Will Packer (2:34)

I feel. And that's great. And I love that you separate the because from the why. Because I think of it the way that you say it. The because is like the reason you get to the why. The because is the reason that you keep going beyond the why. The because of the reason you're able to even facilitate whatever it is you're trying to do for. For the why. Right. So my because is because I feel an obligation in the situation and in the seat that I sit in the situation I'm in. The seat that I sit, meaning the privileged seat that I sit in. I've worked very, very hard to be in this position. But because I am here, if I am not paying forward, and that is not just to my immediate nuclear family, my extended family, but also my community family, right. If I am not paying it forward, the ability that I have to touch people and hopefully inspire people, but certainly the ability I have to deploy resources in a certain way, to deploy power in a certain way, to try to be an example and I hope a positive example of what it looks like when someone like myself gets into a position of power. If I'm not doing that, I would be remiss. I would be wasting a God given opportunity to go out and then, I hope, create a positive cycle of success. Your legacy. At the. At the end of the day, we are not the things that we do, we are not the things that we buy. We're not the things that we accomplish. Those can be drivers, right? Those can be things that keep us going. I'm a very ambitious person. There are things that I'm striving to do, things that have to do with, you know, quantifiable success metrics in Hollywood, you know, box office, streaming numbers, even awards. But ultimately, at the end of the day, when I leave this earth, I won't be the number of number one box office hits. I won't be, you know, New York Times bestseller. What I will be is the people that I have influenced and the people that I have touched. What I will be is that legacy that I leave behind. And I'm somebody that believes that if we're always trying to positively manifest impact on others, if we're living a life where we're thinking about the impact that we have on other people, I promise you, you will live an incredibly fulfilled life. What I call a blockbuster life, because I like to take it to the movie analogy, right? So that's that's my.

Mick Hunt (5:04)

Because.

Will Packer (5:04)

Because I feel like I have to. I have an obligation and a responsibility to.

Mick Hunt (5:10)

Yeah. So I want to go into that, like, that obligation, because that's something I talk about with leaders. Right. Like, you have an obligation to lead. And for me, that obligation started when I was 10. Right. Like, everybody that knows me knows I made my mom a promise that I was going to change her life and the life of my sister and brother. And every day I just fulfill that promise of obligation. That's literally it. I look myself in the mirror. Some days I do. Right. Some days I don't. But, like, I make sure that I fulfill the obligation more than I don't fulfill the obligation. Right. So for you growing up in St. Pete, right, then going to FAMU, when did. When did you know that that was your obligation to. To do bigger, to do better than maybe the people that were surrounding you?

Will Packer (5:58)

Yeah. You know what? I have been very fortunate in that I had parents that told me, you can be anything.

Mick Hunt (6:07)

Yeah.

Will Packer (6:08)

And that's so powerful and so important. And I like to say that to all my folks out there listening who have kids, listen, you have a responsibility. My kids, I like to say, they took me to the highest mountaintop they could find. St. Petersburg, Florida, is pretty flat.

Mick Hunt (6:27)

Not a lot of.

Will Packer (6:28)

Not a lot of. Not a lot of elevation bit right. They lifted me up and they said. They did me like cinema. They said, everything the sun touches is yours. Right. And they literally instilled in me this idea that I had the ability to accomplish and achieve whatever it was that I was willing to set my mind to and I was willing to work hard for, and that there was nobody more deserving than me. And the only barrier to my own success would be me. Not external people. And we have a tendency to give our power away to external people, forces, people with titles, people with money. We give them the power. And they say, well, when you tell me I'm ready or if you tell me that I can be successful, then I'll accept it. If you tell me I'm not, that I won't accept it. We give that power away. My parents taught me very, very early on, you don't give that power away. So when you ask when I realized that, you know, I had the ability to do something special, it definitely would have been just in terms of, like, my matriculation sometime around the time that I got the family, I got the Florida A and M University. And I like to say that I really found my voice. I certainly found my passion. For storytelling. I was connected with a another brother named Rob Hardy. And Rob had a passion for filmmaking. I had a passion for entrepreneurship. I knew that I wanted to have my own business. I wasn't sure make exactly what business that would be, but Rob had a passion for filmmaking. I linked up with him, I helped him to make our first little tiny movie. And I helped to distribute it, self distribute it, get in front of investors, get in front of distributors, get in front of audiences. And ultimately that was the foundation for me saying, I can do this. I can be a storyteller. I know how to go out, raise a little bit of money, execute a film project and get it out there to the masses. So I didn't wait for my passion to hit me in the face. And I think too many of us do that now. I didn't wait until all the boxes were checked in terms of the thing that I wanted to do, was passionate at, was good at, was going to get paid to do. I went and did something that I did well, and then I found my passion within it.

Mick Hunt (8:42)

Yeah, I love that brother. I love that man. And you know, when I told my family and friends that, that you were coming on the show and you know, they all are huge fans of you and my audience and viewers and listeners are as well too. And I always like to tell the difference between like the producer, the director on film sets, because a lot of people assume producer, director are usually as one. And I'm like, no, the producer is the most important because they have to tell the story. They have to make this thing in paper come to life. How would you describe that difference as well for the viewers and listeners that maybe they're like a lot of people that think director, producer pretty much are the same.

Will Packer (9:23)

Yeah, yeah. Most people don't know. I get that. I break it down pretty simply. The director is who you most think of as being the behind the scenes person on a movie or television set. They're the person working with the actors that are yelling out action and cut and saying, let's do it again. Give me more emotion here, more feeling here, more comedy there. Right. That is the director. The way that I analogize producing and the producer responsibility is I take it to the Oscars, Mick. And at the Oscars throughout the night, you've got all these various categories. You've got your best director, you got best sound, best actor, best supporting actor. Right. Best production design, all these various categories. At the end of the night, the final award goes to best picture and the producer gets the best picture. Award because the producer was responsible for pulling together all those other categories. Producer is like being a big project manager. You have to keep your eye on the macro. You have to put people in position to succeed. And you're responsible for getting the resources, whatever the money the budget might be. You're responsible for overseeing the marketing and the distribution. You've got a very macro approach to make sure that the entire project comes together and you put all the various elements in place in order for that project to work. And I'll just take that analogy to life, Mick, because ultimately we all have to be incredible project managers. You have to make sure that in order to produce your best life, you've got the right elements, right? You got to have the right supporting cash. You got to pay attention to the people around you, right? You got to make sure you're marketing it correctly. Got to be able to sell yourself. We're always selling ourselves, right? You got to make sure that you're keeping your eye on the narrative, right? Got to be able to tell your story. All those things, the same things that I do when I'm making a movie or a television show, those are the things that we need to do in our worlds, each of our individual worlds, to make sure that we're creating the best life, producing the best life possible. But the elements and the responsibility for overseeing those elements and being unflinching when it comes to making sure that you have the best elements and changing those elements when they're not, it's very, very similar to what I do on a day to day basis.

Mick Hunt (11:53)

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right, well, now I'm gonna get personal for me. You know, when I started this, I said, will Packer, someone who's influenced my life more than he, he knows or will ever know, right? Here's why, Will. So, you know, aside from leadership, I do a ton of keynote speaking and one of my mentors, the led, the legendary Les Brown, told me this one thing. He said, mickey speaking is nothing but stories and points, right? Never tell a story without a point and never make a point without a story, because that's what the audience is going to remember. And so he's telling me this. I'm like, all right, great. Stories and points. Points and stories. Stories and points. Points and stories. The best storyteller in the world that I know is Will Packer. So I dissected you, brother. And that became my template, my framework of how I speak. Like when I'm on stage, this is a secret that I'm letting the world know. When I'm on stage, I envision that I am Willpack. I am not lying to you. You can ask my best friends, because I tell them when I'm designing my speech, when I'm picking out the stories and points that I want to make, whether I use them in the speech or not. Because I'm all about energy, right? Like, sometimes your energy will take you places. But I got that from Will Packer because I understood everything doesn't make a movie, right? Like, everything that that's recorded, that's on film doesn't go into the actual movie. So I wanted to personally tell you, man, thank you for being a blueprint, because I understood true storytelling from literally dissecting everything from takers, which is my favorite Will Packer movie, by the way. Takers. Okay. Okay, girls, trip to, you know, ride along, think like a man. Like, understanding how you tell the story and like, really being a student of you, I just want to tell you thank you. Because that's made me the speaker that I am.

Will Packer (13:47)

Oh, brother. That is huge. That is. That is. I mean, you made my day. You see this big cheesy grin I got on my face. The reason it's making my day is number one. It's amazing to hear, you know, people give you your flowers and to hear that you positively influence somebody. But the other reason, Nick, is because iron sharpens iron. We know that, right? And there's somebody watching this now who feels the same way about you, who feels like, I watch and listen and hang on, mix every word, especially when it comes to leadership, when it comes to self improvement. And there are times when you may have a podcast, you think maybe it's not as impactful as some others. You don't even feel like doing it. Somebody is gleaning something from that podcast, and you now are sharpening them. We have to be sponges and willing to do exactly what you did. I do the same thing. Take elements from those folks that you look at that are aspirational to you, right? It's not about starting from scratch. It's not about reinventing the wheel. Use things that exist, use people that exist, use things that they are doing to then do it your way, right? So when you stand on the stage, you're not Willpack, you're Mick Hunt. But the way you do it, I love that it's inspired by Will Packer. And then you take it, you put something on it that I don't even have, that I don't even know because it's uniquely you, somebody listening, right? Now can do that exact same thing. Draw inspiration from other people that are doing things that you want to do. Right. Storytelling. Just to hit on that for a quick second. Man. So powerful.

Mick Hunt (15:29)

Yeah.

Will Packer (15:29)

One of the things I say in the book is that you are selling yourself and building your brand. From the moment you are born into the time that you die to the time you live in this. Leave this earth and God calls you home. You are selling yourself. We all are. I don't care who you are. My parents, they put me in debate class when I was in high school. And, Mick, I hated it because it wasn't cool. The cool kids weren't doing that. They were out. They were playing sports. Right. They were playing hooky, whatever they were doing, but they weren't doing debate. Right. I'm so thankful, because what my parents did was put me in an environment that forced me to learn how to formulize an argument and defend an argument. And what you have to understand is that I don't care what your profession is. I don't care what your desired profession or ambition is. You will always need to be able to present an argument and defend that argument. And. And sometimes you need to be able to present yourself a certain way. Tell your story, and you need to be able to defend your story. We live in a world where people attribute a value to you based on their perception of your value. And so you. You don't have to be a Hollywood filmmaker to understand the need and the value of telling your own story. There is power in telling your own story. So when you talk about storytelling, I take it very, very seriously. You don't have to be a content creator, movie producer, writer, director. You don't have to do any of that in order to understand the importance of telling your story because you're telling other people what value to ascribe to you.

Mick Hunt (17:11)

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I love that, man. And like I said, I appreciate you more than I could ever tell you. You are the goat. And if I was gonna be an understudy of anyone, it was gonna be the goat. So thank you, brother.

Will Packer (17:26)

I appreciate that, bro. I really appreciate you sharing that, too. I'm. I'm humbled and. And honored.

Mick Hunt (17:31)

Yes, sir. So, yeah, perfect segue to the book, man. Like I told you, I ordered copies myself. Your team sent me copies this weekend. I shared it with family and friends, man. So for those that are listening, the book is titled who Better Than you? The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big. And so will just the title alone. I'm gonna get your because of writing the book. But the title, who Better Than youn? But the subtitle, the Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big Man. Like it made me think when I saw the title, because I go back to, you know, some of my other mentors, a Daymond, John, Robert Irvine, people that to be successful there's got to be some healthy arrogance, maybe a lot of healthy arrogance. Because as you say in the book, if you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will, right? And so you've got to carry that belief outwardly, not just inwardly. Like, it doesn't mean you have to be loud, it doesn't mean you have to talk a lot. We're going to go into that too. But you've got to have some healthy arrogance in yourself, man. So I love that I was instantly relatable to that title alone. Like talk us through just the title and subtitle itself and what, why the, the reason of that. But then what it meant to you.

Will Packer (18:54)

Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you about the, the title first. That's a question that we have to constantly ask ourselves because typically, especially in a world where we're all connected digitally, social media is rampant in all our lives. You can begin to doubt how much you deserve success. You can begin to doubt your readiness for success. You can begin to doubt the skill sets that you have which you need to lead you to success. You have to constantly ask yourself that question, right? In the devil and angel on the shoulder analogy, you've we've always got the negative, you know, the devil always saying, you can't do this, you're not prepared for this, you don't have what it takes, you're not ready. Right. You have to constantly undergird your self confidence with the who is better than me? Who is more deserving? You literally have to ask yourself that. Confidence is a muscle and it's like any other muscle, you gotta work it. You don't have to be born with it. You don't have to be born with some big outsized personality saying I'm confident and I was born this way and no, most people are not. Yeah, but you do have to build it by constantly reminding yourself of those positive attributes that you have. Ask yourself, who better than you? And continue to ask yourself that question and realize that the answer is no one. And that leads to the subtitle, Healthy Arrogance in the Art of Dreaming Big. I've been around some of the most successful people in the world, man. And one thing that the most successful people in the world have in Common that people who I see who are trying to be successful often don't. Is that the successful people, when they walk into a room, they do not question whether or not they belong there. There. They don't have that imposter syndrome. They walk into a room and they realize, this room is better because I'm in it. I am something to this room that nobody else has. The unique nature of me and my being is additive to this room. Now, be clear, it's not about coming in and tearing down the other people in the room. That's toxic arrogance. I work in Hollywood. I deal with a lot of that. Right? Yeah, that's toxic arrogance. Healthy arrogance is a feeling that I can make this room better and bring up the folks in this room. And true leadership is understanding a commonality of goals and getting other people to see the commonality of your goals. Because if you and me and five other people all in a team and I've got a particular goal, if I got to go, you got to go. For the people have their own goals, and we are not seeing the commonality. And then we're all going to be rowing in different directions. We will get nowhere. Yeah, but true leaders are able to get people to galvanize around a shared goal and mission that everybody benefits from. That's a part of that. Healthy arrogance is understanding that your goal, your mission, your desire is just as important as anybody else's, but you got to get other people to buy into it. That's a true side of leadership and success. So being around some of these really, really successful people globally, I see that they're not questioning at all their value, their focus on trying to get other people to see their value, but in a positive way. Again, not about saying, I'm good, you're bad, I'm better than you. No, that's not what it's about. That is not sustainable. It is about I am bringing something to the table that we can all benefit from. That's why I deserve to be in this room. No matter who's in the room, no matter how important and big and the titles and all of that. I am not intimidated because I understand that I have something that none of these other people have. And it's just as important and it's going to add value to the room. That's where that healthy arrogance comes from.

Mick Hunt (22:54)

Yeah. I love it, man. I love it. Now I want to go into the book a little bit because you scared me with the title of chapter one. I was like, will's telling me I'm going to die tonight, man. Like what?

Will Packer (23:04)

You going to die tonight?

Mick Hunt (23:05)

You going to die tonight? But then you open it with what I feel like everyone needs to know moment one, because it's something again I talk to leaders about, which is why I resonate with this book so deeply. You say success is a bottom line business, and I don't think people understand the brevity of that. Because when you understand that, truly that should dictate all the moves that you make. Right? Success is a bottom line business. So. So talk to us about that a little bit.

Will Packer (23:37)

Yeah, well, that first chapter, you're going to die tonight. Obviously, you know, I'm a storyteller and so I wanted the book to be, to be impactful, but I also wanted to be light. I wanted it to not be heavy reading. I wanted to be something that you can breeze through and hopefully I've accomplished that. I've heard that from some folks that it's, you know, it's light, it's fun, it's like me, you know, it doesn't, doesn't take itself too, too seriously. It's got funny, fun moments. And in the first chapter, I tell the story of dealing with Kevin Hart. Our first. Both of the biggest movies of our career at that time, which was Ride along and Kevin Hart, you have to read the book to get the whole story. But him basically unintentionally sabotaging this shoot, this very important shoot, by sneaking off to try to go and do a, a comedy show at Madison Square Garden and me ending up in a nightclub with bottles being popped all around me and Carmelo Anthony telling me we all dying tonight. And I'm going, wait a minute, not tonight, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow night, maybe next week. I got a movie to shoot. I gotta get Kevin back to Atlanta because we're shooting this movie. He was gonna come up and do a show and go back like I'm dealing with all of that. The point is, you have to expect the unexpected. And not just in relationships, but in business. When people show you who they are, you gotta believe, right? And I know my good friend Kevin Hart. We've worked together with each other. We're each other's most frequent collaborators. So I know he's the guy that will overbook himself. He'll triple, quadruple book himself because he is very ambitious. It's my job, though, to contain that ambition and to hone it and to keep him focused on the bottom line, because he oftentimes will not. And so in business you have to know who you're dealing with and working with what their skill sets are, right. What their proclivities are, and you have to then adjust accordingly. Success, as you said, is a bottom line business. We get too caught up in what's fair and what's not fair. What I'm up against, what somebody else up against. Forget all of that, okay? It matters. But at the end of the day, you're going to be judged by if you deliver or not, right? I am successful in Hollywood because I have 10 number one movies. Does it matter that I was up against bigger stars?

Mick Hunt (25:58)

No.

Will Packer (25:58)

Does it matter that I had to go up against movies that had bigger budgets or I had, you know, extinguishing circumstances that I couldn't control on the weekend of the releases of some of my films? None of that matters. What matters is the bottom line that I have been able to be successful according to the quantifiable metrics of that particular industry. You have to do the same thing, Keep your eye on the bottom line, right? Make the main thing the main thing. Make sure that you are driven by that bottom line of success. And that's some of the things that we talk about in the book, is how you can adjust your mentality and way of thinking to accomplish that bottom line while also living a balanced life.

Mick Hunt (26:39)

Exactly.

Will Packer (26:40)

That's very important as well.

Mick Hunt (26:41)

Exactly, man. And then, you know, one of my favorite chapters is chapter six, titled who better than you? Right? So when we get into chapter six, you talk about be a doer, right? Not a talker, which made me pause in a good way and made me reflect, man. Because I am my grandfather's son. I tell everybody that. And one of my grandfather's things was, Mickey, you got to know how to move in silence, right? Because when everyone knows what you have, you have nothing. And when everyone knows where you're going, you'll never get there. And so when I read chapter six, man, and you started talking about being a doer and less talking, it was got to move in silence. You got to move in silence because you can go further in silence than you'll ever go loud, man. And so when I wanted to tell you appreciation for that chapter, because that's the chapter I probably read three times a day because you give me something out of that one. But, man, talk to the audience about that, man. Being a doer. Because I think, especially in today's world where it's like social media and people think they need to broadcast everything they're doing, and it doesn't mean you don't need to do things, but you got to do them, not just talk about them.

Will Packer (27:54)

We live in a world where we are encouraged because of that social media feedback loop. We get that dopamine hit every time. We get a like or an engagement. Engagement or positive comment. Right. So we think that we need that. And now you become more focused on that, on the feedback, be it superficial or than actually accomplishing and doing the thing that you set out to do. Right. So we too often are putting our babies, I like to call it, right. Whatever the thing is you're working on, we're putting our babies out to the world before it's raining. Don't worry about that. One of my mantras is it's the work you put in when nobody is watching that makes everybody pay attention. Later, the time will come, put your head down and stay in the lab. And when you are ready to show people what you've been working on, everybody's going to pay attention. Right? If you do it right. But along the way we feel the need to say, hey guys, I haven't posted in a while. I know you think I'm not doing anything. Look at my project, look at what I'm doing. Right? Let me give you an update. You don't need to do that. The baby's not ready now, before you know it, somebody's giving you feedback on something that's, that's not fully baked, not fully prepared. Now you think, oh, maybe I need to go in a different direction or I didn't get the feedback that I thought I would get from it, so now maybe I should pivot, now I should change. No, you released it out into the world before it was ready. So even in a society that gives us that constant feedback and tells us if you're not out there posting every 30 seconds and letting everybody know what you're doing and you must not be doing anything right if you're not out there having a bunch of posts that can proclaim to the highest, you know, from the highest mountain everything that you're working on and every last detail. If you're not doing that, you must be a failure. Don't buy into that mentality. Stick to the grind, put your head down, be a do or not a talk. Right now we live in a society that encourages talkers, but it's not sustainable. The long term successful people are people that are actually doing things. I have nothing in social media. Right. It can be a tremendous tool. Look how we're talking right now. We're sharing this with all your listeners and followers. That's important. However, you and I have put the work in to be able to be here before we have this conversation, we got something to say. I didn't just go out and write a book. I was 30 years in the game before I wrote my first book. That's because I wanted to make sure that I had something to say and that I was in the lab doing what I needed to do. Don't feel the need to let everybody know what you're doing. Let other people do that. You focus, work you put in when nobody's looking will make everybody pay attention later.

Mick Hunt (30:36)

Yep. I love it, Will. I love it, brother. I know you're busy. I don't want to hold you long, man. But I do want to do this for my listeners and viewers because I do have 10 extra copies here. The first 10 people that message me, and I don't care if it's LinkedIn, Instagram, those that have my email can email me the first 10 that email me. Who better than you? That's the title of the book. I'm giving those copies out to you.

Will Packer (31:04)

Hey, hey, jump on it, y'. All. There we go. Listen, no excuses, no excuse. Nick is giving you an opportunity. This is the thing. Those folks that are successful are those that are willing to put the work in and do what's necessary. He's telling you, you don't have to buy it, Right? All you gotta do is be proactive right now. Go hit the dm, hit the email, send the message, whatever that is. Right? Spend some time reading what another successful person has said. Work for them. This is the masterclass that I wish I had, Nick. I wish that I had this when I was coming up in the game. That's why I wrote the book. So again, you should read my book. You should read 10 other books. Like, that is what you have to do. You need to be somebody that is a sponge that is soaking up what successful people has done, and then you figure out how to make it your own. Just like we talked about with your speech process. You got to figure out how to take what other people are doing that is successful and then make it your own. So mix giving you a tremendous opportunity to do that right now. I appreciate you, brother.

Mick Hunt (32:06)

Hey, I believe in this book, and I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe. And everybody that knows me know, like, I don't promote everything because it's got to work for me before I can sign on it. Because I don't believe in deals or anything like that, right? Like, if I tell you something, it's because I spent my money and it worked for me. And then you should too. I'm giving these away. I'm also will. So I have a leadership conference that I'm doing three times a year. I'm going to purchase 200 books and, and we're going to give those out to our VIP and my inner circle folks. So if you're a VIP member of what I do or at my events, if you're a Power Circle member, meaning our one on one relationship, you also are getting this book. I'm buying 200 and I'm giving them out. Because again, this is the blueprint, I promise you. And, and part of my masterminds that we do, we're going to go in and dissect this book on how you can import these things into your daily leadership journey. Because it is that hook.

Will Packer (33:06)

And here's what I'm gonna do. On top of that, Mick is getting the books for the VIPs at the Leadership conference. And they're gonna be signed, they're going to be autographed by me. So Mick's gonna get them, he's gonna get them to me. We're gonna make sure that we sign them. So you can have an extra little, little piece of, of memorabilia to have, right? Not just the words in it, but also autographed by me, personal, who are listening to this and are willing to take that next step towards leading extraordinary life, towards self improvement and towards becoming a better leader, you now will have something to show for that. So, Nick, I appreciate you supporting me. I'm gonna go and support you. I'm glad I was able to check in. I'm in Rome right now. I'm in my production office. I'm working on another project that's shooting over here in Italy. And things are going well. So you and I are on very different time zones, but that's how it works. You gotta be able to communicate and coordinate with people all over the world whenever you need to. Good people always inspire each other. And iron sharpens iron. So I consider you one of those, brother. I look forward to us continuing conversations in the future. My man.

Mick Hunt (34:11)

I need to say no more. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been Will Packer. You understand? And you see now you've heard. You've seen why he is someone I call my virtual mentor. He didn't know that, but he is that for me. And I wanted the time to express that to you, Will. So thank you for all that you have done, are doing, and will continue to do, brother.

Will Packer (34:32)

Absolutely. Much respect to you, my friend.

Mick Hunt (34:34)

You got it. And for the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.

Podcast Host Intro (34:42)

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe, rate and share this with someone who needs it. And most of all, make a plan and take action, because the next level is already waiting for you. Have a question or insight to share? Send us an email to hello ickunplugged.com until next time, ask yourself how you can step up.