The School of Greatness - 422 Scooter Braun: Create a Life and Legacy That Matters

Episode Date: December 21, 2016

"None of us were made to be worshiped. We're built to serve one another." - Scooter Braun If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/422

This is episode number 422 with the one, the only, Scooter Braun. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome everyone to an amazing episode on the School of Greatness podcast.

I'm super pumped today because we've got my man Scooter Braun back in the studio here at the Greatness Studios in Los Angeles. And it's been a year since we had him on. We decided we're going to make this a little holiday tradition and get him on every end of the year to kind of recap the biggest lessons and what's really important and how to grow all the things that we want to achieve, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm very excited to have him back. This episode is brought to you by Organifi.

Now, when I travel, guys, for those that don't know who Scooter Braun is, let me just share a little bit of his bio. Scooter Braun is one of the entertainment industry's biggest power brokers, one of Time Magazine's 2013 100 Most Influential People in the World, Billboard's 2013 40 Under 40 Headliner, and one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business. He is the founder of SB Projects, a company at the intersection of music, film, television, technology, brands, culture, and social good. technology, brands, culture, and social good.

And of course, he manages and works with superstars that include Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Martin Garrix, Kanye West, Usher, and many more. He has broken more new music acts than any other music executive in the last decade. Yeah, take a deep breath and take that in. The thing that I love about Scooter is he's an incredible friend and an amazing human being, great father, husband, and just a good guy. Great guy overall. Yes, he's created incredible results. He's achieved so much and we talk about these results and what he's achieved and what he actually feels is the most

important thing in this interview. We also talk about the biggest lessons that he has learned in the past year and how some of them are completely different than what we talked about the previous. We talk about the abundance mindset that has allowed him to create such wealth and how he started to shift it at a certain age to generate this wealth for himself. We also talk about why he dropped out of college and what it took for him to create incredible results at age 25, 27, how he was able to transition from college dropout to doing what he's done. We talk about why I think he's the most influential person in the world and why he extremely disagrees with that.

Also, his vision for changing the music industry, stigmas, and so much more. Guys, if you enjoy this one, make sure to leave a comment on Twitter or on Instagram. Let Scooter know at Scooter Braun and tag me at Lewis Howes. Let him know what you enjoyed about this the most. Also share this with your friends, lewishowes.com slash 422. Post it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, tag Scooter while you're listening or if you're watching on YouTube and let him know again what you think. Guys, I'm very excited to bring back my good friend. I know you're going to get a ton of value out of this the way I did the entire time.

So without further ado, let me introduce to you the one, the only, Scooter Braun. All right, guys. Welcome back to the School of Greatness podcast. I'm so excited today because we have one of the most requested guests back, the legend Scooter Braun in the house. What's up, buddy? My man, my basketball playing friends Saturday mornings at the church gym right off of uh what we don't want to say where's that that's our secret game yes in Santa Monica I guess area yeah we're throwing down hard it's

like a dad's league right yeah 100% I'm not a dad it's like it's like dudes in like their mid-30s just going hard and hard other. With a bunch of 25-year-olds who know that this is the gym they can get their moment in. Exactly. When did we first meet? We met through your brother, Adam, probably four years ago, maybe? I think we met at South by Southwest. We hung out running around South by Austin. It must have been three or four years ago at least.

I think longer. Maybe five years ago. Yeah. I got involved with Pensacola Province early on, which I just heard a week ago. Michael, the CEO, just called me and said he gave me an award that only one other person has, which is you, which is a lifetime advisory board member. So I just got awarded this, and he said there's only one other person that has it because I brought in the second most amount of money to depends on the promise, in terms of my relationships bringing people in and the donors that I brought in. And he said there's only one other person and it's you. So we're both lifetime advisory board members.

Listen, man, this is why I love that because my brother founded that charity. So for me to be that person who got it before you, and for me to be the person who's brought in, you know, the other amounts, um, I think that's a little bit kind of expected, you know, as an older brother, you're supposed to support what your family's doing, especially the way our mother raised us with the idea of giving back. But for you to be the other person with no relation to our family, you didn't grow up with us. You just found this cause that you believe in and you got so heavily involved and gave your time and your effort.

It's a testament to who you are, and it's the reason I consider you a friend. Especially as a dad now, I try to put people in my life that later on my boys might come around and say, this is someone that you can actually look at as an example of what you should do in life, and I consider you one of those people. I appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. And I also have a whole chapter dedicated to you and your brother in my book, kind of about your guys' story, because I think you guys have an incredible story, separately and together, what you guys have done, what your family has done.

Thank you. I also think you're an incredible human being, and I'm proud to be your friend. We could end this right here. Right? Done. This love fest is over. We'll see you guys. Exactly. But for those that don't know who Scooter is, make sure you check out the previous interview,

which we'll have linked up in the show notes. But Scooter, just to give you guys some insights, he's one of the 100 most influential people in the world from Time Magazine, 40 under 40, headliner, one of Fast Company's most creative people in business. And in my mind, I believe that you probably are one of the most actually influential people in the world. Not top 100, but probably number one, in my opinion. Now, let me, hear me out here. Maybe it's gone too far. I'm not trying to stroke your ego or anything,

but I'm trying to. It's gone way too far. But you manage, here's why. You manage Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Martin Garrix, who's the number one DJ in the world, Kanye. You work with Usher. You don't manage Usher, right? We manage Usher. You manage Usher. And combined, they're probably the most influential artists in the world. I mean, they're arguably the top in their categories. They reach the most people in the world. What they say, people listen to and really gravitate towards their words and the energy they put out there. And you have a huge impact on what they say, how they say things, how they show up. So in my mind, you're responsible, no pressure, for a lot of things that they create in the world.

And for me, you're the guy who's bringing it all together. Am I allowed to say why I disagree? Feel free. Feel free. Number one, I think that this most recent election showed that celebrity only goes so far in influence. That's true. that this most recent election showed that celebrity only goes so far in influence. That's true.

And I'm a firm believer that you should listen to people who are informed, not just people who have large followings. And I think that this election was kind of a wake-up call to the fact that, you know, celebrity is not as impactful as we think it is, because it's not necessarily about how big your numbers are. It's about much you have you know how much engagement you have and the people i manage have tremendous engagement and huge followings and i definitely think they're extremely influential and i have a responsibility being associated to their journeys to make sure that i try to be the best person i can be and help them and guide them um when when asked in the best possible manner

but i personally believe that you know this most influential listen, it's really great. You know, so someday my grandma and my mom can be proud of me and my wife can be proud of it. And and someday my kids can be proud. But I just think that when you give a speech to a crowd, you know, my brother and I have had this conversation. We always say, try and find one person in the crowd and make that eye contact and make sure before you leave the room that you get at least one person in the crowd and you know that you connected with them. And I think that when it comes to influence in a hundred years, um, one of my mentors, uh, said this to me one time, he said in a hundred years, no one's going to remember you. And he said, no one's gonna remember me. So they sure as hell won to remember you. And he said, no one's going to remember me, so they sure as hell won't remember you.

He's a big mentor. He's a big mentor. And I really believe that. In 100 years, no one's going to remember my name. I don't care what you say. No one's going to remember my name in 100 years, but they might feel my impact. So I think when we talk about influence, and I think that everyone, everyone watching this,

everyone listening to this has a responsibility because you don't understand. Each individual engagement has such a ripple effect that you might be the most influential person in the world because something you do might create a ripple that affects the world in an impactful way that you don't even realize. So every interaction you have with people, how you carry yourself, the things that you say, the things that you do, we're not, we're never going to get it right. But all of us have a responsibility, you know, to go out in the world and, and treat every interaction like it, like we are all that important because we all truly are in my opinion. And, and if we do that, I think the world would be a lot better place. And we would stop looking to think that, you know, number of followers are what makes us important. I think the next generation has been kind of trained, get likes, get followers, get likes, get followers. And they're missing the point that even when we open our phones, that interaction is so intimate.

It's one-on-one when you're looking at that screen. And you're not talking to people through millions of impressions. And if you actually treat every personal experience the way you treat that intimacy with your phone, then I think we'll start to see people understanding their importance. And I don't really think I'm that. I don't think whether it be the CEO or the janitor, I have the same responsibility to both of them because they're just as important as I am. Yeah. Wow. Why do you do what you do right now after you've had so much success? Because I'm a glutton for punishment.

Explain. No, I feel like you got to finish things that you start. And it's interesting. I always get really like deep and emotional and like deep thoughts at the end of the year. And we're doing this right before Christmas break. Which we did last year as well. Which we did last year. And I kind of get in this place.

Okay, my nose itches. I'm not that guy in California. Let me just itch my nose. When you itch your nose in California, people get the wrong idea. But I do what I do because it's given me this amazing life. It gives me this incredible opportunity to provide for my family in a way that I never dreamed possible. And I've made commitments to people.

I met Justin when he was 13 years old. I met Ariana as a young teenager. I met Martin Garrix when he was 17. I met Kanye 10 years ago. And Usher and I have been friends for over 10 years. So Tori Kelly, I met as a 20-year-old. So when I look at the acts that I've signed on, when I look at the team that I have around me that's been with me from the beginning, I think I do what I do because if I shake someone's hand, it's as good as a binding contract. And I made a commitment to them and they made a commitment to me.

And as long as they want to ride, I'm going to keep riding. And I think at this point when I go to work, I'm not really going to work because I need to make money. I'm going to work because the people who signed up in my office to believe in me and what I wanted to do with my artists and the things that we do they helped me provide this life for my family and now it's my job to go to work every single day so they can get there right it's kind of like I now work for my staff yeah wow it's crazy man do you ever feel like what if you get burnt out in the music business or I am burned out man but you're gonna see exhausted I got a 14 day old son at home and a 22 month old baby and

you just named some of the roster man i'm tired yeah wow man so well i mean how do you then i mean it's not sustainable for 20 30 years to be tired and do this every day is it look i think i think we talked i think last time about my favorite poem ithaca and the idea of this poem which i love so much, it's not about, at the end it says, if you get to Ithaca and you find her tired, she did not cheat you. Because it was never about reaching Ithaca. It was always about the journey. And I truly believe that. I think life is kind of ups and downs, ups and downs. And you're never truly going to be content. And you're never always going to be sad. And you go up and down and you try to make the adventure as exciting as you can. And I'm just someone who I'm never complacent.

And my mind stirs and I stay up at night and I wonder. And being tired is okay. You know what I mean? Like it's like when you're on that court. And I saw you on your Instagram story trying to, you know, show those squats. At the end of the day, what are you doing? You're tiring your body. So your body can rest and then get stronger. So I get tired and then I take a break. You know, I'm going to take this next two weeks and I'm going to rest my mind and

rest my body and I'm going to come back strong next year. And I go in that cycle. And, you know, first and foremost, though, now at this point in my life, my life is about my kids. So the question is whether I'm tired. It's more is there anything that would make me quit? And the only thing that would make me quit is my kids. I think the only thing that would stop me is if my kids said, Daddy. We want you around more. Yeah.

We need you here. Yeah. Because what's it all worth if you go and you have this amazing career and you get all these accolades and then you die and your children, your true legacy, walk up and they can't say you're a great father? It's not really a legacy to me. Yeah, it's true. Is there an achievement you personally want that you haven't?

I mean, I think you've achieved everything. Is there like a title? I mean, you've conquered everything. It's made me feel good about myself. You've invested in the companies that have got, you know, the biggest companies and TV shows and movies and artists. I'm making another bracelet, but this bracelet right here, this is like my goal.

So it says. Is this my intent? No, it's my intent bracelet, but it says Jagger's dad. And my other son is Levi, so I'm getting a second bracelet. And I'm actually looking forward to the achievement of the first time i go somewhere and no one calls me scooter they just call you jagger's dad oh that's cool that actually is going to be like i think that's going to be pretty damn cool that's cool well then because then it means that like i've i've gotten to the next phase of life you know it's like the video

game like i'm leveled up i'm level eight what do you think's the biggest challenge um for you right now then balance yeah my biggest challenge is balance my biggest challenge is how do i continue to succeed and achieve on the level that i've been going for all these years but still be a good husband to my wife still be a good father to my kids yeah and and to do that it's not like i'm good about getting home but i need to get better about being present when i'm home taking the phone and throwing it in the other room 100 because you've got the biggest artists in the world and when they call you you can't just say and i'm also i'm also a workaholic yeah you know so it's you want to do it too yeah it's about finding that balance that which i struggle with every day and um one of my favorite stories see

i don't know if i should have watched our interview remember what i said before what we got a lot of new people on here who yes look my wife is the founder of fuck cancer um and now she has a new thing she's also doing called Motherlucker, which is right on brand. And one day I came home and we were going through something really rough with one of my clients. And about four days in a row,

I was coming home stressed out and I kept bringing it to bed. I was stressed out, stressed out, kept bringing it to bed. Finally, my wife on like the fourth or fifth night, she gets up and she goes, you can't keep bringing this shit home to bed. She was like out stressed out could bring it to bed finally my wife on like the fourth or fifth night she gets up and she goes you can't keep bringing this shit home to bed she's like i don't need this energy yeah and in a classic obnoxious entertainment i make you know money way i looked at my wife and said you know that's unfair for you say that to me you know how do you think i provide this life you know this is what i do for a living you knew what you got when you signed up with this like

this is you can't like you have to respect like i'm not doing this for me this isn't selfish i'm working hard for other people and my wife looked at me and she goes okay well i've been helping someone with chemo for the last week should i I bring that home? And you talk about a shut the fuck up moment. Instantly, a couple things happened. Number one, I realized why I married her and why I'm madly in love with this woman. Two, which I've said many times before, she reminded me that what I deal with is inconveniences.

What she deals with is problems. And that helped me with balance. Understanding what's really important and what's bullshit. And when you have children, that helps even more because all you want to do is get back to your kids and be present with them because they don't care. No. They don't care who you are, what you do.

They don't know any of these people. My kid just wants to play hide and go see. Yeah. He doesn't want to draw on a piece of paper. He doesn't care him wants to play hot daddy run I'm a high Daddy run come back in the room. I'm a hiding that is the game. Yeah, that is life right now and You know I just I think what's important to me also with balance is that I really do want to be Someone that people in my industry look at i want to change the paradigm you know when i came in it was fast women fast cars you know bottle

popping like that's the music industry when people think about it and i want to i'm 35 years old and i've been a part of a lot of big records and a lot of big artists some people know some people don't even know and i want to change it so when people come to the business and they say, who's the baddest dude here? They see someone who is family first. Because what kills me is that Richard Branson is one of my heroes because he just is such a great entrepreneur. And we think of Richard Branson and most people think adventure, sex symbol. Here's the interesting thing. That dude has been faithfully married for over 30 years to his wife. His two kids love their father and

now he has three grandchildren and he has the most amazing family and his kids, the way they speak about him, I hope my kids talk about me someday. But we don't know that about Richard Branson. We don't talk about that about Richard Branson. And I feel like that is the thing I want to highlight more so that we start to realize that that's the real winning because too many kids they come in the industry and they they say I want to win and they don't set their goals so they don't even know what the goal post is so they just start to I want to make money I want to have fame I want to break records they start doing all this stuff and then they keep going keep going keep going and I tattooed family on my wrist when I was 22 years old, 20 years old, because I wanted to

remember. And now I realize I did all this for this. This was my goal. So I can't lose sight of that. Wow. You know, a lot has happened in the last year. You know, I think the previous year you said you were going through a lot with, with one of your clients, Justin, uh, one of your artists, and he was going through a lot, but I think a lot of that's transitioning this last year. What would you say is a big couple of lessons you've learned from a really struggling year before you said it was like a nightmare for you for that whole year. And you kind of got through it. What would you say is the biggest lesson you learned in the last 12 months since then? Either personally, business, anything. Well, look, last year I had to keep a lot to the vest because it since then? Either personally, business, anything.

Well, look, last year I had to keep a lot to the vest because it was a lot of planning. But now seeing it come, you know, recently we just found out we got an Alamo of the Year nomination for the Grammys. And I think when it comes to the whole Justin thing, one, it's a testament to him. I think, you know, I've been given a lot of credit in his success. But when you talk about someone who's going what he's going through, for a year and a half, I failed. I tried every day to turn things around. I failed.

And when it finally turned around, it's because he made a conscious decision to change. And he deserves the credit because it would not have changed if he had it as a man said, we've got to go for it. And I was there to support him, but as a man he made the decision and he's lived up to his word. I would say two things I've really learned are, one, patience.

Understanding that once you stick to a plan, don't let the body shots throw you off your plan. People are going to say things, but they don't know your plan. They don't know what you know. And they're going to be knocking you in the body shots throw you off your plan. People are going to say things, but they don't know your plan. They don't know what you know. And they're going to be knocking you in the body. You just stick to your routine. You just stick to your routine because it was two years that I had a plan rolled out of what we were going to do. And during those two years, people just took shot and shot and said, oh, it's over and this, that.

But we stuck to our plan because we knew what we knew. And then we've come full circle to this amazing comeback and sold out stadiums and Grammy nominations. And the second thing... How many nominations is he up for right now? He has four, but he's two out of the big three. That's crazy. So Alam of the Year nomination and Song of the Year nomination.

And the other thing that I've really learned was the idea that you can't... You can't take away someone's justification for their feelings. You can't tell someone, even if it's irrational to you and flat out wrong, if someone feels a certain way, you can't force them to feel the way you feel. And you can't write off their feelings. And I go back to the election again. I think that's what happened. With my clients, there are times all the time

where I'm just like, that's just flat out wrong. To your clients, you say this to them. Yeah, I would say. But the old me would have been like, that's stupid. Why are we even having this conversation? But what does that do? It makes them feel like, God, I'm sad I even said this out loud. I'm angry because you said this out loud.

I'm angry because you're calling me stupid. Yeah. Resentful, frustrated. Yeah, resentful, frustrated. And they close up and they just bottle it and it gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse. And we saw that in the election on a nationwide scale. And what I've learned over time from this past experience and from other people is the

best way to do it is to look at someone and say, okay, I don't agree with you. I don't even understand you. But I respect that you feel that way. Let me acknowledge it right now. I respect it. So now that I've respected it, please explain to me why.

And then once they explain, you can start to have a dialogue that maybe you can change the way they're thinking because now they're open to hearing what you have to say and you can give them input. It's like if you're trying to reprogram a computer and you say, God, that computer is broken. It needs new programming. You can't scream at the computer. You can't just be like, you're stupid, you computer. And it's like it's going to change the computer.

What you need to do is you need to plug in. You need to go in and look at the code and say, okay, why is it acting this way? What is it thinking? What is it programmed to do that's making it act this way? All right, now I see the problem. Now I'm going to speak back to it with code to show it where it needs to go. The language that it understands as opposed to. And humans need to start talking like that too. Instead of just yelling at each other and thinking it's going to change things

even if you're right you know it's the the third thing i've learned is saying sorry doesn't make you wrong you know it's the idea you you can if i say hey i'm sorry yeah i've admitted wrong but if i look at you and i say i'm sorry if I made you feel that way. I haven't admitted wrong, but I've acknowledged your pain. That's important. And I think those lessons, allow people to open dialogue

and to start having that code go between us. And my clients have taught me that and it's served me well in every other aspect of my life. It's probably the most important lesson that I've learned. What do you feel like is missing in terms of lessons that you need to learn? Man, I'm learning stuff every day. Right. I'm 35 years old.

You're a baby still. I'm learning stuff every single day from people older and younger than me. What's something you think you might need to learn this year? Because I hear you've grown a ton just in this conversation already and what i've seen you've grown a lot uh in the last year i i need to learn how to ask for help really yeah it's something i've been thinking a lot about the last couple days i'm i'm so used to being the rock for everybody that I need to know it's okay to say, man, it's too much. I can't do this. I can't carry the load.

I need help. Otherwise, it won't be balancing your life if you take it all on yourself. And I don't know when to ask or where to ask or how to ask, and I'm learning that. That's something I'm dealing with every single day because it's, you know, when you're younger, and I'm still a young guy, but when you're younger, you really feel like the only way I'm going to get respect is if it's all on me. And now I'm beginning to realize it doesn't need to all be on me. And no one asked it to all be on me. And it's okay to ask for help because there's a lot of people out there in the world that

that really do want to help and um you don't need to be the rock all the time and it's uh it's it's easy for me to say when you ask me i need to learn i it's i could say it which is a cool thing it's easy yeah you're aware of it at least i'm aware of it but i don't know how to practice on it and i and i i don't even know where to start and the other thing i need to learn is um i need to learn where the new goalposts are you know it's hard to win a game when you don't know where to go and at this point in my life i know where other people's goals are and i can help them and that gives me justification. It gives me purpose, funny enough. I need to find those new challenges and those new goal posts

so that I can get a little shut eye at night and not keep myself up so late. Have you gotten clear on your vision at all for this next year of what you want to achieve or any goals? Somewhat. Like I said, there's a lot of goals that other people have and I know I have jobs to do.

But whether it be the election or whether it be what I'm seeing going on in the world, Syria right now, or just our local communities, and there's been kind of this awakening, which I think this election was a good thing. A good and a bad thing, right? No, I think in the long run it'll be a good thing. Because I think it made us recognize

that there is a huge divide. And I think when you recognize things is when you start to heal them. I think when you break a bone, it heals back stronger. And I think it's awakened something in me where the next 35 years of my life, I want to make sure that I'm doing as much as I can to be impactful in a positive way. Do you ever think you'd run for president? Well, I believe anyone can win now.

Exactly right. Look, it's funny you say that. I think I could run for the president of my community like watch board. But look, what I would say is this. If in 30 years my life has gotten to that point, it will be a conversation I have with my wife if she's okay with it. Sure. I think that when I think of the President of the United States, what I am hopeful, I'm not thinking of myself in this. It's a funny question you say that.

But actually what I am thinking about when I think of the answer is how excited I am to see what the leadership looks like over the next 20 and 30 years. Yeah. Because I do think this election has made the best and brightest of our country want to step forward. Right. And I'm excited to meet those people.

Wow. What celebrity or well-known personality in the world do you think would make a great president in the next eight years? Not a politician, but someone who's just, you think is a great woman or man who could be like, man, this person just could rally the whole country and would be this, you know, powerful force. Is there anyone you can think of well kanye said 2020 and they said um you know i i like i said i just don't think about things in celebrity form i you know i think that if a celebrity is extremely well educated and makes it their purpose to find find out and really do the research then yes you should listen their voice but i don't

think every celebrity should talk. I think if you don't know what you're talking about, keep your mouth shut. Yeah, unless it's relevant to what you know. And so to me, when you think about who the right people are, I am excited about certain politicians. I'm not really thinking in the celebrity world.

I am so excited about our new senator, Kamala Harris. I think she is the real deal. I think she's fantastic. I think she's someone, if you can get her on your show, you should get real deal um i think she's fantastic i think she's someone if you can get her on your show you should get her on her show she's just special okay um and like i said i they're going to be new and exciting leaders that start to show their face over the next 20 to 30 years and what i hope is that those leaders they stop using the words fight as much there's times to use the word fight i agree but we've been fighting for far too long and the bottom line who are we fighting yeah we're fighting ourselves and what we need to do is figure out how to find leaders who who don't have to say we all

stand together because it's not the truth but they they do have to say, I respect all voices. And how do we get a dialogue going where we can stand as Americans again? And if that leader shows their face, I'm going to be thrilled. Yeah. Why did you, you know, you're very public in promoting your voice and your opinions

during the whole last couple of years with the election and everything. Did you feel like you had a responsibility to to do that or what was the decision for you to put yourself out there so much when maybe there are people that wasn't the brightest business decision for you to do that because people will have their own opinions but you were so public about it was there a reason or was there I i was passionate i'm not i've never been someone who who believes you shouldn't speak out because you know it doesn't serve your best interests i feel like you have responsibility to speak i mean my grandparents are holocaust survivors

and my grandmother's in ashwitz and my grandfather's in dachau and you know to my mentality is if people spoke out for them they might not have been there you know so um i'm a firm believer that we have a responsibility to each other and my business life has been far beyond successful than i ever dreamed already so more now more than ever i have responsibility to speak out when i believe something. And I also am a firm believer in the system. I think that now the president who has won was not the president that I was going for, but I have a responsibility to give him the best chance of being successful and to encourage his success and to make sure that he understands that myself and others like me are part of

the constituency that he needs to answer to um and and really encourage us to come together and start that you know feeling of healing and and being together however i'm not okay with the rhetoric you know i wasn't and and that was what really bothered me you know the biggest thing that bothered me was and why i spoke out was did i agree with everything that hillary clinton did no i didn't that's the honest truth and i was very vocal about that but the difference was when i left my child in front of the television i never wondered if his morality was in question if she was on tv right what and there are certain things that president-elect trump would say that bothered me that I would have to come and explain to my son, no, you don't talk about a woman that way. No, you don't believe Muslims are this way.

No, you don't believe Mexicans are this way. And I think now that he's won, his rhetoric is changing pretty dramatically. But, you know, that's my firm belief. And I'm excited to see who the leaders are for the next 20, 30 years, because I have responsibility to my kids. That's the way I vote. I think what's the right thing for my children. And what's interesting to me is that, like I said about labeling, we use these words, if you believe one thing, you're a liberal. I'm not a liberal. I voted Republican many times before. I voted Democrat. I'm not a liberal. I vote with my times before. I voted Democrat. I'm not a liberal.

I vote with my conscience and I'm a firm believer that with my money, there's one way for me to vote every single time. But I believe I'll make more money tomorrow. I'll figure out a way. I believe I vote with my conscience and I'll never be apologetic about that, but I'll also never belittle someone else's decision to vote for something else. Wow. Speaking of money, did you always envision yourself having the financial success you do have? And how did you develop your mindset to generate such wealth, an abundance that you create for yourself? Because not everyone has that mindset. Did your parents teach you this?

No. It's funny. Someone asked me that. In my entire childhood, I never had a conversation about money with my parents. They never talked to me about taxes or saving. We never did that. We did talk about being rich. I still remember to this day, my dad told me, I wasn't a trust fund kid. We grew up great middle class family, like great neighborhood. But there was no trust fund waiting for me. And there were kids in my school who, like my best friend arrives in town today. His dad was the cab driver.

His mom was the housekeeper. And there was definitely no trust fund there. And then there were other kids who had huge trust funds. All in the same school. All in the same school, public school. And my dad told me, if anyone ever asks you if you're rich, say yes. I was like, what? And he goes, tell them you're rich with love.

You got everything you ever need. And that was the mentality they raised us with. It was like, if you have that, everything else is house money. You're in Vegas and you're playing with house money now. And now that I have Yale and my two sons, vegas and you're playing with house money now yeah and now that i have yale and my two my two sons i feel like i'm playing with house money so the the working for wealth and everything else did i ever think i'd get here i hoped you know when i was when i was 20 years old i wanted to be a billionaire um when i was 22 i realized making 10 grand was really hard so i reassessed everything and i met a guy who i uh who i admired and i said what

do i need and he gave me a number um what do you need for what to have his life to have the success of his life because i found his life to be perfect you're like this guy's got it and he gave me a number not even close to a billionaire yeah billionaire but not even close to like not hundreds of millions it's like 20 mil 25 i won't say the number, but it was there. And it was a number. And I said, okay, I'm going to work my whole life to get to that number. This is the new goal. Start being realistic. A billionaire happens, great, but this is realistic.

And when I was 27, I passed that number. Wow. And I pulled over to the side of the road and called my dad because I was a little depressed, and I think I told you this, and I just basically said, this happened, and here I am telling my father I'm the wealthiest person in the family, and he's like, oh my God. At 27. 27, and I told him, I said, but dad, this is the number I always wanted. This is my goalpost, and I feel nothing, and now I'm depressed because I feel nothing.

And he said, well, do me a favor. Hang up the phone. Think about all the times that you were happy and call me back. And I hung up the phone, thought about it, called back. I said, it's going to sound cheesy, but when I'm giving away tickets, when I'm playing basketball,

when I'm answering kids randomly on Facebook or on Twitter, and he's like, then implement more of that into your life. He goes, understand that the wealth is part of your job. The happiness is the time you take because your job is giving you that freedom. And that is the way I kind of look at my life. I work my ass off so I have time for the moments that mean something. Man, there's so much I want to ask you about this. So what is the number now

for you? Has it shifted since you've achieved the number? We'll keep it between us. You tell me later. The number shifts. Tell me about the basketball court. I mean, look, you got to give a number just because you're going to work every single day. But like I said, my new thing isn't really a number because if I lost it all tomorrow, now that I have the wife and kids, things change. And when you get to that phase of your life, you'll understand. You'll be super happy. And I hope it for you because you're such a good dude. But I want to see it happen for my staff now.

You want to see them achieve financial... I want them to get... I want them to have financial freedom. I think that would be amazing. What does that look like for them? Each one of their goals are different. But to allow them to go after their dreams and achieve things,

I think that is just a thrilling new goal. What are you doing to empower your team? Because, again, a lot of this rides on you. But you said in order to have more balance, you need to have your team taking on some of the things. Look, I'll give you an example. I got a guy named Mike George. Young guy, just got engaged. And he manages Martin Gar garrick's he married number one dj in the world no big deal he managed he just found a new guy named eden who's one of

the biggest alternative acts right now um and mike george was someone who when i met was really struggling you know living in mom's basement and like trying to figure out what's next had an act that wasn't paying him wasn't really appreciating him um he wasn't working with you at the time but i recognized his work and i wanted to meet him and he he told me he's going to be in la for some meetings he lied he flew to la stayed at his cousin's house and just waited three days until i saw him sure and um hey whatever it takes right no but let me tell you something he's loyal he's hard working and every step of the way when he has success not only in his business life of getting

the number one dj yeah to having this act tour and you know make make tons of money great but to see him have that and then meet his girlfriend which i saw him meet you know early on to now be engaged to be planning their wedding to like to see him going through these phases of life is extremely gratifying. So, you know, that's kind of the new goals. And it's, you never know where you're going to find them and where you're going to see these things. But when people present themselves to you and you recognize maybe a little bit of yourself in them or something special, you want to take advantage of those moments. Yeah. you want to take advantage of those moments. Yeah.

Do you see yourself bringing on more acts or developing new acts or do you kind of feel like, okay, I've got a full roster and now you're going into different directions or you're just helping continue to cultivate those acts? I mean, look, I think we're going to have new acts. I think we're going to sign new people. I think we're going to do new adventures.

I think we're doing more television. We're doing more film. We're doing tech. We're doing consumer products. Our company mantra is inspire the world to try. And you can only do that if you're trying something new every day yourself. You've got to do it yourself, yeah. And so we'll see where that takes us.

But I don't know why, but when you said that, it just kind of reminded me. I don't know if I've ever told you this but when i was in college um my first semester i started my company and i went from you know being on a roll my first semester to literally the second semester like doing awful because emory didn't offer night classes um or didn't offer internet night classes that i couldn't be at school i was working full time yeah this is doing the nightclub stuff right yeah? Yeah. Nightclub stuff and promotions and working for JD and it's so, so deaf and all these things that I was doing, you know, promoting ludicrous, throw them bows. And, um, and I got put on academic probation because my grades dropped. And then they, uh, they brought me in

to see a counselor. I don't even remember his name. I remember where his office was. I remember what it looked like. I don't remember his name. It was the only time I ever met him. And the whole point of this guy is to like sit you down and see if there's anything really going on and help you get a path to getting back on the right track. And he comes in and immediately the questions are, am I on drugs? Like are there family issues? Like he's trying to figure out how do you go from like being this type of student to being this type of student. And I said, you know, it's not like that. I'm actually an entrepreneur, and I'm going for it, and I'm trying to do this.

I'm trying to play basketball, but do this. And there's no internet classes, and if you could help me, I'd love to stay in school. And he stops me, and he tells me this whole story about Robert Woodruff, who is one of the founders of coca-cola who's the largest endowment really owns half the stuff in atlanta but this guy robert woodruff gave the largest down in the history of our school and basically every building in emory is like the woodruff this woodruff right and he tells me about this amazing entrepreneur who funded

our school and i'm like this guy gets me you know i'm thinking he sees what I saw in Mike George. Like he gets me. And I'm like I'm staying at school. I found somebody who can help me. This is great. And he looks at me at the end and he goes, and the chance of you being like Robert Woodruff are like one in a billion. Wow. So we need to get you back on the right track.

And when you get out of school and you have the degree and everything else, you could start. And I looked at him and it clicked like right there. And I literally just looked at him and I said, I really want to thank you. I now know what I need to do. And he goes, so we're going to get you a plan, get you on the right track. I said, I'm dropping out of school.

Wow. And he goes, excuse me? He goes, I think you're making a very big mistake. And I said, I appreciate that and I i will come back uh and he goes but you don't know if you'll be able to come back and i said i appreciate that too but i will come back if i fail and i probably want to come back at one point just to be showing my children i remember saying all this to him i was like but i need to do this right now and i left and i have no idea what his name is or where he is now, but I'm not mad. I'm not mad at all. I'm actually grateful. You know, he gave me that little nudge I needed to really go after it. And, you know, it's, I don't know why that popped into my mind, but that moment in my life was so pivotal.

And it was that idea that someone doubts me, that basketball player kicked in. I'm like, oh, you don't think I'm going to hit this three. Let me show you. You're giving me room. You're giving me an inch. Exactly. Like, I'm going to take this inch. And when you go through life, what's the point of going after anything that's reasonable?

That's not gratifying. It's not gratifying going after something that people have done before and is expected. While you're young and don't have children, when you have children, you have to live for someone else. Your goal should be to be called Jagger's dad. But when you don't have children, it's okay to go out and fail time and time again. And that's like, that's what I don't understand. That should be what we're teaching people. Like you should go out there and, and get after your dreams because now's the time to do so because you're living for no one but yourself. If you can go hungry for five days, that's on you.

You're an adult. Like I was, I remember paying for pizza with change when I was trying to figure out and no one knew. But I could make that decision because I was going after it myself and that was fine. And I failed time and time again until I finally got it right. And that guy didn't see that. And I understand how he's trying to help me because probably when my son comes to me someday, I'm going to try and give him the same advice that guy did because we want to protect people. But sometimes people got to feel the pain themselves and they got to go through it themselves. And I just think that when we say inspire the world to try, that's what it is. Like go after it.

Go after it while you can because tomorrow is not promised. Another mic drop. What about education? Do you feel like you'll send your kids to college or i hope so it's the same system that it is now will you say you know what if you guys want to go do your thing and spend four years creating a business or traveling or doing something i don't look at colleges that i look someone asked me if i regretted leaving college yeah i do really yeah i regret it because i wish that guy would have seen in me what i saw myself because he i think

i could have stayed in school and done the same thing. And what I regret is that I don't – You never got your degree, right? No, I don't have a degree. But what I find interesting is when I look at college, I don't look at it as, oh, my God, you need that degree to be successful. That degree will never define you. But the relationships you make in school, those late-night conversations you have with your friends. So powerful.

The things that you see and do before the real world takes over. That gift of college I missed out on. And when I look at my brother who had that, look at my sister who had that, my other brothers who had that, I get jealous and envious because I wish I had that. I missed out on that. So what I would tell my kids is don't go to college because you think there's a job waiting for you at the end. That's not how life works. We don't all get to run in the race and get participation ribbons.

That's ridiculous. Like someone wins, everyone else loses. That's life. But go to college so that you get to have the experience of running the race. And when you get out, life might be really, really hard. But you got that part of your journey. And I was in such a rush because everyone was doubting me. And I realize now I had nothing to prove to anybody but myself.

So, yeah, I'm going to encourage my kids to go to school. Are you going to go back and get a degree? I don't know. See, the thing is, if I go back and get a degree, I'm gonna encourage my kids to go to school are you gonna go back and get a degree I don't know I see the thing is like if I go back and get a degree I'm 35 now even if I go back if I be in my 40s it's not like I'm gonna have that part of my journey like hey guys I want to come to Durham and hang out with you and have a late night talk like I missed out on that I mean that phase of my life is now gone there's no point getting a degree for you now it's like the idea of it it's like going through four years of work i would love an honorary degree i would love one of those just show up and you know why because i sometimes you just you're still you still you're

still a mama's boy you want to do something for your mom i hear you my mom took it the hardest when i dropped out of school man and to be able to someday if i pull it off to be able to get some kind of honorary degree and give that to her tell her your little boy's okay that'd be pretty cool that's amazing i'm sure she knows you're okay, though. But, yeah, she's been to the house. She's staying there now, right? She's there now with her grandson. Man, yeah, that's fascinating.

You know, the reason I went back, I left early to try to make the NFL and didn't make it, did some tryouts, and then played in the arena league for a year and a half, and then I got injured and I went back afterwards just because I had five credits I needed to get. And I was like, I don't need this degree. My mom was like, just get it for me. So I went back and got it for her. If it was five credits away, I think I'd go back. You'd get it. Yeah. A little further away. Three and a half years. Yeah, exactly. But you had to grow up pretty quickly then. You had to make money really quickly. You had to figure things out. Do you feel like

that during those three and a half years that you really learned about financial abundance or generating income or yeah i had i mean look i had uh yes the answer is yes i had to learn bills i don't know how to pay my bills i had to figure out life i had i had to become an adult i've been an adult a long time yeah you know my buddy's going out and getting messed up and like i've been on this side of the hill for a while now um and even with justin like i met justin when i was 25 years old you're still pretty young really young and i had to step up and be an adult in a young boy's life you know so you're there's no more going out and getting messed up with the buddies. That was done. I was responsible for someone else. And that was the task his mother asked of me.

And so, yeah, I missed out on a lot of that stuff. But also my life is so good that, you know, yeah, I can't. Every morning I wake up, I still question things. I think complacency kills. But when I look at my wife and my kids and my friends and my family and the people I get to work with every single day, I will say this. I appreciate you saying all the other nice things. And I think they're ridiculous and not true. I will say that I would put my life as a 35-year-old man up against any other 35-year-old man in the world.

Yeah. And say I feel like my life is as good as anybody. Yeah. You know, I can't. I literally question it sometimes like on some Truman Show level of like this can't be real, that this is my life. What's the craziest part about it? It's going to sound super cheesy. Go ahead. I found my life. What's the craziest part about it? It's going to sound super cheesy. Go ahead.

I found my wife. A little cheesy, but I like it though. Look, it's because everything else I could go win and kill. Yeah. But you don't find that unless it shows up. That's why you and I have conversations. You're always trying to figure it out you know what i mean because you're like me you're a competitive person you want to win but this is not a game you

can go out and just play and win like the real thing you know when you see it it shows up and that's it right and you know the craziest thing is the fact that like after everything i'd given up i've been like i'm just going to be the uncle i don't settle i want a family so bad but it's just not for me i can't settle and i'm just not going to meet the right person but i'm going to be super successful because this is what i do and then i met her and on the first date i knew did you tell her right then told her three hours in no way you said i'm gonna marry you or I didn't say I'm going to marry you. I said, she asked me, what's the craziest thing about yourself you don't want me to know?

And I'm telling you, I was not in the mode of meeting even someone to date, let alone marry at the time. And I instantly knew. And I was just like, I think you're it. I think I'm done. Oh, my gosh. That's what I said. What did she feel? She tried to get out of the car.

She got completely. I mean, dudes know, I think, a little bit faster sometimes. Sure. She was like, who is this guy? She was just like, and she knows my brother. So she was like, this is really weird and creepy. But like within two weeks, she took her like two weeks. And then you're like, oh, this makes sense on every level.

My wife and I laughed the other day that we met four years ago this January. And we are married with two children. Oh, my gosh. Like, that's quick. But we knew instantly. And we feel like we've known each other forever. I remember before you met her. And I remember asking her like a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago.

It might have been before the first kid. I was like, what's the thing you love about Scooter the most? And she was like, every day I want to punch him in his face. This is what she told me in the nightclub. A Bootsy Bella was up here. She goes, every day I want to punch him in his face. But every day I just love him so much that I can't live without him.

Something along that. She was like, I want to punch him in his face, but I can't see myself without him. My friend, you just described marriage. Same for you. Remember on the face.

I'm not punching her in the face, but just like you drive each other crazy, but you wouldn't want to be crazy without that person. Yeah. And that's just what it comes down to. I want to talk about quickly. We've got a few minutes left.

I want to be respectful of your time. I want to talk about masculinity. I'm having fun. Let's take a break. Okay, cool. Okay, good. That's right. Yeah, it's a good break.

I want to talk about masculinity for a minute. Yeah. Your definition. I got chest hair. I know you do. You got some scrum. I'm writing a new book about masculinity. It's called The Mask of Masculinity. I got chest hair. That I think translate for some men later in life. They don't know how to shift out and be able to connect as human beings. I'm curious what your definition of a man is.

What's your definition of masculinity or man? And do you feel like you've evolved as a man over your life? I think I'm evolving. I think that's the thing of learning something new every single day and being open to it. To me, the definition of a real man, a real man is someone who can learn. Could learn and has integrity. You know, it's, I remember when I was, I don't know, 14. My dad, who I consider one of the best men I've ever known,

one of the best men I've ever known. And he goes, I want to talk to you. He said, what's up, dad? And he said, I just want you to know I know you're a liar. I said, excuse me? He goes, I know you're a liar. And I caught you in this white lie and a couple others, and you're amazing at it. And I said,

am I in trouble? He goes, no, not this time. I actually just want to tell you one thing. I could tell you that you're not going to be successful in life if you lie, but that's just not the truth because you're so good that you'll probably go on through life and be incredibly successful, but you'll always know you're a liar he goes or you could go the harder route which is knowing you could make the easy lie and be a man of integrity and find that same success and be a man who knows that he did it with integrity it's your choice but the idea that you won't be successful that's ridiculous because you're too smart you're too good with your tongue and i literally like couldn't sleep the whole night because you didn't yell at me didn't

want to like knock me out and i came i said dad can i talk to you the next day and i said i want you to know i'm gonna be a man with integrity and i've i feel like there's certain people in my life i've met who never had that lesson um and to, a real man is one who is always learning but chooses to do so with integrity, has loyalty, who at the appropriate time, a real man can absolutely cry. But can you be there for someone else when they cry?

It's our definition of heroes. It's like when we see these heroes yeah some of them are so tough and everything else but winning is not the definition of masculine you know of being a man to me a man who wins doesn't make him a man you know a man who wins with integrity is a man to me who do you feel like is the best uh not in your family but the best man out there that's a great role model for people to look at as someone who's doing all great things on every level and has an integrity? Richard Branson is one of them. I definitely think Richard Branson is someone who I admire for who he is as a family man.

I have a tremendous amount of love for David Geffen because he inspired me to do what I do today. And he's been, you know, I got to meet him in my 30s and he's been so good to me. I admire how Jeffrey Katzberg works so hard, but is still a really great father. Lucy Ingrange is the head of Universal Music Group. He was knighted recently by the Queen in England. I saw that video you posted. Yeah. And I went to a dinner. They had people through for him, for him being knighted recently by the queen in england i saw that video you posted yeah and i went to a

dinner they had people through for him for him being knighted and what was so interesting it was all these amazing brilliant people in the room and every single one of them he he made them feel like a true genuine friend um and to see his children talk about them the way they do and then see his wife come up and congratulate him. And she simply said, she goes, I know all these accolades and he's a knight now and I'm a lady. But at the end of the day, I just love this man. And so I think he's someone I definitely look at and admire.

But it starts when you're a little kid. It's like Superman. You know, Superman, Spider-Man, like with great, you know, with great power comes great responsibility. Like it's those little things you learn from comics when you're a kid. These are real lessons in life. And there was one, a great rabbi I saw give a speech. And he was asked, what's the meaning of life? And his response was the golden rule.

He goes, it's that simple. He goes, everything else, fine, but it starts here. Treat others the way you want to be treated. And a real man or a real woman, they do that. What do you think you want to improve upon as a man is there anything um one balance like we talked about earlier two uh managing my time and making sure that in every moment i try to i i've gotten better at it but i want to i want to just keep improving i want to make sure i'm in the moment with everyone I meet because sometimes I got 100 things going on and like someone will come and say, hey, man, how are you?

And I'll just give them the quick, hey, it's good to see – they kind of keep it moving. And for that person, they might really need me in that moment. And I got to get better about engaging in the moment as best as I possibly can and shutting out everything else going on or at least saying, Hey, I got, I'm dealing with a lot right now. Let me get back to you in a moment. Because if you're going to engage, engage, be present when you're present. Yeah. It's not easy, man. Especially when you got million clients and businesses and TV. I struggle with it. And I'm sure there's a hundred other things, but you know, I, what I find so fascinating because of what i do i get to see some of the most wonderful influential powerful

successful people in the world are in my circle now yeah and they all suffer from depression time to time really every single person why because no matter where you are in your life, you're still human. None of us were made to be worshipped. All of us, our DNA, we're built to serve each other. We're built to interact. It's this study that Harvard put out. It's the longest study they've ever had that said the number one correlation to long life is genuine interactions. one correlation to long life is genuine interactions. And no matter who you are,

money, power, fame, none of it adds to genuine interactions. That's why you see Fortune 100 CEOs sometimes kill themselves, but you never heard of someone at a soup kitchen who's a volunteer killing themselves. It's this idea that true interactions are so important, and that's what I want to keep working on in my life to keep bettering my life. And I think it's so important, especially with people who watch your podcast and listen to it, to know that you might admire someone so much, but they have those same feelings of self-doubt that you have. And the best way to defeat those is to change your perspective and realize that there are people who genuinely love you in this world and there are so many people out there in the world waiting to meet you. And if we can spend more time having real genuine interactions

and taking time with each other, then we wouldn't be fighting to have a big boat to sit on alone. We'd be wanting to figure out how do I spend more time with people because I can tell you when you have the big house and it's empty, all you want to do is get out and find out where your friends are. So that's the number one thing I'm working on and the thing I want to make sure other people know. That's powerful.

And sometimes when you have a big house and all your relatives are there for too long, you want to get them out. You need some alone time too, right? No comment. Exactly. Love my in-laws, love my parents. What do you wish some people would know more about you? What do I wish some people would know more about me? I think people hear a lot about the accololades and the people the clients you have and the the big investments you do and you know i think i just wish people knew i was just trying to figure it out just like they were you know i'm i'm honestly just waking up every day trying to figure it out and and i'll do things that seem really great and then i'll do things that seem really great. And then I'll do things that make no sense.

And I'll struggle. And I'll have extreme happiness like when my son was born. And extreme depression and sadness when I lost my grandmother. I'm human. And I think that's why I said what I said before. It's this idea that today's a good day. Yesterday wasn't. Yesterday I sat around like I didn't put any of said what I said before. It's this idea that today's a good day. Yesterday wasn't. Yesterday I sat around like I didn't put any of the pressure on my wife because with the new baby and our 22-month-old,

she's got enough on her right now that I can't put my bullshit on her. But I had one of those days where I literally could not tell you why, but I was depressed. Just weren't feeling good. Just wasn't feeling good. Didn't understand why. Didn't know what I needed to do to make myself feel good. And those days come and those days go.

And, you know, Plato, be kind for everyone you meet walks a hard journey. I'm one of those people. So is everybody else. Yeah. So. Is there any non-negotiables for you every single day that you must do or any rituals, routines, habits? I got to pee. Yep.

I got to pee and brush my teeth. You got to eat. Yeah. Not to eat every single day. You know, I fast. We fed you here today. Yeah, you fed me here today. Eating I can go without for 24 hours sometimes.

Sure. Do you have like a morning routine or any type of ritual? Yeah, I wake up. routine or any type of you know yeah I wake up I you if I'm about my wife you know you do the hello and pens on the morning sometimes it's it's a longer hello I'm gonna get trouble I see where you're going but you know like to set you I answer my emails I go through the whole thing I will say it's not the beginning of my day it's the end of my day. Sometimes I average 2,000 emails a day.

Wow. And hundreds of texts. Yeah. I get to zero every night. That's powerful. Every night. And it wasn't like that. There was a point where I had so many emails because I would read them and I hit unread and then they would just stack up and I'd get crazy.

And then one day I said, screw this. And I literally wrote red. I canceled everything out and made everything red. And I knew there were like a thousand emails in there that I hadn't read. And I said, those people I'm just going to have to say sorry to because this cycle isn't working. I'm resetting. And every single night I get to zero. Even if it's 3 o'clock in the morning.

My assistant jokes like she knows what's happening because suddenly emails start flying in. But I get to zero every single night. And it allows me to know that we're staying on the path, that I'm aware of everything, that we can keep this thing moving. And a lot of them I'm CC'd on and I'll just read. And some of them I say, okay, yes. But I read every single email until I get to zero. And that is a routine for me. The other one is micro versus macro time.

So this concept of micro time is we compartmentalize everything, you know, like micro budgeting. And the idea of macro time is taking kind of time in between and putting nothing. So my assistant, I do it almost every day. I'll say for that hour, nothing. But if someone calls, I am in the most important meeting of the day. Oh, so you don't do anything.

There's no incoming. Nothing. You have free time to think and be creative and relax. I guess she knows if there's an emergency, she'll tell me. But I do that because when you take time for nothing, that's when your greatest innovation comes. Yes. That's why many people say when they're on the toilet, they get some of the greatest ideas.

In the shower or working out or whatever. Because it's when you can't go anywhere. You just have to be in the moment. So I tell my staff, I will put these blocks. And you might walk into my office. And sometimes it bothers my staff because they'll come in and they might need me and i'll be like not right now they're looking at me and i'm on instagram right like i'm literally like on facebook i'm doing nothing i'm sitting there watching a tv show i'm doing whatever i want for that hour yeah because always in those hours

something happens you'll think of an idea you'll bring it something but because when you're moving so quickly you don't have time but to do the schedule says, you don't have time to innovate. You know, Eddie Q, who's at Apple, is an amazing guy who I've become friends with over the years. And he worked with Steve Jobs. And one day I was leaving Apple and Eddie was walking me out. And I said, man, it must be great to be a young person who works here. What job security? And he goes, that's the exact opposite of what we're trying to tell these people.

I said, what do you mean? He goes, Steve used to tell us all the time, look at the camera companies. He goes, these camera companies were huge multi-billion dollar companies. Kodak. And now a lot of them are gone. Yeah. He goes, when you become complacent, you die.

It doesn't matter how big you are. So that idea of taking those moments for innovation to push yourself forward is so incredibly important and the other thing that i do is the same thing with my kids if you can schedule mr brown coming in from new york or this guy coming in from china or you know to see you and it is the most important meeting you could take two hours of your day and say, this meeting is very important. You can do the same for your kids. I put in my schedule, Jagger.

That hour from 8 to 9, if it says Jagger, if someone calls, if I'm in an important meeting with Mr. Brown, what does Nicole, my assistant, say? I'll get back to you. She says, unfortunately, he's in an important meeting. He'll call you back when he's done. Yeah. You don't take the call when you're with your kid. Yeah. So if I'm with my kid, unfortunately, he's in an important meeting.

He'll call you back when he's done. But so many times I see businessmen and businesswomen who will sit there and they'll be there with their kids and the phone rings. I got to take it. It's work. Yeah. You don't have to take it every time. You do have to take it a lot. But you can give an hour.

You can give it. Yeah. Even when I came to your office last time, we had a meeting. But your son was there hanging out. We were hanging out for the first few minutes. And it looks like you integrate him it. Yeah. Even when I came to your office last time, you, you know, we had a meeting, but your, your son was there hanging out. We were, you know, hanging out for the first few minutes and it looks like you integrate him into your life at the office too. Right. Do you bring him there? I tell my wife, I'm like, if he can bring him over, like, yeah, it's just, you work so hard to get here. Why not be there? Wow. Wow. Okay. This is a final few questions for you. Let's do it. Um, this is called the three questions for you. Let's do it.

This is called the three truths. I asked you this last time, but I'm curious what they are now. Okay, I don't remember what my answer is. Yeah, three truths. Okay, one more thing. Yeah, go ahead. Ladies and gentlemen, look at the camera. This beautiful New York Times bestseller was brought to you by Lewis House. Order it now.

Online, Amazon, wherever you want to find it. Your local bookstore read it I don't know if it was my hand in the right spot it's on greatness was it on greatness killed it

perfect thank you and you're in the last last part of the book I'm selling I'm selling this book baby I like it this is called

The Three Truths I ask everyone this at the end and this is you've achieved everything you want to achieve. You've already achieved a ton, but, you know, the next 70 years of your life or however long you live, you achieve everything you set your mind to do. You impact the world in the way you want to.

You have all the babies you want. You do whatever you want. You do it, right? You're playing the NBA. Whatever it is your dream is, you do it. We're going there. You're going there, man. Chris Paul recently on a podcast was asked who in the NBA, whatever it is your dream is, you're going there. Chris Paul recently on a podcast was asked

who in the entertainment world can really hoop, and he said me and Chris Brown. It was the highlight of my life. If I would have died right there. That's it. That's done. That's good. Okay, so the end of your life, you've got all your babies, grandchildren, great, great

everything around you. You've achieved everything you want. Yeah. But for whatever reason, the stuff that you've put out in the world is erased. This podcast is gone. All your interviews, everything is gone. Yeah. And it comes down to your great, great, great grandson says, you know, Papa Scooter, if there were three things that you could teach us and leave behind, the three most important lessons

or your three truths about everything you've experienced in your life, it comes down to three simple things, and this is all we would remember you by, in the written form, what would you write down on a piece of paper? That's a tough question. Three things. I'm so curious what I said last time because I don't remember.

Three things. Number one, recognize that no one's going to remember you anyway. And the Papa Scooter interaction is the only real interaction. You know, your kids and the legacy you leave to them is really the only true remembrance of you. So make sure you take time with your family so they know who you really were. That's number one. Number two, failure is just a pit stop on the road to success. That we could do this podcast and tomorrow one of my biggest clients and I could have a falling out.

And the whole world could think that's a failure. But that's just part of my story. You know, that's just – I still wake up tomorrow. My life continues. And I've had lots of failures before and no one talks about them because people have already forgotten. And understanding that as long as you – the only true failure is giving up because you're given more time on this planet. And if you're giving up, you're done. It's like – I used this analogy one time. I kind of made it up because I was thinking about it.

If someone went to Yankee Stadium and saw a young award-winner, CeCe Sabathia, came out, and he was throwing the best pitches of his entire career, and you got to swing as many times as you want, and if you hit a home run, you got a million dollars. People would line up. But most people in this world would take one swing, hear the crowd booing, and walk away. Man, I'm never going to pull this off. Some people would take 10 swings. Everyone would say, give someone else a turn, you bastard. They're going to hear everyone yelling, taking body shots at them. They're going to walk away. Man, I'm never going to pull this off. Some people would take 10 swings. Everyone would say,

give someone else a turn, you bastard. They're going to hear everyone yelling, taking body shots at them. They're going to walk away. One guy who everyone thinks is an asshole is going to sit up there and swing that bat a million goddamn times. And then the last time,

everyone booing, going crazy, he had finally hit that home run and we will celebrate him like a champion and remember him as the one who hit the home run, not the person who was the asshole who swung a million times. So the only true failure is giving up. This idea that failure is a pit stop.

I would say that. So they understand that the only time it truly ends is when your life ends. So you write that down anyway. We will. And number three number three would be

don't give up on love but not the way you think when people say that I think you think I'm talking about relationship or like finding a woman or finding a man or finding whatever the hell you love I'm talking about just don't give up on the idea that people are good. The idea of true love, which is humanity.

We become so jaded as our lives go on. We treat each other so poorly that we go through life just expecting the worst from each other. And I've been there. I got to a point in my life where everyone who came to my life was a shark. I was just looking like, what do they want? What do they want? And that is just such – there's going to be a lot of people like that.

But if you expect that, if that's your default setting, you're going to get pulled into that negative energy. So believe in the goodness in people. I guess that's best way to put it. Believe in the goodness in people because at the end of the day, they will show you your darkest moments. But even the darkest moments, if you still believe, it will start to shine through and eventually you'll start to see the people gravitating around you will have that same thing.

That's why I think you're in my life. I started putting that energy out in the world that these are the kind of people I want in my life because this is the way I'm living my life. And we wanted, you know, we met each other. We're like, we recognize that. And we're like, we want to be friends. So those would be my three things. The idea of family and making sure you take time to be with them

and make sure they know who you are is the only true legacy. Number two is that failure is only a pit stop on the road to success, and the only true failure is giving up. And number three is believing in the goodness of others no matter what. Those are powerful. We'll have to link up the last three definitions or the three truths and mash them together and see if they're close. Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Scooter. Like I did last time, I want to acknowledge you for the incredible growth I've seen in you since before I met you to the last four or five years to how much you really give. You know, there's so much that you do that people see in the accomplishments and the artists you work with, but you give more than anyone I know.

Financially, of your time, of your energy, of your advice, you're a constant giver. And I remember talking to you, I think a year ago, you said, you know, I don't do anything unless there's a charitable component attached to it. With all my artists, with all my brands, there's got to be something included. Otherwise, it's just for me to make more money. It's not the point. And so I want to acknowledge you for your constant level of growth as a man,

your constant level of learning and being aware of where you're at in your life and where you want to be and being an incredible role model to so many other men out there. And also, most importantly, to young kids that you have, because they're the ones that matter the most, obviously. But you matter to me. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. But, um, yeah, man, it's just been really cool to see your growth and I acknowledge you for your, for your amazing heart and your friendship. I appreciate it. Yeah. And, uh, part of the reason I'm here is that I feel the exact same way.

So thank you. Thanks, Bill. I appreciate it. Um, now before the final question, which is your definition of greatness, I'm curious if it's changed. You just witnessed a bromance. You did. You just witnessed a bromance. Before the final question, you've got maybe we're trying to help you get a podcast coming

out here soon. Maybe. We talked about this a year ago. Now I've talked to the team about it. You might be launching a podcast. So if he does, I will let you guys know when it happens. But what's the big thing that we can... I want to know any suggestions they have.

If I did one, it should be me alone. Should it be a roundtable? Should it be like different people? Like what do they think is missing in this space? Because I want to do something that's missing because you do such an amazing job with what you do. I wouldn't want to like try and recreate something that already works and you're just incredible at. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. So leave your feedback in the comments below, whether this is on YouTube, on Instagram, on wherever you're seeing this post, leave your comments of what you think Scooter should do for his podcast and message ask you to brawn and at Lewis house and let us know. But what else can we do to support you? How can we promote you?

What's the big thing you want to get out there? I think everyone needs to follow you on Instagram. Ask Scooterun because it's amazing if you want to see the behind the scenes of everything he does but what can we do to support you um i'm a cheesy dude man i'm a really cheesy all good bring the cheese i'm gonna bring the cheese bring it brother if you want to support me honestly yeah it's cool like you could follow and see it's not going to change my life right um you know i would you know we can interact that way i actually do answer people and that's fun um the most gratification i've gotten supporting me is when i get a facebook message or an email or someone tells me a story of they heard something I said or

interacted with me at one point in my life and inspired them to go do something and they tell me where they are now and that is the best and most rewarding feeling yeah um so if you really want to support me, try. Whatever it is that's been holding you back, that thing that you're unsure about and you're like, I'm going to get to it. No. Turn off the podcast right now. Get your ass outside or on your computer inside and just go for it. Because worst case scenario, you fail and no one's paying attention anyway and you get to try again and go after it.

And then when you finally achieve that goal, because you will, let me know. I love it. Actually, I remember the question that I was going to ask last time that I never did. Your brother asked me to ask you. Oh, okay. All right, Adam adam what do you

got yeah what's adam bringing to the table and i think i asked you afterwards you told me i'm a father of twins right now exactly literally no sleep and like dying right now uh he asked me to ask you um if you could have another tattoo what would it say or what would it be because you have one it says family yeah one that says family so if you had another tattoo what would it be? Because you have one that says family. Yeah, one that says family. So if you had another tattoo, what would you get? And why? Oh, that Adam. Oh, Adam. This is tough.

I might get, I always used to say it would be the word respect, but I don't know if I'd get that anymore. You've got that. It might be, you know, it could be kids' names, but I think that's not for me. If I was to get another tattoo, honestly, my brother has a tattoo on his chest. I believe in Hebrew, but written backwards, you can read it in the mirror. And I always said I wanted the same one.

So it could be that or really the one that I'm thinking about. You just said that. If I was to get another one. So the Hebrew word to pray, means the root of every Hebrew word means something else. So that one means to look within. I've always found that interesting when I learned that. Because I went to Israel to kind of study all three major religions.

When I was 17, for like a couple weeks, I wanted to do that. And I love that concept. I wanted to do that. And I love that concept. I would probably do that maybe because the whole concept to me is that you pray as a community. So it brings the community together. You pray to God, right? So you're praying out to something. You think.

But the actual root of this ancient word is to look within yourself. think but the actual root of this ancient word is to look within yourself and i think that's such an incredible lesson that this thing that brings us together as a community that was a goal of it this thing that makes us think that we're supposed to be praying to some greater thing above us or all around us is actually inside of us um so if i was to get another tattoo i'd probably do that that's powerful man maybe i should go get it right now. I like it. Let's do it. Just show my wife.

Try. Yeah. Just show my wife. She's like, what did you do? I tried. Yeah. Or thug life across. I like it.

Around the back, the shoulders. It's either Baruch or thug life. Okay. Final question. What is your definition of greatness? Giving. That's it. I think it's that simple. you go it's good braun

thanks so much thanks i appreciate you create a life and legacy that matters that's what this is all about isn't it it's about building something that matters it's about having a life that matters and that starts with the people in your life that are meaningful to you. Those relationships that you want to cultivate and grow. Yes, it's fun to build businesses and achieve things. And there's nothing wrong with that. Definitely. I'm all for it. But if it's at the expense of hurting relationships and hurting yourself, then what's the point? So I loved this interview. I hope you guys enjoyed this. Create a life and legacy that matters.

Find that balance. Find that dream, that vision. Build the family that you have and really make the most of your moments. If you enjoyed this, make sure to share it with your friends. LewisHowes.com slash 422. Again, tag Scooter Braun at Scooter Braun on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. Let him know what you think of the interview. Share with him the most powerful part of this interview that resonated with you the most and tag me as well at Lewis Howes. Guys, we are at the end of the year.

I hope you've had time to reflect and think about what you've created and what you want to create moving forward and more importantly, who you want to be in this world. You know, the things we have and create are fleeting, but who we are is what people remember. So I hope you are stepping into being the best person that you can be. You're building your relationships. You're adding value to your life. And most importantly, you're adding value to others and the world. My intention for this podcast is to bring you the brightest minds in the world, the best information that I can find

and give you access to it so you can use it. So make sure to use this information. And the best way you can support me is by sharing this with your friends. You know, we get 1.4 million downloads a month, but it didn't start that way four years ago. It started with one download. So for the first person who downloaded and listened to this too, the 1.4 million downloads we get right now every single month, I want to thank each and every one of you for making this. It's been an incredible journey

and we're just getting started. The only way we grow, guys, is if you spread the word. I do my best to bring on the best information and guests, but I'm asking for you guys to spread the message. Spread the message of greatness. Share it with your friends, family members, spouses, partners, teammates on your team, your business colleagues, whoever you can think of, share it out to the world if it resonates with you. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you. Bye.