
to walk slowly through the crowd we have
to listen we have to care you see great
leaders are first of all listeners and
then they’re learners and then their
leaders they really do take their cue
from the people they understand that the
key of leadership is connecting with the
people that you lead and the only way
that you and I ever connect is by caring
number four is very important to me when
I’m speaking in the business community I
always share with them that for them
there are three ways to add value to
people but for me there are four and I
tell them I’ll give them the three and
in there and so I’ll I’ll spend maybe an
hour doing those three things I just
shared with you just talking about how
to add value to people and inevitably
when I’m done with the three somebody
raise their hand say John you said there
for you there was four but you said
there’s only three for us I said yes
it’s nothing personal but this is about
my faith and so I don’t really need to
share this with you it’s because I’m
trying to help you and I I don’t want to
cross boundaries with you and never
everybody they’ll say but John tell us
what yours is and I’ll say well okay you
can hear mine but don’t write it down in
fact don’t listen because number four
for me is if I really want to add value
to people I have to do the things the
God’s printing t-shirts and selling ink
pens and you know I mean every anything
anything and everything yeah and then
the fact that you have a twenty to
twenty year career of failures and then
you do a pirate movie and that buys you
an island is pretty Amin yar any of that
is pretty do you think about the times
when things weren’t so good a lot yeah
yeah yeah but I you know there was a guy
who I worked with many years ago I know
we were talking about success and money
and all that stuff and he told me this
one thing he said you know money doesn’t
change anybody money reveals them you
know same thing with success and
I believe that you know wholeheartedly I
think I’ve been revealed I don’t think
that I haven’t changed I said I’m still
exactly the guy that used to pump gas
you know I’m still the guy that was a
mechanic for a minute you know I’m
stirrer exactly I just happen to have a
weird weirder job at the moment like me
have to do everything three times before
we get it right thankfully I know that
so I know that I have to get up early
and and try it five times because the
eight year old will be able to get past
it in two times so I have to be on my
feet longer but at least I know it and
so I just go at stuff and it served me
very well and that my resume is pretty
varied and I have a pretty interesting
life you now get to do different stuff
and have a bit of access because I just
said yeah I’ll try that I mean why would
I hold back last straight job I had was
1981 head manager of a haagen-dazs in
Georgetown in Washington DC on Wisconsin
Avenue at the intersection of Wisconsin
and o’the street making 375 an hour four
dollars an hour or something like that
working 40 to 60 hours a week I had a
small apartment which I shared with an
old pal of mine
I had a small record collection an
ailing VW automobile and a little tiny
life with my minimum wage job which I
really liked and I looked at my life and
realized this is probably as bad as good
as it’s gonna get for me I might quit
this place and go work at my friend’s
record store cuz I like to being around
records that I could probably run his
store very well knowing what I knew
about retail at that point and then I
got a very lucky break because at that
same time I was very frustrated I said
well this is gonna be a very tough life
it’s gonna be a life of a lot of
standing on my feet a lot of work taking
it from other people and having very
little to show for it by Friday you know
Friday evening and then Black Flag the
famous band whose friends of mine they
played in New York I was in Washington I
took a ride up to go see him because
they weren’t coming down in my town I
jumped on stage and sang with him that
night a song because I had to go back
down to DC and go work like some awful
shift
they called me a few days later at the
ice cream store and said you know we’re
looking for a singer because the rhythm
guitar player wants to I’m sorry the
vocalist wants to move down to rhythm
guitar you tell I’ve told the story
before and we’re holding auditions you
want to crack at this because we saw you
on stage the other night you’re pretty
wild I looked at the ice cream scoop in
my hand my chocolate bespattered apron
and my future in the world of minimum
wage work or I could go up to New York
and audition for this crazy band who is
my favorite what’s the worst is going to
happen to me I miss a day of work ooh
there goes 21 bucks and I get humiliated
in front of my favorite band yeah
humiliation and young people kind of go
together I was used to it and so I I
took a train up there I walked into this
practice place in the East Village I’m
standing there with the band with a
microphone in my hand they said pick the
tune and I sang every song they had you
know improvising most of it two times
through we did the set they said okay
you have a seat we’re gonna go have a
band meeting whatever that means
and they came back like 10 minutes later
said okay you’re in I said what do you
mean they said you’re the singer in
Black Flag I said so what do I do they
go he’ll quit your job you pack your
gear you meet us on the road here’s the
here’s the tour itinerary here’s the
lyrics we’ll see you soon
so fairly numb I went back down to
Washington with this passel of lyrics in
my hand went to my boss and said I’m not
exactly quitting but here’s this thing
that happened and he said it’s your shot
I said yeah he said take it you
thinking like entrepreneurs you know
like when we crawl and we start and we
fall you know when we’re trying to walk
we figure it out entrepreneurs always
figure out you’re born thinking like an
entrepreneur that you know what I’m
gonna figure this out regardless and I’m
gonna keep going now often the challenge
is families and friends convinced you
not to be an entrepreneur because when
you say I’m gonna change the world I’m
moving the most famous person I’m gonna
save the seals they say don’t do that
you it didn’t happen before yeah it’s
never happen you’re gonna you’re gonna
you’re gonna fail you can embarrass us I
put the limiters on it they put the
limited they put the blinders on you buy
true entrepreneurs will just keep
figuring it out people say you you have
to have a lot of passion for what you’re
doing and it’s totally true and the
reason is is because it’s so hard that
if you don’t any rational person would
give up it’s really hard and you have to
do it over a sustained period of time so
if you don’t love it if you’re not
having fun doing it you don’t really
love it
you’re gonna give up so just go and do
it try learn from it you know you’ll
fail at some things that’s a learning
experience that you need so that you can
take that on to the next experience and
don’t let people who you may respect and
who you believe know what they’re
talking about don’t let them tell you it
can’t be done because often they will
tell you it can’t be done and it’s just
because they don’t have the courage to
try it I think people that look for
great ideas to make money you know are
nearly as successful as those who say
okay what I really love to do what am I
excited about what I know something
about you know what’s kind of
interesting and compelling it’s very
rewarding when you work on something you
think it’s gonna make a big difference
and
yeah it’s a little bit harder but I
think I think the passion that one might
bring with it brings so much more energy
to that that you’re more likely to
succeed you have to have an emotional
investment in what you’re doing if you
don’t love what you’re doing
failure is pretty much guaranteed
success is not guaranteed by any means
but failure is much more likely if you
don’t love what you’re doing if you know
exactly what you want to be you need to
spend as much time with people that are
actually that already you know one of
the things that I do is I question a lot
of things and you can do that in a good
way in a bad way but hopefully if you
try to get people to motivate why
they’re doing something and their way of
thinking you know the worst thing you
can end up with it’s a situation where
you get told well this is the way it’s
always been
that’s the worst ever that’s a
non-answer instead ask yourself you know
given everything you have today is there
a way we can make this better do
something you’re very passionate about
and don’t try to chase what is kind of
the hot passion of the day I fashion
believe that I can only should expect to
make money and things that I understand
and when I say understand I don’t mean
understand you know what the product
does or anything like that I mean
understand what the economics of the
business are likely to look at look like
10 years from now or 20 years ago I know
in general what the economics will say
Wrigley chewing gum will look like 10
years from now the internet isn’t going
to change the way people chew gum it
isn’t going to change which come they
chew now if you own the chewing gum
market in a big way and you’ve got
double mint spearmint and juicy fruit
those brands will be there ten years
from now so I can’t pinpoint exactly
what the numbers are gonna look like on
Wrigley but I’m not gonna be way off if
I try to look forward on something like
that that evaluating that company is
within what I call my circle of cop
I understand what they do I understand
the economics of it I understand the
competitive aspects of the business so
figuring out the economic consequences
TV
I think there’s I don’t know 20 25
million sets a year sold in the United
States I don’t think there’s one of them
made in the United States anymore I mean
you’d say TV set manufacturer what a
wonderful business I teach everybody how
nobody had a TV in 1950 or thereabouts
45 to 50 everybody has multiple sets now
nobody is in the United States and made
any real money making the sense that
they’re all out of business
you know the Magnavox is the RCA is all
of those companies radio was the
equipment of the 20 over 500 companies
making radios in the 1920s again I don’t
think there’s a u.s. radio manufacturer
at the present time but coca-cola you
know I was at 1884 and Jacobs pharmacy
or whatever and fellow comes up with
something a lot of copiers over the
years but now you’ve got a company that
is selling roughly 1.1 billion eight
ounce servings of its product not all
cokes bright and some others daily
throughout the world 117 years later so
understanding the economic
characteristics of a business is
different than predicting the fact that
an industry is going to do wonderfully
so I look at the internet businesses or
I look at tech messes I say this is a
marvelous thing and I love to play
around on the computer and it now I
ordered my books from Amazon and all
kinds of things but I don’t know who’s
gonna win unless I know who’s gonna win
I’m not interested in the best thing
I’ll just play around on the computer
and defining your circle of competence
is the most important aspect of
investing it’s not how important how
large your circle is you don’t have to
be an expert on everything but knowing
where the perimeter of that circle of
what you know and what you don’t know is
and staying inside of it is all
important
Tom Watson seniors started IBM said in
his book he said I’m no genius he said
but I’m smart in spots I stay around
those spots
and you know that is the key so if I
understand a few things and I stick in
that arena I’ll do okay and if I don’t
understand something but I get all
excited about it because my neighbors
are talking about stocks are going up
everything they start fooling around
someplace else eventually I’ll get
creamed and I should just do my work for
me I’ve always been very utilitarian on
all of this stuff and that’s what coming
from punk rock gave to me where I don’t
feel like I’m anybody and someone wants
me to sign something I’m like sure I
don’t exactly understand why but I’ll do
it for you I don’t think I’m anything
maybe it’s also not just because of the
punk rock mentality it’s also because
you were scooping ice cream not so long
ago and maybe there’s an element of
insecurity in you that unless you keep
working and keep keep striving you could
end up back there oh I kind of figured
that’s eventual I keep moving forward
boldly guess I have nothing to lose I’m
nobody from nowhere you should really
understand that I am from the minimum
wage working world a hundred years ago
but I I don’t ever have it in my head
that that’s any less any more than one
tour away of coming back and so I just I
like to work it’s not about money or
fame or anything it’s about activity and
challenge and so when we’re coming up
with ideas you know we always ask
ourselves what kind of new market is
this creating and then also what what
part of my day and in what problem is it
solving and so I’ve gone as far as
taking an entire catalogue of my day
from the moment I like open my eyes and
writing down every single thing I do and
then asking myself like is there
something here and you know what
everybody wants to hear what they
already believe to be true and so the
last thing that we want to hear is an
original idea that contradicts their
belief system so it’s very hard to even
bring that kind of stuff up but those
are the things those are the only things
things that you believe that everybody
around you doesn’t believe when you’re
right
that create real value in the world
everything else people already know
there’s no value created it’s just
business as usual
so it’s so important to think for
yourself it’s so hard I thought doing
this research I thought going into it
there were authentic people and
inauthentic people who I had I did not
find any evidence of that at all what I
found is authenticity to practice and
you choose it every day sometimes every
hour of every day
and it’s a practice it’s not I just wake
up in ham authentic it’s that when you
walk into a meeting you have to make the
choice am I gonna show up and let myself
be seen am I gonna if I could raise my
hand say wow y’all look super excited I
don’t know what in the hell you’re
talking about you know that’s a choice
yes uh-huh right well and when to be
make that authentic choice yeah let go
of the faker faker ooh I said yeah I
call it to fake a roof but you know what
I have found I mean I consider myself to
be an authentic person but when I am
inauthentic is when I’ve allowed myself
to be around people who were not and
then I have to fake it to be with them
oh it’s contagious yes so they’re faking
it yeah then and you know you’re in that
situation when you do that haha that
kind of haha you’re laughing at jokes
that aren’t funny
you’re pretending to be comfortable when
you’re not and lose your own
authenticity yeah I do it don’t solicit
feedback on your product your idea or
your business just for validation
purposes be really careful about that
you want to tell the people that can
help move your idea forward but if
you’re just looking to your friend
co-worker husband wife for validation be
careful because out of love and concern
a lot of people will express some
concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
because if you build something for
yourself if you build something that you
love that you think is sufficiently epic
if you make something that you love
there’s probably not a billion people in
the world that love it as well you need
to focus on solutions not ideas all of
us here are really creative and we come
up with loads of ideas throughout the
day and we become really excited about
that as a dude we should start a company
around that but that’s when you actually
go to the other side where you topped
over you you know find out what someone
actually a problem a problem that they
have in solve that is is when you know
real value comes out my advice to young
chefs from the age of 16 to sort of 29
30 is 14 years of a sponge you’re
absorbing knowledge don’t take a job for
the sake of money
don’t worry about earning 500 pound a
month for a year more somewhere else
go and get knowledge because that
becomes a bigger passport for anything
the money will come and you’ve mastered
your craft and you become incredibly
talented work for big chefs and find a
different level of comfort when things
get too comfortable and you’re still
living with your parents and you’ve
still got your first job and you want to
move out because there is two cobbler
get out put yourself in a strange
situation in the middle of Barcelona we
serve in the middle of Paris put
yourself in the middle of Belgium and
see what’s available it’s amazing how
much conference gives you more
importantly it’s great
he’s in trouble at the same time
fantastic a lot of times I’ll be in a
tours at Mile Run or something like that
and I’m all jacked up body’s broken
mines broken spirits broken I started to
say what if I can pull this off when I
first walked into the Navy SEAL
recruiters office he looked at me and
said only been 35 african-americans in
70 years make it through you know I said
to myself what if I can be the 36 it’s
the what if I can pull off a miracle
what if I can become someone that no one
thinks I can be and just that just me
talking about that I have a hair going
up on my arms because it makes me just
like what if I can be that guy that
people who called nigger and this and
that and now I’m speaking at tom ferry
event and I think where is the
opportunity the opportunity lie always
lies in the place where people complain
some people sit there complain you think
if I can solve that complaint that’s the
opportunity I would say that the lesson
learned for me to anybody else out there
interested in starting a business is
please find something you’re passionate
about because it’s so much work it’s so
much time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
it’s not gonna be that big of a drag and
it’s not gonna be that bit much work
it’s gonna be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living your the life
that you’re meant to live in areas of
choice you need to work on your
weaknesses for example let’s say I let’s
say I am I’m lazy that’s an area of
choice that’s I mean I’m not naturally
lazy I’m just lazy it’s a choice so I
need to work on that because I in areas
of choices you can make
vast improvement and you can make fast
and proved I’ve never heard this
distinction but yeah yeah yeah actually
helpful oh yeah in choices so attitude
does let’s have a lousy attitude one day
I wake up I said this isn’t getting me
anywhere
I gotta have a good attitude you can go
from a zero to a ten
I mean oma also won’t you see people
they say my gosh
overnight they just yeah got good and
happy your home say okay that’s a choice
vast fast growth in choices in
giftedness DNA wiring your growth is
very very small and it’s very slow so I
think for example a person can maybe
increase their giftedness skill set
maybe two numbers Wow
so if I’m a if I’m a little bit above
average I was six if I really work hard
I can get become an eighth but but an
eighth is powerful yeah eight has a huge
return so what I tell people is in in
areas of giftedness that’s where you
have to work on your strengths if if I’m
a two in something I’m very weak in a
skill if I worked hard I could only
become a force to be blabbering yeah
that’s why I tell people you gotta ask
yourself is going to give me the return
so in the area of strengths you’ve got
to pour yourself into the things that
you’re already good at because I don’t
really set you apart from average yeah
but in areas of choices go for those
weaknesses because you’re not don’t you
know people that are highly skilled but
they have a lousy attitude or they’re
not soft
they’re not self discipline attitude and
they’re never gonna they’re never gonna
they’re never gonna get anywhere and
they’re not going to get anywhere
because they didn’t so in areas of
choices work on your weaknesses but in
areas of strengths and skills just work
on your strings tend to be incredibly
modest in terms of describing your
talents and you you always seem to
belittle your your abilities to a
certain extent when clearly there
there’s a reason why this everything you
do has been working out I was reading
about how you said that to a certain
extent that comes from your your punk
rock roots yep there’s no other choice
in those days there was no idea of this
makes money there’s no idea like this is
my future it was like a week at a time
they have five shows we’re gonna get to
Sunday and even those days were like
fraught with turbulence and so I never
really saw a future none of us did and
some of us you know didn’t make it
some of them are dead and some of them
are just kind of trying to recreate
their past and so I realized that I have
to be very hard-working
because I don’t have kind of the ease of
talent and I come from that and I think
it you know a lot of ways that served me
very well in that I am is kind of
hardworking as I’ve ever been completely
on without confidence and I have none I
don’t I don’t want any because I think
you turn your back on the thing and
that’s when you get gored is when you
think I got this I never think I got
this I think oh man don’t screw this up
and I go at everything like including
you and I sitting here right now I’m
trying to be fully engaged and that
intensity I think has served me quite
well but it comes from punk rock
absolutely last boss I ever had was my
boss at haagen-dazs I my ice cream shop
and to this day he still comes to my
shows and whenever I see Steve who got
me my first apartment who believed I was
living in my car he believed in me
whenever I see him I get all weepy hey
it’s good to see you sir Henry you can
call me Steve I can’t do that sir
because because he trusted me with his
money and and I said let me run your
store I know how to do this I can do
this he’s like well if you screw up
you’re out of here I said I won’t screw
up when I end up being
I ran a store and so um it was but it
was anger that said I’ll be here all
damn week I’ll get this whole thing
right
I fired a staff and rehired a bunch of
people can really work and it’s it was
out of anger like I’ll be back in four
hours to run this $3 and 75 cent an hour
job into the ground and then I joined
Black Flag and I thought I was a
hardworking person then you meet the
guys in Black Flag who are so driven
you’d see Greg Ginn work 23 hour days
like Greg you’re still on the phone I
know Greg when did you eat I don’t know
Greg when the last time you showered do
we have a shower like the guy we we were
not going to be stopped and I kind of go
at that intensity
what kind of anything I do like you’re
very calm good-looking young man look at
me I’m a spaz sitting next to York I’m
doing an interview with you
focus I’m sweating ma’am
and soap but I’d like it’s going to the
airport like ten miles out and so it’s
but it’s anger that has informed kind of
my life and unflatteringly a sense of
vengeance every damn person who said I
wouldn’t be anything I’m crushing them
every day everybody I had to endure in
any band I was in every day into a
powder yeah thank you and I wish them no
ill I just wish to shine brighter and if
it burns my body to a crisp I’m happy to
go right now 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 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 if
you’re not coming up with ten ideas a
day that’s why I’m not coming up when
I’m filling up this page every single
day then my idea muscle will atrophy and
I started this in 2001 and I still do it
every single day like you have to come
up with ideas every single day or the
idea muscle atrophies the good news is
after about six months of doing that
you’re like a machine like people get
surprised at how many ideas you could
just have anywhere the two things we
really zero in on a people are you know
two things they sound simple they’re not
being very difficult courage and genius
courage is the one we talk about a lot
because it’s the one that people can
learn you know courage courage which is
to say not giving up in the face of
adversity you know just being absolutely
determined to succeed you know is
something that you can you can like
force yourself to do it can be very
painful you can force yourself to do it
the genius part
little bit hard to force yourself to do
you know courage without genius might
not get you where you need to go but
genius without courage almost certainly
won’t I was a very headstrong young
person and by nineteen eighty three or
four had started my own publishing
company to publish my own books
realizing that no one else will publish
me and I was right about that and so my
first book I saved my food money from
Black Flag a little here little there
and I saved enough to make a fold and
staple book I couldn’t type so I handed
out the things and I made a dummy that I
could offset print fold and staple and I
sold them for two dollars mainly gave
them away but I sold enough and they
blew out 500 just went and then I took
that money to make another print run of
that and from that money I made my first
paperback and thirty-three years later
that’s a fully staffed company with
books in translation and hardcover
editions and the whole you know the
whole nine yards but it started with I’m
gonna do my thing I’ll be City Lights
jr. without the talent and that’s I did
that at the same time I was doing my
first spoken word gigs and why did I
have the gumption and the audacity to
start my own book company because I come
from punk rock I come from watching Ian
MacKaye invent discord records on his
mom’s kitchen table
I come from folding and gluing picture
sleeves together
black flag had their own label of course
you’d do it yourself you want to make a
book sit down and write it then go to
the printing place where as a printer
getting the phone book and find a
printer we make records make some books
it was you just do it it’s like you
don’t even think about you just do it
and I’m sure that writing is this awful
but I did it and without even hesitation
I’m making my own book companies stopped
me I dare you I never thought about it
twice just because DIY man like let your
voice be heard
I think the reality is just you know not
quite so glamorous they’re sort of but
there’s not a side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly what would you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work say I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems so it’s really important that
you kind of like go in with eyes wide
open optimism has a place but I think
even more so for the first time
entrepreneur you need to be
pragmatically pessimistic what I mean by
that is you need to define all the
worst-case scenarios in terms of
financial loss time loss etc look at
what you will learn if that happens and
accept and come to terms with that
before you ever start if you don’t do
that and you go straight into battling
the world trying to conquer the world
with rose-colored glasses on the first
time you hit a major hiccup you’re gonna
become really demoralized and you will
quit if you don’t love it you won’t make
it through the long period of pain that
is inevitable so make sure that you take
care of yourself during the process make
sure that you take care of your mental
health your physical health while you’re
doing it because it’s a long road the
first thing I want you to know that
success is is not a destination it’s a
journey think of success as a process
let me let me illustrate it and explain
it this way if you go to college you
work hard and then in four or five years
depending on what kind of degree you’re
working on it and in today’s society
sometimes six or seven years but but
eventually you comes the day of
graduation and you’re all excited and
your family is there and your friends
are there and and you’re there with your
classmates you’ve got your cap and your
gown and and you know that there’s going
to be a time in that ceremony where
you’re going to walk across stage and
the president Provost somebody’s gonna
shake your hand hand your diploma
congratulate you and and you’re gonna
get off the other side I’m gonna have
presence waiting for you and they’ll be
taking pictures and everybody I’ll be
shaking your hands say congratulations
today you become a success you’re a
college graduate
now my friend you did not become a
success the day that you got your
diploma now what you did have happen to
you in that ceremony is you got
recognized for success the Diploma is
recognition of what you have done in the
previous four or five years you see you
are a success in your freshman year when
you decided to not drop out of school
like some of the other classmates and
decided to stick to it and your success
every time you studied for a test and
you were success every time you did a
project or or did a writing assignment
you see you’re a success all through all
through school your success every day
success is a daily thing not a
destination thing the day you got the
diploma
you just got recognized for the success
that you already were that’s very
essential because so many times people
have it have a tendency to devalue the
moment today what they do is they
greatly value the destination and so
they kind of talk about well when I get
there or if I arrive there or when I do
that or when I accomplish this and they
don’t understand that success is a daily
thing and I’m here to share with you
that the secret of success is determined
by your daily agenda in fact I wrote a
book a few years ago called today
manners I’m passionate about that book
because what it does is it helps you it
helps me to understand that we make
decisions and then we manage decisions
and and too often we think I will make a
decision for example you’re saying I’m
gonna make a decision to be a coach or
I’m gonna make a decision not you know
what I’m gonna make a decision to to be
a public speaker I want to be a
communicator well congratulate and
congratulations you’ve made a wonderful
decision coach speaking good decisions
but that won’t make you a successful
coach that will make you a successful
communicator it’s not the decision that
makes you you’ve got to make the
decision by managing it and you manage
the decision on a daily basis in other
words what you want to be tomorrow
you’ve got to do today you visualize
tomorrow that gives you hope but that’s
your motivation and that’s your dream
you’ve nothing wrong with that you
visualized tomorrow but you value today
what’s that mean that means that what I
do every day is either getting me closer
to that vision that dream that goal or
it’s really driving me farther away from
it you see every day
we are either repairing or we’re
preparing you see if I messed up
yesterday guess what I get to do today
fix yesterday in other words if I didn’t
do the right thing yesterday what I got
to do today is I’ve got to repair I’ve
got to go back make amends backtrack put
the car in reverse put my life in
reverse I’ve got to go back there I’ve
got to repair now every day I spend
repairing I’m not spending preparing
well you see we repair when we fail to
manage the decisions that we’ve made we
prepare when we on a daily basis manage
the decisions that we’ve made so your
footprints to success are really
footprints of success because every step
that is made and taken based upon the
goals that you have for your life and
you’re managing those goals correctly
every step is the progressive
realization of success in your life and
by the way I want you you’ll get the
Diploma you’ll get the certificate but
when you get that you didn’t arrive
it just is another step in
you to reach your potential each one of
us should live our life as if we’ll
never learn everything we never need to
learn we’ll never be able to accomplish
everything we wanted to accomplish we
won’t be able to experience everything
we wanted to experience we should live
our life every day hungry understanding
that we are to live until we die
see I think success can’t be summarized
in a flippant degree or program or
diploma or arrival I think today if you
are learning to coach if you are
learning to speak if you’re doing the
things that are essential to the
decisions and you’re managing those
decisions well can I say something to
you congratulations you are already a
success now guess what over time it
shows up you’ve heard the expression you
maybe even a said it yourself you’ve
heard the expression I’m sure I’ve
worked all my life to become an
overnight success so it works all of a
sudden somebody recognizes you all of a
sudden somebody congratulate you you
didn’t get good at that moment you’ve
been good for a long time it just showed
up someday
sort of playing the guitar at the age of
12 I felt a passion for it that yeah it
was the first real passion that I that I
that I had and I and I can safely say
because I feel and I felt then the word
ambition has become dirty you know yeah
because I’m Bishan somehow implies that
the result I know I know
[Laughter]
so ambition was a dirty word to me
because it felt like you were working
for some gang or a material or some
status or so I literally don’t remember
going through puberty because I locked
myself in a room at the age of 12 12 13
and I just played the guitar I learned
things off records and taught myself how
to play and it was my life and it was
the only solace it was the only
sanctuary it was the only security it
was the it was my first love I think my
biggest tip is just get started I meet a
lot of young entrepreneurs who have good
ideas or bad ideas or some ideas and you
don’t want to be a person who just talks
and talks and talks you have to actually
go and do something and don’t worry
about if it’s the perfect thing or not
there is this myth of entrepreneurship
that you’ll have the one genius idea and
suddenly everything falls into place it
doesn’t work like that it’s a hard slog
there’s a lot of things to do wrong a
lot of things you’ll do right the sooner
you get started the sooner you’ll get
somewhere you know one of the things
that I tell people when they asked me
for advice about what they should do
when they’re wanting to start their own
business or take a next step in their
career is to actually start small I
think a lot of people try to they kind
of psyched themselves out or they get
too overwhelmed with how big something
can get but the truth is you’ve really
just got to start small and you got to
prove it before you scale it try to do
something that you would want to do
anyway whether it’s doesn’t necessarily
have to be very successful business
because when you do decide to become an
entrepreneur and start a business
chances are it’s not going to
it’s not gonna become like a
multi-million dollar business so at
least do something that you love in the
beginning so that even if it fails you’d
still enjoy it make sure you choose you
know when you’re trying to decide
whether or not an idea is good enough to
pursue or a particular business is
something you want to want to go forward
with make sure that it’s the type of
business that when you’re standing in
the shower it’s the thing you want to
think about for the next 10 or 20 years
I feel a genuine need to communicate
with an audience and it might just be
the attention I didn’t get as a kid I
can’t come from anything good but what I
try and do is bring the best information
I can to the stage and and broadcast it
so I’m it’s reportage from distant
points from a fairly unique standpoint
and so basically I’m not keeping it all
to myself but I earnestly try to us not
about entertainment it’s about
communication warning broadcasting
omitting and trying to leave something
of myself with these with the audience
not just not mere entertainment it’s not
just making people laugh or not
it’s it’s got to hurt me it’s got to
leave lines in my face I don’t like any
artistic endeavor that doesn’t extol a
price on the one doing it so I’m not
looking to get through these things okay
these things are actually very difficult
and very hard on my psyche which makes
me think I’m doing the right thing when
somebody comes and says John I want to
be a leader I always ask him the
question why why do you want to be a
leader I mean you want to be a leader
because you want a corner office do you
want to be a leader because you like to
be in control you like to want to be a
leader because you love to be in the
front of the pack you want to be a
leader because you want to have a good
parking place what do you want to be a
leader
his leadership is an easy leadership a
lot of times isn’t fun leadership a lot
of times it’s kind of lonely there’s
only one reason to be a leader and that
is to add value to people and you and I
will only add value to people if we
truly value them I have a nonprofit
organization equipped this trained
almost two million leaders
internationally around the world and I
kid you not as I go to developing
countries twice a year and I travel
internationally and I sit down sometimes
I had the privilege of in in the office
there’s a presidents of countries and as
I watch these two developing countries
the thing that is the cardinal sin among
leadership so much is that they have
leaders of their countries that truly
don’t value the people and if you and I
don’t value people we will devalue
people number two if you want to add
value to people you have to make
yourself more valuable you just have to
get better you have to keep growing you
have to keep learning you have to keep
developing why very simply if you’re
leading the pack you’ve got to be able
to give what you have and you can’t give
what you don’t have and so therefore
you’ve got to put a lot of good stuff in
so that you can pass it on to others and
share with them and and add value to
them thirdly if you want to add value to
people you have to know and relate to
what other people value you and I have
to walk slowly through the crowd we have
to listen we have to care you see great
leaders are first of all listeners and
then they’re learners and then their
leaders they really do take their cue
from the people they understand that the
key of leadership is connecting with the
people that you lead and the only way
that you and I ever connect is by caring
number four is very important to me when
I’m speaking in the business community I
always share with them that for them
there are three ways to add value to
people but for me there are four and I
tell them I’ll give them the three and
in there and so I’ll I’ll spend maybe an
hour doing those three things I just
shared with you just talking about how
to add value to people and inevitably
when I’m done with the three somebody
raise their hand say John you said there
for you there was four but you said
there’s only three for us I said yes
it’s nothing personal but this is about
my faith and so I don’t really need to
share this with you it’s because I’m
trying to help you and I I don’t want to
cross boundaries with you and never
everybody they’ll say but John tell us
what yours is and I’ll say well okay you
can hear mine but don’t write it down in
fact don’t listen because number four
for me is if I really want to add value
to people I have to do the things the
God’s printing t-shirts and selling ink
pens and you know I mean every anything
anything and everything yeah and then
the fact that you have a twenty to
twenty year career of failures and then
you do a pirate movie and that buys you
an island is pretty Amin yar any of that
is pretty do you think about the times
when things weren’t so good a lot yeah
yeah yeah but I you know there was a guy
who I worked with many years ago I know
we were talking about success and money
and all that stuff and he told me this
one thing he said you know money doesn’t
change anybody money reveals them you
know same thing with success and
I believe that you know wholeheartedly I
think I’ve been revealed I don’t think
that I haven’t changed I said I’m still
exactly the guy that used to pump gas
you know I’m still the guy that was a
mechanic for a minute you know I’m
stirrer exactly I just happen to have a
weird weirder job at the moment like me
have to do everything three times before
we get it right thankfully I know that
so I know that I have to get up early
and and try it five times because the
eight year old will be able to get past
it in two times so I have to be on my
feet longer but at least I know it and
so I just go at stuff and it served me
very well and that my resume is pretty
varied and I have a pretty interesting
life you now get to do different stuff
and have a bit of access because I just
said yeah I’ll try that I mean why would
I hold back last straight job I had was
1981 head manager of a haagen-dazs in
Georgetown in Washington DC on Wisconsin
Avenue at the intersection of Wisconsin
and o’the street making 375 an hour four
dollars an hour or something like that
working 40 to 60 hours a week I had a
small apartment which I shared with an
old pal of mine
I had a small record collection an
ailing VW automobile and a little tiny
life with my minimum wage job which I
really liked and I looked at my life and
realized this is probably as bad as good
as it’s gonna get for me I might quit
this place and go work at my friend’s
record store cuz I like to being around
records that I could probably run his
store very well knowing what I knew
about retail at that point and then I
got a very lucky break because at that
same time I was very frustrated I said
well this is gonna be a very tough life
it’s gonna be a life of a lot of
standing on my feet a lot of work taking
it from other people and having very
little to show for it by Friday you know
Friday evening and then Black Flag the
famous band whose friends of mine they
played in New York I was in Washington I
took a ride up to go see him because
they weren’t coming down in my town I
jumped on stage and sang with him that
night a song because I had to go back
down to DC and go work like some awful
shift
they called me a few days later at the
ice cream store and said you know we’re
looking for a singer because the rhythm
guitar player wants to I’m sorry the
vocalist wants to move down to rhythm
guitar you tell I’ve told the story
before and we’re holding auditions you
want to crack at this because we saw you
on stage the other night you’re pretty
wild I looked at the ice cream scoop in
my hand my chocolate bespattered apron
and my future in the world of minimum
wage work or I could go up to New York
and audition for this crazy band who is
my favorite what’s the worst is going to
happen to me I miss a day of work ooh
there goes 21 bucks and I get humiliated
in front of my favorite band yeah
humiliation and young people kind of go
together I was used to it and so I I
took a train up there I walked into this
practice place in the East Village I’m
standing there with the band with a
microphone in my hand they said pick the
tune and I sang every song they had you
know improvising most of it two times
through we did the set they said okay
you have a seat we’re gonna go have a
band meeting whatever that means
and they came back like 10 minutes later
said okay you’re in I said what do you
mean they said you’re the singer in
Black Flag I said so what do I do they
go he’ll quit your job you pack your
gear you meet us on the road here’s the
here’s the tour itinerary here’s the
lyrics we’ll see you soon
so fairly numb I went back down to
Washington with this passel of lyrics in
my hand went to my boss and said I’m not
exactly quitting but here’s this thing
that happened and he said it’s your shot
I said yeah he said take it you
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