“You need to think smaller,” her boss said.
5 minutes later my friend was typing into google, When do you apply to business school?
3 years later she graduated HBS.
Today she’s building big.
About dreaming big.
Waking up every day eye on the prize.
Taking actions that keep breathing it life.
Plenty of people pretend to encourage thinking big, but few do.
Even fewer teach you how.
All alone at the end of the evening when the bright lights have faded to blue…
After the credit crisis there was lots of noise about banker compensation.
For good reason, people questioned bankers’ role and how much they’d been paid.
There’s certainly lots wrong with compensation in our society, including…
Fact is…
Most bankers didn’t join the industry expecting little reward.
If you’d told them decades ago, give your life to this and one day you’ll be making 0.25X, many would have chosen a different path.
Of course relative to the average worker bankers are ridiculously paid.
But relative to others providing such massive value to our society as reading lines or catching balls, not so much.
Nor relative to what bankers give to get paid.
You strive to achieve.
From your early days in school you had to be top of the class.
College.
Business school too.
That just got you the job on Wall Street where you snaked back down to the bottom of the ladder.
So 80 hours a week for the rest of your life you could keep climbing.
Many give their life to banking, yet how many sell it for a high price?
You may have seen an article on the app DeepNude.
Another massive leap in technology the app uses an artificial neural network…
To remove the clothing in any photo of a woman.
It doesn’t take artificial intelligence to see women have boobs.
But with enough computing power you can better imagine what they look like.
No longer do we have to so desperately await the next iPhone hack to see celebrity boobs.
Or go to strip clubs.
With 50 bucks and the press of a button, all boobs are free.
Push up bras ruined boobs.
Promising so much, revealing less than.
Technology ruined them more.
Fake boobs.
Sexdoll boobs.
Insta “model” boobs.
Porn infested, boob injected Internet.
Technology promised so much, yet what boobs we’ve become.
I see it time and time again.
No matter what success we achieve it’s hard to feel like we’ve made it.
We are yet to do.
Or make happen.
A problem that first needs to be resolved.
We might be like Atlas having hoisted the world on our shoulders.
But maybe we shrugged a little on the way up.
Still not good enough.
Then I’ll be happy.
When we’re no longer bothered by this.
Worried about that.
Concerned for what else might happen.
There’s too often something that stands in our way.
There are lots of ways leaders quickly fall.
When you’re standing on the pedestal it’s easy to lose your footing.
People are constantly analyzing you.
Looking for cracks, figuring out if you’re really who you stand to be.
In the presidential debates just one question can end a candidate.
And the stakes can often be this high in business too.
A CEO speaking poorly on a shareholder call.
Failing communicating to the Board.
Delivering the wrong message to employees.
Sometimes leaders mess up badly and fail quickly.
But most the time we fail by leaving opportunities on the table.
My Fakebook birthday is always a nice surprise.
It’s like some of us men on our anniversary.
We completely forget until we wake up to the well in that case less pleasant surprise.
I’m getting on with my day.
Making it ultimate.
And then it starts…
With a text message, “Happy birthday!”
Then I remember, ha, of course it’s my Fakebook birthday.
I punch the air.
After all these years you’d think I might remember my Fakebook birthday.
Maybe even do something about it, like change it.
But I let it go on.
As I wrote about on my last Fakebook birthday I gave up telling people, “No it’s just my Fakebook birthday.”
Birthday wishes bring so much joy to people.
And of course I love people celebrating every day.
Working from home I’m often wearing a gun belt loaded with two pistols.
Glock 17 on my right.
M&P left.
Spare clips in front.
Neither shoot brass.
Just a laser I’m constantly drawing and painting targets left and right.
When I first started shooting with these retired SEALs I was surprised they carry hot.
Not just a holstered gun.
A round in the chamber; ready to draw and kick.
Back then I didn’t know anything about guns, nor get why someone would carry at home.
I still know jack about guns.
But I’ve quickly got skilled at shooting because I practice how I play.
I’m not yet American.
But I feel it through and through.
There is much wrong with this country, but no other place on Earth stands for what we do.
When my Dad first visited America he dropped to his knees and kissed the ground.
Born in England, having migrated to Australia, he felt he was meant to be born here.
Since I landed nearly 20 years ago I haven’t imagined living anywhere else.
It’s easy for others to find fault with America.
Easy for those of us living here to imagine better ways it could be.
But there’s still no place on Earth that stands for more of what it means to be free.
There are plenty of studies that show America is far from the most free.
Upward mobility. Infant mortality. Education rates. Incarceration. Standard of living, etc.
You can tick down a list of the things that are wrong with this place.
But still no other country in the world is more free.
With more diversity of thinking, and being.
Where there is desire, there is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame, someone’s bound to get burned
But just because it burns, doesn’t mean you’re gonna die
You gotta get up and try, and try, and try
But we all know she’s talking about something more.
We all have dreams.
Things we burn for.
It’s better to have loved and lost, they say.
But the fear of loss can be so scary that we never try.
Ever worry that it might be ruined
And does it make you wanna cry
When you’re out there doing what you’re doing
Are you just getting by
Tell me are you just getting by, by, by…
You gotta get up and try, and try, and try
“With my phat house and cool car,” my gay buddy said.
“You might be right,” I responded, “But why?”
“Obviously because we’re attracted to rich and successful people.”
“Perhaps, yet, why?” I pushed him deeper.
Why does rich and successful attract men and women alike?
Well, first of all, it doesn’t always.
Plenty of rich and successful people are bad at attracting men or women.
But when it does work, why?
“Rich and successful is a criteria, like red paint on a car,” I said to him.
It tells you nothing about why it stimulates our biology.
And when you get to the heart of why it works, to the principles of attracting, you see many ways to create attraction.
Rich and successful works because of what it connotes.
“One you might call positive,” I said to him, “It implies you are a person of high status, or high value.”
This is principle number one, the first Law of Attracting in my Meeting Wonder Woman Masterclass.
“Ah, which is why waving around your Ferrari keys fails,” he quickly grokked.
Because as soon as you are broadcasting high status, well, you’re no longer high status.
“And, so what’s the potentially negative reason it attracts?” he asked.
“I want to die on the field,” my client said.
“Like a quarterback unable to move in the end I want to know I gave it all.”
“When I exit this game of life,” looking at me with steely resolve he said, “Every ounce of me I leave here, in the field.”
He’s an intense fellow, but we all get where he’s coming from, don’t we?
Knowing we could have done more.
Given more.
Tried harder.
Stretched further.
Overcome more fears.
Unleashed our potential.
Obliterated those things that held us back.
In his words, “Become who I was destined to be.”
During the debate last night my friend texted me…
“Interestingly the women have more substance in what they are saying but the evangelic and passionate speaking style is what captures attention…
Media training is everything!”
She might be right, “The women have more substance…”
And it’s irrelevant.
That should have been obvious after Hillary vs. Bernie vs. Trump.
The Dems should have learned from Barack that policy and 7 point plans are a losing strategy. (come on, Elizabeth, you’re a smart woman)
My friend is right.
But she’s wrong, this isn’t about media training…
Media training is what the talking heads do.
They seem personable while reading like a parrot.
They sit right.
Wear the right colors.
Speak eloquently.
Media training is for looking and sounding just right…
But that’s hardly how you’d describe Bernie, is it?
Or how Donald won.
I’m into hypnosis hours a day.
Not because I think it’s cool.
Or as socially acceptable as say Ritalin or strip clubs…
But because it is by far the most powerful tool I’ve discovered for quickly transforming how you think, feel, be.
And for driving top performance.
Most the Masterclasses finish with a Deep Learning Track.
This is similar to hypnosis, but different for legal and socially acceptable reasons.
The tracks before, the Training Tracks, we learn together the typical way.
Listening to ideas, taking notes, using the Workbook, doing the practices you work through the Training Tracks learning what you need, fast.
The Deep Learning Tracks on the other hand require zero work, as you sit back, close your eyes, and allow these tracks to deeply work on you…
You spend your life driving success.
Are a massive winner in Hollywood.
Live in a 13,000 square foot mansion in Bel Air.
You end up living your final days forgetting your life in a 500 square foot bedroom in a nursing home.
Terry Semel’s ending might not be yours or mine, but we can be sure…
No matter how you exit this world, assume it will be a worse day than this one.
If you go fast, well, you’ll never know when that is.
Here today, gone tomorrow.
And if you go slow, no matter how you exit, your body and mind likely go first.
You can’t live your life like you’ll get hit by a bus today, but you also can’t live like you won’t.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon knows about winning.
He’s well proven it in his own career, in the businesses he’s run, and now in the way he runs the firm.
He, deeply, gets what it takes to win, and shared some advice with summer interns.
Of course he’s being subtle, so let’s translate it…
We believe who you are makes you better at what you do. Share your interests and viewpoints with your teams – we value our people’s unique experiences and perspectives
Translation: Don’t be yourself, be your self the firm needs you to be. Be the version of you that leads people to like you—e.g. never say “I’m only here to make money”—gets people wanting to work with you and conveys you are the right “fit” for the team. Agree profusely with other people’s viewpoints and only supply your own when they’re acceptable to others and CLEARLY add MASSIVE value.
Example: “That’s a great idea. I really like the way you’re thinking about it. When I was in football camp I heard the coach say something as brilliant as that. I’ll crush this, then let’s figure out what more value I can add to the team.”
Raise your hand to participate in projects and activities that are important to you, and offer your assistance to others
Translation: Take on as much work as you possibly can, without sacrificing quality (or breaking down). Show the team you are eager, eager, eager to do everything you can to “step up.” In smart ways, bug the staffer to do even more. Look for every opportunity to take on work of other analysts and associates. Once you get your work done exceptionally get involved in other activities people perceive as valuable.
Example: It’s 2am, you’ve been cranking, you got your work done. The analyst/associate sitting next to you is still cranking away. In a cool and genuine way—i.e. not a sycophant—you ask them, “Is there something I can do for you? I’m really looking to get as much experience as I can, and I’ll sleep when the summer is done.”
When I first began this work I never imagined this was what I needed.
Back then I was focused on the big picture.
What do I want?
How do you get it?
What does it take to create the career and life you truly want?
Over years I came to see it smaller.
See, I built a system for driving your career anywhere you want to go.
Yet what matters most in the system is driving forward every day.
You can’t know where your path leads, yet you do know taking your best actions today, you’re best driving there.
In reading thousands of books I learned the long way, it doesn’t matter what you know.
What matters is how you’re putting the best ideas to work every day.
I like Kamala Harris.
She’s a winner.
With a track record of serving.
And good values.
Lots going for her.
But her campaign is burned.
Just take that slogan—
Kamala Harris For The People.
When I saw it on a t-shirt I thought it was a home-made job.
Then I went to her website.
Nope, that’s her slogan…
Not quite as bad as Jeb! or Make Herstory, but nor quite as good as Vote For Pedro.
And it only got worse.
Metallica is perhaps an unusual source for personal development…
But I take whatever I get, literally.
I haven’t heard this song for years but when my brain started playing it I listen.
So close no matter how far,
Couldn’t be much more from the heart,
Forever trust in who we are,
And nothing else matters.
Trust I seek and I find in you,
Every day for us something new,
Open mind for a different view,
And nothing else matters.
Did you see this movie with Tom Cruise?
It’s an interesting take on the alien invasion story.
And a powerful metaphor for living our ultimate days.
Alien invaders are wiping out the human race.
Tom Cruise, playing a poor soldier, blows himself up, taking an alien down with him.
But then he wakes up again.
It seems blowing himself up with the alien “infected” him with the ability to reset time.
Each time he dies he starts again the same day.
Each time he comes back to life he gets to do it better.
To train more.
Develop more knowledge.
Become more skilled.
To end the alien threat first before it again ends him.
One of the saddest parts of the Trump presidency is how much misery he’s sparked.
Lefties like to think he won by inciting angry voters…
Yet ironically they are the ones left with all the anger.
How many people have made their lives worse because Trump is president?
It’s quite shocking, actually.
Especially once you disconnect from the media cycle, and see the games for what they are…
It’s shocking “grown-ups” wake up every day filling their heads with misery worrying about something they can’t control.
They might feel right, yet they’re the ones left whining.
Adults know that wasting your life worrying about what you can’t control is a miserable way to die.
Yet how many of us, addicted to the media cycle, guzzling Trump whine, have ruined the last few years of their life?
How many of them feel justified?
Well, he just sucks so much.
Did you see what he did?
Yeah, he took over the country and your life by getting you talking about him every day.
