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