From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Have you ever read Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power? One of the laws is 'discover every man's thumbscrew,' which means that every person has something that matters deeply to them. I think you can approach this not from a negative perspective, but a positive one: to understand the 'good guys,' the 'bad guys,' and everyone in between. Why do they do what they do? As a journalist, the best way to uncover that is to listen—authentically.
Silence is, by definition, an absence—an absence of voice, opinion, and life. It begins so subtly that it often goes unnoticed. We start by withdrawing or withholding our genuine thoughts from conversations, replacing them with what we presume others want to hear. As it continues, silence essentially means we cannot fully be ourselves. We find ourselves editing parts of who we are, censoring our thoughts and feelings—and we do this to each other, often without realizing it.
Success in entertainment isn't just about making hits—it's about taking risks, pushing boundaries, and never losing sight of the human element that makes stories matter.
Read a lot. Never accept current standards. Always improve yourself. And remember, you always meet twice in life.
If you're managing that way in the age of outrage, basically you're saying your organization will be in constant firefighting mode. That's unsustainable. The organization will very quickly wither and die.
If people tell me, 'you're the mean shark', I say 'no I'm not, I'm the nicest shark – I tell the truth. And if you can't get past me on shark tank, wait until you get in the real world – you'll get shredded.
Whatever you are going through, could lead you to something even better. You cannot often control what happens to you- but you can control your response to it. In a way, serendipity is about taking agency over your life more!
Unless you learn and grow continuously, you're probably going to end up as one of the 90% who don't make it.
A principle that I hold personally important is radical transparency in communication. This transparency extends from the shareholders to every level within the organization. It's vital that everyone is aware of what is working, what isn't, and the actions required for improvement.
In Silicon Valley there's a sense that there are 30 individuals who are 10x more capable than most people, it's like a power law scaling of talent. If a founder has really succeeded and thrived, people think it's because of their brilliance and because they're at this super far-end of the spectrum. As a result, founders get immense leeway, capital rushes toward them and in some ways that's good.
'Brand,' is what journalists and industry-people say… we say culture movement. As artists we say culture! Movement! And analysts say brand. I don't know what a brand is, but I know what a freakin' movement is…. if you want to know what a culture-movement is, remember that Dr. Martin Luther King didn't stand up and say, 'here's our brand!' – he created a movement.
I feel it is the duty for every human and company to do something to either make their community, their city, their state, their country or the world a better place to live. You don't have to contribute financially, but rather your time, smile and good wishes to start the ball rolling. Time is a very valuable thing, when you contribute your time to others- you've contributed something of great value