– [Voiceover] B. asks, what
do you think of McDonald’s response to Burger King’s
Peace Mcwhopper idea? Seems like they missed a big opportunity. – DRock, before I answer this, are you running the B
roll that we did before the show? – [DRock] Yeah. – To start the show. – [DRock] I can do it right now. – No, start start the show with it. I think it’ll be interesting. People are gonna be, oh, Staphon’s now. Right, Staphon. Graduating to editing the show. Start with all that B roll all black and white before
it even goes into it, because then people understand why I screwed up the intro,
because the transition was awkward. I, well first of all you’ve seen a lot of our banter on this. I’m with you India. I thought it was I think my answer came through in the black and white that started the show which is I think McDonalds, first of all I like competitions so I like that McDonalds kind of zing Burger King right back. Burger King tried to win the game by being like, like there was a, McDonalds was in a very tough spot. I also love what Burger King is doing in marketing right now. I think they’re being very clever. Sonic is one of our great clients at VaynerMedia. I’ve got that hat on. I think it’s super fun to watch. I think I’ll answer this. We are clearly living in interesting times where Burger King can make a micro site to make this annoucement, and McDonalds official
answer is in a Facebook post in sentence form. If you haven’t realized that communication has changed forever in our society, please let this be a moment where this is how companies that
are dead heated compet, I mean Pepsi, Coke, like Burger King – McDonalds. It doesn’t get more than that. I think it just depends on
what side you wanna be on. There’s the people that always wanna be on the serious side, which McDonalds wins. There’s people that think
the world is way too serious and you need a little humor. I think more people sit on that other side hence why I think the most
popular reply to McDonalds and upvoted. For me, for me, I like the way they went with it, but I can see every angle of it. I like that Burger King did it. I like the way McDonalds, I just want them to fight. Like, if you really want me, listen, but you have to understand. I’m giving you my answers
to me as a person. I love competition. I live for companies fighting with each other and
trying to beat each other and jockey and chess moves. I love it, the sport of it. Just like politics has become a sport and entertainment which has a lot of sad
variables around that. I think business is about to go that way, because everybody can communicate, and it’s all in public and all this stuff. I’m just enjoying watching. Pass me the popcorn.

“characteristic that you’d like
to pass down to Misha and” “Xander, and what’s the
number one characteristic you” “hope they don’t get from you?” – Great question. The number one characteristic
I want my children to get from me, boy there’s
a lot, because I think I’m really fucking awesome, so
if they can be a complete replication that’d be great, sorry Lizzy. I’m just kidding, I’m kidding. Let’s go with first thoughts. The first two thoughts that came to were and this may seem interesting
to you, depends on how well you know me, number
one, the first thing that I thought of, it’s sad that
this was first over the second one, but maybe that’s an insight
that I need to deal with. The first one is competitiveness, you know, it makes me sad, because I know it’s
less noble than a lot, the other one is humility,
which I know, for so many of you, especially if this like
the sixth episode you watched, or first, you think it’s
completely ego, but I’m telling you, like I know how
much my humility is the engine of my success,
and I have plenty of ego, it’s me pulling in those
opposite directions, but my competitive nature
has been a very, very positive impact on my
life in a lot of ways. It’s just I associate that with myself. I think my kids, no matter
what they do, and I don’t mean competitive to like make
money, competitive to write the best song of all time, competitive
to raise the most money for this disease of all time,
I think being competitive is a very, very lucky attribute,
and I think that my family and me specifically, take it too far. It can be very unhealthy at
times, it causes friction, but I would never give
it up, I just wouldn’t. I think it’s just too damn important. It gets me through so much. It gets me through so much. I want them to be kind, I like being kind. I think kind is incredibly important. I think the one thing that
I think that a, that a, you know it’s funny, I really
do think I’m a paradox, I have ying and yangs
to all my own feelings, I’m trying to think about what
I don’t like about myself. (laughing) God, I love myself. What don’t I want them to have? – This is hard, by the way,
you ever want to stump me, try to have me talk
negative about my own self. (laughing) Look, I think there’s a
ton of things I do wrong. I think at times I wish I
was a little more selfish. At times I wish, I, man my parents did a really good job. I would say the number one
thing that I don’t want them to take from me, is I
think that I could have done a much better job in my early
years on work/life balance. The only resemblance of a
regret I have is the first five to six years of
my marriage with Lizzy, I think that I left 2 weeks
of real quality together time per year on the table, and
those are twelve weeks that I can never get back and
that I really wish I had, and luckily I am way
young enough to more than make up for those 12 weeks,
and so I will, and so I think that would probably be it. I mean, at the end of the
day, I just, as you can tell, my brain as a computer
is not very capable of looking at too
many of the negatives. – [India] I had a negative
question here before, but

“trade one of your weaknesses
for one of your strengths, “which two would you trade?” – This is one of the great questions ever. This is really good,
and I don’t wanna like, I don’t wanna, I’m
scared to screw this up, which is probably why I’m
giving it some thought. So, DRock, Staphon, find
some Jeopardy-like music that doesn’t get me sued as I ponder this and talk this out. A strength into a weakness, what am I really strong at that I don’t think is so needed? God, I love myself so much that I don’t want to change anything. This is why I’m struggling with this. This talks about the
level of happiness I have. What’s a weakness that I
can’t, God, I really… So first and foremost, the
answer to the question is there’s no absolute here. This is more like 80,
20, where maybe I would switch it from an 80, 20 to a 20, 80. That’s one of the first reactions I have. There’s nothing I’d
be, there’s no strength I wanna give up… So fast. You know at some level… (laughter) Yeah, like you know,
I’m a little combative in meetings at times with clients where, like I love competition so much, I would say being competitive is probably as big of a deal as it
is, but I would say that my competition, competitive
gene goes five to seven percent too far, I would give up
five to seven percent of it because it’s insane, like you know, I mean you guys know
how I play basketball. Like I really am mad,
like I wanna hurt people, like I wanna hurt people’s
feelings in meetings. (competitive banter) I literally, like in
meetings will turn red, my eyes will turn red when
somebody says something that I think is really
disrespectful to my company, and literally try to historically
clown them in the meeting so that forever their
contemporaries at that table, I literally want to say
things that the other people at the table on their side
tell to their grandchildren. Like, “Oh, I was once in this meeting with “this Gary Vaynerchuk guy and said that “Rick was a douche bag
boss, he said fuck you.” You know like I’m very into that. I wanna like end the debate in the room at that time, whereas I
could’ve done it afterwards, I could’ve done it a little
more politically correct. But if I get to that rogue
tilt place emotionally in a business meeting,
even maybe the first time we ever meet,
I let my competitive juices, I can feel it, it’s like that
Incredible Hulk type stuff. Like I can feel like, oh
crap, I’m about to destroy this person’s soul. So that’s one thing that I would give back five to seven percent. On a weakness that I’d like
have more of a strength on, I’d like to remember
people’s names better. Actually that’s very easy. I spend an enormous amount of time in our HR software trying to make sure I know everybody’s names. And then the answer really is, I have to listen a little bit better in the initial meeting. Like I’m like, hey, I’m Gary. You need to say, “Hi, I’m India.” – My name’s India. – But like when she says hey she’s India, I’m not listening. I’m already on to like oh, hey, I’m Gary. – I’m Staphon. – Alright I didn’t listen, right. So like not listening
when people say hello is a weakness because
if I actually listen, I’ll have a 50% chance of
remembering their name. It’s crazy, I will remember everything. I’m very visual, like
I can never get lost, I’m killer on directions. I will bring up stuff
that happened between us like 15 years from now,
you’ll be like, “What?” If I see it, it’s on. But if I hear it, it’s
on, but I need to listen in the first place to remember your name. So remembering names is
something I’m passionately upset with myself about,
like, Doc, you could see, I knew Sheldon right away. Visually I know his profile
side face, like hair, glasses, like I know exactly who he is, but names I struggle with.

“could Mercedes build a smartphone?” – Chris, everybody can be
in everybody’s business, if you’re good enough. Could Dion and Bo Jackson play both football and baseball? They could. They were good enough. Could I? Neither. I mean, the answer’s absolutely. Remember, Nintendo started
as a playing card company. Sony, which made televisions, decided to become a major player in the video game space. Microsoft became a major
player in the video game space. Mobile’s going with the watch. The Apple Watch thing’s incredible. Apple as a phone provider
was a brain twist. We just forget, ’cause it just happened. What’s that? You like it? You like the show? DeMayo’s all excited. He never gets excited. So, I think the answer’s yes, but what Mercedes has to do is have the talent internally
to be able to pull it off, but I believe that the internet
is shrinking the middle and infrastructure costs. I don’t know what DRock’s looking at. But, I believe the internet is shrinking the middle and infrastructure costs, which make me believe that anybody can go into anybody’s business, if they have the talent, and so I think that will play itself out. So, I do believe that this’ll
be a good video to make and I’ll enjoy watching it in 15 years. I do believe three to five
to ten major companies in certain genres, as
we see Google going into self-driving cars, and
the question at hand, which is a great question, I’m gonna make some predictions here, and I’m not usually right
with my predictions. I’m a fast adviser, and then I execute. I’m not a great predictor,
but I will say this Nike feels like a company to me that will pull off being in a business that none of us can wrap
our head around right now. I’m going with Nike. I also think Starbucks has
the potential DNA to do it, and then I think somebody rogue and old that we disrespect,
whether it’s IBM or GE, you know, I think
somebody more traditional is going to go into a business
that none of us would expect. And by the way, before I
go into the next question,

“when you pissed someone off. “How badly did you piss them off, “and what did you do to make up for it?” – This is a really interesting question. – I work so hard not to piss people off. – Oh man, me too. I’m like suffocated by
pissing someone off. I’ll take this, pissing someone off. So look, I mean the only
time I’m truly ever affected, ever, by pissing someone off
is when I piss myself off. So, it’s a little bit
of a wrinkle, meaning I am so aggressive to try
not to piss off anyone, that the second I taste
in the water that I did I start hedging like a hog. You know, like I start like really, did you get that Sonic
Hedgehog, good alright, you got it (mumbles). I’m in full apology mode immediately. The only time I even am comfortable pissing people off is on stage when I’m challenging the audience to the quid pro quo, so I’m, on a one to one basis, I’m crippled by hurting someone’s
feelings, and the second that I sense it, I start backtracking. So, the way I answer, the way I fix it is by immediately taking
the gas off the pedal, cause I don’t like that feeling. I think there’s other ways
to manipulate my point. That’s the truth, I truly think that I can drive home my point
through honey, not vinegar. – Yeah, I agree, I mean
there’s no worse feeling than upsetting someone else. And that said, because I
have a very specific image in my mind when I think
of pissing someone off. But I can tell you that living life where you pander to other people to make sure you never have enemies or never have anyone dislike you is a very dangerous game to play, and I’ve always said with my work that I’d rather, if 100 people see a movie I make, I would rather have 50 people love and 50 people hate it than have 100 people go, “Eh.” So, it’s a fine line in that
idea of pissing someone off can mean so many different things. The last time somebody
walked away from me angry I honestly can’t remember,
but the last time I read the YouTube comments
on any one of my videos and they were 100% positive, well there was never that last time, cause I don’t think that’s ever happened. – Yeah, I mean, that just
made me think of Linkedin. Boy, does the conservative
business world hate where I’m coming from. You know, it’s funny,
I’m sure a lot of people are watching right now and saying, “What?” My living is being in the minority on my points of view, on the current state of marketing and all that stuff, but I’m with you, like on
a one to one basis, never. As little as possible, to
the masses, no problem. And I think that’s an interesting insight. – Yeah, I think so, cause as a human being the ambition is to never
piss someone else off, or to leave someone else upset, but as far as a belief system.
– For sure. – The belief system has
to be uniquely yours, even if that’s a divisive… – I will also say I’m in the sport sense, like in competition, I’m very interested in pissing people off. I’m, you know, it matters to me a lot, like nothing excites
me more than if I know somebody’s upset because
I did something positive for my team versus theirs. It’s extremely interesting
to me to piss people off during the heat of battle
because I want to get them emotional and off their game. – Yeah. – Yeah, alright, let’s move on. “a bionic body part, which
body part would it be,

– Hey Gary. Miles Keever with HappyHumanoids.com. In episode 49, you were asked a question about high-end wine
business and was it a hoax. Now, I thought your answer
was brilliant and profound. So profound that I checked
out and I began observing your staff members behind you. Lots of them are standing without chairs, and when you asked Lou to go get DeMayo, somebody snatched his
chair out of the way. Do you have a set up in your community? A way to keep the competitive edge going by not having enough chairs? – First of all, who’s Lou? – [Man] Little Lou! – Oh, Little Lou! You’re right. I literally think of him as Little Lou. This question is so perfect for episode 50 because I’m so devastated that I’m not limiting chairs on purpose to create a competitive culture, so the answer is no. I haven’t created that on purpose, but yes, yes, yes, do I wish I did. I love the thesis behind it. I think it’s a phenomenal observation. I desperately wish it was true. And I will say this, I don’t have any hardcore tactics to create competitiveness. And as a matter of fact, one of the biggest things that I really value is that a lot of the senior people that have been coming into VaynerMedia say this is the first
agency they’d ever worked in that people are competitive
because they wanna do great work but not at the cost of their
other employees around them which means we’re building real culture. It excites me and it’s something that I strive for. But I do think everything
stems from the top, and I don’t know how I do it, but boy, do I know I breed
competitiveness here, because I’m competitive as (bleep). – [Voiceover] Terri says,

“If you don’t care about the competition, “what do you say when a client asks you “about a competitor, “and why you’re better?” – Mike, this is a tremendous question. I’ve dealt with this in
the past on VaynerMedia’s road to success, and I still do all the time. People bring up competitors and I answer in a very condescending way towards them. I dislike my competitors
in the context of the game. Some of them are friends
outside of the game and I can share a beer, I can separate it. I can share a beer at a game or be cordial in public, but deep down, I’m not
a fan of my competitors. I dislike them. And when people bring them up, I tend to tear them down
as quickly as possible or remind them why I’m better and come up with historical things like, you know, in the agency world for example, I say, Oh you mean those people
that try to win awards in a world where I grew
up trying to sell stuff? Anything that I think will make that person realize that it is a worthwhile
venture to go with us and why it’s a wasteful conversation to
care about somebody else. That is something I will do. Now look, I’m a good salesman, a good talker, I’ve got great tact, I have enormous empathy and great feel. I can read the room. So I know where to navigate in real time, which is why I sell and win so often. You may not have that skill set and you may come across as you know, inappropriate, awkward, you know, inappropriate. And so, you know, for all of you on this side over here who can read the room, can move quickly on your feet, can rock and roll that way, just punch your competitor in the face. Over here, not as smooth, you’re not quite as sure, you don’t understand
where they want to go, you’ve got to go with a different route. I don’t know what that route is, but it’s (bleep). – [Voiceover] Dan asks,

– [Voiceover] Blue Stripe Creative asked, “How much, if any, time should
be spent on your competition? “Or should you just be focused
on making your own path?” – Blue Stripe, I’m super
pumped you asked this question because I was talking
with my dad all weekend about Wine Library and with that bug, and I reminded him, and AJ
was there to kind of talk about what I’ve done with Vayner
over the last three months, I literally spend (clicking
sound made with mouth) Robert Parish, double
zero on my competition. I could care less. I spend all of my time on people, my team, where we’re going. Do I know what the competition is doing? At some level, a little bit, contextually, but I never go deep. It’s all headline reading. I know who’s making some
buzz and some noise. But I gotta tell you, I truly believe that the biggest mistake so many companies and entrepreneurs make is looking around them. We’ve talked about looking
back, seeing who’s behind you. I just don’t do those things. It’s full steam ahead. I feel like if I take
care of my domain, I win. As a matter of fact, I also do it as a little
razz, as a little sizzler. Like, people are pissed. My competitor are mad. When they meet me in social
settings, and I’m very cordial, I’m a good guy, even though
I wanna slice their neck, you know, in a business
sense, not real life, they actually, if they speak
to me for five or 10 minutes, somewhere in that 10 minutes realize I don’t know what they’re up
to, and it kind of hurts them. I find it to be a competitive advantage. I really find not paying
attention to your competitor as a competitive advantage in a world where many of you
who are watching this right now and think it’s a weakness
to not know what’s going on, I’mma flip. I’mma flip, my friends. I’mma flip. – [Voiceover] Jamie asked, “Who would you recommend
pitching an app idea to?

– Hi Gary. – Hey man. – I’m Ashish, I’m a co-founder of a startup
company called lawtrades. We’re a market place for legal services. – Love it. – So my question is, you advise startups,
you invest in startups. But when startups become
inherently competitive with other companies. – Yes. – What’s your biggest advice
to stay ahead of the game? Is it just to give more value
than the person behind you or just interested on
your thoughts on that. – You know, I default as an entrepreneur thinking it’s always gonna be competitive. You know, I love when people are like, nobody’s in our space. I’m like great! Because if you’re good, everybody’s gonna be in your space, right. If you figured something
out, you’re gonna have plenty of competitors. You know, to me, it’s a same old game. Like, it’s better execution,
it’s better product, it’s better service,
it’s a better everything that’s actually going
to drive your business. So, I can’t give a blanket answer here. This is why VaynerMedia works in a world of #AskGaryVee and me
putting out content. I can give your general stuff. I’m trying to go deeper
and give you more stuff with this format. But I need to know who
your competitors are. So, for you, your business are they bigger entities with more money? When you’re David, you
don’t play Goliathscape. When you’re Goliath, destroy David. Like, that match-up, it
should have never gotten to the sling shot. Just squish that guy. So, to give the practical advice, it’s gotta be something … Here’s an example, back to depth. Something I’m trying to
challenge myself on this show. Was anybody else surprised as hell that I barely talked about
VaynerMedia for three years. Like, for somebody that’s
always out there promoting you noticed, if you went
to VaynerMedia’s website for the last two, three years. There was like nothing there because I was David. And I needed to make sure
that the bigger agencies didn’t realize how big
I was actually getting. That was my competitive play in a competitive landscape. Now that I’m getting a little bit bigger, I’m getting a little bit more out there. I’m putting myself more out there because I have the leverage
of having more money to hire the best talent or
acquire the biggest clients. So, the answer to your question is completely predicated on where you are in your life cycle versus
your competitor’s life cycle. And what I would tell you is, and here’s where I can give
the most tangible answer though still theoretical, never play the other person’s game. – Got it. – That’s where everybody gets, like oh, that big guy or gal is now running ads. We’re gonna too. Problem, they have ten million dollars. You have $80,000. – Yeah. – You lost.
– Yeah. – And so it’s never playing
the other person’s game. – Cool man. Thanks a lot. – Real pleasure meeting you.