you want to get your work ethic so high
that people actually admire you I’m
gonna ask you a question right now do
people know you because of your
unbelievable work ethic if you can’t
answer yes to that man you’re not going
to get in that top 10% you got to get at
the top you people have to know you not
because oh he’s a good salesman oh he’s
a good dish oh he’s an artist so he’s a
good pianist oh he’s a he writes a great
you know story no did people need to
know you for one major thing first he
works he produces the guys there every
day the guys pushing and shoving because
the truth is no matter how good your
ideas are how good your art is or how
good your skillset is if you’re not
working man if you’re not vibrating in a
frequency that people say my god how
does that guy do all that if you’re not
vibrating at that rate 10x levels
massive action tremendous work ethic
that’s just a muscle nowness it’s just a
discipline in your life as a way it’s a
normal way that other people think is
abnormal Ryan Seacrest Tom Cruise
Oprah’s Steven Spielberg Donald Trump
still pumping and working as a
billionaire look if you’re not working
at that level you’re not gonna make it
get your work ethic in man it’s the
American Way work ethic I have the level
of success that I want to have it’s
difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way we
gotta focus with all of your fiber and
all of your heart and all your Creed
fashion believe that I
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 ten years from now or
20 years ago I know in general what the
economics of say Wrigley chewing gum
will look like ten years ago this is
going to change the way people chew gum
it isn’t going to change which come they
chew 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 Rigby 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 competence 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 cents a year sold in the United
States I don’t think there’s one of them
made in the United States anymore I mean
it’s a TV set manufacturer what a
wonderful business I try everybody now
nobody had a TV in 1950 or thereabouts
45 to 50 everybody has multiple sets now
nobody is in the United States has 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 twenty 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 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 right and some
others daily throughout the world
honored me 17 years later so
understanding the economic
characteristics of a business
it’s 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 I
order my books from Amazon and all kinds
of things but I don’t know who’s gonna
win unless I know is gonna win I’m not
interested in the best thing I’ll just
play around other computer 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 senior who started IBM said
in his book he said I’m no genius 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 don’t
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 everyone has a
problem with time but the day is 24
hours and we sleep six now I know
there’s some out there that say I need
eight but I say just sleep a little
faster because the bottom line is we
have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read there’s a new year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my party so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working on
construction I was working
I’m at five hours a day I was taking
acting classes from 8 o’clock at night
to 12 midnight I was doing all of those
things I wanted to make sure that out of
the 24 hours of the day that I don’t
waste one single hour those hours were
too precious and so they just want to
tell people don’t give me this thing I
have a difficult time at the time and I
don’t have time for this now that you
have time you make the time failure is
part of life I mean the difference for
me though is I’m like a failure as a
stepping stone to success it’s a speed
bump I know I’m gonna fail but it’s not
failure if you learn something and so
gosh I’ve made so many mistakes I’ve
screwed so many things up but every time
I do it just becomes it becomes a way
for me to explain to someone else what
it takes you know it’s like here’s what
I’ve done I think I have the ability
influence people because I talk about my
failures I talk about all the things
that mess me up but I show people that
didn’t let it stop me and you don’t need
to stop you and I think I think that’s
really a secret matter and if everything
you touch was successful relate to
people and also it’s B total bullsh and
everyone know its goal and also you’d be
bored silly I mean think about it if you
just said I want this and happen I want
this to happen
you know people don’t value it they
don’t fight for you know it’s like you
see kids sometimes in it you know your
parents will say you’re not gonna value
this if you don’t work for it and you’re
keeping going oh well you’ll just give
it to me but it’s true you know about
things we’ve worked the hardest for we
value the most so I think you know the
purpose of the goal is not getting it
anyway the purpose of goal you know is
what who you become will you becomes
gonna make you happier it’s gonna make
you sad so I’m not looking for an
effortless approach there’s no such
thing I’m in meetings a lot my calendar
gets very full with those and then at
night after the kids have gone to bed
I’m on email a great deal I get messages
during the day that’s my chance to give
long responses and then over the weekend
I send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called thing
so it’s nice mix of things about 25% of
the time then I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
they they like to see us do better
one night Chris had gone to bed I’ve
been struggling struggling struggling we
still had all the same problems I we
started lean on the house still facing
bankruptcy still fighting like crazy I
was still unemployed
he still they still hadn’t figured out
like the solution yet for the business
and I was about to turn off the TV and
there on the the TV there was this
rocket launching and I thought oh my
gosh I am gonna launch myself out of bed
like a rocket ship like NASA right here
had launched me out of that bed and I’m
gonna move so fast that I don’t think
hmm I’m gonna beat my brain now here’s a
really interesting point I talked a lot
about your instincts and inner wisdom
and we can get into this a little bit
later but a lot of us talk about the
fact that you have a gut feeling but
what all this research that I’ve done
for the book and and all the speaking
that I do what I’ve discovered that’s
fascinating is actually when you set
goals when you have an intention on
something that you want to change about
your life your brain helps you what it
does is it opens up a checklist and then
your brain goes to work trying to remind
you of that intention that you set and
it’s really important to develop the
skill and I say that word purposefully
the skill of knowing how to hear that
inner wisdom and that intention kicking
in and leaning into it quickly so for me
my brain saying that’s it right there
move as fast as a rocket Mel I wanted to
change my life and I think most people
that are miserable or that are that are
really like dying to be
great and dying to have more we want to
change we want to live a better life we
want to create more for our families we
want to be happier
the desire is there again it’s about how
do you go from knowledge to actions so
the first thing in the story that’s
important is realizing that the answer
was in me and my mind was telling me pay
attention could have also been the
Bourbon anyway the next morning the
alarm goes off and I pretended NASA was
there
it’s a stupidest story I literally went
five four three two one I counted out
loud and then I stood up and I’ll never
forget standing there in my bedroom it
was dark it was cold it was winter in
Boston and for the first time in three
months I had beaten my habit of hitting
the snooze button I couldn’t believe it
and I thought wait a minute counting
backwards citizen dumbest thing I’ve
ever heard in my entire life well the
next morning I used it again and it
worked the next morning I used it again
and it worked the next morning I used it
again and it worked and then I started
to notice something really interesting
there were moments all day long all day
long just like that five-second moment
in bed where I knew knowledge what I
should do and if I didn’t move within
five seconds my brain would step in and
talk me out of it every human being has
a five-second window might even be
shorter for you you have about a
five-second window in which you can move
from idea to action before your brain
kicks into full gear and sabotages any
change in behavior because remember your
brain is wired to stop you from doing
things that are uncomfortable or
uncertain or scary it’s your job to
learn how to move from those ideas that
could change everything
into acting on vacation from where I
came from and listen I didn’t come from
like the slums in
Bangladesh or something so I don’t want
to overemphasize it but the expectation
was I would be a cop so I took the
policeman’s test and when I was 17 or 18
years old with my little brother Josh
and he wound up going into the police
and I wound up going afford him but at
the time my dad had had his restaurant
repossessed by the federal agents for
not paying his taxes so they came with
shotguns that summer in 1988 and they
close this place down and that was the
most traumatic moment of my life and it
probably is the second most traumatic
moment realized after 9/11 and when that
happened that changed everything about
me as a person like to see your dad have
his restaurant taken even got talking
about it now it’s a 42 year old and I
just thought to myself wow you know that
he lost everything and he never
recovered from it that was like the end
of his entrepreneurial career and I said
to myself I’m never gonna fail a
business no matter what it takes I win
mm-hmm cuz I’m never gonna let the feds
take my place and he went $100,000 in
debt you know in tax evasion and all
that stuff and it was very scary
but I had no money to go to college so I
had to work three jobs and go to school
at night at Fordham and I learned a work
ethic that I think made me who I am
today I’m a very hard worker I’m not the
smartest kid in the class you know but
you know just in terms of being clever
and having hustle I think my career
proves like I’ll get it done no matter
what I did a little experiment with them
with a homeless person they’re not like
on them it’s not like electrodes with
them voluntarily helped me because the
whole idea of giving right
give give you’ve you’ve all walked down
the street and you’ve all seen someone
begging and you either have or haven’t
thrown a few pennies in their cup when
you do you feel good you bought that
feeling that is a legitimate commercial
transaction you know commercial
transactions are defined as the exchange
of consideration there was an exchange
of consideration here you gave money you
got the feeling of goodwill you paid for
that feeling if you didn’t give money
you either feel nothing or you feel bad
you can’t feel good by not giving all
right you paid for that feeling so
another question is how is that person
encouraging us to
give the joke is they act like every
corporation in the world they talk about
themselves me me me me me me me right
like they sit there with their little
outdoor advertising little sign right
and it says I’m homeless I’m hungry I’ve
got 12 kids I’m a veteran god bless they
got it all in they’re trying to appeal
to somebody the religious vote the
veteran vote you know the child
sympathizer surround yourself with lots
of pets go for that one too right all in
an attempt to get something from someone
takers not givers right all about me
well what what corporations do we’ve
added more RAM we’ve added more ROM
we’ve added more speed this one’s number
one we’re the biggest we’re the best
we’ve been around since 1969 we’re
better than them we’re faster than them
we’re more efficient than that one me me
me me me me me me me me and so even if
we buy their product guess what yeah I
mean we’re gonna feel much so I did this
little experiment I found a nice
homeless lady on the streets of New York
who’s willing to help out and I learned
that with her sign which was pretty
typical I’m homeless I’m hungry but she
makes between 20 and 30 dollars a day
for you know for a day’s worth of work
eight to ten hours of sitting there
selling goodwill eight to ten hours
she’ll make 20 to $30 $30 is considered
a good day I changed her sign and the
new sign made her $40 in two hours and
it’s one of the reasons she’s homeless
is cuz she’s decided that she only needs
twenty to thirty dollars a day to live
if she stayed she would have made $150
the point is she made forty bucks in two
hours where the signs say the sign said
if you only give once a month please
think of me next time it has nothing to
do with the taker it has everything to
do with the giver and what are the
objections people give when they don’t
give I can’t give to everyone how do I
know that they really need it and so I
address both those concerns I know you
can’t get to everyone so if you only
give once a month my cause is legitimate
I will still be here when you’re ready
to give forty bucks two hours make it
about them not about you the fact of the
matter is 100 percent of customers are
people and 100 percent of clients are
people and 100 percent of employees are
people I don’t care how good your
product is I don’t care how good your
marketing is I don’t care how good your
design is if you don’t understand people
you don’t understand business we are
social animals we are human beings and
our survival depends on our ability to
form trusting relationships do you ever
watch Deadliest Catch on the Discovery
Channel
let’s flipping through channels one
night and Deadliest Catch came on and on
this episode just random they were in a
huge storm now for those of you who
don’t know Deadliest Catch they take
these crab fishing boats out in the
Bering Sea which is like terrible and
they put cameras on them and we watch
right the reason that’s I guess
significant is because these crab
fishermen have I think one of the top 5
deadliest jobs in the world you know I
don’t know what the exact number is but
dozens of fishermen die every year doing
doing this we apparently find that
entertaining it actually is so they have
cameras only on five or six of the ships
even though there are many many me ships
that go out fishing every season and
they don’t really come into proximity
with each other because you know the
oceans huge and they usually sabotage
and give each other false information
because they’re all competitors they’re
all looking to get the crabs and you
know make sure that they find them
somebody else doesn’t and yeah it’s
business right it’s just business it’s
okay
we all did the same thing in our own
companies and in this one episode this
big huge storm was so violent that they
had to bring all the pots which are the
big cages that they catch the crabs and
they bring all the pots back on the boat
and wait out the storm
and just by dumb luck one of the boats
that had cameras on it was in proximity
of a boat that didn’t have cameras on it
and so they filmed they had secured all
their pots on the deck and so they
started filming the other boat and they
filmed a guy climbing on the outside of
the cage securing the pots and all of a
sudden a huge wave hits the side of the
boat and the guy’s not there anymore and
the people on the boat with the camera
starts screaming Man Overboard Man
Overboard Man Overboard and they turned
our boat towards where they think he
might be he’s a stranger they don’t know
him they don’t know the the crew members
of the other boat and yet they react and
they turned towards him and they find
him in the drink and for those of you
don’t understand how dangerous this is
if the water is so cold that if you’re
in the water for I think that it’s a
minute or a minute thirty hypothermia
will set in and you die and they come
upon him and he’s screaming don’t let me
die don’t let me die and they pull him
on board not out of the woods yet they
strip off his clothes because it’s wet
and cold and they wrapped blankets
around him to prevent hyperthermia from
setting it and he survives and it’s
overwhelming and the captain comes down
and this is all on me you can go watch
it on TV your camera comes the captain
comes down and he honks this stranger
this young man his competitor he hugs
this guy’s if he’s his own son I lost it
everybody is crying and you realize what
happened here was a human interaction
and the reason they
their own lives to help this other
person even though they spend every
other day trying to get ahead and
sabotage is because at the end of the
day they’re all crab fishermen and they
know something about each other and they
know something about the risk that they
all take to do this and when push comes
to shove they will put themselves out
there to help each other for no other
reason than they get it they’re one of
the same I will promise you that every
single member of that crew that day went
home with a feeling of fulfillment I
promise you that every single person on
that crew that day felt more good in
their hearts and in their jobs than the
richest days they’ve ever pulled in my
question is is what are you doing to
help the person next to you don’t you
want to wake up and go to work for the
only reason that you can do something
good for someone else when you want them
to do that for you you know from our
past experiences that big things start
small you know the biggest oak starts
from an acorn and you’ve got a
recognizing you’ve got to be willing to
let that acorn grow into a little
sapling and then finally into a small
tree and maybe one day it’ll be a big
business on its own and in fact that’s
one of the mottos for one of your
initiatives and forgive my pronunciation
of the Latin but Greta team for Ossie
Terry what does that mean to you well it
means step by step ferociously and it’s
the motto for Blue Origin and basically
you can’t skip steps you have to put one
foot in front of the other things take
time you there are no shortcuts and but
but you want to do those steps with you
know passion and ferocity went to
Harvard and you’re dropped out have you
ever thought how your life could be
better off if you had gotten your
Harvard degree well I I’m a weird
dropout because I take college courses
all the time I love learning company
courses and things so I love being a
student and there were smart people
around and you know they fed you and
they gave you these nice grades that
made you feel smart
so I I feel it was unfortunate that I
didn’t get to stay there
but I don’t think I missed any knowledge
because you know whatever I needed to
learn I would I was still in a learning
mode and playing around the latest
technology whether it’s you know new PCs
looking at new software sitting down
with researchers it’s it’s why I think
my job is the best Warren thinks is the
best but I’m I’m sure I’m right anyway
I’m in meetings a lot my calendar gets
very full with those and then at night
after the kids have gone to bed I’m on
email a great deal I get messages during
the day that’s my chance give long
responses and then over the weekend I
send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called think week so
it’s nice mix of things about 25% of the
time then I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
they they’d like to see us do better you
know these days that’s probably 80 85
hours a week for a while there was over
a hundred hours a week and that’s just
it’s just – that’s a very high amount of
pain so it’s you know the the difficulty
in pain of of work hours really
increases exponentially it’s not linear
so but when you know the financial
crisis hit in 2008 2009
you know it was just every day seven
days a week what you know morning all
night and dream about work it was
bad dreams to be late yes yeah and at
what time do you get up normally in the
morning for me it’s usually about 7:00
okay but I go to bed late so usually
it’s I go to bed around 1:00 a.m. or so
what I am yeah and you stop day with a
real breakfast or just for the coffee or
with the water you know that also varies
a lot I think it’s probably true that if
you thought having a good breakfast is
is a good idea but usually I don’t have
time for that so sometimes sometimes
it’s it’s made for me but probably half
the time I don’t have any breakfast I
had to also have like coffee or
something like that one spot sure well
try to cut down on the on sweet stuff so
but I think I mean I think I probably
should have like an omelet and a coffee
or something like that that seems like
probably the right thing and sometimes
that you have that and for lunch lunch
yeah yeah a lot lunch is usually served
to me during a meeting and I finished it
didn’t that dinner is where the calories
really come into play because there’s
you know if I have dinner meetings like
dinner meetings are the worst because
then you you know eat enough for like
two people yeah and those things because
you have appetizer and main course my
stuff so business dinners are like the
thing that really you know where I
probably eat way too much I certainly
could be slimmer I think I know a
workout once or twice a week I mean I
said well yeah yeah what’s or twice you
should I should do it more often for
sure running through the forest no
usually just like a little bit on the
treadmill or on the end lifting some
weights as opposed rarely are we instant
experts you may have a particular gift
or affinity toward something but you
still get better you know people would
pay me high compliments when I started
speaking and then people who’ve seen me
a year or two later say that I’m even
better than I feel it why is that
because you’ve you you learn more you
know I think that hubris is dangerous I
think to think that you’re an expert at
anything is a foolish pursuit you’re
never you’re never as good as you could
be there’s a boy’s room for improvement
there’s always room to get better you
don’t that does mean you have to listen
to all the advice just you know not
necessarily does everybody know best but
but to believe that you can be better
and to believe that you can offer more
is a constant pursuit you know I used to
think being a public speaker meant being
poised and presenting in a way that was
compelling and speaking at the right
pace and that’s that’s a part of it but
but I have been taking more risks lately
doing things that are very unstructured
and very uncomfortable and I will now do
like if I have an hour to speak I’d
rather speak for 20 minutes and do 40
minutes worth of questions and who knows
how that’s gonna go
and that to me is the best and so I’m a
better speaker because now I’m Way more
open to the unknown where a few years
who makes our disk drive we were really
lucky when we started next in that we
got calls from the presidents of Sony
Motorola Canon and others and they said
hey when you guys were in your former
life time you used to romp through our
technology laboratories and you used to
spot technologies and help us form them
into marketable products and we really
like that cuz both of us won so we’d
like you to keep doing that and we’d
like you to keep doing that because eh
maybe you’ll be the next big computer
company and be because you’re the
cheapest R&D we could ever do so we had
access to I think probably more of the
in-depth technical research going on at
some of these companies than most other
people I have the good fortune to have
we think more in terms of what impact is
this computer going to have on the
people that use it and so we don’t you
know much more about the industry than
we do at this point we’re focusing on
the people that are gonna use this thing
and how to bring the most far-reaching
capabilities to them and so that’s
that’s where our focus is right now I am
exceptionally proud of the hundred and
seventy-five people that work it next
because they started without in some
cases when we started the company of
course we just started it with a fresh
sheet of paper and as people have joined
us over the months and the years they
have joined based on not a product not
even a description they’ve joined on the
vision University Way a degree oh I
don’t know you mean the fact that I
don’t have I’m a dropout actually I have
a pretty fun spark from spot for I read
anyway all right what happened was I
went to Reed College just like dr.
Richard Crandall and I ran out of money
after about six months so I dropped out
but they let me drop in for about a year
and a half after that
and Stanford let me drop in for a year
and it’s kind of something that’s always
stuck with me I didn’t have any money to
pay and they said fine just take the
classes and learn and that to me what is
what it’s been all about so hopefully I
think all of us
you know feel really great about being
able to put something like this back
into that community again I can’t stress
enough this thing wouldn’t be here today
if it were not for our advisory board
they have they have led us into their
research labs they have let us hire
their best grad students and they have
kicked us in the pants when we wanted to
compromise and more than once matter of
fact so if it weren’t for them this
machine would be a very different
machine and I think all of us at next
feel an incredible debt to them for
hanging in there with us and making sure
this thing came out great actually a
very important decision it next we said
why should a student at Reed College as
small liberal arts college with a
thousand students or a professor or a
researcher read have to pay more for
their computer than someone at a very
large institution let’s say the
University of California at Berkeley and
the answer is they shouldn’t and so we
decided what’s the best price we’re
gonna give to anybody and we said can we
architect our company in a way that it
doesn’t cost us any more to sell one
computer than it does to sell a thousand
and obviously we made some distance
there and we decided to offer our best
price to everybody so everybody gets the
best price and that’s how we decided the
price it’s very democratic and I think
it’s in the spirit of what we’re trying
to do with higher education thank you
very much for coming today we really
appreciate it a lot [Applause]
that people actually admire you I’m
gonna ask you a question right now do
people know you because of your
unbelievable work ethic if you can’t
answer yes to that man you’re not going
to get in that top 10% you got to get at
the top you people have to know you not
because oh he’s a good salesman oh he’s
a good dish oh he’s an artist so he’s a
good pianist oh he’s a he writes a great
you know story no did people need to
know you for one major thing first he
works he produces the guys there every
day the guys pushing and shoving because
the truth is no matter how good your
ideas are how good your art is or how
good your skillset is if you’re not
working man if you’re not vibrating in a
frequency that people say my god how
does that guy do all that if you’re not
vibrating at that rate 10x levels
massive action tremendous work ethic
that’s just a muscle nowness it’s just a
discipline in your life as a way it’s a
normal way that other people think is
abnormal Ryan Seacrest Tom Cruise
Oprah’s Steven Spielberg Donald Trump
still pumping and working as a
billionaire look if you’re not working
at that level you’re not gonna make it
get your work ethic in man it’s the
American Way work ethic I have the level
of success that I want to have it’s
difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way we
gotta focus with all of your fiber and
all of your heart and all your Creed
fashion believe that I
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 ten years from now or
20 years ago I know in general what the
economics of say Wrigley chewing gum
will look like ten years ago this is
going to change the way people chew gum
it isn’t going to change which come they
chew 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 Rigby 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 competence 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 cents a year sold in the United
States I don’t think there’s one of them
made in the United States anymore I mean
it’s a TV set manufacturer what a
wonderful business I try everybody now
nobody had a TV in 1950 or thereabouts
45 to 50 everybody has multiple sets now
nobody is in the United States has 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 twenty 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 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 right and some
others daily throughout the world
honored me 17 years later so
understanding the economic
characteristics of a business
it’s 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 I
order my books from Amazon and all kinds
of things but I don’t know who’s gonna
win unless I know is gonna win I’m not
interested in the best thing I’ll just
play around other computer 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 senior who started IBM said
in his book he said I’m no genius 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 don’t
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 everyone has a
problem with time but the day is 24
hours and we sleep six now I know
there’s some out there that say I need
eight but I say just sleep a little
faster because the bottom line is we
have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read there’s a new year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my party so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working on
construction I was working
I’m at five hours a day I was taking
acting classes from 8 o’clock at night
to 12 midnight I was doing all of those
things I wanted to make sure that out of
the 24 hours of the day that I don’t
waste one single hour those hours were
too precious and so they just want to
tell people don’t give me this thing I
have a difficult time at the time and I
don’t have time for this now that you
have time you make the time failure is
part of life I mean the difference for
me though is I’m like a failure as a
stepping stone to success it’s a speed
bump I know I’m gonna fail but it’s not
failure if you learn something and so
gosh I’ve made so many mistakes I’ve
screwed so many things up but every time
I do it just becomes it becomes a way
for me to explain to someone else what
it takes you know it’s like here’s what
I’ve done I think I have the ability
influence people because I talk about my
failures I talk about all the things
that mess me up but I show people that
didn’t let it stop me and you don’t need
to stop you and I think I think that’s
really a secret matter and if everything
you touch was successful relate to
people and also it’s B total bullsh and
everyone know its goal and also you’d be
bored silly I mean think about it if you
just said I want this and happen I want
this to happen
you know people don’t value it they
don’t fight for you know it’s like you
see kids sometimes in it you know your
parents will say you’re not gonna value
this if you don’t work for it and you’re
keeping going oh well you’ll just give
it to me but it’s true you know about
things we’ve worked the hardest for we
value the most so I think you know the
purpose of the goal is not getting it
anyway the purpose of goal you know is
what who you become will you becomes
gonna make you happier it’s gonna make
you sad so I’m not looking for an
effortless approach there’s no such
thing I’m in meetings a lot my calendar
gets very full with those and then at
night after the kids have gone to bed
I’m on email a great deal I get messages
during the day that’s my chance to give
long responses and then over the weekend
I send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called thing
so it’s nice mix of things about 25% of
the time then I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
they they like to see us do better
one night Chris had gone to bed I’ve
been struggling struggling struggling we
still had all the same problems I we
started lean on the house still facing
bankruptcy still fighting like crazy I
was still unemployed
he still they still hadn’t figured out
like the solution yet for the business
and I was about to turn off the TV and
there on the the TV there was this
rocket launching and I thought oh my
gosh I am gonna launch myself out of bed
like a rocket ship like NASA right here
had launched me out of that bed and I’m
gonna move so fast that I don’t think
hmm I’m gonna beat my brain now here’s a
really interesting point I talked a lot
about your instincts and inner wisdom
and we can get into this a little bit
later but a lot of us talk about the
fact that you have a gut feeling but
what all this research that I’ve done
for the book and and all the speaking
that I do what I’ve discovered that’s
fascinating is actually when you set
goals when you have an intention on
something that you want to change about
your life your brain helps you what it
does is it opens up a checklist and then
your brain goes to work trying to remind
you of that intention that you set and
it’s really important to develop the
skill and I say that word purposefully
the skill of knowing how to hear that
inner wisdom and that intention kicking
in and leaning into it quickly so for me
my brain saying that’s it right there
move as fast as a rocket Mel I wanted to
change my life and I think most people
that are miserable or that are that are
really like dying to be
great and dying to have more we want to
change we want to live a better life we
want to create more for our families we
want to be happier
the desire is there again it’s about how
do you go from knowledge to actions so
the first thing in the story that’s
important is realizing that the answer
was in me and my mind was telling me pay
attention could have also been the
Bourbon anyway the next morning the
alarm goes off and I pretended NASA was
there
it’s a stupidest story I literally went
five four three two one I counted out
loud and then I stood up and I’ll never
forget standing there in my bedroom it
was dark it was cold it was winter in
Boston and for the first time in three
months I had beaten my habit of hitting
the snooze button I couldn’t believe it
and I thought wait a minute counting
backwards citizen dumbest thing I’ve
ever heard in my entire life well the
next morning I used it again and it
worked the next morning I used it again
and it worked the next morning I used it
again and it worked and then I started
to notice something really interesting
there were moments all day long all day
long just like that five-second moment
in bed where I knew knowledge what I
should do and if I didn’t move within
five seconds my brain would step in and
talk me out of it every human being has
a five-second window might even be
shorter for you you have about a
five-second window in which you can move
from idea to action before your brain
kicks into full gear and sabotages any
change in behavior because remember your
brain is wired to stop you from doing
things that are uncomfortable or
uncertain or scary it’s your job to
learn how to move from those ideas that
could change everything
into acting on vacation from where I
came from and listen I didn’t come from
like the slums in
Bangladesh or something so I don’t want
to overemphasize it but the expectation
was I would be a cop so I took the
policeman’s test and when I was 17 or 18
years old with my little brother Josh
and he wound up going into the police
and I wound up going afford him but at
the time my dad had had his restaurant
repossessed by the federal agents for
not paying his taxes so they came with
shotguns that summer in 1988 and they
close this place down and that was the
most traumatic moment of my life and it
probably is the second most traumatic
moment realized after 9/11 and when that
happened that changed everything about
me as a person like to see your dad have
his restaurant taken even got talking
about it now it’s a 42 year old and I
just thought to myself wow you know that
he lost everything and he never
recovered from it that was like the end
of his entrepreneurial career and I said
to myself I’m never gonna fail a
business no matter what it takes I win
mm-hmm cuz I’m never gonna let the feds
take my place and he went $100,000 in
debt you know in tax evasion and all
that stuff and it was very scary
but I had no money to go to college so I
had to work three jobs and go to school
at night at Fordham and I learned a work
ethic that I think made me who I am
today I’m a very hard worker I’m not the
smartest kid in the class you know but
you know just in terms of being clever
and having hustle I think my career
proves like I’ll get it done no matter
what I did a little experiment with them
with a homeless person they’re not like
on them it’s not like electrodes with
them voluntarily helped me because the
whole idea of giving right
give give you’ve you’ve all walked down
the street and you’ve all seen someone
begging and you either have or haven’t
thrown a few pennies in their cup when
you do you feel good you bought that
feeling that is a legitimate commercial
transaction you know commercial
transactions are defined as the exchange
of consideration there was an exchange
of consideration here you gave money you
got the feeling of goodwill you paid for
that feeling if you didn’t give money
you either feel nothing or you feel bad
you can’t feel good by not giving all
right you paid for that feeling so
another question is how is that person
encouraging us to
give the joke is they act like every
corporation in the world they talk about
themselves me me me me me me me right
like they sit there with their little
outdoor advertising little sign right
and it says I’m homeless I’m hungry I’ve
got 12 kids I’m a veteran god bless they
got it all in they’re trying to appeal
to somebody the religious vote the
veteran vote you know the child
sympathizer surround yourself with lots
of pets go for that one too right all in
an attempt to get something from someone
takers not givers right all about me
well what what corporations do we’ve
added more RAM we’ve added more ROM
we’ve added more speed this one’s number
one we’re the biggest we’re the best
we’ve been around since 1969 we’re
better than them we’re faster than them
we’re more efficient than that one me me
me me me me me me me me and so even if
we buy their product guess what yeah I
mean we’re gonna feel much so I did this
little experiment I found a nice
homeless lady on the streets of New York
who’s willing to help out and I learned
that with her sign which was pretty
typical I’m homeless I’m hungry but she
makes between 20 and 30 dollars a day
for you know for a day’s worth of work
eight to ten hours of sitting there
selling goodwill eight to ten hours
she’ll make 20 to $30 $30 is considered
a good day I changed her sign and the
new sign made her $40 in two hours and
it’s one of the reasons she’s homeless
is cuz she’s decided that she only needs
twenty to thirty dollars a day to live
if she stayed she would have made $150
the point is she made forty bucks in two
hours where the signs say the sign said
if you only give once a month please
think of me next time it has nothing to
do with the taker it has everything to
do with the giver and what are the
objections people give when they don’t
give I can’t give to everyone how do I
know that they really need it and so I
address both those concerns I know you
can’t get to everyone so if you only
give once a month my cause is legitimate
I will still be here when you’re ready
to give forty bucks two hours make it
about them not about you the fact of the
matter is 100 percent of customers are
people and 100 percent of clients are
people and 100 percent of employees are
people I don’t care how good your
product is I don’t care how good your
marketing is I don’t care how good your
design is if you don’t understand people
you don’t understand business we are
social animals we are human beings and
our survival depends on our ability to
form trusting relationships do you ever
watch Deadliest Catch on the Discovery
Channel
let’s flipping through channels one
night and Deadliest Catch came on and on
this episode just random they were in a
huge storm now for those of you who
don’t know Deadliest Catch they take
these crab fishing boats out in the
Bering Sea which is like terrible and
they put cameras on them and we watch
right the reason that’s I guess
significant is because these crab
fishermen have I think one of the top 5
deadliest jobs in the world you know I
don’t know what the exact number is but
dozens of fishermen die every year doing
doing this we apparently find that
entertaining it actually is so they have
cameras only on five or six of the ships
even though there are many many me ships
that go out fishing every season and
they don’t really come into proximity
with each other because you know the
oceans huge and they usually sabotage
and give each other false information
because they’re all competitors they’re
all looking to get the crabs and you
know make sure that they find them
somebody else doesn’t and yeah it’s
business right it’s just business it’s
okay
we all did the same thing in our own
companies and in this one episode this
big huge storm was so violent that they
had to bring all the pots which are the
big cages that they catch the crabs and
they bring all the pots back on the boat
and wait out the storm
and just by dumb luck one of the boats
that had cameras on it was in proximity
of a boat that didn’t have cameras on it
and so they filmed they had secured all
their pots on the deck and so they
started filming the other boat and they
filmed a guy climbing on the outside of
the cage securing the pots and all of a
sudden a huge wave hits the side of the
boat and the guy’s not there anymore and
the people on the boat with the camera
starts screaming Man Overboard Man
Overboard Man Overboard and they turned
our boat towards where they think he
might be he’s a stranger they don’t know
him they don’t know the the crew members
of the other boat and yet they react and
they turned towards him and they find
him in the drink and for those of you
don’t understand how dangerous this is
if the water is so cold that if you’re
in the water for I think that it’s a
minute or a minute thirty hypothermia
will set in and you die and they come
upon him and he’s screaming don’t let me
die don’t let me die and they pull him
on board not out of the woods yet they
strip off his clothes because it’s wet
and cold and they wrapped blankets
around him to prevent hyperthermia from
setting it and he survives and it’s
overwhelming and the captain comes down
and this is all on me you can go watch
it on TV your camera comes the captain
comes down and he honks this stranger
this young man his competitor he hugs
this guy’s if he’s his own son I lost it
everybody is crying and you realize what
happened here was a human interaction
and the reason they
their own lives to help this other
person even though they spend every
other day trying to get ahead and
sabotage is because at the end of the
day they’re all crab fishermen and they
know something about each other and they
know something about the risk that they
all take to do this and when push comes
to shove they will put themselves out
there to help each other for no other
reason than they get it they’re one of
the same I will promise you that every
single member of that crew that day went
home with a feeling of fulfillment I
promise you that every single person on
that crew that day felt more good in
their hearts and in their jobs than the
richest days they’ve ever pulled in my
question is is what are you doing to
help the person next to you don’t you
want to wake up and go to work for the
only reason that you can do something
good for someone else when you want them
to do that for you you know from our
past experiences that big things start
small you know the biggest oak starts
from an acorn and you’ve got a
recognizing you’ve got to be willing to
let that acorn grow into a little
sapling and then finally into a small
tree and maybe one day it’ll be a big
business on its own and in fact that’s
one of the mottos for one of your
initiatives and forgive my pronunciation
of the Latin but Greta team for Ossie
Terry what does that mean to you well it
means step by step ferociously and it’s
the motto for Blue Origin and basically
you can’t skip steps you have to put one
foot in front of the other things take
time you there are no shortcuts and but
but you want to do those steps with you
know passion and ferocity went to
Harvard and you’re dropped out have you
ever thought how your life could be
better off if you had gotten your
Harvard degree well I I’m a weird
dropout because I take college courses
all the time I love learning company
courses and things so I love being a
student and there were smart people
around and you know they fed you and
they gave you these nice grades that
made you feel smart
so I I feel it was unfortunate that I
didn’t get to stay there
but I don’t think I missed any knowledge
because you know whatever I needed to
learn I would I was still in a learning
mode and playing around the latest
technology whether it’s you know new PCs
looking at new software sitting down
with researchers it’s it’s why I think
my job is the best Warren thinks is the
best but I’m I’m sure I’m right anyway
I’m in meetings a lot my calendar gets
very full with those and then at night
after the kids have gone to bed I’m on
email a great deal I get messages during
the day that’s my chance give long
responses and then over the weekend I
send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called think week so
it’s nice mix of things about 25% of the
time then I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
they they’d like to see us do better you
know these days that’s probably 80 85
hours a week for a while there was over
a hundred hours a week and that’s just
it’s just – that’s a very high amount of
pain so it’s you know the the difficulty
in pain of of work hours really
increases exponentially it’s not linear
so but when you know the financial
crisis hit in 2008 2009
you know it was just every day seven
days a week what you know morning all
night and dream about work it was
bad dreams to be late yes yeah and at
what time do you get up normally in the
morning for me it’s usually about 7:00
okay but I go to bed late so usually
it’s I go to bed around 1:00 a.m. or so
what I am yeah and you stop day with a
real breakfast or just for the coffee or
with the water you know that also varies
a lot I think it’s probably true that if
you thought having a good breakfast is
is a good idea but usually I don’t have
time for that so sometimes sometimes
it’s it’s made for me but probably half
the time I don’t have any breakfast I
had to also have like coffee or
something like that one spot sure well
try to cut down on the on sweet stuff so
but I think I mean I think I probably
should have like an omelet and a coffee
or something like that that seems like
probably the right thing and sometimes
that you have that and for lunch lunch
yeah yeah a lot lunch is usually served
to me during a meeting and I finished it
didn’t that dinner is where the calories
really come into play because there’s
you know if I have dinner meetings like
dinner meetings are the worst because
then you you know eat enough for like
two people yeah and those things because
you have appetizer and main course my
stuff so business dinners are like the
thing that really you know where I
probably eat way too much I certainly
could be slimmer I think I know a
workout once or twice a week I mean I
said well yeah yeah what’s or twice you
should I should do it more often for
sure running through the forest no
usually just like a little bit on the
treadmill or on the end lifting some
weights as opposed rarely are we instant
experts you may have a particular gift
or affinity toward something but you
still get better you know people would
pay me high compliments when I started
speaking and then people who’ve seen me
a year or two later say that I’m even
better than I feel it why is that
because you’ve you you learn more you
know I think that hubris is dangerous I
think to think that you’re an expert at
anything is a foolish pursuit you’re
never you’re never as good as you could
be there’s a boy’s room for improvement
there’s always room to get better you
don’t that does mean you have to listen
to all the advice just you know not
necessarily does everybody know best but
but to believe that you can be better
and to believe that you can offer more
is a constant pursuit you know I used to
think being a public speaker meant being
poised and presenting in a way that was
compelling and speaking at the right
pace and that’s that’s a part of it but
but I have been taking more risks lately
doing things that are very unstructured
and very uncomfortable and I will now do
like if I have an hour to speak I’d
rather speak for 20 minutes and do 40
minutes worth of questions and who knows
how that’s gonna go
and that to me is the best and so I’m a
better speaker because now I’m Way more
open to the unknown where a few years
who makes our disk drive we were really
lucky when we started next in that we
got calls from the presidents of Sony
Motorola Canon and others and they said
hey when you guys were in your former
life time you used to romp through our
technology laboratories and you used to
spot technologies and help us form them
into marketable products and we really
like that cuz both of us won so we’d
like you to keep doing that and we’d
like you to keep doing that because eh
maybe you’ll be the next big computer
company and be because you’re the
cheapest R&D we could ever do so we had
access to I think probably more of the
in-depth technical research going on at
some of these companies than most other
people I have the good fortune to have
we think more in terms of what impact is
this computer going to have on the
people that use it and so we don’t you
know much more about the industry than
we do at this point we’re focusing on
the people that are gonna use this thing
and how to bring the most far-reaching
capabilities to them and so that’s
that’s where our focus is right now I am
exceptionally proud of the hundred and
seventy-five people that work it next
because they started without in some
cases when we started the company of
course we just started it with a fresh
sheet of paper and as people have joined
us over the months and the years they
have joined based on not a product not
even a description they’ve joined on the
vision University Way a degree oh I
don’t know you mean the fact that I
don’t have I’m a dropout actually I have
a pretty fun spark from spot for I read
anyway all right what happened was I
went to Reed College just like dr.
Richard Crandall and I ran out of money
after about six months so I dropped out
but they let me drop in for about a year
and a half after that
and Stanford let me drop in for a year
and it’s kind of something that’s always
stuck with me I didn’t have any money to
pay and they said fine just take the
classes and learn and that to me what is
what it’s been all about so hopefully I
think all of us
you know feel really great about being
able to put something like this back
into that community again I can’t stress
enough this thing wouldn’t be here today
if it were not for our advisory board
they have they have led us into their
research labs they have let us hire
their best grad students and they have
kicked us in the pants when we wanted to
compromise and more than once matter of
fact so if it weren’t for them this
machine would be a very different
machine and I think all of us at next
feel an incredible debt to them for
hanging in there with us and making sure
this thing came out great actually a
very important decision it next we said
why should a student at Reed College as
small liberal arts college with a
thousand students or a professor or a
researcher read have to pay more for
their computer than someone at a very
large institution let’s say the
University of California at Berkeley and
the answer is they shouldn’t and so we
decided what’s the best price we’re
gonna give to anybody and we said can we
architect our company in a way that it
doesn’t cost us any more to sell one
computer than it does to sell a thousand
and obviously we made some distance
there and we decided to offer our best
price to everybody so everybody gets the
best price and that’s how we decided the
price it’s very democratic and I think
it’s in the spirit of what we’re trying
to do with higher education thank you
very much for coming today we really
appreciate it a lot [Applause]
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