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- [00:00]
A
Do you know how many people here, brother, have become the grandma they made fun of? Let me explain. Let me explain, Jimmy. There are people in here that used to make fun of their grandma for not knowing how to use AOL instant message, or they made fun of their dad for being on the BlackBerry because he liked his fucking buttons when they were on the iPhone. But now that they're 40, 42, 52, 57, 37, 59, they've become the person they made fun of by deciding that AI is bad for society as a front, that they don't want to put in the 50 hours of work to understand how to use it. This is the GaryVee audio experience.
- [00:39]
B
So I'm actually from Cleveland, and you know what you did. You know what you did to us.
- [00:42]
A
But, you know, I love Cleveland fans. You guys have a tough. I'm a Jets and Knicks fan, so I associate very deeply with Cleveland. Yeah, yeah.
- [00:50]
B
A lot of people feel sorry for us. So. So we're going to do some kind of questions that people are interested in asking that are down here, and then we'll take some time to ask questions from the audience as well. So, Gary, you've made a career out of seeing things before the rest of the world. What's one thing you think business leaders are underestimating right now?
- [01:13]
A
I think I touched on this speech. I think, again, having the luxury of seeing everyone who's. I got to see the attendance list before I spoke here, you know, and I'm empathetic that it might not be your exact lane. But I will tell you, the live shopping thing is a big deal. Every brand here is going to be very effective. The fact that we have a mix of CPGs and retailers, I do believe. And this is the same old game. You know this. You said something in your opening about you did a little test, and then people want it at scale. The majority of people in this room are in big companies. And so they may not think I'm on the board of Spin Master, which is a toy company, Paw Patrol, a lot of great brands gunned stuffed animals. I'm on the board. You actually have say when you're on the board in these companies. And yet there was still, like, not only hesitation, but then even when we sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of product in a day, they want to compare it against how much they sell at Walmart. And I'm like, it's not about that. Like, when I invested in E Commerce, when we spent $25,000 to build a website in 1996, that was like our savings. We built the farm on that. And when the sales first started coming in, my dad was upset with me. He's like, $800. I'm like, dad, it's not about today. It's about today, next week, the next month. Now it's 85% of his business. So I would say live shopping is a big underestimation. And then the thing I think I ended with, I continue to believe the world completely misunderstands how utterly powerful social networks are and what they mean. They can change the entire calculus for brands in this room with one post. With one post. I mean, Walgreens sold out of every single pack of their Mango gummies because of one TikTok post nationally, and it was selling on eBay for three times the price. There's no campaign they were going to come up with. There's no app incentive program that was going to sell that product. Marketing works. Marketing is the most important part of a business because it's the offense. I think it's misunderstood right now.
- [03:15]
B
Okay, all right. So we talked about board meetings, and every board meeting seems to have an AI on the agenda. I know my board meetings. That's what we talk about. I actually think my board members use AI to think of questions they're going to ask me, which of course, I am already responding with AI to think about how I'm going to answer. So no one's talking to anybody, but
- [03:37]
A
I'm glad you asked that, John.
- [03:40]
B
So five. No, it always says the hard truth is, yeah, but five years from now, what's the AI assumption we're all making today that's going to prove wrong?
- [03:50]
A
If I had a bet on it, and I don't like to predict, I just like to act fast when I see something but in my tummy. You remember when everyone talked about big data and everyone thought that was going to be a moat, when in reality, what ended up happening was there were so many sources of big data, it actually became a commodity. My intuition is that the models are going to be so good from so many places that the models are not going to be the moat. I also think this whole, like, you know, I keep laughing about this thing in the short term, as you know, Fortune 500 CEOs and predominantly CFOs are using AI as a good excuse to cut costs and have record earnings. But if you're competing, like everyone, if you're competing, you have 300 employees and they have 300 employees, and. And they get rid of 200 people and are using AI, but you still have 300 people, but they're all using AI. That company's gonna be in trouble. I don't think we've wrapped our head around that. It makes one human act like 13 or 7 or 45 or whatever it is at some level. There's the short term of what everyone's doing right now, which is using it as a front for some other things they want to happen. But long term AI is not taking anyone's job in here. It's humans that use AI in a world where humans here refuse to use AI that are going to take their jobs and their opportunity. It's a tool. It's a profound tool. Everybody, hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. They'll make my mom super happy. Again. Looking at the makeup of the room, if again I talked earlier about. My dream for you is to show up on Geo Answers on an individual level. My dream on you is to not demonize AI. To use this summer to spend 30 to 50 hours deeply going into it and having you being capable of whatever your sector is. I mean, I can tell you my consumer insights strategists in my company are dramatically better than they were a year ago. That's because we've powered them to do it and instead of scaring them out of it.
- [05:57]
B
Yeah, I know. We're seeing already that people who are using it well or talented at this, the price of talent is going through the roof.
- [06:09]
A
At the upper end, there's a short term arbitrage. And by the way, this is historic. The secretaries that used the typewriter when it was invented had a three to five year moat where they became better earners and then the market equalized. I mean, again, I'm fascinated by humans inability to take their own fears and selfish needs in deciding what's actually happening. I'm empathetic to why someone would be concerned. That's exactly what they should do. You have mortgages, you have things you have to do. But this one's an easy one. Like a lot of you, like, we're very fortunate. As I look around the room, you've watched what's happened the last 20 years, 15 years, 10 years. Like you've seen some other big technologies, the mobile device, the web, the Internet itself. You've seen what's happened. Do you know how many people here, brother, have become the grandma they made fun of? Let me explain, let me Explain, Jimmy. There are people here that used to make fun of their grandma for not knowing how to use AOL Instant message. Or they made fun of their dad for being on the BlackBerry because he liked his fucking buttons when they were on the iPhone. But now that they're 40, 42, 52, 57, 37, 59. They've become the person they made fun of by deciding that AI is bad for society as a front that they don't want to put in the 50 hours of work to understand how to use it.
- [07:32]
C
This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50 page restoration block or. Or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it, ready to make anything online make sense. There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability various 18 plus.
- [07:59]
B
I think that's important. I called an old colleague and he told me about this AI coach he got and it just made me. This is about a year ago. And I was like, what? Why am I not doing this? The guy helped him and helped. He helped me see the light.
- [08:15]
A
That's good, we all need that. Listen, I come to talks like this, like what I just did for two minutes is a desperate hope that three people, just as I poke at their zit, decide, you know, they decide, you know what? That's true. Because you know what's funny? No one, you know, looking, first of all, incredible admiration. No one in this room got here by accident. There's a lot of hard work and a lot of smarts that led to you being able to be at this event. A lot of you outflanked other people by understanding how to use your natural talents or the modern tools of the day. Don't get caught on the same thing that got you here just because you're at this part of your life cycle.
- [08:56]
B
Yeah, so this is a little different. Every leader today navigates some combination of economic uncertainty, geopolitical change, technologies of disruption, economic and shifting consumer expectations. How do you stay decisive when the environment keeps changing? And I'll add a little more. I feel like I said it in my little comments, but I feel like I gotta go fast and I gotta go now because things are happening so fast. So have you felt that same way?
- [09:24]
A
Yes, but again, I wanna tread lightly here. I'm an entrepreneur. I own all my own businesses. I have no meaningful boards in any of them.
- [09:33]
D
Yeah.
- [09:33]
A
I'm not publicly traded. I can sit up here and be a big shot. Because let me tell you what happens when I make catastrophic mistakes. I wake up in the morning, look myself in the mirror while I'm brushing my teeth and say, you're an idiot. You know, that is not what the profile like. So what I would tell everyone here that's dealing with this is I touched on it lightly about the fake reports. If they believe the same thing I believe, everyone here has to find a way to tell the world their truth. Whether you're doing that in board meetings or whether you have enough freedom to even write your thoughts on LinkedIn in a long form blog post, you must put down where you stand on anything you can share legally or culturally within your four walls. This room, in that reality need to speak what they actually believe in. Yeah, you know, you know this. No one here is confused. Many of you have sat on your words, you many times in your career. I would argue predominantly when you work in big companies. And I just don't think this is the era to do that because someone's listening in the boardroom and definitely people are reading on LinkedIn if you have the freedom to share your thoughts. And I think being historically correct of where this is, your little part of the world is, can be incredibly fruitful to opportunity in case that they're in a pickle. And what I really worry about is that I really, I talk about this often. So I get an extraordinary amount of emails and predominantly LinkedIn messages from people who didn't heed that call and wish they did. And so I would just say that people here have to share their actual thoughts in a respectful nature. That is their best weapon of choice during this much change. Yep.
- [11:15]
B
And it's only getting faster.
- [11:18]
A
Well, yes, speed. I mean, you know, back to what we're wearing right now, my great love is sports. The reason I'm in business is because I was incapable of doing sports at the level that I wanted. But I can do business. And in sports, as you may know, speed kills.
- [11:35]
E
And.
- [11:36]
A
And in business, speed kills. And it really matters right now.
- [11:39]
B
Yep, yep. So you've said that empathy is the ultimate competitive advantage. What does that actually look like in practice for a large business?
- [11:51]
A
There's a lot to this. I mean, you know, a couple things I would say that, you know, everybody gets a different luck of the draw with DNA. So if you were fortunate enough that your mom or dad or grandparent gave you some real empathy genes, you should really rely on Them I know for sure that it's done two things for me professionally and in the companies I've invested in. In the companies, in the leaders that I've watched, they show up often. The two things that I think empathy do the most for is one, if you. Let's define empathy because a lot of times people confuse it with compassion and sympathy. When you can feel another person, of course you're gonna be good at sales and marketing. If you can feel the market, of course, you know. But more importantly than that, which is a great gift and I use it quite a bit there, why I see things before others, I would say more importantly, it leads to. One of the best events of my professional career happened 30 days ago. I had a little gathering, a little party for people that have been at VaynerMedia for more than 10 years. We're a 15 year old company and there was 94 people at this 10 year plus event. And I don't know if you know anything about advertising agencies, but the normal stay is 14 and a half months. And so I was incredibly proud. And I will tell you that empathy is disproportionately the reason I got to have that nice day. The thing I want for everyone here to deploy empathy is for their actual employees, their teammates, even their bosses. Like why is your boss a jerk? Maybe something's going wrong in their home. Maybe they grew up with a mom that wasn't like. Empathy is an incredible emotional strength that of course if you over deploy it like anything, you create entitlement. And I've actually struggled with creating entitlement, which is funny because I'm very to the point that events like this and in my social media content, but in real life, if I like you, it's harder for me to tell you you stink, you know, at your job. And so extreme empathy creates entitlement. Entitlement is the poison of society and will destroy a business. But I think empathy, knowing what the consumer wants versus what you want to sell them. Such a big one and two, knowing how to manage people. Cause if you have retention and, and you have continuity, it's like sports. You can beat another team that might be more talented. It's what if my Knicks beat your Spurs? I promise you the fact that Bridges and Hart and Brunson got all those hours of time together, it matters. And teams here are successful when they trust and know each other. And we live in this cutthroat financial world where I think we are lacking the humanity needed to actually be a winning team.
- [14:39]
B
Yeah. So are we still going to do questions from the audience? I don't. Someone say yes.
- [14:47]
A
Yes. Nice.
- [14:48]
B
Okay, I'll just. While you're getting that done, I just want to ask one question.
- [14:52]
A
There's not that much time left, so if you're definitely wanting to ask a question, there's mics lined up here. I would highly recommend getting up now.
- [14:58]
B
Yeah, just. I did want to ask you. Do you. Do you have anything you. You feel like? Man, I made. I know you said you make mistakes and you look yourself in the mirror and say, you idiot, or whatever.
- [15:08]
E
Yes.
- [15:09]
B
Is there anything that you like, you still think about when you put your head on your pillow at night and say, damn, why did I do that?
- [15:16]
A
I mean, on a micro level all the time.
- [15:18]
B
Yeah.
- [15:19]
A
On a macro level, there's only two massive. Like, one, my lack of candor in my 20s and 30s because I was so young. I wish I could go back because there's a lot of people I really cared for. Friends, you know, my employees always become friends where I just wish I had the emotional strength to tell them the truth of their shortcomings instead of the fumbling of their firing. So that sits with me emotionally. And then, you know, Uber, If you don't know the story, wait for this one. I was a very active investor in 2678 9, and obviously Facebook and Twitter were very big for me, but my single best bud in Silicon Valley was Travis, the CEO of Uber. I had just bought my first big boy apartment in Manhattan, so it was a little liquid poor, and he wanted me to invest in Uber. I said no. I had a speech in San Francisco. That might be him calling right now. Yes, I had a speech in San Francisco. Three weeks later. He met me to convince me to invest. That's how friendly we were. I passed again. If I wrote the normal 25 to $50,000 check that I was writing back then, I would have made $557 million.
- [16:34]
B
That's a big. That's a big one.
- [16:36]
A
But the truth is, I tell that story more to, like, just make everyone feel good. Meaning I don't really think about it. It's part of the game.
- [16:45]
B
Yeah.
- [16:46]
A
The things I. You know, the only things I struggle with is more of the emotional, human stuff. That was my great kryptonite and scarlet letter of my career. My inability to tell people where they actually set. And I was so proud for years because I'm so sunshine and rainbows and that I was my number one goal in life as a leader, as a parent, and definitely as A personal brand that puts out content is to eliminate fear. To have that moment in my early 40s when I realized there were people that were my direct reports that walked with Vera because they didn't know where they actually stood with me was the low point of my career. And once I hit that low point, I branded something in a book I wrote called Kind Candor. And it completely changed my life and my company's life. And I'm happy I'm in that era now.
- [17:34]
B
Yeah. As we age, we do figure things out.
- [17:38]
A
The great haters are so valuable.
- [17:39]
B
They are.
- [17:40]
A
Yeah.
- [17:40]
B
And here we are.
- [17:41]
A
And here we are.
- [17:42]
B
So we have questions from the audience.
- [17:44]
A
Yeah, let's sneak a couple in.
- [17:46]
B
It's hard for us to see, so
- [17:47]
A
we can't go ahead in the middle there.
- [17:49]
D
All right, we can start. All right. This question comes from my Open Claw agent, who I call Kim. I read her all your books along with my problems. So he came up with this question.
- [17:59]
A
Before you ask the question.
- [18:00]
D
Yes.
- [18:01]
A
I'd like to know why you call her Kim.
- [18:03]
D
Just give her personality. So that was my original assistant when
- [18:08]
A
she quit her job.
- [18:09]
D
My agent does everything she did. I just order a kid.
- [18:12]
A
That's awesome. Friends, real quick, because I saw how many. Let's keep these lights on. It's amazing. Friends, out of all the things we talked about here this afternoon, I could not push you harder. For three to five hours of research of what Open Claw is everybody here just like a cell phone 25 years ago, everyone here will have an equivalent to an Open Claw in their lives in three to four years. And very honestly, the sooner you get on it, the better. And this is not even professional. This is like regular life, real life. So please, please, please go and use AI or if you're still old school and use Google Search or whatever your means of getting educated, go understand what Open Claw is, what a harness and a personal computer is, what agentic agents are like for you. It's very interesting. Go ahead, brother. What does have for us?
- [18:58]
D
Yeah, Babir Sultan. I operate a small chain of convenience stores in the Midwest. Through social media, YouTube shorts and everything, Facebook, we reach about 8 million peoples a month. So a lot of your content is around 25 years old that are starting at zero. So my question is, as somebody that's 43 and going upwards, what is one mistake a lot of operators do when they try to build a personal brand on top of a existing business that they already have? And the last thing I'll say, as a son of an immigrant, I could Attest to. My father didn't pay me for my first three years either when I ran the convenience store for him. But I'm glad he did it.
- [19:36]
A
I love that we share that pain. So you want to build a personal brand.
- [19:42]
D
Yes.
- [19:42]
A
How do you compound? I think when people build a business and then they start on the journey of building personal brand, they often don't know why they're building the personal brand. I'm building a personal brand not because I want people to know me. It's because I want to buy the New York jets and win a Super bowl. Because I know personal brands lead to opportunity for me, whether it's investing or starting new businesses. Do you have a good sense of why you want to do it? Do you want to speak? Do you want to start other business? Like, do you have a sense?
- [20:08]
D
I'm speaking actually tomorrow here too.
- [20:10]
A
Amazing. So I would say the biggest mistake that people make when they make content building a personal brand is they make the content for themselves, not for the audience. It is disproportionately why I've won. In a world where a lot of people have struggled. I'm not making content to get more likes or more followers or to feel fancy when I walk through the San Antonio airport and take selfies. I'm doing it because I'm trying to think about why would you consume my content as someone who's consumed it? I get excited that that's brought you value. And when I bring you value, that leads to you admiring me, not thinking I can throw a shoot a basketball. Well. Or admiration is a different leverage point. Right?
- [20:52]
D
Yeah.
- [20:52]
A
When it's earned, it's profoundly important. So I would tell you, you've done something that most people really want to. You've seen my blueprint, you've seen others that you like versus you don't like. You don't need to show Lamborghinis or watches all that bullshit. Put out content that can actually help a kid. You know, a 16 year old girl in Jersey working in her dad's convenience store. Like, teach those lessons. Teach modern lessons. Educate people that have small businesses. Why you're able to reach that many people. Do what I did. Give away your best secrets for free. I have a funny feeling your personal brand will be strong.
- [21:27]
D
Awesome. Thank you.
- [21:28]
A
You got it, brother. Hi.
- [21:31]
E
Hi. Thank you for the inspiring all of us.
- [21:34]
A
Thank you. What's your name?
- [21:36]
E
Maha.
- [21:36]
A
Maha, nice to meet you.
- [21:37]
E
But nothing to do with make America healthier again.
- [21:39]
B
No.
- [21:40]
A
I know. Mahalik is that I'd like to make America happy again. Are you Egyptian? I'm Moroccan. Very nice. Go ahead.
- [21:48]
E
So I work in the world of health and wellness. And one of the things that we've been saying to our clients recently is, in light of AI, R&D, is the new marketing. We're not trying to pit marketing against R and D, but it is to the point of relevance and disruptive innovation. What's your point of view on that?
- [22:07]
A
I mean, if the RD leads to a product, look a great product. Here's one. I would argue that Apple has not been very good at marketing for 15 years. They just had a much better product that we wanted. And so their campaigns and their marketing has not been profound. Their product was better. I had a meeting last week where a new company came in. We don't even do RFPs. We're a very funny company. We've got that leverage right now. We just take meetings. This gentleman wanted to write us a big fat check, and I told him no because his products suck so bad. And I told him, brother, you're not ready for us. We're good at marketing. What we're gonna do is get everyone to know about this and try it, and then they're all gonna hate it and you're gonna be out of business. Like, the best marketing is the best product. And so, yes, I believe in that. However, I'm also someone who believes some of the best products in the world were never known. I believe some of the best books ever written were never read. And so I do believe in creating awareness. If you document the journey of your R and D and put it out on social, that hits on both sides for me in a very big way.
- [23:22]
E
I agree. My point is that in a lot, and I have spent 22 years in corporate, the tension between R and D and marketing is that marketing is pushing and R and D is responding. I think we're in a world where might be. That needs to change a little bit.
- [23:38]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know this, like, ish, right? I mean, like, at the end of the day, I think so many people here bring so much value to companies because I do think actual consumer insights of knowing what to make is just like an incredibly profound part of building an actual business. And I just. My argument again, looking at the list of the companies represented here is I don't think we're close enough to the actual consumer from my humble point of view. And I think that there's a lot of ways to do it. We can do more of it. And I think. And you know, this and everyone here knows this. Both have worked. There's been marketing or brand briefs that asked R and D to make something that worked. There's been many that have failed. There's been many R and D units that have come up with something that they're passionate about that have worked. Many have failed. I just think that we can, we just have access to consumer insights at a scale we've never had before. And I still think our industry doesn't take full advantage of it because I don't think we're accepting the consumer truth of what's happening in social and places like Reddit and 4chan and community and things of that nature. I mean, the data in Facebook groups. How many people here are part of Facebook groups? Like a 40 year old mom's club or neighborhood thing? Just raise your hand, raise it, raise it high, please. If you don't mind. I want everyone to look around. You know how much real shit's going on in some of those groups. The insights are pure, they're real. And I just don't think we have a disconnect between truth of human truth and just the way corporate likes to do stuff. And that, as you can tell, has been the theme of what I'm pressing on. Because what I've learned in 15 years being in this industry is you guys do know it's just hard to say it in the room sometimes. And I'm trying to encourage that. Sir.
- [25:31]
F
Hey, Gary. My name is Mohamed. I recently just turned 17 and this past couple of months, like I've been trying to get in contact with you. I don't know if you remember over your whatnot lives, but I saw that you were actually going to be here. So I live like in Houston, three hours away. So I was like, I feel like this is the best opportunity to, you know, talk to you.
- [25:54]
A
I actually built first clap up this. So you drove three hours?
- [26:04]
G
Yeah.
- [26:04]
A
You snuck in here?
- [26:06]
F
No, so I came with my own.
- [26:09]
B
That's what I was looking at, you know.
- [26:11]
A
So you beat someone? You stole someone's badge?
- [26:13]
F
No, my uncle, like, he's actually not here, but like he signed me up under his old company.
- [26:21]
A
Amazing.
- [26:24]
F
I mean, I got a lot.
- [26:25]
A
I love it, bro. I'm so proud of you. Go ahead.
- [26:27]
F
Yeah, I got a lot of notes.
- [26:28]
B
You better get this question before the sirens get you.
- [26:31]
F
Yeah, sorry. But you know, the main thing was I actually built something that I feel like out of any everyone, you personally would, you know, just know everything about this. And I was wondering, you know, after this, if I can get, like, 10 minutes to speak with you privately.
- [26:46]
A
I'll give you five minutes right here as soon as I come off.
- [26:48]
F
Okay? Thank you so much.
- [26:49]
A
You're welcome.
- [26:52]
H
Do you hear that? Sounds like breakfast is ready. Because Quakers coming in hot water with morning nutrition 100% whole grain oats and a good source of fiber to fuel the rhythm of your morning and kickstart your day. And that sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26.
- [27:19]
A
Let's go.
- [27:25]
B
Are you done?
- [27:27]
I
Hi, my name is Denise.
- [27:30]
A
Denise, nice to meet you.
- [27:31]
G
Don't have a question.
- [27:32]
I
I just want to say so inspired by you. You've inspired so much our tiny company. And I have a photo to show you of my kitten Gary. Baby Kitten Gary. And a present for you for inspiring me so much.
- [27:48]
A
Thank you so much. I'll meet you over there with Muhammad right after. Better be careful.
- [27:56]
G
Hi, Gary. My name is Mima Thompson. I'm so appreciative about your speech. It's so passionate. You're so exciting and inspiring.
- [28:08]
A
Thank you.
- [28:08]
G
And I listen to Tony Robbins, but you're so much better.
- [28:14]
D
Thank you.
- [28:15]
A
I'll text him right after this.
- [28:19]
G
But someone told me, you know, when I hire someone, someone told me, don't hire the moderate Stanford mba. Hire someone excited. Because excitement creates passion. Include everything. So I just want to know what makes you keep going? What makes it so passionate?
- [28:37]
A
Me personally, I think there's two things that really drive me. One is I'm incredibly grateful, like in a purest form, and not because of what has happened in my professional career, but something that's a little bit more deep for me. Wonder if this resonates with anyone. So I was born in the Soviet Union, as I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, when I was born in the Soviet Union, it was more similar to how North Korea is now. You couldn't leave. And you know that joke about Russians drinking vodka? It's super true because everyone was so depressed and they just drank themselves to death. And it was just like 50 years behind America in medicine. And so, unfortunately, my mother lost her mother when she was 5, and my father lost his father when he was 15. And so as a child, especially because I was the only child in my family that was born in the old country. As the oldest son, my mom also raised me with a very big soundtrack of my life of if anything happens to me or dad, you've got to take care of your siblings. And so I feel like I lived my childhood with the fear of my parents dying and so by the time I got to 18, in some weird way, I've been playing with house money. It was such a big factor in my life. And so every day I wake up every day this morning when nothing, when no one text me overnight or called me Frantically, when the 20 most important people in my life, in my family and extended family are healthy. I struggle with being upset with anything. Even like the Uber, Like, I don't give a shit about the Uber thing. It's just a good story. You know, I'm incredibly inspired by and very driven by gratitude of the health of my family. And then second, I am incredibly inspired by making my parents proud. I have a world class mother who I wish parenting was like sports because she would be a first ballad hall of famer and everybody would know her name. She did everything right. It even baffles me on how she walked that tightrope of building such levels of self esteem while imposing humility and accountability on me. She did it so well. And I'm just aware that most people don't have that kind of mother. And so I'm driven by gratitude and some level of micro guilt because I know not everyone had the circumstances I had. World class mom, grew up with nothing. It's hard to be hungry when you're fed. Like grew up in Jersey in the 80s, which taught me everything I needed to know about life. Like, you know, it's. I've just been very fortunate. I'm driven by that and it makes me want to give back. It makes me deliver the kind of keynote I gave here. I could give the keynote that we're all accustomed to if one person tonight got a little courage to go back to the office next week and talk their truth versus what's acceptable in the corporation. My mission is accomplished here.
- [31:35]
B
All right, we're going to wrap it up. I think we can acknowledge how what a sacrifice it was for you to come here.
- [31:42]
A
Oh my God.
- [31:43]
B
Because there's going to be a big party in New York City. Maybe.
- [31:46]
A
Actually, I actually am very concerned about tonight. I actually blown away by the young spurs. I think your point was right on stage. I think you're winning four of the next six.
- [31:55]
B
Yeah.
- [31:55]
A
So I'm hoping to sneak this one in because we've been waiting. But yeah, when I tell you 430 times in the last week have I tried to come up with the bullshit excuse to cancel this speech. Like every, this goes back to good parenting. Like every part of me desperately tried to come up with something to not be here tonight. But you know, it's funny. I just did it again. If anyone here follows my content, I give my mother unprecedented levels of flowers in my content. But my father, when I was 14, I had such gift of gab. I was a true salesman. My mom allowed me to be an embellisher, borderline liar. And my father thinks a micro embellishment is like a cardinal sin. Lie. Very old school. And my father got me at 14. I didn't even know my dad slept in the same roof as me every night of the first 14 years of my life because we took no family vacations, nothing. And I never saw him because he left before I woke up and got home after I went to sleep. I now start working for my father at 14. So this is like my first time with him. And what he instilled in me from 14 to 16 by scaring me out of embellishing changed the course of my life and taught me that when your word is bond and it is my father, that is the reason that I kept my word and kept this speech. And I'm very grateful for it.
- [33:27]
B
Thank you for your dad and mom for raising a good boy and thank
- [33:29]
A
you for Gary for coming. Everybody feeling enjoyed this podcast, Please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.