Start With Yourself: The Mindset That Built an Empire | Emma Grede

Summary

The School of Greatness | Lewis Howes

Episode: Start With Yourself: The Mindset That Built an Empire | Emma Grede

Date: April 13, 2026
Guest: Emma Grede (Co-founder/CEO of Good American, Founding Partner of SKIMS, author of Start With Yourself)

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Episode Overview

In this powerful conversation, Lewis Howes sits down with Emma Grede, celebrated entrepreneur behind multiple billion-dollar brands and author of Start With Yourself, to unpack the mindset, self-leadership, and resilience that shaped her rise from modest beginnings in East London to the forefront of the American business world. Emma offers candid insights on ambition, overcoming limiting beliefs, building authentic relationships, balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship, and why self-fulfillment—and starting with yourself—is the true foundation of greatness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Redefining Success—Beyond Billion Dollar Dreams

• Timestamp: 01:46 – 02:20
  Emma launches straight into debunking the myth that only “unicorn” scale businesses matter:
  “I think that we've got ourselves into a really dangerous position when we feel like the only businesses that are valid are billion dollar un sized and shaped ones... Are the limitations real, or are you putting them on yourself before you get out of the gate?” (Emma Grede, 01:46)

2. From East London to Entrepreneur

• Emma’s Foundation:
  She shares how her upbringing—eldest of 4 in a single-mother household—instilled capability and resourcefulness:
  “By like, 10 or 11, I could cook dinner for five people... I really believed that. And I think I was lucky, cause I had a mom that really... gave me a lot of hope in myself.” (Emma Grede, 03:19)
  • She never saw herself as disadvantaged but “superior to people around me” because of her life skills (03:19–06:29).
  • Her mother’s mantra: “You’re not better than anyone, but no one's better than you.” (03:19)
• On Class & Self-Belief:
  Emma discusses navigating England’s class system—never believing others were superior based on upbringing or education.

3. Relationships, Intuition & High Standards

• Choosing Her Partner:
  Emma details meeting (and eventually marrying) her business partner, maintaining high standards throughout:
  “I was always really clear about what type of man I would want to be with... I kept those standards really high. I was not gonna settle.” (Emma Grede, 10:03)
  • She immediately knew he was “the one,” demonstrating trust in her intuition (11:19–12:22).
• On Intuition in Business:
  Emma credits intuition as a superpower—choosing not to “people please” even at large financial opportunities:
  “I don't need to sacrifice my integrity... I'm wired not to be a people pleaser. It just isn't in me.” (Emma Grede, 14:54)

4. Community vs. Independence

• The Balance:
  While Emma identifies as fiercely independent, she values connectedness:
  “My expectation on people is never that they will be everything to me…I need all of them. I need everything.” (Emma Grede, 17:56)
  • She addresses the cost and loneliness of moving away from home for opportunity (19:58).

5. Learning From Failure and Embracing Growth

• Growth Mindset:
  Both Lewis and Emma discuss how the “ascent to greatness” is shaped by adversity and failure:
  “I've retrained my mind…to look for the fear, to look for the moment where I might not come out on the other side in the best way, because I know that's where all the growth is.” (Emma Grede, 21:55)
• Managing Emotions:
  Emma’s journey with anger (anger management at 19), learning emotion ≠ identity:
  “I didn't understand that you could take a deep breath…that there can be some detachment from who you are. I thought that was who I was.” (28:06)
  • Influenced by Oprah: self-visioning, gratitude, and emotional ownership (32:23)

6. Escaping Limiting Environments

• Vision for Herself:
  Left home to avoid the fate she saw around her—emotional and financial codependence:
  “I was scared less that I would end up like all the women I could see crying over some guy...devastated...left broke and alone.” (34:23)
• Practical Steps:
  Emma always had her own bank accounts, lawyers, etc., as a safeguard (36:19)

7. Mindset Shifts: UK vs. USA

• On the ‘American Dream’:
  “There is nowhere on earth that in eight or nine years you can come to and have the kind of success... as I had [in America].” (Emma Grede, 39:41)
  • The American system allowed her to reinvent herself free from societal baggage (45:06)

8. Honest Reflections on Balance and Sacrifice

• Motherhood & Entrepreneurship:
  Emma dispels “having it all” myths, discussing conscious trade-offs:
  “The trade-offs are always things that you really, really want to do. So you have to choose your life.” (55:33)
• Self-First (Without Guilt):
  “If I'm not good, then no one around me is good...I know that feels difficult to hear from a mother of four, but it's really the trick.” (56:13)

9. Wealth, Ambition, and Why It’s Ok to Want Success

• Money Mindset:
  Openly talks about centering money in work:
  “Yes, I always put money in the center of my plans. I never imagined it would find me because I didn't know anybody that that happened to.” (62:55)
  “If you don't make money at the center of your work, what will happen to you? Well, it avoids you.” (64:17)

10. Visibility & Proximity in Career

• Being Present:
  Emma emphasizes the importance of in-person presence and visibility for career growth:
  “If you're really ambitious and you want a great career, visibility and proximity is essential...You want a pay rise? I need to see you, like, in the office.” (69:55)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

“You’re not better than anyone, but no one's better than you.”
—Emma Grede, (03:19) quoting her mother

“You've got to make sure that your biggest enemy isn't between your own two ears.”
—Emma Grede, (02:20)

“The ascent to greatness is rarely pretty and you'll learn the most from failure.”
—Lewis Howes referencing Emma’s book (20:42)

“I thought that I am that person...I only had that. That was my default mode. And so...when you know better, you do better.”
—Emma Grede (28:06)

“It's me against me at the end of the day...Everyone's going to have their point of view...I really tune it out.”
—Emma Grede (54:18)

“If you don't ask, you don't get.”
—Emma Grede (65:34)

“If you're really ambitious...visibility and proximity is essential. It's not a nice to have. It's just essential shot.”
—Emma Grede (69:55)

“Have your hand up. I'll do that. I did everything…Because I was sure that if I could just be excellent…somebody would find me...and guess what? It totally works.”
—Emma Grede (69:05)

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Crucial Segments & Timestamps

• Debunking Limiting Beliefs About Success: 01:46–02:20
• Emma’s Childhood & Self-Belief: 03:19–07:56
• Intuitive Decision-Making: 11:39–14:54
• On Community and Connection: 17:56–19:58
• Growth from Failure & Managing Emotions: 21:16–32:23
• Escaping Limitations & Building Independence: 34:23–36:19
• Cultural Mindset Shift in the USA: 39:41–41:20
• Motherhood, Sacrifice, and Priorities: 54:18–57:47
• Money Mindset & Gender: 62:55–65:34
• Proximity and Career Opportunity: 69:05–70:08
• Emma’s “Three Truths”: 79:25–82:55
• Definition of Greatness: 83:04

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The Three Truths According to Emma Grede

1. The Importance of Loving Relationships:
   “I felt so loved as a kid...You know how important family is, and to love one another and to love, lead with love.”

2. Your Relationship With Yourself:
   “The most important relationship you'll ever have is the relationship you have with yourself…how you speak to yourself, how you treat yourself…getting close to yourself is so important.”

3. Your Work Isn't What You Think:
   “Be really mindful about how you use your precious energy as it pertains to your output…it’s not just about the businesses but the sum total of your impact and service.”

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Definition of Greatness

“It has to be, I guess, self-fulfillment. Because I think at the end of the day, that's what we're all here to do, right? We're here to live up to our highest potential…that is what I'm on a journey for, and I think that’s greatness.”
—Emma Grede (83:04)

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Key Takeaways for Listeners

• Challenge Limiting Beliefs: Are your obstacles real, or self-imposed?
• Trust Your Intuition: Build the courage to say no, trust your instincts, and don’t people-please at the expense of your truth.
• Prioritize Self-Work: Success begins with the relationship you have with yourself; your leadership, your parenting, and impact all flow from that center.
• Make Room for Failure: Embrace setbacks as the crucible for your next stage of growth.
• Define Your Own Greatness: Pursue fulfillment, not someone else’s metrics of success.
• Aim for Excellence and Visibility: Show up, be seen, and signal your readiness for more.
• Lead with Resilience and Realism: The grind is real; know what you’re signing up for, and own the upsides and trade-offs.

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For More

• Pick up Emma Grede’s book: Start With Yourself: A New Vision for Work and Life
• Find Emma on Instagram and emmagrede.com

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This episode is a masterclass on self-leadership, ambition without apology, and how starting with yourself might be the greatest investment you ever make.

Transcript

[Lewis Howes]

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[Emma Grede]

I think that we've got ourselves into a really dangerous position when we feel like the only businesses that are valid are billion dollar un sized and shaped ones. There's a lot of different ways to do businesses and so I would think, are the limitations real or are you putting them on yourself before you get out of the gate?

[Lewis Howes]

Emma Greed in the house. One of America's richest self made women having built multiple billion dollar brands and she's now the author of Start With Yourself. She's here to challenge everything you think about. Ambition, success and the life you're capable of building.

[Emma Grede]

You have to get out of your own way. You got to make sure that your biggest enemy isn't between your own two ears, right? You have to say to yourself, okay, wait a minute, I have these giant aspirations. You got to get off your desktop out of your head and do something

[Lewis Howes]

if you go back to the younger version of you with all the lessons, you know now, what would you say to her?

[Emma Grede]

I'm going to be really honest with you and say something that's maybe deeply unpopular because of where we are in this country right now.

[Lewis Howes]

Very excited about this. One of the things I'm curious about is how you were able to become so successful with your mindset first without having everything growing up in the perfect environment. Because I know you didn't have the perfect environment, the perfect schooling, all the opportunities given to you. So how did you develop a mindset that allowed you to have a thriving life, thriving marriage, thriving family, thriving health, thriving community, and everything else you've created?

[Emma Grede]

I love that you start there. That's like, the best thing that. The best first question ever. Because I feel like where I come from and the way that I started is so foundational to my success. And I often hear people talk about, you know, scarcity or childhood trauma or, like, the stuff that happened to them in a negative way. And I think for me, it was fundamental to the person that I am now. First of all, like, I come from East London. I'm the eldest of four girls, raised with a single mom. And so my life was really, like, from the beginning. It was about doing right. There was a role to play. It's like, my mom's the dad, I'm the mom. We've got three kids together, and my job was to, like, get them out the house, make the packed lunches, iron the shirts, get them to school. By which point I would turn around, go home and watch Oprah. So I missed a lot of school. But it's interesting because I felt so capable. You know, by like, 10 or 11, I could cook dinner for five people. And I never thought about it as, like, God, this is, like, such a drain. I was like, look how much stuff I can do. Like, look how capable I am. And I really felt superior to people around me, to the kids around me. Yeah, I really did. I was like, look at these. Look, they're, like, playing in the street. Meanwhile, I've just cooked dinner for five kids, and all my shirts are ironed for tomorrow. Like, I really believed that. And I think I was lucky. Cause I had a mom that really, you know, when you come from a place that's, like, you know, devoid of hope, like, my mom kind of gave me a lot of hope in myself. She didn't kind of, like, gaslight me, but she was very much of this idea, you know, she was like, emma, you're not better than anyone, but no one's better than you. And I really believed that. I was like, oh, okay. So as I kind of went through my life and I. You know, it's like I left where I was from in Plasto by the time I started getting jobs. And in England, you know, there's such a hierarchical class system. I never imagined that any of these kids that went to Eton or Harrow were any better than me. I never imagined that because. No, I didn't think. Because they had an education and I didn't. That they were better. I was like, you've got one thing, I've got some other thing. My stuff is gonna be all right.

[Lewis Howes]

Well, how did you believe that, though, when most people don't see that?

[Emma Grede]

Because I think I really knew better. I proved my capability. I had proved that I could, like, have an idea of what was gonna happen. And I really, in my head, had lifted myself out of where I was from. Like, I was always kind of looking over there, imagining what could be in my future. And also, I was a very. Like, my mom again, I said, she didn't gaslight me. Cause she was like, you can have anything you want so long as you're willing to work for it. So I was like, I'm just gonna be the hardest worker. I'm gonna do the most. And so it's like I had a. Worked in a deli. I worked in the local shop. I sold fireworks. Like, I did anything to get a buck. You know, I mean, anything. I used to sell, like, Ralph Lauren and YSL shirts to the teachers at recess. I was, you know, I was a hustler in every sense of the word. And so to me, that, like, you know, those dollars, that just meant freedom. That meant like, God, there's like, something that I can do. I can take this, I can turn it into this. But I never, ever thought that I was disadvantaged. Like, that just wasn't in my head.

[Lewis Howes]

So was it just your mom at home?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, just my mom went to work every day. So she worked in a bank. She would literally get up super early, and she'd be out the house by like, 7, 7:30. So I was really left to my own devices. Cause she was not coming back. You know, she was going to like, bingo after work. She was doing what she was doing.

[Lewis Howes]

She needed to relax a little bit.

[Emma Grede]

I was left with these kids of mine, my sisters. And, you know, it was up to me what I was gonna do. And I just knew, like, you could day great or you could make the Day terrible. And I was like, I've got to make the day great because these kids, they're vibing off of me.

[Lewis Howes]

Sorry if I don't know this, but was your father never around or.

[Emma Grede]

No. So my mom and dad split when I was like, five years old. So my mom had three kids under five when she was 28. So when you think about that, like, she was such a young woman and it was tough for her. It was really tough for her. So that's why there was never like a, oh, my goodness, do I have to help my mom? It was like, do or die. Of course you have to help your mom. Like, you've got. You need to get through the day. Everybody's got to do what they do. So my dad wasn't around. He came back in my life in my kind of late teens, and he's like, he's a great guy. You know, in my head I was like, it didn't work out between them. That had nothing to do with me. And so it's like, I've done so much therapy and so much work on myself and, you know, looked everywhere for the daddy issues. But again, I never thought that was about me. I was like, those two didn't work.

[Lewis Howes]

Interesting. So you didn't feel like he left you or anything? They just.

[Emma Grede]

Let me tell you in no uncertain terms he did. But it's just that I never thought that was a verdict on me. No, I mean, listen, I could probably have done with the presence of him, but, you know, I had an incredible granddad, I had amazing uncles. And, you know, in my book, I talk about those people that in my life, like, came and rescued me, that came, and they were my figures. And I never missed out on, like, a male influence. And by the way, I mean, my mom is like five men, so it was totally fine for me.

[Lewis Howes]

I'm curious, I don't know if you've shared this, but what is the greatest lesson you learned from the absence of your father during that period of time?

[Emma Grede]

No one has ever asked me that question. What did I learn? You know, I learned. You know, I think I learned about myself. I learned that I was capable and that I didn't really need anyone. You know, I learned that. I think what was interesting is I was surrounded by all of these women. My nan. My mum's one of four too, so she has sisters. You know, I had aunties. I had, like, a lot of women around me that seemingly were just doing everything and getting on with everything and. And moaning about it a lot. A Lot, A lot of, kind of. You know, no one was quiet in my family, but I learned that women were really unbelievably capable. And there was no sense to me you would miss out on something by the lack or the void of a man being around.

[Lewis Howes]

You mentioned beforehand that you've been married for 17 years. You got four amazing kids as well. Thriving business, thriving marriage, thriving kids. What did your parents separation teach you about how to have a thriving marriage?

[Emma Grede]

Well, you know, I think that what I learned from my mom is that, that you don't make compromises on the type of person and life that you want to live. And as I've gone into my marriage, I think I was very clear about that.

[Lewis Howes]

How did that look?

[Emma Grede]

So I, you know, it's like I've had, you know, quite a lot of boyfriends. I went, I went around before I found the one that I decided to settle down with. And I think I was always really clear about what type of man I would want to be with. You know, I'm a very ambitious woman, and it would never have worked for me to be with anyone who is anything other than that. And anyone who accepted anything less or

[Lewis Howes]

wanted you to be something different.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, like that was never going to happen. And so I think that in everything I do, I have really high standards, but I have high standards for myself. I have high standards for everyone around me. And so when it came to, like, looking for a husband, my standards were high. I was like, I'm cute. I know what I'm doing. Like, I'm a good hustler. I can, I can make it work. I don't need anyone for anything. And so I think when I was looking and thinking about, you know, boyfriends ever in my life and certainly whoever I was gonna settle down with, I, I kept those standards really high. I was not gonna settle. Like, I was never gonna settle. And the funny thing is, you know, I met my husband when I was what, 24. And so relatively early by today's standards. But I knew immediately I, I knew that that was the man I was gonna marry.

[Lewis Howes]

Wow. Really?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, straight.

[Lewis Howes]

Like I, I first day, like first moment.

[Emma Grede]

Like the first moment. Because what I should tell you is that my husband turned ever investor. So when I met my husband, I actually started working for him and his business partner. And after about six months, I spun out into my own company and they were my first investors. Pre relationship, pre marriage.

[Lewis Howes]

But you knew when you.

[Emma Grede]

I knew when I met him. I knew when I met him on the day that he, he Wrote something down on a piece of paper, which was my deal, that I would be going into this company index. Like, here's your equity share, here's your profit share. This is what your base salary would be. I still have that piece of paper.

[Lewis Howes]

Come on.

[Emma Grede]

No, I swear to God.

[Lewis Howes]

You have it framed?

[Emma Grede]

No, I don't have it framed, but I have it in a little book in my office. I know. Wouldn't it be so good? Just a little reminder. It was a very low offer, by the way, which I negotiated. But, yeah, I really loved him. I did. Yeah. Enough to keep the piece of paper.

[Lewis Howes]

So you met him. He made this offer, but then it wasn't until later when you started dating, right?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, it was like about a year and a bit later.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

But you knew in your mind for a year. Oh, I know. This is my guy.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. I had a. You know, again, these things are always complicated. They're never straightforward. He had a girlfriend, I have a boyfriend. I. I'm not that girl.

[Lewis Howes]

Something inside of you, intuitively, you're like.

[Emma Grede]

I was like, that's my guy. It's just a matter of time.

[Lewis Howes]

Wow.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

That's interesting. That's interesting. So you knew that the relationship you were in wasn't meant for you long term at that point.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. And that's a really hard thing to say because I am.

[Lewis Howes]

I'm a. I've done that too.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. I'm a relationship person, I think, oftentimes, certainly with me, like, I'm a person who cooks the thing before they move to the thing. Right. I'm like, I'm a risk taker in business, but in my personal life, like, I ain't messing around with that. I'm gonna make sure I'm good before I take away from here clean space. Yeah, yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

But intuitively you were like, oh, this is not the guy I'm supposed to be with. I'm supposed to be with someone else. Like, intuitively, like, you knew I knew.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, I know.

[Lewis Howes]

Gosh. Isn't that interesting? Most women say that they know on the day of their wedding whether they're supposed to be with that person or not or if it's gonna work out or not. It's like, yeah, looking back, I knew on the aisle that something wasn't supposed to work out.

[Emma Grede]

I would never see. I'm the. I would be the runaway bride. Like, first of all, I just never even get there because any doubt that I have, like, I'm so attuned to listening to myself that now, you know, it's like, if I got like a weird feeling, I'd be like, do you know what? I can't do this interview. And I'm so sorry to waste your time, but I'm out. Like, I don't, I don't go against,

[Lewis Howes]

lock the doors, they'll let her leave you.

[Emma Grede]

I don't go against how I feel, like, ever.

[Lewis Howes]

When was the last time you went against your intuition where it didn't work out for you and there was there something such a big enticing carrot that was like, wow, this is big money making opportunity, but this person's just. Something's a little bit off. But I'm gonna let that slide and then let's move forward with the deal. And then did something blow up in your face?

[Emma Grede]

When I was kind of late 20s, somebody very prolific came to purchase my company and I wanted to sell. I was a seller.

[Lewis Howes]

You're ready.

[Emma Grede]

And I knew that it wasn't right, and I was proven right 10, 15 years later. Did you end up selling my intuition? I sold the business, but not to this person. And I was absolutely right not to sell it to that person. And the only reason I say it is because there were other people involved. Because usually I'd be like, sure, sure, there are other people around that situation. But for me, I was looking so much to get out of that business and to have a new chapter in my life. And I was like, this ain't it.

[Lewis Howes]

But when was the last time you went against that intuition?

[Emma Grede]

I don't know that. I do. And I tell you why. Because that comes from a place of real privilege, right? Like, I don't need the money. I don't need to make sacrifices. I'm, you know, usually the boss or the leader in the situation. So I don't need to sacrifice my integrity or my decision making to, to, to go somewhere. I mean, listen, there are things that I say no to all the time, but also, like, I'm wired not to be a people pleaser. Like, it just isn't in me.

[Lewis Howes]

I can sense that about you even

[Emma Grede]

as a kid, before I had choice. Like, it just isn't my makeup. It's just I'm not wired that way.

[Lewis Howes]

Until maybe like four years ago, I was wired to be a people pleaser.

[Emma Grede]

You were?

[Lewis Howes]

Until about four years ago, when I actually learned about boundaries and confrontation and just like saying no to people and being like, no, no, I'm not gonna do this.

[Emma Grede]

It's also part of where I come from.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah, you have, you have that energy.

[Emma Grede]

You don't you don't mess with things to make people happy, you know? And it's like. And also, you're judged. It's not even, like, just the toughness. It's like you would be judged for actually, like, not doing what you meant and not saying what you mean. So in that way, it's like, I am just, like, hardwired. To tell you the truth, I wish

[Lewis Howes]

I would have met you, like, 15 years ago and, like, not had to

[Emma Grede]

suffer for so long.

[Lewis Howes]

You know what I mean? It's like I was wanting so much to kind of keep the peace and not speak up that I would just, like, betray myself over and over to like, please other people until about four or five years ago. And my wife was actually the one who was like that. I just watched her just confront people and just be like, no, I'm not doing it. And, no, in a kind way, not like a mean way. But I was like, wow, that's really inspiring.

[Emma Grede]

You know, it's so funny because I remember I interviewed Melody Hobson, who is like, my business hero you talked about in your book.

[Lewis Howes]

Your mentor, your business mentor.

[Emma Grede]

I'm, like, obsessed with Melody, and she says something beautiful. You know, it's like, you can be honest. You don't need to be brutally honest.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah. Yeah. You don't need to be mean.

[Emma Grede]

And I love that. You don't have to be mean about it, but you can be really straightforward. And I think that one of my, like, superpowers in life is like, no one's ever left guessing around me. No one's like, I wonder what Emma's thinking. You know what I'm thinking?

[Lewis Howes]

You tell that right away.

[Emma Grede]

Just a minute. Yeah. It's like, I've told you. My face has said it. I'm gonna have a conversation with you in the moment. I ain't waiting. And that is just about, like, I don't want to carry stuff around. I don't want to suffer. Like, I am a person who's really, really straightforward. What you see is what you get, and you're going to get it straight away, like it or not.

[Lewis Howes]

I think you've mentioned twice by now in this conversation that you grew up not needing someone specifically, like, a man. I think you mentioned maybe some around that, like, I was strong enough or independent enough. I didn't need someone to make it in some way. I can't remember exactly how you said it. Where would you be if you weren't in a beautiful marriage, though? You know, not that you need your husband, but in some Ways we need other people to experience beautiful moments of life and to experience more love and abundance. So I guess I'm asking, not questioning you, but asking like, where is that line of not needing someone but also needing other people to create those moments in your life?

[Emma Grede]

So I love that question because I'm somebody that really thrives in community. Like, it's like I have my people like my ride or die. And make no mistake, Like I need my husband. Like my husband is somebody that I think is my best friend and he's the person that I find the most interesting on the planet. And I still really fancy him, thank God, and. And I really need him. I think that I don't. When I say I don't need anyone. My expectation on people is never that they will be everything to me. Like I haven't set Jens up to be like all the things that I need because I need different things from different people. And it's like I have like a bunch of girlfriends and I have the people that I work with and I have my sisters and I have my family and I have my husband. And my life is like a tapestry of all of these different things that I've created around me. And I need all of them. I need everything. I need all of it. And I love that because I am somebody that like. Like I'm a real life person, you know, I want to be in person with you. I would like give the phone up tomorrow, you know, I am an in person person. I want to dog you.

[Lewis Howes]

Let's talk about this.

[Emma Grede]

I want to be in the office. I want to chat with you for three hours. It's like I've zero time for like nightclub chat, you know, frivolous conversations. I want to go straight in, all in. Tell me everything. Like tell me about your wife, the kids thing, the thing. Do you know what I mean? That's what I care about. So I am a who needs those relationships. And that's what makes it so difficult when you move away from home. Because you move and you lose, you know, the kind of price of opportunity is familiarity. Do you know what I mean? You lose everything that you feel so good and that makes you tick and that makes you you to some extent. And so I feel like those sacrifices and those trade offs, while they've been important and amazing for my success, I have given something in order to get that back.

[Lewis Howes]

What have you given?

[Emma Grede]

Well, you've given up like, you know, the, you know, familiarity is an interesting thing because when you're somebody like me, I don't want to, like, I don't want to do new people all the time. Like, I would rather, you know, it's like I'm invited to a lot of things. I don't want to go. I want to, like, you know, I don't want to go. I want to be with somebody that I care about, who cares about me and talk about that thing that happened. You know, it's like that's just. Just who I am. And so I think when you leave where you're from, a little piece of you kind of, you know, falls away because, like, I don't have that same connectivity with all of the people that I love. I had to give something up to get something else interesting. And so that's. There's a real cost to that.

[Lewis Howes]

You know, I feel like mentally and in the world, you've been achieving greatness since you were a young kid, from, you know, having multiple jobs to running your siblings lives and managing all these things, and also having a positive mindset along the way to transitioning into the business world and being extremely successful. And in your book, you have a quote on page 70 that says, the ascent to greatness is rarely pretty and you'll learn the most from failure. Since we're on the School of Greatness, what is the thing you failed the most that has taught you about greatness?

[Emma Grede]

First of all, I love the name of this podcast. It's so good. I stole the mug there because I was like, I'm gonna drink from the School of Greatness every damn day. I was like, let's go.

[Lewis Howes]

Take it.

[Emma Grede]

You know, the reason I try to include all of the mistakes and all of the failings is because they have been, in hindsight. Right. So hard when you're in it. But of course, they've been the places where I've grown and everybody knows that. And I have kind of retrained my mind at this point to look for the fear, to look for the moment where I might not come out on the other side in the best way, because I know that that's where all the growth is.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, like, and it's a really difficult thing to do because specifically for women, I think that we are sort of engineered in a way where our emotions can take so much about decision making. And what I talk about in the book is how I. Or one of the reasons I think I've been able to build this life is because I've been able to manage my emotions. Not that I've got rid of fear or guilt or, or sadness or anger or any of the things that I feel. But I've trained myself to understand what is useful and what is gonna get me somewhere. And so when I think about all the failures, I don't look at them as like an assault on me and my character. I'm like, that was just a moment where I had something to learn and life had something to show me. And I had to go through that terrible time to get on the other side. I couldn't have this without that. And so now I find myself going, what scares me? Like, what am I really scared doing now? Because I am 100% sure that's where the next, like, moment of this is coming from.

[Lewis Howes]

One of the biggest money mistakes I see people make is waiting for the perfect time to get serious about their finances. And I've been there myself. It can be easy to say you'll just deal with it later. But later has a way of showing up fast. And that brings us to today's sponsor, Northwestern Mutual. They'll match you with a financial professional who work with you to build a plan based on what's important to you, looking out for your blind spots and finding new opportunities to help grow your wealth and protect what you've worked so hard for. They listen to you find out what's going on in your life today and what you have in mind for the near and long term. Personally, Northwestern Mutual has been behind my financial and emotional security as an entrepreneur most of my life. Having someone in my corner helps me make clearer decisions and stay focused on building a future I am proud of. Find a better way to [e-mail] the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company paid testimonial by a Northwestern Mutual policy owner I am big on simple daily habits that support how you show up. And this is about building a routine that helps you eat, sleep, thrive, repeat Nature's bounty is all about helping you thrive. From your head to your heels, you can support your heart, bone, nerve and muscle health with magnesium glycinate. And if you want a little extra heart support, there is vital heart rapid release soft gel cells made with magnesium and CoQ10. And for digestive and immune health, Probiotic10 delivers 20 billion live probiotic cultures in a one pill per day formula, which makes it easy to stay consistent. And if you care about building habits that support your goals, this is one way to stay intentional with your health. Nature's Bounty it's in your nature. Learn [e-mail] these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. There's nothing that frustrates me more than when things don't move with speed. And when it comes to building a strong daily routine for your life, the tools that you rely on at home should make things run more smoothly without interruptions. And that's the thinking behind T Mobile's 5G home Internet. And big news. T Mobile now has the fastest 5G home Internet, according to the experts at Ookla. Speedtest setup is so quick and simple, no technician needed and you're online in 15 minutes or less. And the price comes with a five year price guarantee, so you don't have to worry about unexpected price hikes down the road. And when I'm working from home, my Internet does a lot of the heavy lifting. It's prepping for the next show on the School of Greatness, uploading files. I'm doing zoom calls, I'm doing meetings. All these different things are all happening and I need them to happen fast. And with t mobile 5G home Internet, things move fast and stay smooth. Pages load quickly, files upload successfully, and I can stay focused without constant interruptions. It makes a big difference. Visit t mobile.com homeinternet to check availability today. Price guarantee exclusions like taxes and fees apply fastest based on Ookla Speed test intelligence data second half of 2025. All rights reserved. I mean, you talk about this, you know, managing your emotions on page 17 you say to reap the benefits of your gut based intuitions, which we were talking about, and to use your emotions in a healthy way, you need to learn how to modulate and manage them. So what is the first step then to managing your emotions in an uncertain world?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, isn't that difficult? Because it is so uncertain. And I find that, you know, for me, like my default emotion was always anger.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. Where I come from, it was like the first thing I wouldn't get sad. I didn't feel like, you know, like I felt angry.

[Lewis Howes]

About what?

[Emma Grede]

Everything, you know, also because that was what was around me. You know, I come from a really blamey culture where it was like, you know, I can't get a doctor's appointment, they're not picking up our trash, and these people taking our jobs, the weather is miserable and, and it was this blamey culture where everyone was angry about everything all the time. And there were moments in my life where I've really blown up and been so mortally embarrassed like, like to the point Where I felt like the pits of the earth. I've been like, how can I ever recover from this blow up?

[Lewis Howes]

Like, from something you said or did

[Emma Grede]

or emotionally did and said. A way I behaved, how I've acted, like, yeah. And I. I mean, I went. I put myself in anger management counseling just for. Oh, yeah, like when I was 19. Absolutely. I was like, this is not. This is not going to serve me.

[Lewis Howes]

You put yourself in it.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

Something bad must have happened to.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, I talk about in the books, my most embarrassing moment ever. I. I just, like, I think I can be as a. As a kid, I didn't understand that there was another way. There was nobody that ever explained to me that you could take a deep breath, that you could go inside yourself, that you can have an emotion and that there can be some detachment from who you are. I thought that was who I am, who I was.

[Lewis Howes]

The emotion was you.

[Emma Grede]

I thought it was me. Yeah. I thought that I am that person.

[Lewis Howes]

And so I'm experiencing this emotion.

[Emma Grede]

No, no such thing. I really believe that's who I was. And I only had that. That was my default mode. And so when I, you know, it's like when you know better, you do better. But I had to go out and find that because it wasn't presented to me in that way.

[Lewis Howes]

Wow, that's fascinating. It's kind of like when my. I kind of had my turning point when I was around 30 years old, because I had a lot of anger inside of me as well. Well, and I think it's. I felt like I was being taken advantage of most of my childhood. And all of a sudden the anger just came out kind of in every area of my life. And my friend was like, I don't want to hang out with you anymore. I got in a physical fight on a basketball court, actually, in the main streets of West Hollywood. And I pick a basketball game that had nothing on the line.

[Emma Grede]

Like a physical fight in your 30s, that's it.

[Lewis Howes]

I say 29. Mel's 29, so almost 30. But I got in a fistfight with someone, and I remember walking back into, like, my apartment and looking in the mirror and just like looking myself in the eyes in the mirror, shaking and being like, I don't recognize who I am. Like, what. Who am I? What am I doing? Like, I'm a grown man getting out of his fight over nothing. Nothing. And I could have, like, really done something bad, you know, thankfully, the guy was okay afterwards. But just never know where that emotion could lead if you don't learn to, like, address it. Right. And so that's pretty insightful that you did that at 19.

[Emma Grede]

No, and I've learned that over the years, you know, because I think anger is one that, for me, I was able to get a grip on and understand. But it's still there.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, right.

[Lewis Howes]

You still have to, like, take a

[Emma Grede]

breath, and you don't have to go that far to find out. But there are all of these very unhelpful emotions. And I think the older that I've got, the more I've understood, you know, what would I do if I wasn't really scared? What would I do if I didn't feel guilt? And so, so much of what I'm talking about in this book is, like, figuring out, like, a vision for yourself and an idea of who you are. And I think that as a kid, I had a strong feeling that where I was from wasn't who I am. I was like, I am not supposed to be here. This is not the rest of my life. I belong somewhere else. There is better stuff for me. And I was like, what can I do? Do what is within my reach to get me out. And that, for me, was work, any type of work. I was like, get on a train and go into town and find a way that you can physically get away from this place. And in the beginning, it was just that, the distance. I was like, if I get on a train and go for an hour, I'm far enough away that I can be somebody else.

[Lewis Howes]

Wow.

[Emma Grede]

And I really. I remember the thought of that. Like, you know, I just could. You know, in. In London, we have the tube map. And I was like, if I go from this zone all the way into this zone, I'm so far that I can be who I'm supposed to be.

[Lewis Howes]

Did you not feel like you could be who you were supposed to be at home?

[Emma Grede]

No, it was too difficult, really. There were so many responsibilities, and I was, you know, I was already set up to be mom to, you know, my sisters. And it was so I had to be really tough. And when I understood that that toughness was causing me to be unnecessarily angry, I was very clear about the correlations. I was like, I have to get out of. Of here. I have to be out of this place where I'm in constant reactive mode, and I have to choose my choice. And that's when I started to think, oh, my goodness, like, that's not the woman I want to be. Like, for me, it was Oprah, right? I used to watch Oprah on the tv. And you have to go back, you know, if you go back 25 years ago, she introduced all of this stuff to the culture that we take for granted now. But it's like no one was talking about mindfulness meditation, gratitude, like that was. She introduced that stuff certainly to me. And so I was like, oh, I want to. Want to be that type of woman. I was like, she. I didn't know anyone like that. I didn't know a woman who spoke like that. And of course, she was a black woman. And so for me, I was like, I'm gonna be like, Oprah. I'm gonna be that woman. I'm gonna say intelligent things and I'm gonna have a lot of money and I'm gonna be like, graceful, and I'm still gonna be strong, but I'm gonna do it in this, like, really beautiful, feminine.

[Lewis Howes]

And this.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. And I was like, that's it. That's the blueprint. Like, she's. She's got, you know, and in my head I was like, she's also making a ton of money. Like, because you used to see in the newspapers that Oprah's done this and she's done that. So to me, I was like, okay, I'm gonna model that behavior. I'm gonna, like, read everything that she says, and I'm gonna speak how she speaks, and I'm gonna do this gratitude thing. And I was writing down, well, you know, I had nothing to be grateful for, really, but I was like, I'm gonna find the things. And so I found a way to vision a life for myself. And still now I think about that because I think there's so much in our culture and in soc measure yourself against. And I am always very careful that I'm measuring myself up against the things that I want. The vision that I have for myself, the type of mum I want to be, the type of leader I want to be, the things that are important to me, my principles, my values. And then I can have fear and guilt and disappointment, but not against somebody else's idea of why I should be interesting.

[Lewis Howes]

This is fascinating because when I was 13, I begged my parents to send me away to a private boarding school. Did I begged them. They did not want me to leave.

[Emma Grede]

No. Who wants their 13 year old to leave?

[Lewis Howes]

But I grew up in such a environment, you know, that was. Just. Didn't feel emotionally safe for me, you know, and so I. I was. I ran away, essentially, right. And I wanted to get out, and I couldn't get out fast enough and I. It. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get away from your environment or wanting to run away. For me, I needed to run away for certain reasons, for my emotional safety. Safety. But eventually I couldn't run away from myself. Later, like I stepped. I was still running away internally, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, right? Chasing and running away to try to fulfill something. It doesn't mean it's right or wrong, good or bad, but it's just what I did to survive until I had to come back home to me. What was the thing you were running away from the most? And when did you feel like you came back home to you.

[Emma Grede]

You.

[Lewis Howes]

To emotional safety within yourself?

[Emma Grede]

I think that what I was always running from was a future that looked like all the stuff that was around me. I was scared less that I would end up like all the women I could see crying over some guy that left them devastated that someone had cheated on them, left broke and alone, you know, left. I could see that despair all around me. And I was like, that can never be me. That can never be me. And also I saw a lot of women, not my own mother, but they were at the mercy of the partners that they had, right? So when he was up, they were up. New car, new curtains, lovely stuff, you know, all great. But then when that went away, it was gone. You know, you had a drunk husband and, you know, no money, and the car goes, and the woman's just like, what happened? And I was like, no way. Like, no way could that ever be me. And I saw it in my own family, and I saw it in the people around me. And so that was like a fear of mine. And so for me, working and having this idea of my life was like, that was going to be my escape. That was like, that's my plan. That's my get out plan. And then I get to decide and I'll create the buffer and I will be in a position where it doesn't matter who. Who is around me. Like, I'll be good. And to the point where that still shows up in my life. Today, my husband laughs all the time. You know, I have my own lawyers. Like, we have a family office and we have our companies and we have, you know, like, business managers. And I still have my own separate lawyers that will look at my stuff because I'm like, I get it. I love you. We're together. We're gonna do everything. And he's like, but you know that you are just like, paying through the nose our Lawyers are your lawyers. And I'm like, yeah, but you know what? I don't know. I don't wanna be one of those girls.

[Lewis Howes]

You never.

[Emma Grede]

You never know. You never know. So it's in there still.

[Lewis Howes]

Still in there.

[Emma Grede]

Deep down, it's there and it ain't going away.

[Lewis Howes]

Still worried.

[Emma Grede]

Still worry.

[Lewis Howes]

So you still got to start with yourself. You're still doing the work.

[Emma Grede]

I'm still working.

[Lewis Howes]

Did you guys do a prenup before?

[Emma Grede]

Actually, we did a post nup. We discussed it and then, you know, with wedding arrangements, we never got around to it. But the nuptial. Oh, yeah. It was fully, fully fleshed out and negotiated. And it's actually a really funny story. We were in a restaurant and it turned out that a very famous agent and her husband were sitting close to us, but we couldn't see and watched our whole negotiation. And every time I ever see this couple, they're like, I remember, you're on prenuptial arrangement dinner. We heard the whole thing and they were cracking up and went home and like, why don't we have a. Why don't we have a prenuptial agreement?

[Lewis Howes]

But you probably. I mean, were you making the money, a lot of money then?

[Emma Grede]

So that is a great point. No, at that point, we were very uneven. So my husband had started his business journey in his kind of late 20s, early 30s, and he was doing way better than I was. But, you know, I'm always gonna bet on myself. I was like, it's a matter of time, TikTok. I was like, just wait. So, no, I went in and negotiated like I was already who I am today.

[Lewis Howes]

That's interesting.

[Emma Grede]

What a psycho. Now I think about it, I'm like, what was I being so hard ass about? I had absolutely nothing in the future when I salaried. I had a company that I owned a piece in, and I was a salaried person at that time. So I was really betting on my.

[Lewis Howes]

You didn't have a big net worth or anything at the moment?

[Emma Grede]

No, at that time? Absolutely not.

[Lewis Howes]

Maybe a year's worth of savings or a few years maybe, or something.

[Emma Grede]

I had very little and was spending. I was. I've never, ever spent beyond my means because I'm seriously frugal and I know the price of everything. And when I say frugal, it's. It's like, I love nice things. Like, don't get me wrong, because my people will be out there going, what is she talking about?

[Lewis Howes]

She spit it out. There's.

[Emma Grede]

We just went To Chanel, she's a liar. But I am very mindful of money. And it's still. I still understand how much every single thing costs and the value of everything. I think that's what makes me good at my job. You know, it's like if I am expecting a customer to spend $150 on a pair of jeans, they're going to be worth every one of those 150, because I have an understanding of what it takes to make 150 bucks. So it's like I'm fully still in relation to what things cost.

[Lewis Howes]

If you go back to the younger version of you with all the lessons you know now and all the work you've done, and we're all work in progress for the rest of our lives, what would you say to her, the girl who's there taking care of your siblings and the father's not there anymore, and you're kind of helping your mom. You're parenting your mom and parenting yourself.

[Emma Grede]

I would say to her what I said, which back in those days, I used to be like, it's all going to work out. Like, I really knew, and perhaps I'd made an unfair correlation in the work piece of it. But I was like, if you are just a good girl and you work really hard, it's all going to work out for you. I really believed that, and I still believe that.

[Lewis Howes]

Do you believe that you would have been able to accomplish the results you have staying in your home environment?

[Emma Grede]

No way.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

No. And I say that in two ways, right? Because for me, home environment is one, sort of East London and two, England. You know, I'm going to be really honest with you and say something that's maybe deeply unpopular because of where we are in this country right now, and we all know the underbelly of it, Right? I'm not going to sit here and say that we aren't in a really tumultuous time and there isn't an underbelly to where we are, and that America has a lot of around it. Having said that, you know, I look at myself and I think I am the living, breathing embodiment of the American dream. There is nowhere on earth that in eight or nine years you can come to and have the kind of success and trajectory that I've had. And so as difficult as things are right now, you have to look at me and go, wow, this country is kind of amazing because of the people and the communities and the way that you're allowed to come into a system and be successful. Within that system. So what worries me about where we are right now is that you would take away the single best thing that this country is all about. Like that you would erase the very thing that makes you America. Like, to me, it's unfathomable because I look at it and I'm like, damn, this place is good. Don't get rid of that. Do you know what I mean? It would be. Be like me without hair or I don't know, like not good, you know, like not a. Not a vibe like you. You need that in this place because that's what makes it so amazing. Like that, that fabric of the place coupled with those people that are here and the way all of that works together, like that's the magic of America.

[Lewis Howes]

Where were you in your business or financial aspect of things before coming to usa?

[Emma Grede]

I was doing pretty good. So I had bought a. I had created and sold two companies before I came here. So I started my first company in my kind of mid 20s and that was a 12 year build before I eventually sold it. I sold it to IPG Media and in the middle of that I got involved in this kind of blog platform thing. Like they were bloggers, not influencers. Then before we even had that language where I aggregated the ad sales and sold the ad sales of a group of fashion bloggers and I also sold that company. So I had done pretty well. Not well like I am now, but I had made tens of millions of dollars. Yeah. And I was like, to me, I was Richie Rich Rich, you know, I was like, you know, I didn't feel done, but I was very much like I've done the thing, you know, it's like I've started something, I've built it, I've sold it. I made a lot of mistakes, you know, I had offices in London, in New York, in la, I closed in la. It's like I did all of the things. And that made it actually even harder because I was living, you know, I had a house in London. I had a beautiful house in the country. The dream of England, you know, and

[Lewis Howes]

get away on the weekends.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. You know, take my two beautiful kids to my country house. I thought I was like Kate Middleton, you know, I was like Queen of the Castle. And so it was even harder to risk it all and leave all of that to come into uncertainty. And honestly, to come to la, which was never a place that I fancied. You know, I was like English people. I was. I'm a Londoner. You go to New York, you know, I Thought this was like, for. For the entertainment industry. I was like, who lives there? It's sunny all the time. It's so weird that people are weird, you know, I didn't. I. That's what. That was my appreciation.

[Lewis Howes]

My first year I moved here. I did not like LA my first year here, because I came from Ohio, but then I lived in New York City for a while, and I loved the vibe of New York City. The energy, the grittiness, the realness, the rawness and the. I was like, everyone here is fake. You know, that's my first interpretation, totally. But then after a year, I was like, gosh, everyone's in blizzards all over the world. And I'm like, look at us.

[Emma Grede]

It's pretty nice with our legs out, stunning ourselves. No, And I understand that because to me, you know, LA was like, in yesterday. You know, I was like, the time zone doesn't work. I can't call my people. What are you gonna wear if it's sunny every day?

[Lewis Howes]

So far behind, everyone's already got their work done.

[Emma Grede]

The next day, they're gonna be ahead of me. So it was a sacrifice. And because I was doing pretty well, it was even harder for me to fathom, like, why, like, everybody around me was like, but you've made it like you have all the things, like, you want more. Like, what is wrong with you? But to me, there was something much bigger and almost like kind of bigger than myself, you know, I'd had these two kids. Lola was three months old. Gray was about two and a half. And my husband at that point was like, you know what, Emma? He's like, you have in this company, in good American, he's like, you have a tiger by the tail. You can do with it what you will, but I think that you need to be. And put yourself, like, right in the middle where it happens.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Emma Grede]

And I was.

[Lewis Howes]

So you launched it in.

[Emma Grede]

I launched it while I was in the uk and it really took off. Like, nobody had the visibility that it would take off like that. And so I, you know, with Jens encouragement, I was like, okay, let's go to la. We'll go there for three years, and then we'll come back to civilization.

[Lewis Howes]

Civilization.

[Emma Grede]

Eight years later, and I'm not going anywhere.

[Lewis Howes]

What's been the biggest mindset shift you've had since moving from the UK to the usa, and what is unlocked for you with that mindset?

[Emma Grede]

Well, I would say everything has changed, because the possibility for me here seemed endless.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. Because when you get. When you come From a place that is, you know, London is a big international thing city. But you know, make no mistake, it's still a small place. Right. It's still in some ways such a locked community. And I came here, no one knows my accent. Everybody thinks I speak like the Queen. I do not, by the way. I am not.

[Lewis Howes]

Your team is like, ah, she doesn't talk like that.

[Emma Grede]

She ain't talking like the Queen. But there is no judgment here. There is like, here is a person, like, how good are your ideas? How hard are you willing to work? And so for me, that was very freeing. Cause you come to a place and know you and you're like, there's no baggage. I am whoever I want to be here.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah. And people care about results more than anything. They're not like trying to put you in a box. I guess if you can create something like the market will decide.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. And that and that for me, that level of opportunity and that shift into thinking, you know what, I am as good as my idea and there will be somebody who wants to think about this, to fund it, to get behind me. And so I guess to answer your question, like, any limitations that I thought were attached to what I was doing completely disappeared. And I think that I started to think in a much bigger way. And America and Americans helped with that naturally. Right. It's just there's a speed and there is an appetite and there's a willingness. And also people want to take a picture bet they're willing to be like, yeah, go on then, kiddo. Like, go for it.

[Lewis Howes]

You know, for someone watching or listening, that might have come from a similar environment where they didn't have the opportunities, they didn't have the educational side of things, they didn't have the resources. What's a limiting thought around money that is holding them back from what they can create financially?

[Emma Grede]

Well, the first thing is to think that you need a lot of money to do, do anything. I think that we've got ourselves into a really dangerous position when we feel like the only businesses and the only ideas that are valid are billion dollar unicorn sized and shaped ones. Right. I have a lot of friends and a lot of people around me that do incredible businesses, incredible because they afford them a lifestyle, they can hire people from their community. They're little and lovely with four employees or with 40 employees. There's a lot of different ways to do businesses and to have a business. And so I would think about is, are the limitations real or are you putting them on yourself before you get out of the Gate. And that's something that requires an enormous amount of self reflection and honesty. So you have to get out of your own way. And what happens is that people really live in their heads. You want to make sure that your biggest enemy isn't between your own two ears, right? You have to say to yourself, okay, when comes to it a minute, maybe this thing, I have these giant aspirations, but you've got to get out of the gate, you got to get off your desktop, out of your head and do something. And it also, you've got to understand that life comes in seasons. There are moments like you don't need everything to happen to you right away. You don't need it to be the biggest thing. You might do something, it goes completely pear shaped. There's another opportunity and another one and another one. So I want people to understand that actually you just got to do the thing, have a go, get out of your own way. And within that you can test and change and figure things out and learn. Like, that's the beauty of business. Everything transitions, right? Like people imagine that you're going to start a company and that's what it is. The truth is good. American looks nothing like it did in the beginning, right? Your principles, your reason for being, the problem that you solved, your purpose, all of that stays up the same. Everything else transitions on the way up. So you have to know that you're going to start with this thing and that it's going to change and shift, and you're going to change and shift, but you got to stop. That's it.

[Lewis Howes]

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[Emma Grede]

There could be a different balance. You know what, what happens is that. And when I say balance, I mean I have been an owner and an operator for what am I? I'm 43 years old. It's like 20 years, right? That's how long.

[Lewis Howes]

We're both 43.

[Emma Grede]

What a lovely age. And glorious, by the way. You know, I've been saying to everyone throughout my whole press run around this book that I'm 42. And I did an interview at home the other day.

[Lewis Howes]

My husband was like, When's your birthday?

[Emma Grede]

September 23rd. I'm gonna be 44. I'm not even 43 for that much longer. He was like, just so you know, I was like, oh my God. People are gonna think I'm lying about my age. I'm 43. I'm 43 and 43. But your question I.

[Lewis Howes]

The balance.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, so. So I think that as your kids get older, they require and crazy thing because you imagine that they need you when they're babies, right? You have these two little precious five month old kids and you know, there's so much that pours into them. But actually, as they get older, they understand things in a different way. And so I'm trying to make sure that I get that right, that I get like, that I can be around for the things that are important to my kids, not all the things that happen because that's not possible, but that I can be where I need to be for them and fulfilling my own needs. And so it's really just making sure that as my life changes, that I'm part of the, the design changes. Do you know what I mean? That I am being purposeful and thinking like, what is the shape of that? What is it?

[Lewis Howes]

You can't keep doing what you did, you know, while you were launching and building this business at the next season with your, with your kids, is what

[Emma Grede]

I'm hearing you say 200% for the longest time. And you know, I'm really lucky because a lot of what I do isn't in the startup phase now. But that is a choice, right? You can choose, choose to stay with that mentality or you can choose to hire a CEO or a president and shift and change your role. And I think again, there are seasons, there are moments where I've been 200% all in tunnel focused and there are moments where I've said, you know what, I've just had a baby, I'm going to take a minute, I'm going to outsource some of this stuff. And there's other moments where I have to lean in. But I want that to be more. I don't want that to be dictated to me. And so I try to make sure that I'm really mindful and understanding of that.

[Lewis Howes]

Did you. I mean, I can only imagine the complexities of being a driven business leader while having kids. I can only imagine the potential, maybe judgment, but also praise that you might have had over the last decade of like, wow, you had four kids and you launched all these billion dollar brands like, like. And people either praising you or maybe judging you for what they don't know. How did you deal with that judgment of people saying, well, was she really, you know, if she's 200% here in her business, is she really there in her family? Like, how did you navigate that internally?

[Emma Grede]

I think I've learned as I got older that I, it's, you know, like, it's just me against me at the end of the day, like, I really tune it out and I am one of those people that, but don't really let, like, you know, it's like everybody's gonna have their point of view and you know, you've got other parents at the school and people that you work with. And that's why, like, I'm very clear about what type of mother I intend to be. Like, what is really important to me. Like, I like the kind of, like I like to wake my kids up in the morning and I really like to put them to bed. I don't take them to school every day. I don't make their lunches, I don't, I'm not at the school gates to collect them. I don't get to every event. If it's a thing that's really important to them, if they're racing, if they're in a play, if they're like, then I am there. But it's like, that's okay by me because I have my things and I'm only measuring myself against that. Everything else can just kind of drown out. And I do try to talk a lot about this idea of trade offs because people imagine, yeah, you're trading off stuff you don't want to do. No, the trade offs are always things that you really, really want to do. So you have to choose your life.

[Lewis Howes]

It's a sacrifice, right?

[Emma Grede]

And it's a huge sacrifice. And so again, that's why I like to think about my life in these seasons. Because I think there's a time and a place for me to be all in. There's a time and a place where it's like I'm going to be in lockdown. I'm not going to speak and see my friends as much as I want to. That's the reality, right? Something's got to give and it's usually not going to be my kids. So there's other places of sacrifice. But I think so long as you choose and you're not impacted by other people's opinions.

[Lewis Howes]

I mean, maybe this was your British upbringing of having kind of thicker skin, but how did you learn to not focus on criticism? In business success or failure, personal life, whatever it might be, it's not useful.

[Emma Grede]

It's not useful. It doesn't serve me, you know, Like, I am not. When I say I'm not a people pleaser, it's like I'm missing the gene. Like, I don't care if you liked it. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, in a way I'm like, I really am. So I mean, the book is called Start with Yourself. Do you know what I mean? The first interview I did about the book was this wonderful woman and she said, emma, I can't believe I opened the family chapter. And it starts with you. I'm like, that is so me. Like, I didn't even think about that. But that's how I think. Like, I am right at the top of my list. Because if I'm not good, then no one around me is good. And I know that feels difficult to hear from a mother of four, but it's really the trick. And I believe that. Like, I believe that I can live up to exactly the type of woman that I want to be. And I can be a good mom. I believe that I can, you know, do deeply meaningful and impactful work and make a load of money doing it. Like, I don't think it needs to be either. Or. That's right. I write a whole chapter. It's both. And you make those decisions for yourself. Don't be thinking about what everybody else has got to say, because it will never please you. And here's the. The thing. Nobody's watching you. You know this. Like, nobody's thinking about you as much as you're thinking about you. So you've got to kind of sit back and go, it's totally fine. No, like, I'm good with me. And as long as you're good with you, and you can lay your head down on the pillow at night and be like, you know what? I feel really good about the decisions that I made. I feel really pleased with the type of person I am. Like, what else matters? Yeah, I'm not watching for other people's kids.

[Lewis Howes]

I mean, if you could bottle up that, you know, gene or lack of gene and sell it, that's. That's your next billion dol.

[Emma Grede]

The idea we need an amipeptide.

[Lewis Howes]

Most people are so worried about the opinions of others. They're so worried about the one negative comment or one negative review rather than the hundreds of positive ones or thousands that it cripples them. And to focus on that one thing where it sounds like you don't have

[Emma Grede]

that, I just don't think it's useful.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah.

[Emma Grede]

And I try to focus on the things that are moving me forward. You know, I always get these questions of, how do you do all of these things? How do you have the businesses? How do you have kids? Are you a good wife? And I'm just, how do I do that? Like, I have a set of goals and I say no to everything that isn't getting me closer to those goals. That's it. I have a set of things I wanna do with my kids, and I say no to everything else. Like, it isn't that difficult. We made it difficult. We also have kind of like Got into this space and place right now where parenting has gone completely mad. Parenting didn't get harder. The expectations of parenting got harder. You know, back in, like, when I was a kid, if we had fresh milk and an apple in the house, my mom was like, jo, job done. You know, like, they'll survive. Now we have to watch every ingredient. We have to monitor every friendship. We have to understand how our kids are thinking and feeling and playing. And we got the right developmental toys for the stage that they're at. Like, it's. Do you know what?

[Lewis Howes]

It's not I so much crap as a kid and I turned out.

[Emma Grede]

It's not that deep. Do I think that your kids should sit and be, you know, like, raised by the iPad? No, I don't. But at the end of the day, when we've turned parenting into another part of our environment, ambition, that's failure to me. Right. My kids need a mom who loves them. They need someone they can rely on. They need somebody that can give them like, a big, lovely cuddle. And they need, like, attention and presence from me for about 15 minutes a day. There are four of them. Then it's over.

[Lewis Howes]

Then they're moving on. They're bored. They're thinking about something else.

[Emma Grede]

They're on to the next one. And that has to be okay because the spin that we've got ourselves in and this idea that we're constantly focused, failing, like, that's about as useful as the people pleasing stuff.

[Lewis Howes]

It is.

[Emma Grede]

Don't do it. Don't do it to yourself.

[Lewis Howes]

I love that you said your friend opened up the book to the parenting part. It started with you. The book is called start with yourself. And also you end the book with your starting with yourself, which I loved. I love when you reference to Snoop Dogg because I love that video when he got me. It's the greatest. I feel like in some ways someone could look at that and look at it as an egotistical approach. But I. I was like, man, giving yourself permission to acknowledge all the hard work that you do or you do or someone does to create it. Yes, you can thank the people that supported you, but you're the one who had to live with you all day long and show up and do all those reps 100%.

[Emma Grede]

And here's what I know that I have. I'm such a team player, right? I really do look at myself. It's like, I'm the coach. It ain't my job to get in the middle of the game and go and score the goal. But it's like I'm going to to be the best I can be for all of my people. And leadership is what I happen to be very good at. Right? It's like that's I am really good at building a strategy and bringing everybody along on the ride and saying here's the vision, here's how we're going to do it. And everybody come with me. Here are the parts that you guys should play. I have to be a great team player, but I don't imagine for one second because I don't know everybody's little piece of the pie, that I shouldn't be the one in charge. Charge. Not for a second.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah.

[Emma Grede]

I'm like, I'm the leader. I'm the one who's doing this thing. And so it's just I have a great appreciation for everybody else and the role they play.

[Lewis Howes]

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[Emma Grede]

I just also have that for myself.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah, that's great. Now I'm curious, Emma, do you feel like you were destined to be wealthy?

[Emma Grede]

I mean, it would have been a hard life to live in the way that I wanted to if I wasn't. Let's be fair. I think I didn't enjoy being poor. I remember of time when all I wanted was to order something from the menu and not look at the price. You know, like that feeling. I just wanted to be able to, like, 100%. I'll have the burger and the foie gras and a glass of champagne Police and not worry. And that took a really long time. I think that I was destined to. I was destined to be successful. And I have always been being focused on making money. Yes, I always put money in the center of my plans. I never imagined it would find me because I didn't know anybody that that happened to. And I never was shy about asking for what I am worth because I have audacity and I have a work ethic that matches it. And so I wasn't expecting anyone to come to me and be like, here you go, dear. But by the same token, I was like, if I work like this, you better be right, ready to pay me. Do you know what I mean? I was like, and I'm gonna take it. So that was the conundrum. Like, I really thought about money in that way. I was like, effort in, product out correlation. Like, I'm gonna, like, find the money.

[Lewis Howes]

If you don't make money at the center of your work, what will happen to you?

[Emma Grede]

Well, it avoids you, right? And. And. And again, this happens. You know, I. I have a husband who's in business, and he sits on the phone, so he's these guys and they chat and they tell each other, like, what, you know, they're investing in and what money they're putting in the market and what crypto thing to do and how they paid this lawyer and this, like, deal that they did to structure for the house before they had the money. And I'm literally sitting there going, I don't have one of those calls with any of my girlfriends. Why not? Because still, there's some stigma attached to the way that we think about money. And somehow it's like, ew, like, she's gross. She said money like, 20 times. I. I write in the book that I did a panel, and this wonderful, incredible woman said to me, emma, darling, you really speak about money too much. And I was like, but the name of the panel is Women Power and money. What are you talking about? You know, and so I don't think that we should avoid subjects when that's exactly what we want. Yeah, right. I think that we have to put ourselves in line to get what we're owed. And I don't expect that anybody is coming to save me, that anybody. Anybody's going to pluck me from obscurity and go, here's the thing that you want. It never happened to me like that. So if you don't ask, you don't get 100%.

[Lewis Howes]

Wow. Do you feel like I was asking you beforehand off camera? I said, do you feel like your last name supported your destiny for having, you know, greed is your last name? Do you feel like words have intentions that set us up for a future destiny that you were eventually going to. To earn more?

[Emma Grede]

It's a. It's a really funny question because when I. When I met my husband and my mom said, you know, how do you pronounce his surname? Because I took his name and I told her, and she said, of course, you were destined for that name. And I thought she kind of said it in a derogatory way. And I was like. I just thought it really suited me. Like, it was so. I was like, I'm going to get a T shirt. You know, like the Mr. Man. Mrs. Greedy. Like, I felt totally at ease and comfortable with it. You owned it.

[Lewis Howes]

You stepped into it.

[Emma Grede]

You know, I still feel like that feels like his name. And I've taken that name, and that is our family name. I'd have been successful. You called me Emma Poore. Do you know what I mean? It was always gonna work out for me. That's how I feel.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

But do you feel like anything shifted with taking that on and like, embodying that word or either way, you would

[Emma Grede]

have it, because I've been embodying, you know, I was a poor kid in, you know, plaster, which, you know, so far. I went back there two weeks ago, and if you see these photos, it is so gray and so grim and so.

[Lewis Howes]

Especially in the winter, too.

[Emma Grede]

It was so bad. And, you know, even there I was like, this is not where I'm supposed to be. This is not for me. I felt not special. I felt like. Like this is just not my end. This is not where I'm supposed to be. And to the contrary, when I got a job and went into, you know, into the center of London and worked on South Moulton Street, I felt like I had arrived. I was like, oh, like, these people are more Interesting. And this place is much more beautiful. And I would go into. You know, in England, we're full of galleries, and I would go into galleries, and I would go to museums, and I. I felt. This feels much more like what I wanted.

[Lewis Howes]

Your environment.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. Yeah. And again, never, ever feeling like I was better than anyone, but better than my situation, for sure. And just a willingness to do whatever it would take. You know, I feel like I've spent my whole life with my hand up. You know, I always. Whenever I speak to people and they say, emma, how can I, you know, how can I get ahead in my job? I'm like, just have your hand up. I'll do that. I'll do that. I did everything. I worked such miserable, unsatisfactory jobs for ages. Cause I was just like, I'll do it. What do you need? I'll go, please, may I? Like, all the time. Because I was sure that if I could just be excellent and show people that I was excellent, that somebody would find me, that somebody would recognize that there was a skill. And guess what? It totally works. Because when I'm looking at people in my business right now, I'm like, look at that person being excellent. The way she packs up the boxes and puts every bit of tissue so nice and writes notes, like, beautifully. I'm like, that's an excellent person. That's somebody who takes pride in what they do. Like, people notice when you do that. They really do. And they notice it in every way. And so I really believe that if you apply yourself and if you work really hard, hard, and if you don't try to make it a secret, great stuff is going to happen.

[Lewis Howes]

If you try to make what not a secret?

[Emma Grede]

That you're up for it, that you want more, that you're ready to work hard. But again, it's like, I'm willing to

[Lewis Howes]

do what it takes.

[Emma Grede]

I want you to be with your hand up. I don't want to have to come and find you out of 500 people. And that's why I talk so much about, you know, proximity and visibility. I need you there, right in the office, where I can see you. Where you can see me, where you can see how I move, where you understand the flow of the business and what we're doing here. I don't want you on a zoom call. I'm uninterested, like, entirely. And again, people are like, oh, but, Emma, you're a woman and a mum, so surely you understand flexibility. Of course I do. Of course I understand that. But surely you understand that if you're really ambitious and you want a great career, visibility and proximity is essential. It's not a nice to have. It's just essential shot.

[Lewis Howes]

Yes.

[Emma Grede]

Let's not set people up for, you know, failure. It's like, just be honest about what is needed. You want to pay rise? I need to see you, like, in the office.

[Lewis Howes]

I like the attitude.

[Emma Grede]

There's no other way.

[Lewis Howes]

I love the attitude. What is? I got a few final questions for you. I'm open to this.

[Emma Grede]

Love your questions.

[Lewis Howes]

Thank you very much. What is one question you wish more people asked you?

[Emma Grede]

Like, the reality of what it takes? Because I feel like you, you know,

[Lewis Howes]

what does it really take?

[Emma Grede]

Oh, it takes, like, you gotta be resilient. I know that that gets chucked around in podcast land so much, but what does it mean to be resilient? Like, taking a lot of knockbacks, taking a lot of information that rightly or wrongly is going to be leveled at you. And it comes from all places. You know, it comes on a board level and an investor level from your customers, from your colleagues. Like, you have to absorb a lot of stuff, start, and you have to go forward anyway. You have to do it anyway. And it's every day that I have resistance from all places, everywhere. Nobody calls me and says, guess what's happening today? We're selling out. It's going amazing. Nobody, nobody, ever. I only have problems. My day is a series of problems, morning to night, and you have to get with that. And so I wish people could understand, like, the reality of my life and how. How complex it is and how nuanced it is and how many hoops I have to jump through and how heavy it can be sometimes. Because when you have that responsibility, like, that's your responsibility. That's yours to deal with. I can't outsource my work. I can't go, could you not do it? It doesn't work like that. The buck stops with me. And so I. I often, you know, and. And I try to be really honest about this. I try not to sugarcoat it. And so much in the book, I had a level of honesty throughout out about all the mistakes and all the things that I could have done differently. And a level of, let's just like, get real with this, because it isn't how we're presenting it to be right now.

[Lewis Howes]

How do you navigate the heaviness and the weight of all the responsibility that you have?

[Emma Grede]

I guess I kind of juxtapose it with all the stuff that I've got as a Result of it, you know? And I don't just mean, like, the. The, you know, a house or a car. I'm like, wow, what choice I have. You know, I get up really early in the morning, but that's a choice. I really love what I do, you know, I really love the work. I really enjoy, like, working with product and solving problems. And I love being around people. There's, like, you put me in a proto review meeting with 60 people around and trying to figure out what a Seasons collection looks like. That's me in my element. That's, to me, the single best job that you could have in the world. And I really appreciate that so much. Because where I grew up, people just went to work to pay their bills, and they did mostly unenjoyable work. And they got to 5:00, and they were like, let me get out.

[Lewis Howes]

And they went to the bar, right?

[Emma Grede]

Like, that's what they did. That was the flow of their day. And I'm like, my day is. I am so lucky.

[Lewis Howes]

It's an adventure.

[Emma Grede]

It's. It's. It's a privilege and an adventure. And I don't take one single thing from granted. Like, not like, I opened my fridge this morning and I was like, imagine when I was little, if you had a fridge with all those drinks in there. That's great. And I'm fully having that conversation with myself. Like, fully. So to me, it's like I'm so aware of everything that has happened. And, you know, I always think of this funny story. Cause I'm obsessed. I love comedy. And when I was younger, I used to always watch Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock. And Chris has this thing where he talks about, like, when he gets his first big house and he keeps the bag packed at the door because he imagines one day someone's gonna be like, knock, knock, knock, like, you're out. And that's how I feel. I'm, like, waiting for someone said, this is not your life, girl. Are you crazy? Like, go. Go back. So there's an. There's a constant, like, thing for me to always be like, okay, I'm not gonna rest on my laurels. If I get an opportunity, I'm going for it. If I have somebody saying to me, emma, have you looked at this? Is this possible? Like, I'm going to go all in. Because I imagine that all of it can be lost in a second.

[Lewis Howes]

Really?

[Emma Grede]

Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

[Lewis Howes]

Do you feel like you've made it

[Emma Grede]

in so many ways? I have, because I'm so happy And I'm so, like, I'm very aware that I am living the single best moment of my life. Like, I don't get happier than now. I don't get better looking than now. I don't get fitter than now now. Like, in fact, I'm on my way out. Like, it's all down here. But I, I, I really have an awareness about that. And so when I think, you know, it's like I take a long time off in the summer, like real Euro style, you know, it's like I go away.

[Lewis Howes]

Six months, whatever. Yeah, yeah, six weeks.

[Emma Grede]

I go to Europe and I like, you know, I really go in because to me, like that time you can't get back, those summers you can't get back. My kids are only going to be little for so long. And so I really try to put a lot in. And I'm like a memory maker. I am craz. I will celebrate everything. Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas. I love America because you're always celebrating something. Like, I didn't even know what Thanksgiving was 10 years ago.

[Lewis Howes]

Now you're doing it.

[Emma Grede]

Let's go. Christmas practice. Like, I'm like, let's go, let's do turkey number one. But you know, it's, I'm. And I do it big. I go all in and I make the celebration because I know that life is so precious and I'm so excited about it and I am just like here for like every single bit of it. So as much as I love the work and the, and the chase and the, and the whole thing, I'm very, I'm very mindful that I also need to really enjoy it. And there's an awareness of that to both end. Like you talk about both and all day long.

[Lewis Howes]

Two final questions for you, Emma. Again, this has been really inspiring and powerful. So thank you for opening up and sharing. Your book is called Start with Yourself A New Vision for Work and Life. Makes make sure you don't only get one copy, but get at least two. One for you and one for a friend. Give a gift away because something you mentioned earlier made me think about when I started making money. For many years, a lot of people had to buy my meals. And I remember the first time because you mentioned like the first time you could like not look up the price. And then you just say, I'm gonna, I want this whatever, $50 steak or $100 thing, whatever, and be like, and I'm okay and I'm not going to go broke. I remember the first time I could pay for A friend's meal.

[Emma Grede]

Wow.

[Lewis Howes]

And the feeling it gave me of like, I'm safe, like I'm going to be okay and I'm not going to be broke. When for years people had to buy my meals and it felt very shameful when I was in my mid-20s and I couldn't pay for my own meals.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

And so I want to acknowledge you for the journey you've been on, for all the things you haven't had over overcome. Even though I know you said like you knew from the beginning and everything was fine, I still know that there must have been. There was anger for a reason. Yeah, there was a lot of anger for a lot of reasons that I know you talk about in the book, but also that you're probably still unpacking in your own life and you don't need to share it all here. But I want to acknowledge you for finding some peace in your heart because I think you with peace is better you with. With anger.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, God.

[Lewis Howes]

And I think if you with a level of anger kind of created what you've created, I can only imagine what you with all love can do in the world.

[Emma Grede]

Can you imagine?

[Lewis Howes]

And so I really acknowledge you for the journey you're on. We're all on a healing journey forever. You know, it's going to take time for me, you, everyone, but I'm so excited to see you in 3, 5, 7, 10 years with love, continue to be out added. Not that it wasn't as well, but at a whole different level of your life. And I'm just so excited for the difference that you've made and you'll continue to make with that intention living in your heart. So I hope people get the. Yeah, you're welcome.

[Emma Grede]

That's such a lovely thing to say.

[Lewis Howes]

You're welcome.

[Emma Grede]

Me too, by the way.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah. Because again, I was driven by. I was driven by anger, frustration, you know, whatever it was, not feeling good enough, all those things to go out, achieve, and I did it.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah.

[Lewis Howes]

But then I was like, oh, but I still don't feel good with me. Why is there still anger in me or why? And then I started to shift and started to do the healing work and it's like, oh, look what I can create with more love.

[Emma Grede]

Right.

[Lewis Howes]

You know, it's not that I don't have some of that in me still.

[Emma Grede]

No. And you need that little bit in you. You have to transform.

[Lewis Howes]

Yeah, exactly. So I acknowledge you for that. It's pretty cool. People can get your book, start with yourself. They can go to your Instagram, you create a lot more content. Your podcast has one. Well, Emma greed dot com. That's G R E D e dot com as well. This is a question I ask everyone at the end. It's called the Three Truths. So imagine a hypothetical scenario. You get to live as long as you want, but then it's the last day on this earth for you. And in this hypothetical scenario, you create all of your wildest dreams, all the memories happen. Life, it all works the way you want it. But on the last day, for whatever reason, you have to take all of your work with you. This book, this conversation, everything you shared in the world. It's got to go with you to the next place. So we don't have access to your content anymore. But on the final day, you get to leave behind three lessons. I call it the Three Truths. What would those three truths be for you?

[Emma Grede]

I think the first one has to be about who you surround yourself with. Because I was so lucky that I had such an incredible family unit coming up, and I've seen what that has meant and. And the sort of stabilizing factor that that had in my life. I felt so loved as a kid. I didn't have much. We didn't have a lot to go around, but it's like there was never a question of whether or not I was loved. And so the big truth would be that you know how important family is, and to love one another and to love, lead with love, like, that was just, you know, and I was. I can't remember who I was listening to. It might have been Oprah recently who said nobody ever told her that they loved her. And I was like, wow. I was told every day, every family member in my. You know, they kiss you on the lips, like it or not, and they tell you that they love you and they mean they love you. And I always felt that. And I do the same with my kids, everybody, every day.

[Lewis Howes]

That's beautiful.

[Emma Grede]

So that would be the first thing that's beautiful. I think the second thing, the truth is that. And I'm learning this and continue to learn this as I get older, but I have a great friend, Diane von Furstenberg, and she says the most important relationship you'll ever have is the relationship you have with yourself. And I take that so seriously, like how I speak to myself, how I treat myself, myself, how I think about me and my needs, my wants, my abilities. And as you get older, getting close to yourself is so important. And I think that the more of that, that I'm doing You know, I'm not religious. I have a spiritual practice. But like, really getting close to myself and understanding myself is like probably my best investment.

[Lewis Howes]

Beautiful. Yeah.

[Emma Grede]

The last thing, the last truth is maybe that your work isn't what you think it is. You know, this idea of self fulfillment. Like, I do a lot of nonprofit work and I'm on the board of the Obama Foundation. I'm on the board of an incredible organization called Baby2Baby. And when I think about the sum of my work, not just in the businesses, but the full sum of it and what I'm able to do, and I would never be able to do those what I do in nonprofit world had I not had the commercial reality of my businesses. But the full sum of my work has been so important that you have to choose really carefully where you put your energy as it pertains to your work. And that's a real truth because I could just keep going and going and be thinking about me. And so much of what I'm doing between my podcast, podcast and the book is actually about creating a blueprint and a new model for people outside me. Like, I didn't write the book because I thought people care particularly much about what it is that I've done and how I've become successful. I think people want to understand how they can be successful themselves. And so I think about your work and your energy as being so important and how you use that is like such a big thing for me. So I would be really mindful about how you use your precious energy as it pertains to your output.

[Lewis Howes]

Amen. Final question for you again. Make sure you guys grab a copy. Start with yourself right now. The final question, Emma, what's your definition of greatness?

[Emma Grede]

My definition of greatness? It has to be, I guess, self fulfillment because I think at the end of the day that's what all here to do, right? We're here to live up to our highest potential. And I think that that is what I'm trying to do. It's what I'm on a journey for. And I think that that's greatness.

[Lewis Howes]

Thanks for being here.

[Emma Grede]

Thank you, my dear. What a pleasure.

[Lewis Howes]

I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode episode with all the important links and if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness+channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out to how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter and now it's time to go out there and do something great.

[Emma Grede]

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[Lewis Howes]

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