Why AI is the Greatest Tool Since the Internet

Summary

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The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: "Why AI is the Greatest Tool Since the Internet"

Date: April 27, 2026

Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Guest Interviewer: Sid

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Gary Vaynerchuk sits down with Sid to dive deep into the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and its broader impact on entrepreneurship, self-education, societal shifts, and generational mindsets. Framed by questions relevant to young, ambitious professionals—particularly in India—they explore AI's place in the historical arc of technology, modern job markets, content creation, and the psychology underpinning ambition and happiness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Era of AI: Opportunity & Urgency

• AI's Transformative Power: Gary equates the current wave of AI innovation to the advent of the Internet, positioning AI as a tool with even broader consequences than social media or any previous tech revolution.
  • "AI is more Internet than it is social media. Social media is built on top of the Internet. No Internet, no social media. AI is more like the Internet than it is social media." (Gary, 01:48)
• Advice to Young Professionals: For a 27-year-old in India (or anywhere), Gary's top advice is to go "pot committed" on understanding AI—dedicate focused study, research, and experimentation.
  • "You can put in 15 hours, 50 hours of homework, research, research, research, and actually build something for real that can change the economic and emotional framework of your life." (Gary, 01:00 and 01:48)

2. AI as the Great Equalizer & Disruptor

• Personal Leverage vs. Startup Risk: AI changes the rules—it's risky for big startups (easy to be outflanked), but "alpha" for individuals who have little to lose and are willing to adapt.
  • "That's the actual advantage of the average 27-year-old in India... It's dangerous for the people that have historically had advantage." (Gary, 03:58)
• Job Displacement & Re-skilling: Sid raises the anxiety over job loss, especially among software engineers and IT professionals in India.
  • "That is correct. I would be scared of that... But if that is no longer your best option, you will take your brilliant mathematical engineering skills and deploy it against something else." (Gary, 06:43)

3. Navigating AI-Induced Anxiety & Building Resilience

• Taking Action, Not Worry: Gary advocates for proactive learning and adaptability, not ideological clinging or complaining over things out of one’s control.
  • "Action and lack of ideology and the elimination of crying about something you don't control." (Gary, 07:57)
• Entrepreneurial Mindset: Those who complain about market shifts are not true entrepreneurs.
  • "If you're an entrepreneur and you're crying about AI, I have good news for you. You exposed a truth that I'm glad you learned early on. You are not an entrepreneur. You're a two cent wannabe entrepreneur." (Gary, 08:22)

4. AI & Content Creation: The Coming Commoditization

• Personality as a Moat? Sid suggests that personality cannot be commoditized by AI; Gary partially agrees but warns even "unique" traits could be replicated or outperformed as AI advances.
  • "If you can create 7,000 derivatives of my personality trait and they might be more attractive and clever, like what then...?" (Gary, 11:31)
• The Value of Analog Access: A key future asset will be live, real-world access to individuals—personal meetings, events, and experiences—which cannot be digitized or easily replicated.
  • "Analog access—the real world and getting access to me and you, the human—I think is about to explode in value." (Gary, 12:38)

5. Optimism vs. Naivete on Tech and Society

• Practical Optimism: Gary is not naïve about tech enabling only positive outcomes; he acknowledges both upsides and risks but maintains faith in human adaptability.
  • "Please don't confuse optimism with naivete... Humans have given me that benefit. Our human behavior has given me that. People are coming with opinions based on their own fear." (Gary, 13:42–14:45)
• Motivations for AI Criticism: He notes that much public resistance to AI is rooted in financial self-preservation, not only "noble" motives about humanity.

6. Macro Forces: Geopolitics, Regulation, and Social Change

• AI & Regulation: Gary insists that governments will step in long before AI-driven job losses reach crisis levels—"extreme capitalism" will induce new forms of welfare/socialism.
  • "At what place does India, China, America and Russia allow for 30, 40% unemployment? It's just not going to happen. Regulation is going to hit hard." (Gary, 20:29–21:24)
• Matching Talent to Opportunity: Job losses will be countered by new demand; the real challenge is visibility and self-marketing (i.e., make content on LinkedIn).
  • "If you've been listening to me, you got hired today by Adobe or Google... You can't be discovered if you're not making content." (Gary, 23:11, 23:20)

7. Social Media, Algorithms, and Responsibility

• Algorithm Misconceptions: Algorithms don’t dictate consumption—user engagement defines the feed.
  • "The algorithms don't give a fuck. The algorithms care about one thing: you staying on... If you do not like your algorithm, go into the search bar... your algorithm the next day will be about UFC and Mo Salah." (Gary, 24:07–24:41)
• Meritocracy and Evolution of Content: Rules of distribution have always existed; modern platforms simply evolve faster.
  • "Social media is more merit-based than the old world. It's changing constantly. The distribution has always been the restrictor." (Gary, 27:28–27:51)

8. Discipline, Content Polarization, and Self-Esteem

• Collective Self-Discipline: We’ve shifted responsibility for our own consumption and discipline onto platforms and influencers.
  • "I am addicted to processed sugar... Is that Hershey’s fault, is that America's USDA law's fault or is it my fault? You can say all three... But we've decided to leave the last part out: ourselves." (Gary, 28:28–29:27)
• Content and Polarization: The system incentivizes polarizing content, but creators have a choice; propagation of low-value content is a tale as old as time.

9. Parenting, Prosperity, and Self-Esteem

• Modern Parenting Blunders: Focus on materialism, desire for children’s achievements as social capital, and lack of communal accountability have weakened resilience and self-esteem.
  • "Modern parenting values different things... Modern parenting has kept up with the Joneses and become more materialistic. Children... have less circumstances where they are paying the price or being held accountable..." (Gary, 32:17–34:34)
• Consequences and Confidence: Real confidence is built not just by praise but also through consequences for mistakes—a delicate balance many parents miss.

10. Cultural Pressures and Individual Ambitions

• Parental Expectations vs. Individual Fulfillment: In cultures like Indian, Russian, Asian, parental pressure molds career decisions, often at odds with individual passion or changing market realities.
  • "They use their children as tools for their own insecurities and self-esteem. And the advice they are giving does not factor in how the world turns." (Gary, 40:55)

11. Simplicity, Ambition, and the Game of Self-Esteem

• Redefining Success: True happiness is tied to self-esteem, simplicity, and living within means—not external validation or accumulating wealth.
  • "I think simplicity leads to enormous amounts of happiness, bro... I actually think everything we're going through is gonna lead to a movement of simplicity." (Gary, 49:12–49:32)
• Ambition’s Roots: Ambition often arises from either extreme insecurity or confidence; both can be drivers, but real fulfillment comes from being true to oneself.
  • "I believe the whole game is self esteem versus insecurity. There is nothing else." (Gary, 50:01)
  • "Extreme insecurity... and extreme confidence also leads to ambition." (Sid & Gary, 51:08-51:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Why AI is a Game Changer:
  "AI is more Internet than it is social media. And I just can't believe that if I'm a 27 year old listening in India... I can sit down and put in 15 hours, 50 hours of homework, research, research, research, and actually build something for real that can... change the economic and emotional framework of my life." (Gary, 01:00–01:48)

• On AI-Induced Job Loss:
  "I'm sorry that you were born at a time where... you might have walked into a time period where technology decided to do something... If that is no longer your best option, you will take your natural brilliant mathematical engineering skills and deploy it against something else." (Gary, 06:46–07:50)

• On the True Meaning of Entrepreneurship:
  "If you're an entrepreneur and you're crying about AI... You are not an entrepreneur. You're a two cent wannabe entrepreneur." (Gary, 08:22)

• On Regulation & Economic Safety Nets:
  "We will not have 20, 30, 40% unemployment. Because when you have 20, 30, 40% unemployment, you have coup d'états." (Gary, 22:34)

• On Human Agency in Content & Social Media:
  "The algorithm does not control shit. Facebook does not make you consume porn or surfing or coffee or GaryVee. You and your actions. Society has not figured out in one second they can go to the search bar and completely change their algorithm." (Gary, 24:07–25:00)

• On Happiness and Simplicity:
  "I think simplicity leads to enormous amounts of happiness, bro. And you don't need a lot of money or success for that... I actually think everything we're going through is gonna lead to a movement of simplicity." (Gary, 49:12–49:32)

• On Regret & Old Wisdom:
  "As you start to get older, the only thing that people should fear besides health is regret. It is that powerful... I've spent enough time with people in their 80s that didn't. And it is a devastating energy." (Gary, 58:17–59:11)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• AI as the Ultimate Tool & Advice to Young Professionals:
  [01:00] – [03:28]
• AI Opportunity vs. Disruption:
  [03:58] – [06:22]
• Entrepreneurship, Anxiety, and Adaptation:
  [07:57] – [10:15]
• AI & Content Commoditization, Rise of 'Analog Access':
  [11:20] – [13:31]
• Practical Optimism & Societal Fear:
  [13:42] – [15:16]
• Geopolitics, Regulation, and AI:
  [19:28] – [22:51]
• Matching Talent, Content, and Personal Brand:
  [23:11] – [25:00]
• Algorithm Misunderstandings & Human Agency:
  [24:07] – [25:04]
• Discipline, Addiction, And Content Ethics:
  [28:28] – [31:44]
• Modern Parenting, Prosperity, and Generational Change:
  [32:14] – [36:44]
• Parental Expectations & Vocational Regret:
  [36:44] – [42:15]
• Risk Aversion & Authentic Ambition:
  [44:52] – [47:25]
• On Simplicity & Self-Esteem:
  [49:12] – [50:48]
• Wisdom, Regret, and the Value of Elders:
  [59:14] – [60:22]

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Episode Takeaways

• AI represents a profound equalizing force, with both disruptive and empowering impacts—especially for self-starters.
• True entrepreneurs embrace uncertainty, learn rapidly, and adapt, rather than complain about market changes.
• The future of content, value, and influence will reward both digital reach and “analog access”—real, in-person connection.
• Simplicity, self-esteem, and pursuing your authentic self, regardless of social or parental constraints, are recurring elements of lasting happiness.
• Regret, not failure, is the most devastating outcome—take bold steps when you have the chance.
• Societal and parental pressures are often relics of their time—new opportunities (especially in tech) can and do upend the "safe" paths.
• The wisdom of elders and the lessons of history remain deeply relevant, even in a tech-centric future.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

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[Sid]

For an ambitious 27 year old in India, what's your number one piece of advice?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My number one advice by far is to be pot committed to getting educated on what's happening with AI. That opportunity that technology creates is extraordinary. AI is more Internet than it is social media. Just can't believe that if I'm a 27 year old listening in India, which is likely because of how many of them listen to you, that I can sit down and put in 15 hours, 50 hours of homework, research, research, research and actually build something for real that can, you know, change the economic and emotional framework of my life. This is the GaryVee audio experience.

[Sid]

I want to start you off by asking and I've actually wanted to ask this question for three years. I was 27 when I wrote this question down.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm 30 now.

[Sid]

But for an ambitious 27 year old in India, what's your number one piece of advice?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, it's definitely different than three years ago, right? My number one advice by far is to be pot committed to getting educated on what's happening with AI. Because if you're 27 and you're asking in India, right? And obviously India has just like the US or other large countries with big populations, you have a broad spectrum of people on the wealth scale or opportunity scale. Technology has always been the great equalizer. And then once we went into the advent of the Internet, that equalizer became even greater. It allowed. Really? Anyone? You know, I sit here today in front of you as a very well known person. That is stunning to me because you're of the age right now when I started my first wine video. You know, you're grown now. It didn't even cross my mind at the age that you're at right now that anyone would ever know me outside of the business world, of the wine business. And I kind of sensed I would do other things. So. So that opportunity that technology creates is extraordinary. AI, no question, in my opinion, is the closest thing to the Internet itself. Even more than social media at some level, social media is built on top of the Internet. No Internet, no social media. AI is more Internet than it is social media. And I just can't believe that if I'm a 27 year old listening in India, which is likely because of how many of them listen to you, that I can sit down and put in 15 hours, 50 hours of homework, research, research, research, research, research, and actually build something for real that can, you know, change the economic and emotional framework of my life.

[Sid]

Yeah, I mean, that's what I would think now that artificial intelligence is the great leverage, it's the great equalizer. There is so much one can do purely from playing around with that as a tool. And it's going to shape the future in so many ways we have no concept of. But I sometimes do worry as to how overwhelming that can be because I feel like, and this is a, this is a thing, I've spoken to people who work in AI, they're like, as soon as we get a hang of a tool, something new comes up and the old thing is completely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right, right.

[Sid]

The cascade is so heavy, it's so strong.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's tough for someone who's well funded startup that's trying to sell their thing for a trillion dollars. That has nothing to do with the average 27 year old in India. That's the actual advantage of the average year old in India. I as an investor am very hesitant to invest in anything in AI because it can get outflanked the next day by a super scaler or another competitor. So it's dangerous for the people that have historically had advantage.

[Sid]

Sure. Yeah, right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But what you just said is the great opportunity of the 27 year old that does not have an advantage.

[Sid]

Right. So in a personal sense there is alpha. And just getting to know artificial intelligence is very useful.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Sid]

As a company there might not be because you might get outflanked tomorrow in the way that developments happen.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What the Internet did that I understood and that AI is doing that I also understand is outside of a small percentage, these technologies are more for, are more of a Robin Hood game.

[Sid]

What do you mean?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's advantage for the poor, not the rich. The Internet sure, there were some incumbent big companies that took advantage of it, but we are now sitting here 25 years later, 20, 30 years later, of the beginning of what really is the consumer web. The consumer web created way more fortunes for the ones that would have never had a chance, me included, because I would have been successful, but I would have 17 liquor stores right now on the east coast and that would have been awesome. But this allowed me to really flex. AI is going to create incredible wealth for Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, blah, blah, blah. And everyone's paying attention to that. What I think they're missing is the long tail that AI is going to create for the average 27 year old in rural India who's now going to make $40,000 a month because of AI and would have never been remotely close to. That is a profound view that I have that I'm aware is in the minority because at this current second, the majority has decided to focus extraordinary amounts of energy on the downside of AI and it will be like any other technology. There will be upside and downside, but I think it is far more balanced than the current temperament of the conversation.

[Sid]

You think that that is true for some of the entrepreneurial ones and because there is a serious concern of job loss, particularly in a country like India where we do a lot of IT services and that accounts for a lot of the GDP we have where we are coding software or we are providing software services. One of the fears that people have is what if that gets.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's a proper fear.

[Sid]

What do you mean by that?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That is correct. I would be scared of that.

[Sid]

Yeah, you would be.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But no one in India right now is crying for Pittsburgh in America. But as we went away from the Industrial Revolution, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio got fucked.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm sorry that you were born at a time where you as a 26 year old engineer might have walked into a time period where technology decided to do something. On the flip side, I have met because I grew up in Edison, New Jersey and have been in Tech Unlimited, rural city Indian kids from the 80s, 90s and 2000s who their dreams came true because they were engineers and their timing for their skill was good. I remind the kid that's listening right now and thinks that they're getting fucked, that you used your natural DNA skills to deploy it against engineering. And if that is no longer your best option, you will take your natural brilliant mathematical engineering skills and deploy it against something else.

[Sid]

Hmm. So is the idea that the anxiety that this AI wave is creating the solution is just patience, Is that what you're saying?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like I would say. I would say action and lack of ideology and the elimination of crying about something you don't control.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And by the way, if you're an entrepreneur, we're not. You talk. You said entrepreneurs and their employees is one thing, but if you're an entrepreneur and you're crying about the current state of the market, you're not an entrepreneur.

[Sid]

Well, for sure, for sure, for sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If you're an employee, respect. But if you're an entrepreneur and you're crying about AI, I have good news for you. You exposed a truth that I'm glad you learned early on. You are not an entrepreneur. You're a two cent wannabe entrepreneur.

[Sid]

Right? You got something small figured. And if you're worried, brother, I'm cooking.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We're exploding. I'm at the prime of. I've been building for 15 years. We finally fuck, and every day I have to think about what AI commoditizes in my company, which is plenty.

[Sid]

Does it commoditize content and personality in social media?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, it does. It will. It will. Over time, it will. Maybe not this nanosecond, but it commoditize. It will commoditize much. It might commoditize my greatest asset, which is I've been a very good thinker

[Sid]

and it might commoditize that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It might. I mean, I've put out a. Surely I've put out enough public content that you could put all of it into an LLM and ask to predict what I'll think about things going forward in perpetuity. It might. So then I'll become an electrician. I don't know. Like, I'm being dead serious. I know. Everyone just giggled like, if I have to become a plumber, I don't think that I am too fancy to not become a plumber.

[Sid]

I see what you mean.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If I've signed up for entrepreneurship, I must be prepared for entrepreneurship to kill me. Hey, 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. It'll make my mom super happy.

[Sid]

That's hardcore.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think so, yeah. But I truly believe that every real entrepreneur, when they just heard that sentence, were like, fuck yes. Because you can't be in love with a game for what it gave you and then change how you feel about that game. If it might hurt you, then you

[Sid]

were never in love with the game.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. You were in love with the things you thought you could get out of the game.

[Sid]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Or you were lesser of a version of a player in that game than you thought you were. Your timing was good for your skill set.

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[Sid]

Do you have a speculation on what might exist outside AI in that? Like one of the bets I'm making is that personality itself as a say, content is personal. It's a moat.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right?

[Sid]

And I think the moat will only broaden because a lot of the other stuff, information can be commoditized, but personality and sort of that kind of thing is not commoditizable.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. I think over time I do think it'll be interesting to see what happens with AI and virtual and like do we even care if a person's real or not? I'm gonna make a statement right now. I don't think we care.

[Sid]

I don't think so either.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, then that starts to create issue for us because then there's a supply and demand issue. If you can create 7,000 derivatives of my personality trait and they might be more attractive and they might be even more clever, like what then starts to happen? What I will say is the ride. You and I are very fortunate. I do believe that AI does have. This is gonna counter what I said earlier because they're both true. I do think AI hurts the middle the most and that the 27 year old with nothing to lose putting in the work really gets upside. And I actually think people like you and I who put in the work also get the upside because we already have awareness and affinity towards us. And I think the rise of access is about to be very significant. I believe analog access as I've been calling it in my head, recently asked it to buy the URL or AJ or someone, but it was AJ. It wasn't available. I tried to register analogaccess.com because I think this is a term analog access. The real world and getting access to me and you, the human, I think is about to explode in value.

[Sid]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I, for example, can lose everything and probably can survive by just charging people for a one hour meeting with me one on one for the rest of my life. I prefer not. It's not how I want to monetize. But if all else failed, if AI ate up everything. I agree with you that being a personality has value. And I think the monetization is going to happen outside of the extreme digital environment in decades to come.

[Sid]

So you mean a lot of these events and these meetups and that kind of stuff?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. And it's people like me who can build frameworks of extreme digital output and have the humility and the personality trait to want to be with people in analog that are going to have tremendous upside in the generation we're coming to.

[Sid]

It must, however, still get you a little like. I just. I still don't imagine a word where you can be as optimistic as you tend to be about things that you are not. Little scared about how this is happening because it's just so.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Please don't confuse optimism with naivete.

[Sid]

Sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There's nothing I've ever thought about that I thought were 100% gonna be great. You know, like the Internet, MySpace. I see Friendster and then I see MySpace. Quickly I'm like, oh my God. And then very quickly I'm like, oh, like kids are on this. Like you could get kidnapped. Like that was the year of that. Like I've never looked at anything. I am not naive, I'm not delusional. I am practically optimistic. And humans have given me that benefit. Our human behavior has given me that. People are coming with opinions based on their own fear. You know why most people hate AI? Because they're scared it's going to cost them money. Fundamentally, Period. End of story. There's nothing else to say. Almost every opinion I'm hearing is completely predicated on that person's point of view on how it's going to affect them financially. They will then disguise it as a noble venture of humanity. But I know them too well. Yeah, right, right. 100%. And by the way, I'm empathetic about that. People have bills to pay, people have responsibilities. Tough shit. Like nobody in 1930 wanted nobody who was born. Let's do this one. Nobody who was born in 1900 signed up for two fucking world wars before they turned 45.

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And if you lived in America, two world wars, a great depression. What's happened is all of this is happening. Let's say all of this. We have AI which is massive and will reset the deck and geopolitical unrest at a Scale that we're not accustomed to on the back of 30 to 40 years of global prosperity.

[Sid]

Right. That's fair. That's so Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So it's not confusing why everyone's crying about shit, but it doesn't mean that entitlement has not seeped into society at a scale that does not make us prepared emotionally and mentally for adversity. Collectively. Unlimited people listening. Have had unlimited adversities, but collectively, eight people. Eight billion people deep. This has been a very remarkable 40 years of prosperity. Economically, everything is better.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so I understand why everyone's anxious.

[Sid]

If anyone's born in the 90s, 80s, and they've only ever experienced that era of prosperity. I mean, I sometimes find it so strange what's happened to the world since COVID Like, I think that was a important sort of bookmark, beyond which it was.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think you're right. I think people will point to it. But I think. And I. I can see how good of a thinker you are. Then people will. The next level intellect will point to. The pieces were put in place already.

[Sid]

How do you mean that?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, the world acts very differently when there's one superpower versus when there's two.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So the US and the Soviet Union fighting created a lot of dynamics. Then you had a period where the Soviet Union fell and the US was the only superpower. So China's rise and different points of view and those things with Putin's rise of his level of leadership and what he wants to accomplish to bring back the Soviet energy. No, Covid, I don't think things are as different as maybe people will think.

[Sid]

Yeah, I don't think Covid per se has a lot of consequence in this. But that was 2019. Towards the end is when the world started changing in a way. Like, the world was very different before and since.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No question, I'm a global pandemic. I mean, just everybody being capable of having Zoom meetings changed the world.

[Sid]

Yeah, right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Just that. Just that. That is. No question. Just that it changed where people live, which changes how geopolitics play. No, no question. But there's a lot. I mean, you know, leaders of the 10 most important countries in the world are always an incredible variable. How the world works, just like a company and like a family. The personality traits of a mother and father dictate exactly what's gonna happen with a family. Right. The CEO of a company. You said something so interesting, I don't think, on the podcast right before we started. My office is literally a representation of me.

[Sid]

I can hear your voice when they're talking, you know.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So, yeah. I mean, America is a representation of two terms of Donald Trump. Russia is a representation of 20 years of Putin. China is a. I mean, of a representation of what communism is. The UAE is a representation of a monarchy. Monarchies are beautiful when the CEO's good.

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What happens when it's sixth generation? Not good? There's a reason monarchies are always. And by the way, democracy is a modern experiment.

[Sid]

Yeah. In the way that it's shaped today, it started only what, 250, 300 years ago.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's crazy.

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When you think that's it, it's absurdly fascinating.

[Sid]

It's also fascinating that people are suddenly having that broader conversation because about seven, eight years ago, democracy was a taboo. You didn't touch and discuss beyond just how good it is, particularly in America when I was a student here. It's one of those cornerstones you don't touch.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Blind.

[Sid]

Now suddenly you hear all these conversations about entertaining other formats of government also. And I don't want to get bogged down in geopolitics quite a lot. I think the AI angle is much more interesting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, the reason I'm actually talking geopolitics, which I also don't like talking about, is cause I think the AI conversation is intertwined.

[Sid]

Yeah, I agree.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like when everyone's back to optimism, people paint me as optimistic. I pick paint myself as practical. I mean this with an ounce of optimism. And let me explain why. When I'm in dinner meetings where this conversation you get around successful and intellectual people, inevitably late night meetings are really fun because you get into real shit. Right. When I encountered, and sometimes because of my practical with a ting of optimism. In a world of cynicism and fear, I tend to be on my own island sometimes. I was in a dinner the other day with incredibly successful, incredibly thoughtful individuals and it was four on one, four against me. And their collective take was this is going to be. This is it, the end. And I asked them very simply, have you heard of governments?

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

At what place does India, China, America and Russia allow for 30, 40% unemployment?

[Sid]

It's just not going to happen.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's not going to happen.

[Sid]

Regulation is going to hit hard. Yep. There is a competing force.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's not just one way, there's not one. I'm just a little bit decent at social studies and history and I'm aware that when you start getting into double digits, by the way, Covid, look what happened during COVID The US printed unlimited money, gave it to everybody. And everybody bought fucking Louis Vuittons and Nikes and Dom Perignon. So people talk about bullshit and then their actions are double bullshit. If all these companies are gonna ruin the world, they're gonna be stopped by the government. I argue, final point on this, that we might be seeing the beginning of extreme capitalism, which creates a variant of socialism.

[Sid]

Say more.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Sure. If you're a capitalist and a free market guy, which I am. If the 17 companies, the super scalers, are gonna win because of AI, I'm like, good, good.

[Sid]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If you believe in free market, you believe in like, let me reign like, good. Tesla, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, open like anthropic, like, okay, you were the best. And you put Adobe and IBM and GE and VaynerMedia out of business. Mazel tov. You won't. If that's true and that happened and now you have 18, 43, 97, 16 companies that got all the economics. The governments are going to tax those people so much that the masses of society are going to only have to work two, three days a week and get subsidized with the checks from those taxes so that there's not social unrest. Because we will not have 20, 30, 40% unemployment. Because when you have 20, 30, 40% Unemployment, you have coup d'. Etats.

[Sid]

Yeah. You have political chaos, you have riots on the streets. It's just not gonna happen.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So what are we talking about?

[Sid]

Right. Yeah. I think the second order thinking people are not doing with sort of the fear because the first wave will hit and a lot of people will lose their jobs.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it's happening, it's happening right now.

[Sid]

Right. But eventually, when it gets too much, regulation will be the counterfeit.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. Now, all my big thinking here doesn't help someone that just got laid off by Oracle yesterday. That's why I don't spend a lot of time talking about what I just talked about. What I spend a lot of time on is make content for LinkedIn. Because if you got fired from Oracle yesterday, if you've been listening to me, you got hired today by Adobe or Google.

[Sid]

Right. It's a weird world where talent is short. You're looking for great talent everywhere, and great talent is being laid off at the start.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Same time.

[Sid]

I think it's a matching problem.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I could not agree more. Yeah, the problem is you can't be discovered if you're not making content.

[Sid]

That's that it's such a new thing. I mean, it was about brand building initially, but now it's just about being seen. Or you Just left out.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This has been something that I'm incredibly going to be proud of, being as historical correct as I was for 20 years. In some different variant, I have said attention is the asset.

[Sid]

I have a question, please. Do you think the way. And so let me start you off by this. You've been talking about how social media is dead and social media is dead in the way that now it's interest media. The algorithms define a lot of how people consume and it's no longer about who you follow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The algorithms do not define what people consume. It's very important. The algorithms will follow you to make sure you stay on.

[Sid]

Say more.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the great misunderstanding in society right now. The algorithms don't give a fuck. The algorithms care about one thing.

[Sid]

Consumption.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You staying on. That's right.

[Sid]

Right. Retention. Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Ready?

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If you do not like your algorithm and you think your algorithm controls you, you go into the search bar and you type in soccer and football and UFC and rainbows and it will change like this. And if you then like and comment and zoom in and engage with that content, your algorithm the next day will be about UFC and. And Mo Salah.

[Sid]

Yeah, true.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So the algorithm does not control shit. Facebook does not make you consume porn or surfing or coffee or GaryVee.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You and your actions. The fact that society has not figured out in one second they can go to the search bar and completely change their algorithm.

[Sid]

It's hilarious.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Is more about the people, not the platforms.

[Sid]

Right. Having said that, however, as a producer, as somebody who scaled in the last two years, we went from practically less than a million views a month to what? 100 million views a month. And like, having done all of this, there is a secret law of doing content that is dictated by the algorithm in a certain way. My title, thumbnails have to be shaped a certain way. I have to front load my content in a certain way.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, but that evolves. And by the way, so did the printing press and television. The Fuck is a 23 minute video, right?

[Sid]

Sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Every television show is based on the fact that networks need to run seven minutes of commercials every 30 minutes. Is a proper story supposed to be told in 23 minutes? Is a proper story supposed to have a cliffhanger before a commercial so that you don't change the channel and you stay on that show? That's how the world has always worked.

[Sid]

I agree. But does it not shape the way?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do you know that? I'm sorry to interrupt. This is important.

[Sid]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do you know that people deemed art that were on canvases not art. When they canvas was first invented that art was only when it was done on buildings.

[Sid]

Interesting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The distribution has always been the restrictor

[Sid]

so.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And by the way, if I may, because now I'm rolling we're doing a podcast, right? There's also video, there's also substack and beehive. You can write if you do not want to do video. There is unlimited optionality. There's AI animation now your form factor of communication and content. You have so much optionality. You're just talking about best practices of the current second on social media platforms. And as you know, because you guys have scaled, they're also nuanced within that seven words with no pictures or video are over indexing for me on Facebook.

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[Sid]

I see what you mean. Right. And so there is best practices in the current moment.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right? And I would argue social media is more merit based than the old world. It's changing constantly. Whereas the old world was stuck and stop. Why are movies two hours? I want to watch nine hour movies. I want to watch nine hours of Star Wars. Netflix proved it when Wednesday Addams came out. I watched all eight episodes with my kids. That was eight hour movie I watched.

[Sid]

Sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What I'm saying is that we have created rules and more importantly we have created judgment on social media that we do not deploy to every other aspect of the world. Why are we not mad at alcohol right now? Do you know if you drink tons and tons of alcohol every day, you will be in trouble? Yeah, okay.

[Sid]

Yeah, I'm not angry at it. A solid point.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. So if you're fucking mad at TikTok, which is banned in your country, if you're mad at Instagram or YouTube, get off the device. Where?

[Sid]

Turn off the WI fi.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Where is human discipline part of the equation? I am addicted to processed sugar. I, Gary Vaynerchuk, am addicted to processed sugar. When I walk by Hudson News at the airport yesterday and I see a Hershey's bar, my chemicals bounce. Is that Hershey's fault? Is that America's USDA law's fault or is it my fault? You can say all three, that's fine. But you know what's happened? We've decided to leave the last part out ourselves. Yes, sir. And that is the great pandemic. And that is the great crisis of our society right now. And that is why we're listening to political leaders and to influencers peddling dumb shit. Because we have lost our own self regulation and our own self esteem and discipline and capacity.

[Sid]

Sure, I follow all of that and I'm in agreement with all of it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But you know, if you're agreeing with all of it, if you're agreement with all of what I just said, even bringing up the word but starts to change the variable.

[Sid]

Okay, so I'm in 90% agreement with what you said.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Keep going.

[Sid]

Let me give you 10%. I do think that there is a subtle incentivization in content production that leans on the side of needless polarization.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But by the way, I agree with that. But that's something everybody has to who makes that content? I agree with that 90 10%. But that's but a couple things. I don't have any interest in doing that.

[Sid]

Sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't do that. Right, Right. We agree. Right. So that's how I want to sleep at night. If somebody wants to sleep at night. Like we have again two things on that equation. The person that makes that content to create polarization for their own self interest. That person has to sleep at night. But I have no interest to judge that man or woman. Because if you sell sugar, processed sugar, I'm not going to judge you either. Or alcohol. In fact, my father does sell alcohol. You know, like. Correct. And I believe in selling alcohol. It's legal. And I can't control someone's consumption of that. Right. If I was in control of the world, everybody would go to a therapist all the time until they have actual self esteem. That would be the no school from 6 to 18. No school. 100% therapy around self esteem and insecurity. I would solve the world. No school. Fuck Saturn and the periodic table which mean absolutely nothing. 12 years from 6 to 18 of true human development. Self reflection, self esteem, self esteem, self esteem, self esteem, kindness, empathy, compassion, work ethic, accountability. What I'm doing with Vee friends. So you know, I don't know. Like you know. So I agree with you. Like do I believe that people pedal shit that is detrimental to humans for their own self interest? What revelation do you think you're talking about? This is the story as old as time.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The you think the first books were. There were religious institutions that control people. What are we talking about here?

[Sid]

Right, right. Sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

As much as things change, nothing changes.

[Sid]

Right? Right. It's very interesting you bring up self esteem. I'm curious. What do you. What is hurting this self esteem? Like what is the reason why all young ones have to be in self esteem training? What is the modern parenting you think modern parenting is? Is by process of it hurting self esteem?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, sir.

[Sid]

How? By competition and all those things? Or is there something else there?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Modern parenting on the back of 50 years of prosperity have started to focus on things that are silly. Like the thing they always did. Keeping up with the Joneses. Materialism, some of the downs. I love entrepreneurship. What are the downside? Materialism. Wanting to buy a BMW. Wanting to, you know, everything like humans. He's wearing a Harvard hoodie. Why?

[Sid]

Let's ask him why?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I know why and I respect it. But it is how humans work. We communicate. Why am I 50? Dressed, young and casual, no different than his. My cap is his Harvard hoodie. And somebody else's watch and somebody else's BMW. Modern parenting has kept up with the Joneses and become more materialistic. Modern parenting is less communal. In the 50s and 60s, 70s, when I was growing up in the 80s in New Jersey, 20 minutes away, my three best friends, their mothers were. My mother.

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If I did something at Robby Turnick's house that was wrong. Eleanor Turnick smacked me. And no one was like, I'm gonna sue you and all that. Right?

[Sid]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

In fact, my mother said, thank you. Could you imagine today if somebody's friend's parents smacked a child?

[Sid]

I think it's still very real in India. I think I've been smacked by my

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

friends, parents in certain parts of India. And you're 30 now.

[Sid]

Yeah. Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So now we're 20 years removed.

[Sid]

20 years away.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. And I don't know where you grew up and all that stuff. Right. But in the upper echelons of financial superpowers 20 years ago in Mumbai. Less than in the rural parts.

[Sid]

Right, Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We just know prosperity leads to softness.

[Sid]

It does. Good times create weak men. Weak men create bad times. That kind of stuff.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Such a fucking good sentence. And it's so goddamn real. And it's no one's fault. And I have no judgment. It just is. And so modern parenting values different things. I'll give you another one back to smacking and grounding. Children by most part today have less. Less circumstances where they are paying the price or being held accountable or dealing with the consequences of bad behavior.

[Sid]

So they're getting away with more, Correct? Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Because parents today have overreacted to the generation of their parents and they want to be friends with their children instead of being friendly.

[Sid]

Yeah, that's spot on, dude. That's part of.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I see it. And I see it because. Not because of focus group of one or seven parents. I know because I get 10 to 25,000 DMs a week, a day. You know, like, I get ungodly amounts of feedback. And because of what I talk about, I get it and I read a lot of it randomly. And now I have AI to be able to sum up what I'm getting. Like, you know, with manus. Do you know how insane manus is?

[Sid]

You mean mayonnaise as in the condiment?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, I mean manus M A N U S. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Sorry for my accent.

[Sid]

Right. No, no, it's okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Meta's AI layered on all that data within Instagram and Facebook is insanity. I've been dangerous for the last 15 years because I really pay attention now. I have a tool that allows me to pay attention at a level that no human brain could have ever paid attention to. This is a human weaponizing. We're using AI. I'm accelerating what I'm great at now. It's also commoditized all of you. I was willing to put in the work and actually be on a flight for three hours and read everything. The fact that you can now get a summary of your DMs that commoditizes my work ethic. I'm gonna have to put my work somewhere else. However, I'm very good at processing the information that I consume. So even if you and I look at the same report, will we both have the same observation? I don't think so. AI can't take away everything, but it will take out away a lot.

[Sid]

On the issue of parents and kids, one of the more classic problems, and I think SID will relate to this, where I come from, is that a lot of parents spend their entire lifetime getting out of poverty. They stack everything they have to make sure their kids get a good education. And some of them end up sitting myself. And we find good education and good opportunities and so on and so forth. But then very often this trade off occurs where kids, they want to pursue their passion. They've listened to you. They've listened to the fact that you have to go all in on a game.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. On the record.

[Sid]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Unlimited. Indian parents have Sent me very scathing DMs because I've changed the course of their child from being an engineer and a doctor and now they're trying to do a rock band video game. And so I apologize to all 1 billion people. Good news, everyone in India, I am from the Soviet Union and Russian parents don't like me either. And nor do Asian parents and nor do any parent that is so insecure that they want their children's accomplishment to reflect on them amongst their circles.

[Sid]

Well, that is one form of concern. The other one, in areas where opportunities are restricted is actually like, I'll give you an example. You said, I met a guy who was trying to start a rock band in India in 2021.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Sid]

I was like, Bro, you're 40 years behind. There is no way you are able to run. Maybe you are that one band that's going to make money doing rock music in a country that has very little to do with rock music. But I think it's a shot. Like, I think you'd be better off having enough money so you can feed your family.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Would he be better off? Or when he's 87, him going through those 37 months of failure, allowing him to never regret in his 70s, 80s and 90s that he should have tried to follow his passion. Is it better than having 20 to 30 years of your late years be grounded in the occasional, if not often, thoughts of I should have follow.

[Sid]

But what about all the way until those late years? I have regret for the fact that I just do not have support means to put my kids through the right education or to buy the stuff that I want to buy. I think it counterbalances.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, I think. No, I don't think so.

[Sid]

No.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think both the things you brought up are dog shit.

[Sid]

Okay. That's keeping up with the Joneses. You think that kind of stuff?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I do.

[Sid]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think everyone can live within their means in the world because they do. Most people that don't have a home have a mental health issue, not a financial issue. And everybody else lives within the home that they can afford with their financial status. And let me remind you, and this is what's so great about so many Indian immigrants, especially from rural places. There's unlimited. I'll just go very narrow to your world. But this is true for any group. South America, Asia, there is unlimited third world countries or third world like country parts of countries. We have it in America. There's parts of this country that are incredibly poor, that know people who have very little financial capabilities, who have Happy lives. I have a funny feeling that somebody in your great uncles or great grandparents had very little by the standards we're defining, money, who were joyous and happy and wonderful people.

[Sid]

Dirt poor.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Dirt poor.

[Sid]

Dirt poor.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

By the way, just to remind you, I think you know this. When I came to America in 1978, I lived out there, not too far from here in Queens, in a studio apartment roughly the size of this office with six or seven depending on which family members were moving around. And I had unlimited joy in my childhood. We had dog shit.

[Sid]

Yeah, it's funny like that, huh? Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So you know a I listened carefully to what you say. Buy the things you want to buy. What? A hoodie, a fucking video game, a Mercedes and then send your kids to school. What school? What world are we living in? I can promise you right now the invention of AI has created more opportunity for kids in dirt poor India than Harvard or mit. Now we're asking our question why? I will say that in Indian culture, in Asian culture, in Eastern European, Russian culture, three cultures I understand very well. A shocking percentage of the energy that is dictating what is coming out of parents mouths is how their children will be viewed by society, which is a reflection on them. They use their children as tools for their own insecurities and self esteem. And the advice they are giving does not factor in how the world turns. How about all the parents that forced their kids to be dev engineers over the last decade who are now 18 years old? How are they feeling about the fact that my business partner David Rodolitz over at Fly Fish Club built an app last night that is incredibly good? He wouldn't know how to fucking build a website three years ago if I paid him a trillion dollars. So how are all the kids that were forced by their aunt because their actual father is in the US on a work assignment at Microsoft and he went to MIT and this kid who had unbelievable creative superpowers and could have created incredible joy in art, whether in the culinary or music or some sort of artistic execution has been suppressed for five years to learn how to fucking code so you could have a real job and achieve all those things. How the fuck is that 18 year old feeling right now?

[Sid]

Cheated. He's feeling cheated. Yeah, it is true. I mean I have nephews who are feeling cheated. You know they're telling me they're graduating out of college and one of them said my dad told me all his life if I'm a good engineer, it's going to work. And I'm like, you're dealing with something far more existential than not getting a job right now. You're dealing with growing up. You're realizing your parents are wrong. And that happens sometimes. And I think a lot of this has to do with kids being too afraid to admit their parents might be wrong too.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. And listen, there's nothing. Listen, I grew up that way. Like, there's nothing more beautiful than being ideological about your parents. I love that. I'm so happy for that. And I'm empathetic for that moment where you're like, wait a minute, you know, like, that's.

[Sid]

I think they're figuring it out.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, of course. But you know this from 18 and you're still in it. Even I would say from 18 to 30 is when you're like, wait a minute. And then from like 30 to 40, you start to become incredibly empathetic and compassionate towards your parents.

[Sid]

I had that at 23. I remember that moment. I was actually here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Are you a parent?

[Sid]

No, not yet.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, let me tell you. Let me. Congratulations. Let me tell you, brother, you have another really fun chapter coming your way.

[Sid]

That's what my wife keeps telling me.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, she's right, but I'm telling you for the way you view your parents. I also was incredibly emotionally intelligent. Had all sorts of. Of feelings towards my parents. Devoted the first 12 years of my. I'm Gary Vee, and I've known. I've been Gary Vee since I was fucking 10 years old. I Gary Vee, not regular chap. I devoted the first 12 years of my entire life professionally to my parents. That's how much I love them. That's how much I understood them. I was intertwined into their lives. They're only 20 years older than me, like, and so you. But I promise you, you have a great gift coming. Whatever thing you went through at 23, wait till your child is 15.

[Sid]

Yeah, I'm super romantic about my family. All the awards I ever win go to my dad's bedroom. That's where they're supposed to be. You know, somebody asked me recently, did your parents contribute to your journey financially? I said, no money is worth the encouragement they gave me when I told them I was doing interview on the Internet. My dad's a lawyer. He was like, what are you doing? Are you sure about it? Okay, do it for six months. Tell me how it goes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's incredible. And you know, this coming from the cultures we come from, that's a rarity. That's not a common. So you become double grateful that your parents. I Mean, same for me. I was a terrible student. Every Russian immigrant was. All they talked about was if you didn't get to Harvard, like if you went to nyu, that was a disaster.

[Sid]

That's a failure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right, right. If I went to nyu, that would have been like, I went to triple Harvard plus mit. I mean, that's how bottom of the rung I was. But my mother gave me the freedom at a time with no Internet, no pointing to people being successful from entrepreneurship in society, wasn't even a conversation, never even heard the word until my 20s. She gave me the freedom to be me. And so I know what you feel. I feel the same. Same way.

[Sid]

You know what's also true for our cultures is they tend to be risk averse. And so a lot of my peers grow up wanting to avoid losing money than actually taking bets to make large sums of money. And money being.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I get it, I get it, I get it.

[Sid]

Right. What do you say to that? How does one change that mindset?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's a really fun question. It's hard. I would say that a lot of this is hard wiring. You know, there's a DNA thing, there's a culture thing. If you grow up in an environment where your natural DNA is to not be entrepreneurial or offense oriented and then it's reinforced by your parents of like, get a steady job, be an engineer, you'll always have a steady job. You have deep therapy and deep emotional work to become more risk interested. I would also argue risk interested just means you have higher capacity for massive upside.

[Sid]

Sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Again, I'm such a big fan of being comfortable of who you actually are versus trying to be someone you're not. I have no interest in convincing anyone to be like me. Except for one thing, be like me in that I've been truly me the whole time. And so if you're a doctor, amazing. If you're a stay at home father, very taboo still in many societies, a stay at home father. But if your soul is a stay at home father and you do that and you deal with the judgment of your father in law, imagine being a stay at home father in Indian culture. Yeah, I knew that would land for you boys. You're fucking dead. You're dead.

[Sid]

Damn, dude.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right, right. But if you're listening right now and your goal in life is to be a stay at home father, not because you're looking for a sugar mama, but because like you have been so affected and wired by your circumstances that you want to raise your children day in and day out as a man from India, who's going to have to deal with unlimited judgment of your contemporaries and most of all, your in laws and often maybe even your own wife. Well, then you're me. It was not very easy to be a child of the 80s and being told, you're stupid. You're the R word. I got D's and F's, but I just knew who I was and I was willing to deal with every ounce of collateral damage to live the life I wanted. And then I got fortunate that the world came into me. The reverse of everyone who was told to be an engineer now and getting caught.

[Sid]

There has to be a superpower, brother.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know what's funny? It is a superpower, but it's actually an old school superpower. I think it's a throwback superpower. Just think back with the way the world was in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, you didn't know that many people. There was not that much judgment. You just kind of lived right, sure in town and it felt the same way as a million people. But you know, you know this. It's not a superpower when it comes so natural to you. Right. Just like all the superheroes that we all look up to. They were born like that or they got bit by a spider or whatever.

[Sid]

I know what you mean by that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If so you want to show this. You want to show the report card? Yeah, yeah. This is my report card from high school. Yeah, this, this should help everybody who's listening in India. This should help you. Go to the bottom. Show my class rank, bottom left.

[Sid]

Bottom left. It says four years, GPA 1.6. Class rank 243. Class size 254.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

11. Yeah.

[Sid]

You want to see it? You want to get this on the screen?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

11. 11 people.

[Sid]

Just 11 people behind you. What are they doing? Do you have any recollections?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Not great stuff. Listen, listen. I say this all the time, like not everyone who's bad at school is going to go on to do incredible things. They have to be. They have to be wildly entrepreneurial or wildly creative. If you don't have those things, being bad at school is a mitigator to something in the middle. Because if you're not good at school and you're not entrepreneurial and you're not wildly creative. Correct. You need to be some different thing. If you're not extremely good at those things, it of course often leads to not as much financial or professional success. It does not mean you won't be happy. I actually have a very strong point of view on this.

[Sid]

You think these things are different?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Because I think simplicity leads to enormous amounts of happiness, bro.

[Sid]

And you don't need a lot of money or success for that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think that's been proven. I don't think I'm saying anything profound. I don't think it's where the temperament of our society is. I'm actually looking forward to it. I actually think everything we're going through is gonna lead to a movement of simplicity.

[Sid]

Like more offline, less comparison, less noise.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And not only offline, just like offline and looking to live within your means of $57,000 a year in rural Costa Rica and working at the farm stand and like loving your life.

[Sid]

Right, right. So identifying with the quality of your life as opposed to your lifestyle.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. And your lifestyle for sure. Not being predicated on people's judgment of your lifestyle.

[Sid]

Do you think that is the reason why people often anchor their ambition to wealth?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

100%. I believe the whole game is self esteem versus insecurity. There is nothing else.

[Sid]

Say more.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I believe life is one simple game of people that are. And there's a pet, obviously there's. But on the extremes, pure self esteem versus accelerated pure insecurity. And wherever you sit is how your life is. And if you have pure self esteem. Pure. You are truly confident within your own skin. And people's outside opinions penetrate. You little. You're not delusional. You intake people's information, but you do not internalize it as truth. You process it to make sure that you're not delusional. And you use it as a normal, balanced human that if you are there, Whether you make 10 million a year or you make 10,000 a year, you are going to win.

[Sid]

You're gonna win the happiness game.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What else is there?

[Sid]

You know what I also often thought is that ambition. Maybe it's true. I sometimes reflect and I think my ambition comes from a certain injury to self esteem. Do you think that's generally the case? Do you think there's another source for ambition?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Extreme insecurity.

[Sid]

Yeah, right. That's what I mean. So insecurity is the source for ambition.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And extreme confidence.

[Sid]

And extreme confidence also leads to ambition.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. I feel like I'm supposed to in a good way and if I don't, it's okay. But I'm. I feel like I'm a. You know how fly, you know, in the summer I always look at. I always bring this analogy up, you know, the like flies that go into the light and get zapped. I am not able to Stop myself from doing what I'm doing right. And it is not because I want Sid to think I'm cool or I'm gonna prove it to the girl that didn't like me in fourth grade or my father or my daughter. Like I'm doing it because it is my destiny. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

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[Sid]

my, my father would tell you. Both my parents would tell me. And I think they did this beautifully. I, I hope parents around the world listen to this and think of it. They would tell me constantly that I'm special and I'm made for great things.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Sid]

And the way that's led to me saying yes to things that are bigger and more scaled rather than smaller and more insecure, that has shifted massively as a function of being told consistently as a kid that you're special. I think it did wonders for my self esteem and I think in that you're right. Confidence does lead to a lot of

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

ambition in that and I got it the best way. And I'm curious. It sounds like you might have too. I'm just. But you'll let me know. Me too. My mom told me I was a star my whole life. But I had consequences for bad behavior.

[Sid]

Oh, of course.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, don't say that. Cause a lot of parents. This is modern parenting. You're a star. You're a star. Star. You're a crackhead. You're like doing bad things and your parents like, you're a star. You're a star. Because they just want to. They believe delusional self esteem will work itself out. Self esteem building, confidence building with consequences is the great balance. I'm a star. I'm a star. I got back, by the way, those grades. I was grounded for two weeks. No television, no friends, no phone, no video games. Consistently four times a year and never did. I think my mother thought of who I was going to be because of my grades. But I had to pay the price because my job was to be A student. And when I under delivered, I paid the consequences.

[Sid]

I think there was benefit to being scared of my father for that reason.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, you know what's funny, man? I was scared, brother. You'll appreciate this. I was. This is back to like. This is back to the extreme of what I'm saying. I forget about fear. How about disappointing the person you love the most in the world? Watching my mom be disappointed. I'm emotional right now. It broke my heart to upset my mom four times a year. But I was going to the light. I couldn't. There was nothing that could happen, even for my mother. The greatest, most important thing for me. I must go to school today and sell lollipops and baseball cards, work on my marketing, work on my people skills. Nothing that's happening in the classroom has anything to do with me.

[Sid]

And how did they relate to your success in later life? How do you see that?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They who? My parents?

[Sid]

Yes, your parents.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My parents knew it the whole way. It was too obvious, right? What's more interesting is my teachers rewrote

[Sid]

history, my relatives rewrote history. Fair, right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Fair.

[Sid]

And this is what I tell people when they're betting on something right out of college. Particularly, I'm like, listen, you have a few years to go for the moon, right? Nobody expects nothing off of you. Go hardcore.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know that's my biggest thesis, right? High risk, high Reward, in your 20s, right?

[Sid]

And what happens is every single person who once said, your video looks cringe or this idea is stupid, they will rewrite history in their own head and tell the story in a completely different way.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I had a teacher at the Javits center during a book signing who was my English teacher, who said to my face I was stupid while I was crowded by 50 people after a speech of my latest book come up to me. And I recognized her right away. And I thought I was gonna have this fun moment where I was like, can you believe? And I'm like, I'm so empathetic to what she was thinking. I had no resentment or anger. I thought we were gonna have a laugh of like, can you believe the. She completely rewrote it in front of everyone. She's like, I always knew. I'm like you. I'm too gracious. I'm funny. I was too gracious. I bit my tongue. Cause I didn't want. Cause we were amongst 50, 60. If it was just me and her, I would have got her. But because we were amongst 50 people, I didn't need to embarrass her. I didn't need that. Back to right. When you're insecure, you'll kill that person. But I laughed and I bit my cheeks. I was probably bleeding in my mouth when I left. The way she tried to rewrite that. It's why I always give Mrs. Kennedy, Senora Kennedy, a lot of flowers. I've done that publicly for a long time. It's the one teacher I needed to pass in that. Actually go to that report card. This is really fun. I've never told the story with the report card. If you look in the top left, I think that's ninth grade, right?

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So these were my final grades for the year. Right. This is a recap report card. Do you see German?

[Sid]

I see German, yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What did I get? F. Okay, now go to 10th grade. This is the recap.

[Sid]

Yep.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What did I get in German? F. Okay, so I took German one twice. And I got ready for this. Eight Fs, four report cards in a year. Eight Fs, eight Fs in two years. In New Jersey, in the state of New Jersey, you have to pass a language for two years. To graduate high school, you must pass a language for two years. I now go into 10th, 11th grade, as you see.

[Sid]

Yeah, I see Spanish one.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I took Spanish one because now I have to reset. What did I get? D. And then 12th grade. Spanish 2, Spanish 2.

[Sid]

D. So you barely passed.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, no, I didn't pass. That is pass. It is a pass.

[Sid]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You ready for this?

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My D's in Spanish are worse than my F's in German. But Mrs. Kennedy saw who I was as a human and she passed me.

[Sid]

That means the world to a kid.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Man, I'm fucking 50 years old. This happened literally fucking 32 years ago. And I'm telling you this story. After the way my life worked out. Can you imagine how much it means to a kid?

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

She called my mother. She called my mother senior year and said, Mrs. Vaynerchuk. Only teacher to call my mom in four years of high school because I was no academic. As you can see. Mrs. Vaynerchuk, I just want you to know your son will pass, but he does not know more than one word in Spanish. And that is true today. Hola. That's what I got.

[Sid]

Just, hola. Milk and popcorn.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Hola.

[Sid]

That's it. Damn. That's crazy. Yeah. You know, one of the bigger sort of blockers for a lot of Indians is this exact idea of what the world will think. There is a famous phrase associated with it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm very aware. I've Been touching on it the whole time.

[Sid]

Right. And a lot of advice I'm able to offer people who listen to me is that history gets rewritten every time. Keep trying. History gets rewritten. And the second thing is that how you go to sleep at night is a more real feeling than almost anything else you feel in society.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I have a feeling because I didn't have it at 30 either. I have a feeling because we see stuff so similar that you will realize how right I am about regret. Forget about even sleeping and anxiety during the day. Forget about outside judgment and validation. Brother, I'm telling you, as you start to get older, the only thing that people should fear besides health is regret.

[Sid]

It's that powerful.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's that powerful.

[Sid]

It hasn't hit me yet.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Cause it shouldn't even. I at 50am like. And you, you know me a little bit. I think I have 50 more years to cook. But I'm not an idiot. At 30 you're not thinking about mortality?

[Sid]

No, not at all.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I promise you, at 80, when you're like, how much time do I really have? You're gonna be really happy you lived your life on your terms. Because I've spent enough time with people in their 80s that didn't. And it is a devastating energy.

[Sid]

Wow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Devastating energy.

[Sid]

That's a very interesting insight. You know, I honestly feel like what old people have to say is sometimes so real because the reflection is so honest. There is no way to run.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I would say the biggest issue in society, one of the biggest issues is we've lessened the value of old wisdom. We've put young culture at the pedestal. And I think it's hurt us.

[Sid]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think to Indian culture and to Asian culture and to Eastern European culture, they have it better than America. In America, we completely disrespect our elders. I think in certain parts of other parts of the world, there's still something. But I think you guys all know this. The way we put grandpa in India on a pedestal today is already different than 30 years ago because we've been westernized.

[Sid]

Yeah. And I think wisdom is not the same as knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom actually is knowledge over time, you know.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. It's earned.

[Sid]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's earned.

[Sid]

And that you just, you will not get it on a random article.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When I was 25, I was a whiz kid entrepreneur. I was, I was great and I thought I knew everything. And my 50 year old self laughs. At 25 year old Gary, I would squash that kid in a business game of chess.

[Sid]

Dude. I feel like every two or three years, I'll have a feeling where I'll be like, now I think I have figured it out. Now I think I get it. And I have that feeling every two or three years. And I find and look at my myself two, three years ago, and I'm like, that idiot.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I know, I know. Wait till it becomes decades, not years. Everybody, if you 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.