On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Ari Emanuel ON: How to Silence the Doubt in Your Mind & Strategies for Transforming your Career
Episode Date: August 14, 2023Change is the only constant, and in this fast-paced world, we strive to keep up with its relentless flow. How can we train our minds to embrace discomfort and uncertainty, unlearning the inner voice... that holds us back from taking action? Today, I welcome Ariel Emanuel, the Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor (NYSE: EDR), a global sports and entertainment company, home to many of the world’s most dynamic and engaging storytellers, brands, live events and experiences. The company is comprised of industry leaders including entertainment agency WME; sports, fashion, events and media company IMG; and premier mixed martial arts organization UFC®. In this conversation, we are going into a transformative journey, exploring the power of releasing anger, and understanding the shifting objectives that shape our lives. Learn practical strategies to embrace growth and train our minds to be comfortable with discomfort, allowing us to navigate change with grace and resilience, unlearn the habit of silencing the inner voice that blocks us from taking action, and challenge societal definitions of success and explore the importance of defining our own path and purpose. You will learn: - How to embrace discomfort and be comfortable with it - When to start listening to your inner voice - Why anger is unproductive - How to shift your mindset and relearn contentment - How to seize opportunities to create the life you desire - Why we need to pursue health and wellness Let us awaken the wisdom within us and live a life aligned with our truest values and aspirations. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 00:50 Change is happening a lot faster nowadays and we’re trying to keep up to it 02:03 How can you train your mind to be comfortable with discomfort? 04:49 Unlearning how to not listen to your inner voice that’s stopping you from taking action 07:27 Anger can only get you to a certain point but there’s nothing more to it 12:36 Did you grow up with a stack of objectives that has changed overtime? 13:50 We don’t often realize when we’re no longer in a competitive state and we find it difficult to shift our mindset 19:17 What’s the difference between success and contentment? 21:13 “Life is not a dress rehearsal, you better get to where you want to get to.” 24:03 How do you build something from scratch and without enough funding? 26:45 Recalling a life event that has completely changed the trajectory of your life 32:14 How do you operate your life? Do you allow others' definition of success to dictate your life? 36:19 “It’s not about living forever, it’s about being healthy while you live.” 39:21 What types of therapies are you taking interest in? 41:37 When you’re making high risk decisions, what do you do? How do you prepare? 45:15 How do you create a space for talents to be able to freely create their content? 48:21 The shift from a full workforce at the office to people having the option to work from home 50:28 What has been the biggest failure in your life? 53:00 How do you get out of the I-got-to-jump-and-respond state? 54:15” You have to work hard and you have to show up.” 56:43 Ariel on Final Five Episode Resources: Endeavor Want to be a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach? Get the Digital Guide and Workbook from Jay Shetty https://jayshettypurpose.com/fb-getting-started-as-a-life-coach-podcast/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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When you're on the field, kill the other dude.
When you're not on the field, you don't have to kill the other dude.
But when you're on the field, you want to win. You just have to realize when you're not on the field, kill the other dude. When you're not on the field, you don't have to kill the other dude. But when you're on the field, you want to win.
You just have to realize when you're not on the field.
The problem is, I think people don't realize when they're not on the field.
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One purpose with Jay Shetty.
Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose.
The number one health podcast in the world.
Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn, and grow.
Now, you know that I'm fascinated about speaking to people
from different backgrounds, different walks of life,
people who've made interesting choices,
decisions, had life events that have changed
the trajectory of their journey.
And I like diving into the insights that they have,
the wisdom that they have,
some of the mistakes and failures that came along the way as well.
And today's guest is one of those individuals.
I'm talking about the one and only,
Ariel Immanuel, chief executive officer of Endeavor,
a global sports and entertainment company,
home to many of the world's most dynamic
and engaging storytellers, including me,
brands, live events, and experiences.
The company is composed of industry leaders, including entertainment, agency, sports, including me, brands, live events and experiences. The company is composed of industry leaders including entertainment agency, sports fashion
events, and media company IMG and Premier Mixed Marshall Arts Organization UFC.
In 2009, Ariel orchestrated the largest talent agency merger in history when Endeavour, the
agency founded in 1995, joined forces with agency William Morris to form WME.
Now we're about to dive into his story. He doesn't do a lot of podcasts. We're very lucky.
Please welcome to the show and on purpose. Arielle Emanuel. Arie, thank you for being here.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, you've had quite the journey.
But we're just talking about it. When I was in the mail room,
they had the Thomas Guide, 15 cents a mile.
I was figuring out, because you're high,
so maybe we don't want to let people know where it is.
Way up in the hills,
I would have never been able to get here
using a Thomas Guide.
Thank God there's ways and Tesla, their system, so.
Yeah, I wondered what that was like when you were like meeting clients.
It was horrible actually.
It, you realize how to get around.
It was a great experience that, oh, so if I'm bookings, if I'm going to be in the valley
and I have that, that thing that it does take 45 minutes to get there.
So once you kind of, it was actually the right steps, and a lot of people went through the mail,
and whether we very diller, David Geffen, Mike,
oh, I mean, everybody did it.
And I would have never been able to get here, though,
using the Thomas guy.
That's good.
That's the aging me saying Thomas guy.
Well, no, I remember my parents,
we used to drive to Europe,
because my parents couldn't always afford to fly.
And so we'd have the A to Z in England,
which is like this big map, A to Z, big map that they'd pull out
and then track it across like physical map.
And then we'd have one for Europe, one for like crazy.
And Switzerland and so we'd drive over
and I'd see my parents like pull over
and ask for instructions.
It was a different world.
And you've watched that.
And I mean, you still looking incredible.
I'm like, I'm like, you have an age yourself at all.
But when I think about how much times have changed, like, what is, if you could say that
these are the couple of the biggest changes you've seen in the last three decades, in
this industry, in the world that you're most astounded by.
Because I think we're getting used to change.
I think for, I didn't grow up with a phone. Like I got my first phone when I was 30 or 14
and it was a Sony Ericsson like brick
with a little antenna.
Yeah, a flip phone.
I was one of those, yeah, one of those old flip phones.
Sony Ericsson had a little, you know,
antenna on top of it.
My mom had one of the big like chunky brick style phones,
but I feel like we're getting so used to change
being so rapid that we actually
don't spot patents.
If you've spotted any patents over the last three decades, what would you say they are?
I don't know if there's patterns, you know, but I think you have to look at them in different
sectors whether it be tech, whether it be the entertainment business.
The one pattern I do see changes happening a lot faster.
So the pickup of the phone probably took seven years.
The speed of adaption, the one big change,
it's just now happening very quickly.
And that just lets people,
you better be really comfortable
in the uncomfortable and change.
And that's a mindset, that's a process to get to.
That's what you have to realize.
And all this is gonna happen a lot quicker now,
which is, I don't think it's good or bad.
It just is what it is.
Yeah, I love what you just said there.
So my entire show, I just went on a world tour
and the entire show was based on the premise
of getting the audience to sit in discomfort.
So I would literally bring up random audience members
and one of them was locked in a box on stage
for 15 minutes alone without any sound.
We had other audience members come up
and have to do tasks that were uncomfortable.
I loved the idea of getting comfortable.
You better breathe through it.
You better breathe through it.
That's the only way to do it.
I was gonna ask you,
how have you trained your mind to be comfortable with discomfort?
I'm not sure any of us are really comfortable
with ourselves as we mature and kind of get into, I said this to a client today. I said,
there was a period of time. I just didn't want anybody to find out that I really wasn't
that bright. And it was, you know, I was scared, right? And that, I think goes back to my
childhood and being dyslexic and not believing that, you know, I'm okay.
I'm not stupid, right?
In my family, if you're stupid, was the definition and smart with them.
But I started fasting.
And once you start doing it, it's not comfortable.
And I just started telling, you know, start that little voice.
No, I'm not giving an aunt to that little voice.
No, I'm getting up. Even though I don't want to get up. And then it's that conversation you're constantly, start that little voice. No, I'm not giving an answer, little voice. No, I'm getting up,
you know, I don't want to get up. And then it's that conversation you're constantly, is that
somebody said, my constant negotiation with myself. And now it's, if I'm, you know, I meditate
for 20 minutes every day, it's not easy sitting there for 20 minutes, you, your toe, which is something,
you got to get through it. And it's just, oh, I'm going to do a cold there for 20 minutes. You, your toe, which is something, and you got to get through it.
And it's just, oh, I'm going to do a cold bath
for five minutes every day.
That's not fun.
And it's just teaching your body,
no, you can get through this.
I'm not listening to that voice.
I'm just breathing through it.
I'm just getting through it.
And it's been probably 15 years of that. And it
translates into business. Because then, okay, we're taking a
RIMG, I'm going to move to London for four months. Kids in the
family is going to be on the East Coast for the summer. And it's
going to be brutal. And yeah, you can do that. And you see, any
of these new tasks that you take on, because you're telling yourself a story
that whether it's gonna be good or bad,
that's not the truth.
You have to just realize that thing's not the truth,
and you just have to go through it.
Yeah, it's not gonna be easy.
So what?
Who cares?
Like, yes, that's part of the process.
That's actually part of the interesting thing
that we're all doing.
So.
No, I love that because it did start though
with not eating. So, no, I love that because it did start though with not eating.
Yeah, interesting.
You know, when I started learning about what fasting does
or eating windows due to your body and atophagy and et
cetera, et cetera, that then got your mind, okay,
I can do this.
And then you just start building on that.
I'd probably even pass the point of health emotionally healthy,
but yes, I'm way past it.
But yeah.
No, but I love that because that's super practical, right?
Like that's not an ethereal concept.
The idea is you are able to put yourself through things
that you didn't want to do,
but that were actually good for you.
And I find that that's, I hope, they're different.
Yeah, you hope that, yeah, you hope that. But the idea that that's why I hope they're good. Yeah, you hope they're good. Yeah, you hope they're good.
But the idea that most of what we don't want to do,
that we choose to do, is actually what helps us
get ahead in life.
I say, said this to my kids.
You know, success is a lot of the things we're talking about,
but one of it is, and that goes to kind of putting yourself
is showing up.
Like, there's a voice saying,
you mean I gotta get on that plane for 16 hours?
I gotta just go have a lunch, and I gotta fly saying, you mean I got to get on that plane for 16 hours, I got
to just go have a lunch and I got to fly back from China.
I don't want to do that.
Okay, it said I don't want to do it that little voice I'm doing it.
And learning to say, oh, that's the voice.
No, I'm getting on the plane.
And showing up, kind of going through it, yeah, that's part of growing up and being successful.
A lot of people are too lazy to fight that voice.
And over time, when you get older,
and I'm a lot older than you, you don't want to fight the voice.
And all the things I do now is, I think,
because as you get older, that voice takes over more
and more, it's easy.
No, don't get up at five o'clock and work out.
No, don't do this. I do it, I don't care. As soon as that voice turns on, I say, I'm doing this. Yeah, it's really
interesting. You say that because I feel like a lot of people say they can't hear they're in a voice,
and it's because that inner voice, which is not listening. It was so loud when we were younger. Yes.
But it gets quieter and quieter and quieter because the other voice we kept listening to it,
and it got louder and louder and louder. And so now we're having to unlearn that loud voice.
And for me, it started with fasting periods.
You know, I do 24 and I do 16 and sometimes a 48 or 60.
And it's then kind of evolved into multiple things
to keep it exercise that I cannot listen to the voice.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you need friends who push you too.
I remember a few years ago, you know, whether it was skydiving or whether it was cold plunges.
As you mentioned there, it's like, you need to be surrounded by a community.
I just, literally, I've got some friends from London staying with me right now this week.
And I took them to do a cold plunger with me, you know, every day we'd be doing a hike
every morning.
We've been doing infrared so on and they don't do that.
They don't do that. They've never done it before and it was just interesting.
How did they do on their co-plunch? They did really well and they were saying that because I was
like trying to coax them through it and helping them breathe. So on their first time, they did the
first one, one of them did four minutes. They had to do three on their first time. That's incredible.
And it was amazing. Yeah, it just got to get past the first minute. Exactly, exactly. So it was a
brilliant result, but it was that idea of your You just have to get past the first minute. Exactly, exactly. So it was a brilliant result,
but it was that idea of your community
of people around you.
When you were, I love what you just said there,
that you were scared at one point in your life
of being figured out as not being so smart.
And you said that came from your childhood,
and yeah, you had ADHD, dyslexia,
from what I've researched.
Walk me through how that idea stays even after
you're starting to see success.
Because I think people believe that when you become successful, when you close your big
deal, when you build a company that some of that goes away.
You know Arnold Schwarzenegger, did you see that documentary?
Which one?
The game changes.
The most recent one that he did.
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
So he talks about, you know, he won Mr. Olympia. the most recent one that he did. It just about him kind of growing up and bodybuilding. I don't think so.
So he talks about, you know, he won Mr. Olympia
and everybody was telling him how great his body was, right?
And they're all looking at like, oh my God.
In his head, he was saying, this is wrong, that's wrong.
This is wrong.
And you're like, nobody would have said that.
You know, some people say it's your inner voice,
your shadow, my shrink, use the film, it's your shadow.
Maybe people were thinking I was successful.
I was thinking about that kid that couldn't read
and that during Passover didn't want to read the questions
because I was the youngest and going into sewing,
that's why I hate Passover now, the anxiety I had
when I was a kid.
And so it's just kind of upbringing.
Yeah.
I'm no longer dealing with those issues.
It's not like I'm beating my chest, I'm successful,
but I'm comfortable.
And it's that, in a good way, drove me.
Like I'm gonna prove everybody wrong.
And you know, Andy Bulley comes up to me,
yep, we're gonna get in a fight. Anybody calls me stupid, yep, we're gonna get a fight, physical, you know, any bully comes up to me. Yep, we're gonna get in a fight.
Anybody calls me stupid.
Yep, we're gonna get a fight.
Fizz, you know, that's when I was young.
And it's just held over.
And then there's the point in time where you're saying, okay, I'm not doing this anymore.
I'm, I'm, I have to deal with these crazy stupid, yes, you're successful.
Yes, it's okay.
Nothing's taking take taken away from you.
And so that just came with age, a lot of shrinks
and a lot of other therapies that we'll get into later.
Yeah, no, but I think it's really important
because I think there's two things there.
One is that it doesn't go away on its own.
No, revenge is not the solution or prove it to someone.
No, no, no, no.
It's a good way to stop. go away on its own. No. Revenge is not the solution or proving someone. No, no, no. I would say
good ready to stop. Revenge and I would say anger got you to a certain point. Yeah.
You after you get to a certain point, if you stay with anger and resentment and fear,
you only can get to a certain point in your life. And once you make the transition that,
you know something, that's never going to get me over the hump and you have to get
go a little deeper and that's scary and takes work.
When you sit in yoga, I don't know what it is, it just opens up things to come to you
and the process to come to you.
And that's what happened at, you know, I don't know, when it,
when it really happened, probably 12, 15 years ago that I was on this journey to kind of find out,
I don't want to be that guy that's somebody says something, I go to code red nine. That's not healthy.
That's way too much energy. It's emotional energy that is exhausting.
Absolutely.
And that's what it is.
It's exhausting.
It's draining and it takes away from that creative energy to spark that.
So let things in that actually need to come in that then you can see the world differently
in like, wait a second, you're not seeing it through those eyes.
You're seeing it through a different like, wait a second, what about this, what about
that?
You can be creative. That's a better place to be.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I wanted to ask you as well.
I mean, you probably get asked this all the time,
but I think it's important contact setting for everyone who's listening.
The idea of like sitting in the discomfort
as you were talking about it, my wife and I are you,
John Tarage fans.
And I can imagine that it's cool, but uncomfortable
to have your image displayed in a certain way that has pros and cons.
There was aspects to that character 100% true.
Which was, I was very aggressive. And when we started the business, we couldn't compete on price because commissions were commissions.
There was five other big players and we just had one be more creative, two more aggressive
and fight. So yeah, that was true to form. I mean, not all of it, but in the surrounding it, yes.
I don't know what
entourage would be now that character. So yeah, and what
was stuff for you, like that's definitely not me, like,
were there anything? Well, I don't know. I, yeah, he
began to, that show gave me anxiety. Yeah, can you
mind that's what I'm saying? Yeah, I gave me a lot of
anxiety. What? So I didn't watch a lot. Right. And people now
watch it.
I mean during the pandemic,
I got a lot of calls from guys I know
that had kids and the kids started watching,
kids in college started watching.
I was like, yeah, yeah.
I didn't see that episode.
I did watch the episode,
which I never did.
I think he started to use a squirk on that people.
I didn't see that. I mean, Iirk on that people. I didn't see that. I
mean, I did see that, but I didn't do that. It's good to know you didn't use a squirk.
How have you honest or how has your aggression matured in business? Because the reason why I raised
that is because I think, you know, we kind of swing in pendulums in the world. So if you think about business back then and how we viewed Wall Street, and even when
I was growing up, like the dream was to be an investment banker, that's what everyone
was becoming in London and that was the big goal when I was a kid.
And did you want to become one?
I wanted to become one without knowing what it was.
Right.
Yeah, right.
That's what happens.
And I went to Caspar Business School and did management science.
And I was training to go off into the corporate world
because that's what I thought you had.
Don't you remember when you were on up?
The objective was how big the stack was.
Yes.
I never had that objective.
No, same.
For whatever reason my parents didn't,
that was not the objective.
It was to do well in the world
and make the world a better place all the time.
Absolutely.
And I think allowing my friends,
that was how big is the stack?
Totally.
Same for me.
I didn't grow up with a lot.
My parents didn't have a lot,
but they always gave in charity.
They helped the community.
My mom did a ton of community work.
And then I obviously met monks when I was 18 years old.
So that became my paradigm shifted massively.
And I was always far more creative than anything else.
And that's what I enjoyed.
But I guess the question I'm asking is,
I think we've gone from that very aggressive,
very competitive,
brash, harsh energy.
And then we swing to this pendulum
where everyone's like,
well, no, you're just gonna be fully like empathetic
and vulnerable and compassionate.
I'm like, so how do, yes, so much what it is.
What is the middle ground balance?
Because the answer is always someone.
Here's somebody really smart person.
I want to say who told me.
You have to know and this only comes with time and maturity when you're on the field.
When you're on the field, it's kill the other dude.
When you're not on the field, you don't have to kill the other dude.
For you, it's got to be a good deal for me.
It's got to be a good deal, et cetera.
But when you're on the field, you want to win.
You just have to realize when you're not on the field.
The problem is, I think people don't realize
when they're not on the field.
And that has come over time, like, when am I on the field?
Okay, when I'm on the field, I'm playing a win.
When I'm not on the field, I can be in a different mindset.
That shift for me going to fear anger. I always thought I was on the field and for a long time
Yeah, to get the company where I wanted I was always on the field
now I don't have to be on the field all the time and
That not being on the field
Enables you to think properly and and just let things in and grow that gets you to other things that
also affect the field in a different way. You have different moves. It's probably how great players
as they get older, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, their bodies are not the same but they're better players
because they just know how to do it differently.
So when I'm not on the field, I'm not on the field.
When I'm on the field, I'm playing pretty hard.
Yeah.
That's a really unique insight.
I like that because I feel like that's also what challenges people in their personal
relationships because not only are people not on and off the field in business, they don't
have to switch it off when they go home.
And so your wife and your kids, your husband or your partner or whoever it may be, ends
up getting that same treatment as you do at work because you haven't reached a maturity
level of knowing how to, and it's not as easy as a light swing.
Oh no.
Like, it's not just, oh, I'm work out off, work out on.
It doesn't work like that.
And your partner, depending on what they do, you might be off to feel.
They might be on to feel.
They would be on the field.
Like, they're going through their thing.
It's just like, that's what it field. Like, they're going through their thing.
It's just like, that's what it is.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
Yeah, we just, I just go back from tour
and we went to Bali for a couple of weeks
just to relax with me and my wife.
And it's so funny, because she's,
What does she do?
She's a vegan chef and recipe developer
and incredible with knows everything about
Ayurveda and herbs and nutrition
and she's made me very healthy
compared to what I used to be.
But she's on the field right now
because her career's booming, she's doing incredibly well
and it's so fun to watch.
And it's so funny because I was like,
yeah, we're going to Bali.
She was like, you know what,
I think we're going there for a bit long
and I was like, that was me.
Like I used to say that like five years ago.
And so it's just like, okay, it's not only your life.
You have two people and you just have to navigate.
Oh, I'm not gonna feel shit.
Okay, I gotta think about this.
Maybe even though I want wanna be there three weeks,
maybe there's only a week and a half.
Yeah, yeah.
And I'll just be off the field here.
I'll figure out what to do.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think it's hard because I think, yeah,
we struggle when you've done, for other people too,
when you've said things when you're on the field,
it's hard for the person, especially in business,
for now to view you differently when you're off the field.
It's as a process.
Every marriage, every relationship,
every personal situation changes after 10 years.
I'm not the same person.
I was from 95 to 2005.
I'm not the same person from 2005 to 2015.
I'm definitely not the same person from 15 now.
And yeah, people's viewpoints of me
are probably what it was in 97, 98, and let me just say some.
That guy was not, I mean, he was a good guy,
but he was always on the field
and he was a shame, nervous, angry fighter.
Not that I'm not aspects of those things working on them,
but yeah, that changes.
And when they come into your relationship,
they have all this, now I can read everything,
see everything and like, oh, that's the guy.
Yeah, or not.
Yeah.
So I'm doing this, dude.
I'm just a gentle, nice, hugging.
Well, no, the reason why I always enjoy these conversations
is because I think I struggle with that in perception, too,
where I feel people believe that someone who is mindful or meditative has to be a certain
way at all times.
Do you know when you're on the field?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, and that's why I love that piece of advice.
You set it in a way that I think makes it so easy to think about and that's why I really
appreciate it.
And that's exactly what it is for me.
And my team knows that.
They can see that when I'm in the zone and I'm not, or when I'm winning my home kick or awake it. And that's exactly what it is for me. Like, and my team knows that. They can see that when I'm in the zone
and I'm not, where I'm winning my home kick
or a way kick.
Like, however you put it, like,
I totally like that home kick.
Yeah, home jersey or like,
and I can feel that.
And I think that you have to know that.
But I think the idea is that we like to simplify people
because it makes it easier for us to.
If you're going after the stack and that's the goal, right?
Which is like crazy.
Like, agree.
It's so arbitrary this stack.
You're always on the field.
Yeah.
What you don't realize is you can be happy at whatever the level of the stack is.
Yeah.
There's just a different way to think about it.
And you will get to a very big stack
by figuring out this first, if when you're on the field, when you're off the field. Absolutely.
And I think that's the difference. I want to ask you the difference in success and happiness,
or success and contentment, because you've, it sounds like you've worked on both and tried to be
conscious of both. How have you seen the difference and how do you work on the work?
I was never content before.
Probably the first 20 years of business.
I was just, I was going to prove everybody wrong.
I was going to prove to myself I wasn't stupid.
I was, and I was just running hard.
When I say this word, that doesn't mean that I'm not in business.
I'm content.
And all the things I thought about
that I wanted to accomplish and how I saw the world kind of played out. I'm a really lucky guy.
I'm comfortable that I'm not stupid and I got a lot more I want to accomplish because I want to
accomplish it not to get the stack any bigger and I'm happy doing that. That's a completely different place
from the first 20 years where I had no idea. I just, I thought about the stack and what success
was in such a different way than I think about it now.
And do you think everyone, there's that brilliant quote from Jim Carrey where he said that everyone
should become rich and famous and achieve everything they ever wanted
Just to realize that it's not the point. Do you think that there?
Some things have that yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
It's I love that statement because I feel like this. There's something about pursuing success as you see it
Which may not be a perfect definition right experiencing some success and then going well wait a minute
This wasn't it and I feel like because you always hear successful people say, oh, it isn't there.
But it's almost like, I think, oh, I'm happy where I am.
Yeah, I'm really, I'm really, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm so glad that it played out.
Those things are actually accurate, you know, like, it's enabled me now to kind of, when
I started this 12 years or whatever, yeah, to get to this place, I'm not sure I would have ever gotten to it.
Yeah, with a different mindset.
Yeah, yeah.
And in 95, you had a big accident, right?
Like there was something that was 92.
It was 93.
93.
I was working at ICM.
There was a breakfast place called Cape Manolinis.
It was walking down Wilshire.
It was about three blocks away.
Coming back and just sitting on the curb,
I thought to myself, I was going to the breakfast,
like, wow, I gotta move back from this curb. These cars could hit to myself, I was going to the breakfast, like, wow. I got to move back from this curb,
these cars could hit you.
And I was not in the street.
Cut to, I'm walking back from breakfast in the crosswalk,
right outside of where the ICM building was.
And a flatbed truck didn't see me,
took a left onto Wilshire, hit my left side,
nine o'clock in the morning,. Guess what happens? Your life changes.
You're like, life's not a dress rehearsal. Was laying in there. I just wiggled my fingers and
toes. I said, okay, I'm not crippled. Kind of, I was outside my body screaming. I was laying there,
watching myself scream. And then I just said, I said's not a dresser, her soul. I did a rehab because I couldn't bend my leg. And then I had a surgery on my
leg. And then I did another rehab. So that was 18 months of hell. And then I said, what
do you want to do? And I definitely didn't want to be at ICM. What was the phrase I used
to hear when I was at ICM back in the day It was like I cover myself. That's what it stood for so there was no
camaraderie culture anything and so
Me and three other guys decided to start
When I could be healthy and that and we kind of get it in 95 on my birthday March 29th. We
What loose so and that that was the catalyst to say, why should I address her, so you would get
to what you want to get to.
And that kind of thesis is that at the 20 year mark, changing how I look at life and I
like still going to be that envy guy and, you know, all the different routes we all take
in our lives to get to where the end is.
So. routes we all take in our lives to get to where the end is. So, yeah. Did you try and change an aspects of the culture based on that statement that
you built or did you find that?
I just wanted to treat people well, you know, inside and share clients and communicate better
and there's a guy named Phil Raskin, the first employee. And they fired him.
In the Israeli army, you don't let anybody stay.
You know, you take, you go get the bodies.
So I said, you're hired.
Now, we had no money.
We were not making any money.
And I said, we're hiring you if they're firing you.
And how we treat people was kind of the crucial thing different about how we did things. I think one of them. And I think
it's progressed. I don't know if it's perfect now. You'll have to ask the guys running the agency
right now, but I think overall, I hope people feel that way. What was it like building something
from scratch when there wasn't any money? Because I feel like it's easier to look at you now. Well, there was two years.
Yeah.
And no salary because you're out on your own.
Well, we were being, we were in a tussle with ICM over commissions.
And because we couldn't take the commissions because they said they deserved it because
we're in a contact.
This whole like, and they were going to sue us for certain things.
And so we had no money.
I mean, we knew things we had money, but a lot
of stuff was old stuff. About a year, you're in a half, two years in, we settled. I might
be getting dates wrong, but right around then. And then we had money. And in that period
of time, the world changed. Mike always left the business who was the God and Ron Meyer, Bill Haber, and then Gavin Pellone left this
company UTA, and a lot of shifting happened.
And we had put on, we had taken a couple people from CA, Marriale and we put on a bunch
of TV shows that were successful, and we had money because of those because they were
going into syndication and packages.
And so it was like free agency and baseball.
We have money and people are like shifting what are they on and we were home.
We got, you know, we're just timing and we were in the right place at the right time.
What was the hardest thing you had to do in those two years?
You just had to work.
You know, with nobody in the time.
Just putting the time. And you were doing 17 hour, 18 hour days,
wife was pregnant at the time,
my ex-wife with our eldest,
and keep on building and how are you gonna do it?
And the five of us, I think Marty,
would have joined and then two and a half years
in Patrick Whitesville had joined
and just kinda how we keep on
progressing and doing it. Like, with no none of us had ever done it before, we were all, as my
father was saying in Yiddish, we were all Pishers, you know, the small nothings, and so we just figured it
out. But you know, it wasn't like, oh, we went from no money to, yeah, it was nothing. Yeah.
from no money to us. Yeah, it was nothing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it was, we were happy.
Yeah.
We were really happy because we were in our own heads.
It was, it was successful.
And it was hard, but we had fun.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah, while I was a student and before I ever started doing things online, I used to do
events in my local area in London, and like 10 people would show up every week to hear
me speak about spirituality, psychology, human behavior.
I loved it.
I did it for 10 years before.
So you went to school to possibly be a banker.
Yeah.
And then what would not that this we're gonna reverse the interview now?
What was the transition to like, oh, I don't want to do this.
What happened in your mind or life event?
So I think life event that I met a monk, and I'd never met her before.
At school.
So they would come and we'd have speakers come in, whether it be CEOs, or athletes,
or celebrities, or former alumni alumni or whatever it may be.
And one day a monk was invited to speak at a small college session and some of my friends were
getting a business session. No, no, no, not a business session just a general like, yeah,
and I was invited to go because some of my friends were getting into meditation at the time.
This is early, like we're talking about like 2006, 2007. So we were doing that and it was,
and my friends were kind of getting into that space
so they were telling me to come along
and I was like, yeah, I'll go if we go to a bar afterwards.
Like that's the kind of guy I was growing up.
And so I went along.
And you weren't married at this time.
I was, no, no, I'm 18 years old.
I'm 18 years old.
I'm, you know, I had to start college around that time.
And so I go to this event and I hear this monk speak
and I'm kind of there going, okay,
when are we gonna leave?
Like who cares about this stuff?
Well, how does this benefit my life?
And I actually walked away feeling completely just reflective because this monk was saying
that the greatest gift was to use your skills and the service of others.
Like he was saying that whatever you've been given, that was his main theme.
That was his main theme to improve other people's lives.
And he was like, I'd never heard that from anyone before 18. And I realized that when I was 18, I'd met people who were rich and
famous and beautiful. And you thought that was that? That was a stack.
Yeah, but I was like, this is, this guy seems happy, he seems content. He has something
that at what point in the lecture did that like hit you? Because at one point you're
sitting there, let's go get some beers. Yeah, at the beginning, I was kind of like,
okay, what is he going to say when he came out and he's dressed in robes and he was from India
and like, you know, I'm a kid in London,
like, you know, there's nothing externally attractive about him.
And then as he spoke, like as I actually listened to him,
I was just mesmerized.
And so I said to him, I just want to follow you around.
So I ended up following him around for the rest of that week
he was doing events in London, homes and different things,
and then at temples.
And then I started visiting him in my summer and Christmas vacations in India.
And then when I graduated from college, I went and actually lived with him as a monk for
three years in India and the UK.
And what did you parents say?
They were like completely scared and worried.
What's going on, Arthur?
Yeah, and all of our friends and family that he's been brainwashed.
It was like, it's really interesting because, and I'll talk What's going on, Arthur? Yeah, and all of our friends and family that he's been brainwashed. It was, it was like, it's really interesting
because, and I'll talk to this about perception,
it's really interesting because everyone now's kind of like,
oh, Jay, you just, you know, this is a good story.
And I'm like, dude, when I chose to become a monk,
it was not a good story.
People thought it was the dumbest idea of all time.
Like, it was like, career suicide.
It was poor kid.
It was like, brainwashed.
What happened?
Like, what happened to this kid who got a first class on his degree at university, straight A's,
like what is going on here?
And all of a sudden I'm taking this part.
Your parents must have freaked out.
My parents freaked out.
And my extended family freaked out even more
which made my parents freak out more.
They came from India?
Correct.
So that upbringing and that going back that way.
Oh my God.
Yeah, exactly.
But I felt cool.
I started listening to my inner voice when I was 14 years old, and it's been so loud
ever since I don't know any other way to go.
And so for me, it was so, so loud.
And so that was the shift in my trajectory where...
So you come out after three years, what happened?
I hoped I'd do it forever.
And I really thought I was going to do it for the rest of my life.
It did not work out.
And so what was what? Why? A couple of things. One thing was like, it for the rest of my life. It did not work out. And there was white wine.
Couple of things.
One thing was like,
it's super tough on your health to live communally.
Like when you're living potentially sometimes
with 30 people in a room, 100 people in a room,
people wake up at different times.
You're being woken up by everyone,
the common cold, you're sharing baths, showers,
like the spaces life.
Everything's communal in that space.
It's hard on my, it was hard on my immune system
to live in that way.
Of course, I'm a kid from London.
Like, I didn't grow up with lots of comforts,
but it was definitely more comfortable than a monastery.
And then on top of all of that,
I just had this honest transparency,
and that's what monk teachings are meant to do.
It's meant to make you self-aware.
And my self-awareness was, I'm quite independent.
I'm quite a rebel.
Like, I like doing things my way.
And I feel- This is not that. This is not that. I feel like I want to independent, I'm quite a rebel. Like, I like doing things my way. And I feel-
This is not that.
This is not that. I feel like I want to share what I've learned in this cool, accessible, relevant way. Where the world is. Yeah, where the world is, which is the world I come from. And if I stay here, then I'm actually going to be pretending to be someone I'm not. And so I'm going to go back and, you know, be my son. That's a big thought. It was. And I had no idea what that meant then, but I just know that it was loud and that it was real and that- I wanted to- It had a- It had a- It had a-
It had a- It had a- It had a- It had a- It had a- It had a- It had a- It had a. It was. And I had no idea what that meant then,
but I just know that it was loud and that it was real and that.
And when it had to happen.
It had to happen.
It was, you know, I think it's funny.
Your brother said this about you.
He said that.
He said this in his book, Brothers Manual.
The speed, danger, and risk that make other people nervous
make guys like Ari Serene.
And I want to dive into that with you.
But for me, that's what it was that,
you didn't know where it was,
but you knew you had to be on that road.
Yes, and I don't know how to stop myself.
I can't pretend to myself,
is where I've always been.
Like, I have to be all of myself.
And when decisions are against the grain
and no one agrees, chances are I'm on the right path.
And so even when I came back,
then I had the opposite wherever and around me
was like, you wasted three years,
look at everyone around you, they've got jobs now.
What are they saying now?
Yeah, well, I mean, obviously it changes now.
But obviously it changes now, but it's anyway.
Isn't it?
I had this, I sent this email out to the company.
You know, most people think success is this.
Yeah.
That success.
And that you just, it's your journey.
Yeah.
And it just, you don't know where it's still going,
but it's probably gonna go this way.
And then it's gonna go that, you know.
Yeah.
How have you had the courage going back on that standpoint?
How have you had the courage to be open to speed,
danger, and risk when other people thought,
especially what, what I think we don't recognize
is as you become more successful,
as you make bigger decisions,
it's not that just more doors open,
sometimes there's even more doubt
because now people are like,
can he get the next one right?
Most people don't want to risk at all.
Correct.
Once you get to something like,
why would I risk that?
Correct.
Like why do that?
It's going to be on a perfect glide path.
Yeah.
So I've said this before in certain interviews,
I don't remember exactly which one.
When you're in a class and you're figuring out
where to sit in the class because you think
you psychologically figured out if I sit here,
the teacher won't call on you to read.
And you're so anxious and you're so nervous
and you're so afraid.
It's not like I don't get anxious about big deals.
I mean, I got really sick doing the UFC deal.
Moving to London, not great for four months when we took over it, right?
Yeah, so what?
You know, I'm not nervous about those things.
I don't know why.
It's just my upbringing, you know, things I went through that I could get over.
So working hard, doing all the things, showing up, you know, getting on that plane for the
lunch in China and then flying back after the lunch.
That's kind of how I operate my life.
I don't know how, what my mom fed me or did and my dad.
But yeah, I'm not worried about the hard work
and all of it takes hard work, as you know.
And I'm not trying to prove to anybody
what I'm not letting their definition of success,
not success, what I should do,
what I shouldn't do, dictate what I wanna do like you. I got my own ideas about what I should do, what I shouldn't do, dictate what I want to do like you. I got
my own ideas about what I want to do. I just keep on following them. Hopefully I keep on
getting in tune with my voices, definitely listening to people in my life that I trust.
But then, you know, it's like, okay, it's time to bet. Like we just did with WWE and doing
something new and here's what we're gonna do.
Yeah, those are not easy decisions.
Yeah, it's really interesting because even a
I'm very comfortable in the uncomfortable.
I'm really comfortable in the uncomfortable.
I think when most people don't like uncomfortable conversations,
don't like to be uncomfortable in business, don't like that,
I do enjoy that a lot. I like awkward. I'm comfortable and awkward. I like
just saying what it is. I do not care. You can like me not like me. I was never one of the cool
guys. I'm good. I think it was so funny because Mike Milken was sitting in your seat yesterday just here and it was interesting because
there's this shared
experience of there's a healed sense of self-worth
but then there's this embracing our own insignificance. Like you just say you're like we're I'm also
insignificant and it's really interesting because everyone who's kind of has a set-all to mind. I'm not sure people
Get to the second one.
But not what we need to.
Oh, why do you think we don't get there?
I'm Jay Shetty, and on my podcast on purpose,
I've had the honor to sit down
with some of the most incredible
hearts and minds on the planet.
Oh, pro.
Everything that has happened to you
can also be a strength builder for you if you allow it.
Kobe Bryant.
The results don't really matter.
It's the figuring out that matters.
Kevin Haw.
It's not about us as a generation at this point.
It's about us trying our best to create change.
Louren's Hamilton.
That's for me been taking that moment for yourself each day,
being kind to yourself, because I think for a long time,
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And many, many more.
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I've had this conversation with many people,
this concept of legacy.
And once you actually believe it, not just say it.
I mean, I mean, presence of legacies, I guess. Some entertainers
have legacies, sports stars have legacies. Business people? No, no, they don't have legacies.
And once you get to that point and comfortable in that point, this whole concept that, what's
my legacy, which is a jerk off conversation, you can move past a lot of this stuff. Yeah.
You mean, we're sitting there, what's my legacy?
Yeah, yeah.
It's a bad question, I agree.
It's a bad question.
Like that's why you're doing it.
Yeah, I agree.
Oh my God, that's crazy.
Yeah.
You know what, I think it comes from,
I think we never get to embrace our own insignificant
because we're scared of where it leads to low self-esteem.
So there's that angle, but the deep,
definitely I don't have that.
Yes, exactly, yeah, yeah. I agree. But the deep definitely, I don't have that. Yes, exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
I understand.
But the deeper angle, which is what you're raising,
is that I think as humans, we're so addicted to immortality,
because at least from a spiritual point of view,
our consciousness and energy is immortal.
And there's such a addiction to immortality
and longevity that we have that for us to live after we die,
we think the only way.
I so here's my thought, possible.
Go for it.
Because people, I mean, I am a crazy health nut.
Yeah, I mean, I do some crazy stuff.
Yeah, and I'm into it too.
So I'm really, really, really, this.
But for me, it's not about living forever.
It's about being healthy while I live.
Same.
As long as I am, because I see people that are older, that are prisoners in their bodies
as when they get to their 60s, 70s, 80s, I'm not doing that.
The best thing that could happen is it's over would be incredible and you die in your sleep
like it's over.
But until that point in time, I'm playing golf, I'm going on hikes, I'm surfing,
I'm doing my thing. This whole thing about this whole world of, and I hack. Yeah.
I hack myself to do that, but it's not to live forever. And so that's the objective.
Yes. Yeah. No, I get that. And I'm totally aligned with that. I feel the same way. Like, I don't
think it's what's the craziest thing you do for your health. I mean, I've been reason because I'm still young. There's certain things that people
don't recommend yet. And so like I've been talking to people about like stem cell treatments and things
like that. I don't know if you've done any stem cell therapy or anything like that. But okay, so
I haven't done any of it either, but everyone's always like, yeah, you're too young to start.
These kind of things right now. But I'd say the craziest thing I do right now is same as you like
the fast thing, the cold plunging, the infrared so on as the deep rest and sleep, the meditation has
been a part of my life for 17, 18. You got to push steel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to do weights.
I had to stop that last year for a I had surgery. So I had to stop. But yes, I usually do what to do.
You have to do stuff for your kind of CO2, your oxygen, your ability. How old you know?
35.
Yeah, so you're right at the, right, if you do now, right?
Yeah, this is the time, yeah.
You gotta reduce as much as you can, your inflammation.
You gotta have gut health.
Yes, this is exactly.
And then you have to figure out how to balance your glucose.
If you can do those things,
yep.
You have 35% chance of getting to the objective of one night you just don't wake up.
Yeah, right.
Are you plant based as well?
Or you try to figure out what it is?
Here's what it is, because I'm 62.
Yeah.
Okay.
Wow.
So I was electing free vegan following Dr. Gundries who got me when I had my thyroid problem,
really healthy.
The problem is now, because I do push a lot of steel, I do do heavy cardio,
I do do a lot of stuff, I have to have some protein in my diet. So I have moved up to probably
very healthy, you know, grass fed, grass finish, you know, corn in it, all the stuff that
caused inflammation. I have moved up into probably three or four days of meat and then the rest of it.
Lecton-free vegan. What's the craziest therapy you've done? You mentioned earlier,
there was some different shrubs. I take helmets from Thailand and from the UK every morning.
I do light therapy every morning after the cold plunge. I mean, if I showed you the list now,
every morning after the cold plunge. I mean, if I showed you the list now,
you'd be like, or you've lost the plot, Ari.
No, I love it.
And here's what happens though.
As I go down all these paths,
I always call my brother Zeke.
Yeah.
And I only have the following question.
And then he has to do the work.
And I do work too.
I said, okay, can it kill me?
Can it injure me or hurt me? If the answer comes back,
no, I do it. So I started on, you know, the live microbes, the microscopic can't see them.
I drink them every morning now. I've gotten to a place where I do that. I worked with this
guy from Duke as I read an article about him. And people were like, what are you doing?
And I say the great line to him is to watch their facial expression.
I said, well, they don't colonize in your system.
And you know, you may be, you can see them like it.
And so this goes to like, all right, I'm not,
I'm just going to try these things as long as it can hurt me.
The list is vast.
Yeah, that's great.
No, it's great.
I think it's, I mean, this is where. It's great. No, it's great.
I mean, this is where the world's heading.
And I think everyone's looking for solutions and looking for ways.
So I love hearing about it from you.
And it's great.
And it shows, right?
I feel like you've seen really vibrant and energetic.
And I think that's the key, right?
It's vitality, I think.
Well, the back has not turned into a mouse that's hunched over.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Absolutely.
Have you ever seen those?
Absolutely. That scares me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Have you ever seen those? Absolutely. That, that, that, that scares me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I will do anything that too.
Because then it's not, you're gonna be a prisoner in your body.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, that's not, that's not, that's not,
that's not where you wanna be in life.
Yeah.
Talking about athletic bodies, you,
you talked about what you did with the WWE.
There, I remember when you first got involved with the UFC.
Yeah.
There was a lot of like, doubt as to how big it could get, I believe, or as there was a bit of skepticism.
How do you, when you're making a decision that's big money, big risk, and danger going back
to that point, but then everyone else is like, it's a lot of risk, this is like, don't
know if it's going to work out, but then you're like, no, I know where this is going to
go.
How do you, how have you found that?
The first thing that I do, I mean, I'm assuming you do it.
Anybody's successful, I read a lot.
Yeah.
And I, I ask a lot of questions to once I read an article, if I understand it, don't
understand it.
I want the, I call the person or I call the person in the article.
And that happened early on how we started the firm.
Like, we were in the representation business.
And then I said, we have all this business, I want to buy something that we owned. I thought sports was going
someplace that with increased distribution, it was going to be more valuable. And so it was
like, there's not many sports you can own. I was already in business with UFC. We did all the work
about where we could take the economics internationally, it was an. It was an easy bet.
And it worked out.
Well, the world changed on me at the time for the like Fox sold the Disney so those two
buyers out, down Trump wouldn't let AT&T buy time Warner.
So those two buyers out and the rest of it, they didn't, nobody else wanted it at the time
because they had already had too much service.
So it was nerve wracking for a while,
but then the world changed.
Yeah, it's fascinating to me because I think
that everyone in their micro-universe
or any universe is always having to make tough decisions
that a lot of people around them don't understand.
Whether someone listening to this right now
is trying to start a new health regime,
whether someone's-
Well, it's not a pill.
Yeah.
And anything we do, as we now know, there's not like, because I don't know about you,
people come to me.
So what's the one thing?
One thing.
There is no one.
I do 17 things.
Like, and it's grown from 10.
Yeah.
There's not just like being asked the one thing.
It doesn't work.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely. And that's why that's why the questions I'm asking you, I'm fascinated by the thought process.
You're just in our lives, we're just gathering information, gathering thought process, gathering
perspectives, and then we go hunting for things that we want to do and where we think
the world's going.
And then once you get to that point like, okay, you talked to a lot of people,
you have to, for me, talk to investors, et cetera,
and then you're launched.
And then there's, I think, I might get this story wrong,
Disney when they bought CapCities, which had ESPN.
They value DSPended zero at the time,
and when it came out, it was the most valuable asset.
Again, success.
Right?
Who knows?
You know, you can do all the work you can do,
and then all of a sudden, getting to the pool,
the water's warm, dude, you gotta start swimming.
Yeah, and that's what I think.
I think there is so much pressure
around making the right decision
as opposed to making your decision right.
Right? Like, I think a lot of people spend a lot of time going, is this the right decision? Is to making your decision right. Right? Like as in you, I think a lot of people
spend a lot of time going, is this the right decision?
Is this the right thing to invest in?
I'm like, well, make the decision and then make it right.
It's just the one we started.
How many people can handle change and fear the,
I mean, you just have to be comfortable
and the uncomfortable and yeah, yeah.
Absolutely.
What have you seen?
You've worked with talent.
I know you still do in some intimate ways.
I still work a lot.
Okay, you still do.
I've heard you say what I was saying.
I was thinking there's most of it,
but you're working with the business as well as much as.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of you.
So when you're working with talent,
what have you seen has been the,
because I think it was interesting.
I was saying when I was young,
everyone wanted to be an investment banker.
Now we know in America, most people want to be influencers,
creators,
something to a YouTuber. What have you seen have been the best choices that talent have
made long term for their successful careers or where are some of the mistakes people have?
I think most talent now realizes they're the ass and it's kind of moving towards them.
And a lot of them are starting to try and figure out like
Okay, what does that mean? Can I own other businesses?
Can I get equity that be Ryan Reynolds doing Johnson Mark Walbert these people right and I think that's been at that level
We're gonna go through a whole iteration right now with AI
That is gonna I think
I don't know what it's going to do, but it's
going to transfer one more time, um, our business.
I think in a good way in that I think people are going to have more free time than ever.
They're going to want movies.
They're going to want entertainment.
They're going to need more.
I think we're going to go down to it a permanent four day work week.
Governments are going to need it for full employment.
And that means the weekend is starting on Thursday night.
And that means that's three days where people need personal interaction.
And so the value proposition, especially as distribution changes,
you're going to go to 6WiFi, you're now seeing more distribution,
rumble picking up shows, I mean, it's just expanding and expanding. Our job is to create a
place where our talent can create really for the first time, even more
exponentially become their own brands and own businesses and do things that
they, not just the movie, not just to tell other things and will be successful
for them and they'll be successful as long as we can create this kind of
perfect architecture and we're not perfect at it yet but we're getting better will be successful for them and they'll be successful as long as we can create this kind of perfect
architecture. And we're not perfect at it yet but we're getting better at it. And those are the
clients that we want to be in business across podcast, all the different things. And that's the hardest
thing that we're trying to build now in this transition. But that's where I think the world is going.
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Interesting.
Four-day work weeks.
I think that, yeah, yeah, weeks. I think that's, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Even if it's unofficial.
I don't know governments, I think, because of AI.
And I'm saying probably in two, three, four years, for full employment, and they're going
to need it for social non-unrest.
You're going to have, and you have COVID, that's almost a four-day work week now, because
people don't go into the office on Fridays.
That means Thursday night, what are you doing? Yeah.
Well, I'm in the entertainment, that's the objective.
And so that's what we've been building,
like events, Madrid open, Barrett Jax, and Archo, et cetera.
And that's where I think the world's sporting events, et cetera.
So I think entertainment is gonna become more valuable than it's ever become I don't think it says will be as disrupted by AI.
There will be some disruption in it. Yeah, it's incredible to think about that because yeah, I think people are only looking for more alternatives and options, especially for that human connection point you were talking about. How have you found it as a leader to have that way? You've gone from everyone being in an office
in an agency to then people working from home like, how have you navigated that to continue that like
crazy? We have, you know, we we had done this a long time ago. We just restarted. We did a
we did a a a book club, not the way we used to do with Rick Rubin, on his new book, we do, we've had
a lecture on anti-Semitism. We're trying to get people in groups talking about big issues
to kind of keep the company together from, you know, we're in, I don't know, 37 countries
so that people get to, there's a communal, and they, we're going to start a big retreat
again, which we hadn't done in a lot of years, because of COVID.
So that's the way we foresee doing that.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, and I think that just keeps hopefully,
and we just have to keep on working on how we keep
that connection ongoing in the company.
Yeah, because you do want,
if the architecture, right, you do want the licensing group
talking to the motion picture group,
talking to the online location group to create an experience. And you want all those pieces.
And the outside world and the clients is asking for it too. So that's where we have to.
Yeah, I worked with so many organizations before I'm during mainly the pandemic and then even
after. And the transitions I've seen are incredible because whether a company was growing rapidly,
so I was working with Zoom.
They were having the best success as a company financially,
but it was like, they had to scale
like what was a small organization really quickly.
And so like the burnout that comes with that
is really, really hard.
And then you had other organizations, obviously like travel,
entertainment, live entertainment.
Down, struggling with that and humbling morale. And so it's really interesting to see how they both bounce
back because it was hardy the way. And it's really fun. You always think, oh, they're
successful. They don't, it's hard. Success is hard for them now. Yeah. Of course it is.
Of course it is. It's, it's so complicated and it's really complicated. Success is
hard and failure is hard. Run in a business. I don't any one of them.
Yeah, brutal.
Yeah.
What have been some of you,
what would you say the last few years has been
one of like your biggest messes or your biggest failures
that you look back and go, that taught me a lot?
Well, I'll say the following,
because it was a success.
And it was only success because I thought we had
like shut everything down and Dana
white at the OC said to me, uh-uh, we're not shutting down.
I got scared and he like slamming across the face and I know we're going and then he said,
get me an island.
And you know, I was like, you know, my brother's a doctor, he's telling me where the world's
going.
I'm like, and he was like, mm-hmm, and he was just driving that train.
And so we got him an island and he did everything else.
And kind of just remind me, like, yeah, it's nerve-racking,
but don't be scared.
And he was like, amazing.
And I was like on the other side of that fence.
And that's why I have a great part.
He's an incredible partner. But I, for the first time got really scared.
And he just said, no, we just have to go.
And we're gonna take all the heat for it.
And it was a lot of heat against him.
And, but we did it.
If we didn't have that,
the whole company would have been tamed.
Because we needed the ESPN deal to continue to go.
We needed to put on fights.
And his, his courage, like, dragging me along,
was incredible.
The industry today, I feel like,
cancel culture, heat culture.
Like, it's got, it's got hotter, basically,
because there's more people to cancel,
there's more things that people are sensitive or care about
or believe in and values like,
how do you as a talent agent think about artists going through
there? Because I'm sure you've seen over the years years just so I coach a lot of people in the music
business actors like sports people.
I coach so many people in the industry and don't jump in the water.
Because most people want to respond.
The news cycle is so fast.
Unless you've committed murder and something, whatever, let it go.
The thought process is I gotta jump and respond. Then the story just continues.
The new cycle, I used to say it's like one day,
it's less than a half a day now.
And if you just get out of this emotional mindset
that you have to respond and they have to know,
and really, nobody's even, it's over. Don't respond. And that's
kind of, I think, the hardest thing for any artist. How have you worked with, because I'm guessing,
you, you almost buy job that have to become a coach sometimes to the people. This is my, this is my
line of like, why are you responding? Don't. Like, they want you to respond, because then they keep on getting the click. Yeah.
I think I'm not on social media.
Yeah.
I won't do it.
I won't.
I mean, I get it, you know, sometimes my kids send it to me.
Yeah.
My wife sends it to me.
I don't look at it.
What's something that you're trying to immerse into your children?
Like, I mean, your son was just calling you and just talking.
You're like, what's something that you feel? You really want them to know and learn
at the stages they are in their lives?
I just hope, I think they get it.
It was so funny. My, my youngest son is now training. He goes to Michigan. He's working
up at Apple right now at Apple Maps. And he's decided, comes out of his, he's going into
his junior, he's, for a triathlete.
I'm a junior.
What I loved about him is he did the work.
And what I mean by did the work and it was like shocking hearing.
I was just such a proud father.
He talked about how you run better and how the people in Kenya run better because they're
on their toes and he done it with all this research about it and he started doing it.
First three weeks was brutal on his legs, but he's gotten faster.
On the bike, you know, I have to do it in a box,
dad hears what I ride and do epoxy training and all this stuff.
And I said, you're right, it does.
And he has not stopped training.
He's 21 years old, you know,
I remember how I was at 21.
I wouldn't have been doing that.
But his work about how to get better,
he swam double the length this time,
he's got a month left,
and just the amount of work he's put into it,
the thought process behind it, the research he did,
I'm like, I mean, you couldn't be prouder.
And all of them, I just try and teach him one thing.
You gotta work hard, and you gotta show up.
The results, you're not gonna control.
If you do those things and there's many other things
that we all can, on the list,
but those are kind of it.
You work really hard, you show up,
outcomes you can't control, that's what you want.
Good advice, I love that.
It's, all right, it's been such a joy talking to you.
Thank you.
You've been such a, like, it's been such a treat just like,
I feel like we've been playing tennis or pickleball.
Oh, I got one.
Yeah, I got one.
I was about to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was gonna say, I need a pair of those.
I will just say one of those.
You'll send me a few size and everything.
I don't want to do that.
You have to wear it on the podcast so she gets a little, podcast, so she gets a little bit of kind of love from you.
Those are awesome.
Yeah.
And I love new balance, too.
So that's great.
There are multiple colors.
Okay.
I'm gonna essentially have these in shoes, too.
Okay.
Well, I'm gonna send them all you.
Yeah, I want it all.
They look great.
They look great.
It looks great on you, too.
Thank you for doing this.
I will.
But we end every show with the final five.
These have to be answered in one word or one sentence
maximum.
So it's super tight.
It's the fast five that I better sit up for this.
Yes.
Ari, these are your final five.
The first question is, what is the best advice
you've ever heard or received?
No one you're on the field.
The second question is, what is the worst advice
you've ever heard or received?
I don't know if it was advice, but why would you do that?
Hmm.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Third question, what's something that you're trying to unlearn?
Being angry.
That sounds hard.
It's hard.
How hard is it?
Let's talk about that for a second.
I'll tell you what it is.
I know when it pops up, like all of a sudden,
when somebody used to call me stupid in school, it was game on.
And that thesis where somebody treats me as if I'm not smart
or they try to pull something on me,
I just go to a very dark, sick place.
And I've worked very hard now not to go there,
to handle it differently. Not that I'm not going to be like, what, do you
think I'm stupid? Like by doing that, you're acting as if I don't know what's going on here.
And so, and they're pulling one over me. And for whatever reason, the minute I feel like
somebody's trying to take advantage of you. Yeah, I get that.
And so that is a lot of work.
That is a constant work.
And when I feel it coming on, okay, that's your shadow.
Whatever the phrase is, that's your, you know,
that's the work I have to do.
And I don't always do it.
Especially those childhood ones.
And so, no, but when somebody in business does that to me,
recently I kind of like, I went to the bad place,
I couldn't control it.
And that, that, that's what I'm trying to work on.
Yeah, what's been helping you work on that?
It's just kind of like recognizing it.
Once I recognize it, I can breathe through it
and I can get to the other side of it,
but in the moment sometimes.
Yeah, thanks for sharing that.
I feel like, I feel like, for me as well,
I feel like your partner's in your family often
see the worst of you.
And I always look at that and was like,
how what is my wife see?
And promise you do things that are so not smart.
Yeah.
And it's just not good.
Yeah, that you regret it afterwards.
I'm not sure I regret it, but it's just like,
really, you had to do that, you're 62, you had to do that.
Yeah, you had to say that, you had to like make calls
and try and kill you.
No, I'm not doing that.
All right, two more questions.
The fourth question is, what's something
that you used to value that you don't longer, no longer value?
Well, I thought it was about the stack.
Now, maybe, somebody's gonna say, he's got the stack now.
Yeah, but I never had, I didn't have the stack
at the beginning and I didn't, I mean, I don't,
I, that was never the end game.
What is the end game now?
I am really happily married.
I love my kids, they're in great shape.
I'm comfortable in who I am.
I'm happy that I have to constantly work at it now
and I'm actually in a good place to work at.
I understand the work I have to do
which makes it even better.
All right, fifth and final question.
We asked this to every guest
who's ever been to this show.
These are longer than one sentence.
I know, because you keep giving good answers.
You keep giving good answers.
I can't help it.
You gave a really interesting answer.
I was like, if I don't dive into this,
my audience is gonna get mad at me.
They're gonna be like, Jay, why didn't you,
I listened to my, this is what they're saying,
the comments are listening to your question.
Yeah, they're telling me, they're like,
Jay, he just told you like something amazing.
Why didn't you, fifth and final question,
if you could create one law that everyone in the world
had to follow, what would it be?
It could be anything about any type of law.
Don't be hypocritical. If your
whole thing is stay out of my life, okay, stay out of my life on guns, stay out of my life on
COVID, just stay consistent. And that's the hardest thing because there's the shade of gray, right?
I just want consistency without like the issue of money. The affirmative action issue is, you know,
oh, it sports and and legacy people or family,
you know, kind of heritage that got into the school.
Well, that's about money.
Like, oh yeah, the sports make them money
and the people that went there and their kids,
that they give a lot of money.
Like, okay, we all get it.
Like, just stay consistent with when we decide to pass a law.
Like, that is then across the board
and the money doesn't get into and all those other things
That that's the thing. I just look at these things. I'm like the hypocrisy of
Oh, and I'm a powerful all of us
I'm a powerful I understand it. I wish that we could figure out a law of that consistency
Whatever we decide so that it's like okay
If if really what you're
saying here, and we take it out across all these other issues, here's what it would mean.
And so everybody gets, I don't know what that law would be.
No, the essence of the answer is great.
I love the idea of being consistent and removing hypocrisy and the challenges we've made.
And money.
Yeah, and we all have it.
We all fight to death for this thing and then but
actually you don't, please don't say all my apocryphal things that I have done here. Right. So we all
have. Well, thank you very much. All right. Thank you so much. I love. Thank you. I'm glad. And I
love. So I'm going to send you these. I better get a kiss. We're going to send you. Okay. Thank
you, Ari. If you love this episode, you'll love my interview with Dr. Gabo Mateh on understanding your trauma
and how to heal emotional wounds
to start moving on from the past.
Everything in nature grows only where it's vulnerable.
So a tree doesn't grow where it's hard and thick,
does it?
It grows where it's soft and green and vulnerable.
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