Why Attention is the #1 Asset in Business

0:00So many people that have become wildly successful and that have sustained even their careers, it's because they have been nimble and they have ebb and flowed through anything that's new and fresh. They didn't turn against it. It is the story as old as time. The biggest rock bands in the world, when MTV came out, refused to give their music videos to MTV because they thought it was giving away music for free. But Madonna and Prince and Michael Jackson and Twisted Sister and Duran Duran knew the opposite. And within three years, they were the most famous artists in the world. And so, yeah, I think, again, when you dig in to uphold yesterday, you always lose.

0:35It doesn't mean there aren't great things about yesterday. There's romantic things. We see all the content. Why the 80s were great. Sure. And when you think back to your childhood, it's always simpler and all that. But in business, if you are fighting the truth of where reality is, that is a losing formula. This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience. We say good morning to Gary Vaynerchuk. It's good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much. So when you hear that, when you hear that you are considered one of the leading global minds in your expertise, how do you feel?

1:12It makes me feel proud to make my parents proud. I think it's a big framework for me. It's humbling. The serendipity of DNA and circumstance. I'm ironically very detached from my professional career and the Gary Vee of it all. It feels good, but it's not really how I think about the world. What does that mean, you're detached from the Gary Vee of it all? You know, I think you all obviously are public figures. We have our professional careers, and I try to be as great at it as possible. And entrepreneurship, as a sports fan, entrepreneurship's the closest thing you can get to sports where you're playing on the field every day.

1:51but I don't get my validation from being how many followers I have or how much money I make or these incredible accolades of leading mind. I get my validation in a much more private, simple setting, which I actually think makes me very dangerous in a good way in my business. I think it allows me to be on the offense. I think it allows me to take risks. I'm not scared to lose. I'm not scared to do this interview in three years and be asked why I lost it all or why did I make those wrong predictions? I think it's, I think you can balance conviction and confidence with true humility. You get very strong.

2:30You know, giving some flowers to a true LA legend, may rest in peace, Kobe Bryant. I think, back to the athlete analogy, I enjoy the practice when no one's watching as much as I enjoy when the world is watching. And so, yes, I think I love the game of entrepreneurship. I like playing it. My joy is, you know, as this all plays, is building all these businesses or interacting with all these people, whether it's at a lemonade stand or in a conference room in my office. That is my enjoyment. The process is my enjoyment. I love entrepreneurship not for the trophies or the things it gives me. I like it for the purity of the game.

3:10How do you feel when you're not winning? Or are you always winning? You know, it depends. I think in business, you're actually always losing in the micro. As a CEO of many different companies with thousands and thousands of employees, even driving here today, there's three or four micro fires. You're a firefighter. In fact, sometimes when I fly to other countries, when it says occupation just for fun, I'll write firefighter because I feel like that's what I'm actually doing. I'm fighting fires. But in the macro, I'm winning, right? So in the micro, there's a lot of adversity, micro adversity. I'm also a very HR-driven CEO, so I get very into feelings.

3:50Someone's father passed or someone's, I mean, three or four years ago, we had employees whose house burnt down. Those things affect me and those are challenging. But I'm always winning and always losing. It's kind of what I signed up for. Your whole philosophy is built around perpetually chasing consumer attention. Yes. Yes, because folks out there that are watching that may not be familiar with you or this, would you kind of set the table? Yeah, I mean, everybody's watching. Every single decision you make is based on something you've consumed. Like your political views, your t-shirt that you bought, what team you root for, which actor you like, what banana bread you bought.

4:30Every single decision, how your parents talked to you, who you talked to. The only thing that really moves a human being is information. The only way to have someone consume the information is to have their attention. So whether you're raising a child or you're trying to build your coffee business or you're trying to get more ratings for this show, it is all just attention and attention moves. This platform was by far the most important platform for attention for 70, 80 years in society. There wasn't even a distant second to television. You know, 30 years ago, the internet became consumerized, and over the last 10 to 15 years, social media became the primary platform for attention.

5:18And in 15 to 20 years, it might be something else. It might be VR or something else, but I am not romantic about which platform I'm going to put out my information. I write books in physical form. People read them. I'm doing this interview. I'm happy to do a blog or a podcast. I'm happy to be on TikTok or Instagram or Snapchat. I'm agnostic on where the consumer attention is, but I'm not ideology driven on where it should be. Most people want people's attention to be in the place that is in their vested interest. Yes. Right? So they hold on to yesterday and they're romantic and they're delusional about today or they've got reasons to push against the truth of today.

6:03Technology's undefeated. It will always change. You know, when television started, the radio people and the print people made fun of TV. It was a new invention that wasn't going to be important. It was bad for children to watch. This is what we do. So I'm very into human behavior. I'm very into history telling me the future. And when I consume anything new that is going on, I take it from that lens. I think there has to, and I think to your point, which you're articulating, I think in order to continue to be successful, you have to be willing to recalibrate, right? and to meet the needs of the moment.

6:36Would you agree with that? Of course. Because so many people that have become wildly successful and that have sustained even their careers, it's because they have been nimble and they have ebb and flowed through anything that's new and fresh. They didn't turn against it, right? It is the story as old as time. The biggest rock bands in the world, when MTV came out, refused to give their music videos to MTV because they thought it was giving away music for free. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, College students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College deal.

7:09Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. But Madonna and Prince and Michael Jackson and Twisted Sister and Duran Duran knew the opposite. And within three years, they were the most famous artists in the world. And so, yeah, I think, again, when you dig in to uphold yesterday, you always lose. It doesn't mean there aren't great things about yesterday.

7:46There's romantic things. We see all the content. Why the 80s were great. Sure. And when you think back to your childhood, it's always simpler and all that. But in business, if you are fighting the truth of where reality is, that is a losing formula. You know, as you get older, somewhat easier to be romantic? I mean, I feel like the younger generation has such a grasp on all these changes. And as we get older, we're resistant to it a little bit. Is that because we're afraid or we're just like romantic with, oh, it's always worked this way. Why would I change? Yes, we're romantic. We're locked in.

8:20We don't want to put in the work again to learn the new thing. We're complacent. We become more fear-based as we get older. You have more to lose. but we grew up and we made fun, you know, with AI. I tell a lot of friends, I'm like, you've become your grandma that you made fun of 20 years ago for not using AOL Instant Messenger or having a smartphone. Like, yes, that's the track of the human being. It is what we do and that's fine. I'm, you know, to me that is, as an entrepreneur, that's the opportunity. I prefer most people stick to yesterday. It means that I can win more. All right, yeah. I'll speak my truth because I want everyone watching winning, but they're not my children.

9:05They're not my sister. I'm not trying to convince people. I have conviction of what the truth is, but the more people that stay on the sidelines to all this stuff, the more opportunity there are for the people that are winning. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I'm going to keep on talking to you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for hanging with us. Everybody, if you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention, and thanks for being part of this show. You can't reason with the sun. Trust us. We've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute.

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10:01See you later.