If you spend any time apologizing to employees you, that's so bold bit G But I want to make a point I'm going to explain what I mean and I and I went for bold. Attention is the number one asset as the best leaders in the world. take the pressure and stops with them and they convert it underneath them. The worst leaders in the world feel pressure and pass that down and a lot of you do that Real talk and you're like oh, I'm sorry I was stressed I lost.

You go in A if you spend any time apologizing to employees, you, that's so bold bit G I Want to make a point Listen if you're excusing Behavior where you're yelling and screaming at people with an apology, you are not as good as you think you are I don't care how much money you're making and I highly challenge this group of winners to get stronger and be an actual leader. And when you have pressure coming to you AKA Losing losing an employee, losing an account, losing a pitch and I challenge you to have it stop with you and come convert it to self-reflection and compassion and empathy. Do you thank your team massively for the efforts of trying to win a pitch? When you lose it, or only when you win it, Fear is a short-term motivator I Want to open up to questions from the audience That was great. That was fantastic.

Thank you thank you. Are there questions from the audience? We got. we got microphones. There's one right over there.

Oh we get this. SP the back and then we'll get how are you my friend? Give me your name O'Brien O'Brien yeah like last name except it's my first name epic We call we call him OB I like Brian It's a real pleasure brother. how are you Hey good good thank you for coming! um I I'm curious the answer to this but I think it' also be helpful for a lot of people in the room. You know back to your LinkedIn comment about how your advertising business is running all of your sales through.

Linkedin I think conversations I've had with people. there's a struggle to connect what we do from a relationship building standpoint in the real world with the marketing efforts that go on on. LinkedIn and I would just be curious how you think about converting real world relationships from an online platform in the marketing I Love it I Think you should use LinkedIn as a gateway drug to play golf with people to have wine dinner with people to. I Think to your point O'Brien I Don't think people realize all I want LinkedIn for is the attention but what you put in the creative will be the variable of your success.

So when they make a post from the master you know account if you then put hey first eight people that email me I've got a steak dinner for you to talk about this and depth or any other business things. Here's the RSVP way: you've now taken digital and use it as a gateway drug to do physical. So I'm all I want to do is create the Arbitrage of getting attention to convert into however you convert I don't get $20 million fee Scopes just from the LinkedIn I get the attention of saying something smart and then they hit me up. and I'm not talking about using LinkedIn the way you might have tried in the past which is spamming people and sending them messages.

I'm talking about putting out meaningful content in the feed because LinkedIn is now a Content platform that happens to have recruiting on it and so that's how Brian right? You use the content to spark the conversation to then do the golf to do the steak dinner to do the whatever you want to do like. always willing to do a 15-minute Zoom for free to talk about this a little deeper if this can help you even if it doesn't I go right at it. I have unlimited things where I'm like I'm not here to be transactional but I'm not Mother Teresa I'll spend 15 minutes with you and go deeper into what I just talked about there I understand that you may not hire me because of that cuz you're already in another partnership. but I'm going to leave a very strong deposit as a human being in our 15 minutes on Zoom or a 30-minute coffee at Starbucks that hopefully in 3 years or from Word of Mouth leads to something.

So I think there's a way to be transparent, but also be incredibly intellectually generous? That's great question over there is it on hi Hi Gary I'm such a big fan of yours Birthday today so if we get a picture later, I would love that I'm in What? What's your name? I'm Jessica Bass This is my first Um Producer event here. Uh, your content around attention grabbing has really inspired me to step outside of my comfort zone and post myself more on LinkedIn so thank you for that. but my question is really around Jen ear. You talk a lot about them being lazy and just kind of poke myths and and some of those um, you know stereotypes of Jen ear.

but and and real quick because I just want to make sure to Lance I Actually don't think there any like I know unlimited lazy Boomers and Gen Xers unlimited I think they have way more options than we have grasped. Go ahead for sure for sure. and that's my question because that's our future right? The people doing the work back at the office are Jers We want to keep them, keep them happy. We're also trying to create a return to work culture that inspires them and teaches them about our culture and also opportunities within our organization.

Yep, how do we balance the two and keep them happy? Um, and also keep them at our firm. Purple, Right to the top, Right to your point. Like the entitlement is absurd I Had a leader talking with somebody in our office. We're bringing plenty of people back too.

Everyone's going through the same thing so the kid says Hey brother I'd love to come to the office but I got a problem I live 40 minutes away and I have to bring all my stuff stuff. this is real by the way. the kid goes. yeah I have to bring my laptop and then there's a pause.

this is no stick with me. he goes and the charger. So I'm with you I'm aware of where we're at I believe it's a game of numbers to answer how I'm solving it for my organization and all my startup and all the boards I'm on and all the companies I'm involved in I'm just telling them find you know you got to kiss a bunch of frogs to find a prince like I don't know. Like if you sense entitlement and laziness in the interview or the conversation or if they ask ridiculous questions don't hire them like to me I love Merit like Merit you know.

But I think the mistake we're making is we're labeling them. That's like labeling all women. It's crazy what we're doing with this generation. We all know that labeling in groups is terrible and by the way, Gen Z is contributing heavily.

They've got all sorts of feelings of everybody older, like. The greatest way to be happy is number three in the world. The greatest way. By the way, if you're not 100% happy as you sit here today, I've got the medicine for you and it's free.

It's called number three. The second you realize that you are fully in control of of your life is the second you get happier. When you think the President has an impact on your success, that means you're a loser. All right We got one right there and then Paige and then go to Ryan hi uh, Michelle Michelle Um, just because you just hit on accountability, can you talk a little bit about how what you view and how you define accountability versus responsibility? because I think accountability is a little bit of a scary word for people and I think maybe for some of those in this room as I'm a newbie so I'll go out and a Li and say that but I've I've heard you talk about accountability and I like your honesty behind it and the challenge behind it.

Can you just well with the way you asked the question? My belief is that if we all agree that something is my responsibility and it does not go well then I need to be 100% accountable. Like the amount of leaders and CEO and leaders I talk to that will tell me the reason this year went bad was well their head of sales was just the bed or my CFO like they just keep talking and literally I wait I eat it I Rope A Dope little Muhammad Ali George Foreman and then I go in for my move I'm like you hired them, you allowed to fire them I have good news 100% of the problems in your business are your fault like it's true and and in this framework the energy in this kind of framework of a business. the En: If you spend one minute crying about what they're doing in corporate, that's a minute you're not spending on the that you do control I just will never understand it I Sit on some nonprofit s on excuse me some I sit on the board of Bojangles right Franchise or franchisee and all these people they're like you know, some franchisee came up to me because they know I'm on the board and they just start on the brand and they're like he's like G You have to understand entrepreneur to entrepreneur. this is a real problem I Looked him dead in the face and said bro, you're not an entrepreneur If you sit in a framework where you rely on a corporate entity to be a partner, you're not a full bred entrepreneur and you must face that.

that is the truth If he was a I said to him right to his face I said if you're not entrepreneur, you would start Instead of having a franchisee of Bojangles you would start Schmo Shangle and this goes back to self-awareness period. So what do I think about accountability I Think it stuns me with all the that's going on in my life. How happy I am And when I deconstructed that over 25 years, Number Three is the game. It gets really good.

It's why everyone's so unhappy right now. They actually believe all the propaganda in media and social media that everybody but themselves is in charge. You don't like the school, Take your kid out you don't like America Move Go Paige Hey Gary Hi sing nice to meet you. Such a pleasure! Thank you for being here.

Thank you I Have a question around succession planning. Oh you and your brother you lead the The Firm I'm sure you think about this. you got kids. All of us have kids.

We have a lot of Happy nepotism here, so I'm just curious how the 12 and A2 fit in with that. Well, Number Three is a big one. We just touched on it like you know my kids, you know. I Think all of us who've garnered success, especially if we didn't start with anything, have feelings towards this I Think about accountability.

Look, Look, I'll give you a really good answer to this when all those really wealthy people started saying things 10 years ago that they were giving 99% sent to charity, right? Gates and I was like that's crazy cuz I come from immigrant family where like everything's passed on I promise you I don't think that's crazy anymore, you know what? do I think about succession plan I think it's about parenting I'm thrilled to talk about it in the macro I Have no interest in telling anyone here what to do. That's their business, their money, their prerogative. But what I will tell you is you want your kids to be hungry. Don't feed them like you know, like people I'm on the Board of Charity Water we build wells in Africa One of the things that's incredibly passionate to me as something that I just when I got educated about it I just couldn't understand as we you want to talk about gratitude number one: 730 million people on Earth right now do not have access to clean water within a day water the that is on your table.

That really shook me. You know you want to talk about real like you know we think about all this you know, right? water. So we. It's amazing when I got involved with Scott Harris you should all look up Charity water.

It's pretty profound if you want to learn a little bit about it. Anyway, it was a billion people only 10 years ago. I'm really proud of the work I put a lot of time and effort into it and I'm a well member which means we pay our donations, pay for the staff. It means if you give a dollar, it all goes to the work, not the that we see with these nonprofits.

Anyway, enough of that commercial. My friends hit me up all the time. Hey, Gary you're a well member on charity water can I send my kid to Africa with you for a week to be on the ground I'm like you can and you should. But if you think your private school private jet riding 17-year-old is going to go to Africa for a week and somehow profoundly change into another human being, you're at of your goddamn mind my friends.

None of us can. fake environment. You can't fake environment. What we can do is teach our kids that it's not their money and they should be kind to people.

What we can do is stop giving them money. That's your choices. But as succession planning I think a million dollars one million dollar inherited is an obnoxious amount of money. And so I've stopped thinking about that a long time ago because I think about all the kids that are growing up right now that grew up the way I am.

That would kill my kids in any level of competition in merit-based business and that doesn't bother me I Don't want my kids to be entrepreneurs I don't want my kids to be even business winners I want to be kind and I want them to like what they do the way I like what I do. My favorite part about being an entrepreneur is I Love the game, not the things the game allows me to buy. Last question: Ryan What if I answer it fast. Can I sneak one more in? or do you want to get me the hell out of here? Yeah, this, this is the last one.

How much time we got I'm just having too much fun. Maybe five more. Okay, good. uh Ryan here.

Ryan A question to you. So I started consuming your your content at the beginning of the pandemic. You gave a speech. sort of like this, but talking about the power of branding yes, marketing which a common theme.

So something you said a minute ago is if you get one person in this room to take away, uh, something that's that's worth your time being here. So to the 98% of people I think that you said about LinkedIn will under poost on LinkedIn So what are some tactics? You talk a lot about tactics in your content. So what are some tactics to the 98% here? Or maybe the one? uh, that would be good a lot more. LinkedIn Since listening to that and learned a ton over time, What do you? You know? So I'm not saying it since you're their contemporary in that learning over this time.

What's an observation? What's an aha? what's a thing? You went into it not thinking was real, but you were inspired to go down the path which I'm trying to do for everyone. Give me one or two things that have stood out: I I Would think authenticity if if you are yourself and you're not trying to be somebody different I think that's huge. Let me let me jump on that one, friends. As you think about what you're going to post, you could post about loving God Golf and loving what you don't need to post directly about this job, getting people in common interests is a huge way to do business.

You know this, why' you join all the country clubs and the PTA and all this stuff. So M Step one: Mixing your content. It doesn't have to be literal information about the product and service. If you love Zelda you will be blown away how much money you can make by talking about Zelda especially if it's a repost and you how somehow we clever to what they post posted and you posted on top of it and made some sort of reference to like Mike Tyson's punch out that Snicker from the person I Can't believe you brought up glass Joe from 1989 might be the reason they do business with you.

It's profound how humans actually work keep going. Um, authenticity. Also, a repost of what somebody's done is not necessarily content. Well, I would say a repost correct a repost Without You Adding your two cents is less effective.

Notice how earlier I used the analogy of DJ I Think a lot of us know what happened in the last 20 years with EDM and and DJs were like you're like wait a minute like did they even do anything and yet they're super famous. That's what you can do. you could do. You could take a very good post on what you believe is well from someone else, not even in this ecosystem or from the corporation.

You could repost it with a quote and add a sentence to it. Now you're a DJ You're like a Vichi out here. 100% I Would say the last thing is um, we all make money on is Insurance don't necessarily talk about insurance yeah I Think that's right I as I referenced Earli fishing all this stuff I think it's a mix Uh, there was another book I wrote called jab Jab Jab right hook and it talked about the individual post can be Jabs You're not setting up the reason most people in Insurance when I analyze it both on the brand or on the individual level don't succeed is every one of your posts is a sales pitch and they smell it and they're not interested. When you start mixing it and you start start talking about Zelda and golf or this is a big one, make pretend that you retired from this and you've now started an insurance media business.

You're now the Bloomberg or CNBC of insurance and you're not talking as a human who's trying to sell something, but you're talking a level up about the space or the opportunities or this new tax law. You're talking about information that's education that becomes a Gateway that's a good framework to Think Through I Say one last last thing please is don't give up I Feel like two post yeah I mean that goes back to seven tenacity like. This is what always blows me away. People that got in this room, you put in the work and then you go into this new Arena and you're like four posts in you're like I suck that Gary guy.

The first thousand posts I made meant nothing so like I'd like to think that this room understands what a good day's work put. putting in the work learning really means and how that can actually imp the outcome. and so yeah. I mean look I I really think the content thing is very misunderstood like very people.

they they have all sorts of feelings about social media that it's bad that the kids I get it. but I really hate making headline reading opinions. your business strategy. Let me sneak one minut I'm the worst I know one more somebody he told me he's like S I got to get out here 355 Got a roll.

Anybody got a Qui question here right? You saw the board. Um yes, you saw the board here with all I did. Which fired me up I wanted. You know how crazy I am Christina I saw the board.

I'm like like literally my DNA I'm like I need to get to the top of that board. like like like I'm like should I retire and join this company to get on the top of the these boards? Me up. But go ahead all right. Two questions: How do you get to the top of that board using all 12 and a half by knowing which two or three to use in every circumstance, both on the customers you're trying to get and on the employees that work for you.

Second, and I'm just going to use myself as an example because let's say we have somebody on the board. uh, or a group of people on the board. What? What? Have you like? Someone in your company? Maybe you've got a great salesman? You know he's top. He's You know, he's top of the game and he's there's some toxicity around.

Yeah, uhuh. do you risk that? So it's interesting in my company? Yes, because everyone's an actual employee of the corporation. This is a little bit of a different framework, right? Like this is not. This is not a corporation and you're all employees.

You have your own. My answer to that is a little bit different. My answer to if you look at that board and you're like damn I want to get there but I don't want to compromise or act like that. That goes to a thing that me and my father thought about for 20 years.

when I started working for my dad at 22 years years old I told him I will spend zero minutes on our competition. He thought that was the craziest he ever heard. He was obsessed with what every liquor store in New Jersey did and what they got. Did they get a better deal on this vodka? Why didn't like He just spent all his energy on everyone else I said Dad The only people I'm going to pay attention to is first star employees second are customers and way down here number 29 I'll have a sense of what the competition's doing because you never want to be delusional and audacious.

But when I tell you, very few seconds will be spent on them because what they do has no impact I Promise you if I started in this company tomorrow, had no contacts on that board within a half decade, I'd be the first person on this board I Promise you because nothing and no one on that list is stopping you from doing what you need to do. Agreed! Thank you! Awesome! Let's give G thank you thank you.