example 9 p.m. phone calls and
micromanaging asking for a friend Fred Nikki look i I don’t know I think a lot
has to do with you one of the great things that I’ve done steve is Steve you
know a lot of people here but steep steve was never afraid to kind of give
his point of view I think that I’m just scratching his own it’s worth it when
the point of you made no sense but but but him and I quite agree cadence where
and and this is something I try to do with everybody and the truth is of the
650 feel that comfort zone to be able to say to me like hey you’re wrong degree or this and that it’s up to the
manager and the CEO and the leader to create a comfort zone to create that
kind of conversation the truth is if this boss hasn’t which most and I and I
do recognize that then you just gotta either roll the dice and hope it goes
well I think he’s got if your gonna go to a boss and gonna say hey you stink I
do think coming with honey before you come with vinegar really matters i
really think the first taste of a conversation is quite remarkably
important I do think first impressions matter I think first impressions in a
micro-level a conversation matter I often had you think you guys have all
been on the receiving end of this or maybe not everybody but like if I’m
delivering bad news or like I want a little tweak its usually start with I
love you but more like you really crushing this it’s coming up expensive
like I think it’s important I think you gotta say look I empathy for your
managing a lot of things you might be the only person but anything you can do
to college that you have empathy to their situation a lot of times this is
the case I mean this is a big big common thing hey manager Stefan like I know
that you have tough managers of the view that are probably forcing a lot of you
or you know actions but I’m being affected by it how do we like this is a
problem so look the only thing that solves conflict is communication it
justice like justice like and so either you get
an and honestly this is a very weird thing to say I would also in parallel if
it’s killing you if you’re super unhappy if you wake up every morning dreading
going to work I wouldn’t parallel start creating some options for yourself
whether you want to jump into entrepreneur land or work somewhere else
just something that if it goes completely terrible like you know the
boss like fuck you in a week later you’re fired that you have some hedge because i dont
give advise him like I’m getting e-mails in a month like you got me fire like you
know give that some thought as well but there is only one answer I’ve given you
some context for it I could have made it nation short its communication you just
have to talk to the person about it there’s just nothing else you know what I like I like that i said
im snapshot like sending your questions

“with employees that slack
off, but are super talented? “Keep or fire?” – Mmmm. I deal with them the same way I deal with any kind of employee. Super hard worker, but maybe
slightly under-talented. In between on both fronts. Every situation in life,
let alone employees, only can be solved when
you believe there’s issues, and you have the luxury
and the responsibility. And let me say that one more time, when you have the luxury
and the responsibility of being the judge and the jury. The pressure and the onus is on you. I truly, truly, truly believe
that if there’s an employee at Vayner Media, and
there are some, plenty, no, not plenty, that’s not fair, there are some that are highly talented and are under-performing,
that it’s my fault. We haven’t created the infrastructure for allowing them to shine. Their bosses are not clicking with them, and so that’s not motivating them. We haven’t asked the right questions of the kind of interests they have. We serendipitously, you
know, the serendipity of what accounts they’ve been on. Tim how many different
accounts have you been on in your career? – Oh gosh, at least twelve. – And of those twelve, I would assume that some are more exciting than others? – Oh yeah, definitely. – Yeah, and that’s just real, right? There’s so much serendipity,
different bosses that you get, people move around, team
mates, things of that nature. And so, you know, I think
the way I deal with it is communication. You know, I have a full slate today, it’s the last kind of in-the-office day, I have a lot of meetings
I’m trying to get in. 10, five, 10, 10, five,
10 minute meetings. And a lot of the conversation
will be around that. And so I think it’s communication. You know, it’s like, hey, Rick, you know I think you’ve got
talent oozing out of your eyes, you’re clearly not
delivering on the hustle, which is an important variable here. What am I doing wrong? What is Vayner doing wrong? Instead of saying, Rick,
you’re lazy, you suck. You have to put the onus on you. When you’re a leader, when you’re a CEO, when you’re the organization, it’s on you. You’re creating the rules of the game. If you don’t like how
it’s played, change it.

“How do you personally
take charge in a meeting “when you feel others
are being disrespectful?” – I guess Brittany’s asking for herself and for everybody who’s listening. For me, I mean, I just get involve–
(laughs) I mean, first of all 99% of the time, the context of the meeting,
I have the leverage. Either it’s my meeting and/or
I have a lot of authority or street cred to open my mouth. One more time, how do you
take charge when you think somebody else is being disrespected? – [India] When you feel others
are being disrespectful, meaning, if it’s uncomfortable– – I see this all the time and I see people struggling with it especially if they’re middle management or the new kid on the block, or an intern. But they have the EQ or
the empathy and like, this is unfortunate. I would say that there’s
only two ways to live life. To tactfully address things or to eat and have regrets
that you didn’t address it. What’s the name again? Brittany. Brittany, I think that
you have choices here. If I was in a meeting with this crew and I was being disrespectful to Staphon and India felt like she
wanted to say something. What’s running through her mind is, if I call Gary out here, and first of all, she has
a lot of context on me so she’s probably thinking, oh crap, Staphon’s doing something
wrong that I don’t know about ’cause Gary’s usually right. But let’s say I was tone deaf
(laughs) and I didn’t have equity with
her and it was her first week. She’s thinking that if
she calls me out and says, Gary, why are doing– You’re being rude. She’s thinking, oh crap,
that can get me fired. And then, what does it mean to me? People are doing practical– There’s always the pressure
of doing the right thing versus the practical thing. And then you’re always questioning, are you good enough to know
what the right thing is. There’s all that stuff. I don’t know, I have had a very successful life. Forget about career. On being comfortable of addressing things in real time, in the room, if it needs to. My level of thinking of
disrespect is quite high because I like combativeness
and competitiveness and I’ve also always had leverage. I work for myself. So, my advice to myself or how I think about the
world is very different than the advice I’d
give to a lot of people. I think you go with the one strike policy. India should grab me or send me an email after that meeting and say,
hey, I felt a hair uncomfortable with the way that you were
treating Staphon in that meeting. Can we either talk about
it, she’d grab me in person. She can send an email. I like in person ’cause
no context is lost. ‘Cause if I got that
email from India, I’m like that’s a little prima
donna for a youngster. (laughs)
She doesn’t know all the details. But if she told it to me, I’d be able to feel the energy. That’s one lesson I’d like
a lot of you to learn. Sending a text or sending an email, where it’s an important moment, you’re losing so much context. The energy, especially if
you go to an EQ person, the energy is so powerful when
you can create the context so I highly recommend that. But I would probably
go with a communication that wasn’t confrontational
in the room with that manager or that boss the first time. Behind the scenes,
lightweight, treading water. And then, A, seeing how they respond. Because I would respond, and we’ve been there and done that, India. I would respond favorable
which would make you more comfortable and
safe to talk to me again. Others will be like,
shut you (blank) mouth. And that would make
you not as much comfort and then I would address it
in the room the second time. If I said, shut your
fuckin’ mouth to India and then she did it again the second time, couple things would happen. She’d feel like she was
getting that off her chest. More importantly, I’d be like, damn, she really does care about this. It’s just life. Doing the right thing is
always the right thing. You just gotta make sure
you’re doing the right thing. Way to many people romantically wanna fight against the system, fight against the boss, fight against the company. And I’ve had people in this organization that have barked up the wrong tree. Because they’ve worked in other places where the person doesn’t give a crap and doesn’t turn every stone and doesn’t have a ton of context. That is something you
need to be careful of. Do not walk into a buzzsaw
because you do have a manager or boss that actually knows
what they’re talking about. Now, if you’re great at EQ
and the tone and the taste, roll, let roll. But this is not a very simple question. There’s a lot of angles, as you could see, in two quick seconds
that I’ve given you here, it’s a lot of context building. Who are you standing up for? I mean, the amount of
times that people here have stood up for somebody
who’s straight losing, doing the wrong thing, but they’re homies. Matt, let’s talk to you
because they hear it from this. – Okay. – We have a tremendous culture here where, obviously, I’d like to say that but how many friends do
you have in this company? People you actually hang
out with outside of work? – A solid amount. – Give me a number. – 15, 20. – Great, so first of all, everybody who at Vayner’s
watching this is now wondering, wait a minute, am I number
21 and what the hell. – Sorry guys. – I thought we were friends. (laughs) 15 to 20, I think anybody who’s watching we would all recognize
and that’s a big number. There’s a lot of people watching here who don’t have single friend. Outside, everybody just– If you, not if, when your friend, one of those 15 to 20 complains about Vayner,
it’s impossible for you not to take their side,
they’re your friend. – Exactly. – I mean, that’s an impossible game. – Absolutely. – And I assume, I’m asking you now. Even though you like me
and think I’m a good guy and it’s a good company, good culture. It’s so much easier to have
Janet’s back than the company’s. – Sure. – That right there, is
the issue at hand, right. You might be standing up for somebody. Have you ever wanted to
stand up for somebody? – [Matt] Yeah. – Have you? – [Matt] Sometimes yes and sometimes no. – Right, and so it’s just tough ’cause
you don’t know every– I mean, I know a lot of the
friend pods in this company. I knew to ask that question ’cause I knew it was a good outcome because I know what’s
going on here, right. Even people that are a little quiet or what have you are finding friends. It’s amazing, right. We got a good thing going. The danger of that is blind
support to your homies versus what’s going on in the office. There are people here who are the greatest human– I literally want to adopt them. I literally want to adopt them, hey come in my family. I love you that much. Who are average workers. That’s just real-life shit. To think if I was their homie, outside of work and had all the feelings of the humanity that is
them which is remarkable. I want to adopt them. And to think about them complaining or struggle, why didn’t I get promoted, my boss is not taking care of me, this and that and the other thing. It’s impossible for the
other 550 people here intermingled with each other
not to support that person. They’re the best. But I have the optics of
another thing which is the black and white. Not the warm and fuzzy, the do you have skill. I’m the greatest guy of all time. I don’t think LeBron wants
me on his basketball team. I don’t have the raw skills to provide him value for
what he’s trying to achieve. I’m the best. And if he wants to do business I’ll make him more money
than he can even realize. Even more than he makes, which
is more than he can realize. And that’s the game. And so, that’s the other
part of the equation. You gonna step up for the
greatest person of all time, cool. You just might get caught because they’re actually below average or not doing a good job. Or they may actually act differently, I mean, this is happening here too. There are people that,
outside of these four walls, I want to adopt. But when you watch them, how they act within a work environment, they’re just okay. Lot a sweeties. And then a little snarky and manipulative and political in the building. That’s just real life. So know who you’re standing up for. Interesting shit. – Got really deep. – Yeah, it got very deep. That’s something we can all learn from. I’ve learned that lesson. Like, I know this guy, he’s the greatest. And like wait a minute,
he sucks in the store. I saw with my own
friends that work for me. So, anyway. – [India] It’s intense. – It is intense. It’s intense because it’s so, this is where
judging where you work or who you work for is the key. And understand what
they’re good and bad at. Meaning, you could have a great manager, top, top, manager. And they might be strong at X but they might bad at Y. And if they’re bad at Y, you need to context that. There’s no blanket statement,
even on the person. I have a lot of points of view on your strengths and weaknesses from a lot of different people. Way more than you’d ever think. – [Matt] Oh, I’m sure. – In a good way, meaning it’s
why we’re so calculated here of what we do. ‘Cause we don’t take the
main boss’s point of view on somebody. It’s 360. It’s contemporaries, it’s
friends outside of work. It’s people that never heard of him. It’s people that work for you. You can’t just be like, oh the boss– If you let that, they’re
just manipulate what’s in their best interest. ‘Cause they’re just human,
it’s not their fault. But I think that’s what
makes our place tick because people have
seen very senior people not win the battle against
very junior people. Then that’s like whoa, and that’s cool. I don’t know how I got on that tangent. I know how, If you wanna step up
for somebody in the room you better know all the scores. The conversation.

“as an entrepreneur sometimes. “How do you cope with that feeling?” – You know, for me, I’m built for it. I wanna be lonely. I want to struggle and grind
and have all the pressure. I’m gonna take the last shot in the game always, every time. It makes me simpatico with Staphon’s idol Kobe, the black mamba who’s on this amazing, it was funny, I was
working out this morning and I had to do some cardio
stuff that was hard for me, so I’m like Mike, put on TV
so I can watch Sports Center and not think about what
we’re actually doing, and I caught the clip of
the way Kobe last night in Philadelphia, and I said to Mike, I said, you know what’s
so awesome about sports? It’s that if you time it
right, and you know it, you can have this kind of farewell tour, so I’ve been thinking about
my farewell entrepreneur tour. I don’t know how to do that. I’m gonna be like 89, 97, be like eeeh, but you know, I don’t even
remember the question. I just wanted to talk
about Kobe’s farewell tour. What was it again? Oh! Being lonely. Look, the reason I brought up Kobe is, Kobe wants to take the last shot. Winners wanna take the last shot. You want to take the high with the low. When you are truly an A, and
actual pure-bred entrepreneur, you don’t know anything else than getting the accolades or getting shit on when you don’t execute. Actually, from first, you
know, it’s really interesting. I had a 100th of a second,
because I’m concerned about macroeconomic climates, for a 100th of a second yesterday, which is unheard of for me, I was like woo, what if Vayner took a step back and I had to deal with
people being like, oh, you’re not running this business well, or what’s going on? It’s so funny. I thought of it for a 100th of a second, and then I got so happy. I got so happy because
I quickly thought about the second chess move, which
was, for whatever reason, couple of our clients,
as you know, are starting to become very big clients
and I don’t like them being too much a percentage of my business ’cause they can go away the next day. I don’t like that, so that maybe is why it popped up in my mind. Or, I also think we’re in
a bubbly kind of world. You’ve got terrorism activity,
you’ve got Wall Street being too bubbly for
a long period of time. Anything can happen. Things can happen, and
so it was funny for me when I thought about it,
because that’s my job. I’m lonely at the top. I have to worry about
everything and make sure I’m hedged and ready and mentally prepared for anything that could go wrong, and then I got excited
about the second chess move, which was the thing I live for, which is the I told you
so when the doubters came and said, oh, you misplayed it, you didn’t think, social
wasn’t as big as you thought, you didn’t see this coming, then being able to navigate
through those choppy waters. I often talk about
being a war-time general over a peace-time general. Anybody can look good. Anybody who’s watching
or listening to this show can be an entrepreneur
now, ’cause shit is good. When it gets tough, when there’s not people throwing around $25,000 investment, when you can’t put up
your idea on Kickstarter and everybody wants to give you $100, because the economy’s crap
and they need their $100, that’s when the cream rises, and so for me, the way I deal with it, I, the way I deal with it is: there is no dealing with it. It is my DNA. It is my only known gear. I don’t even understand
that damn question. Now, I recognize that, to take
myself out of the equation and try to answer for the whole, look, you’ve got to put things
in perspective, you know? If you want the accolades,
if you have the audacity to want to be somebody that is successful, let’s play the data. If you want the audacity
to be a millionaire, which is by percentage, almost impossible. There’s very few of them,
if you really break down. Let’s play some math here.
Let’s keep it unemotional. If you want the audacity to
be in the top 1% of Americans, which is a very rich company, company! Country. Probably company too. Country. Are people in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year in revenue, not millions. So, we’re talking about a
very small group of people that are able to get to this
extreme level of success in business, and we can have shows about, actually, you know what, I
was going to point at India. Danielle, tell India, we
need to do a show about life and not business stuff, but
in the context of business, life happines, and there’s a million ways, and we ranted on it the other day, but if you want the audacity
to be a millionaire, to be successful, to write books, if you want the audacity,
don’t you understand the crap that comes along with that? Like, I wanted the
audacity to be in shape. It’s come with a lot of crap. It’s been a lot of work. I’m 18 months in, and I
said this the other day, on my fitness video, I’m
not sure I would do this if I saw what I would
look like 18 months later, meaning I look a lot better, but damnit, I would have been like really? For every single day for 18 months? To wake up at four in the morning? Like, I’m going (mumbles skeptically). You deal with it because it’s
a very small price to pay for all the phenominal
stuff that you headline read and you aspire to and you dream for. The problem is, most of you don’t want to eat that shit to get there.

“for agency leaders to be active on social? “Do you weight that when
hiring a leader at Vayner?” – Um, look, I do think that somebody has to be a practitioner
or skilled in your craft, so yes, I do weigh that, but I do think we have a machine here that if somebody’s a great executive and good at building up people’s talent, knows how to do client services, understands the theory of marketing, but hasn’t used Snapchat,
Instagram, Facebook enough to be a great practitioner, that we know that’s commoditized and that after a hundred days at Vayner, we can get them to that place, so if they have enough
of the other things, you don’t have to be
crushing it on Instagram to be a leader at Vayner. You have to understand why
Instagram’s crushing it, and then put in the
work once you start here if you’re good at leading a team, great with client services,
great at other strategies, great at understanding how things, we have a lot of people that are great at Facebook,
Snapchat, Instagram, but don’t understand how beer is sold, or how soap is sold, and
we have to teach them that. If you’re coming as a
42-year-old executive and done it your whole
career and you know that, so just teaching the white space. So that’s the real answer. You have to have the
attitude, the appetite, and the theoretical rationale to why these things are
working to get in the door. – [India] Nice.

– [Voiceover] SaltySnapz
asks, “People say the road “to success is lonely. “Do you feel that’s accurate? “If not, why do you think
it’s a common sentiment?” – You know, I think
people use that statement because the truth is, I mean first of all, it depends on how you define success. In the context of what this show is about, which is business success, obviously we talk about a
lot of life stuff as well. But, you know, when you’re the CEO, when you are the founder, the conversation that’s not being had, everybody sees all the nice
things that come along. But every single thing that
happens in this company that’s wrong is my fault. Every snarky comment on social. Every kind of, like, sad face. Every email bullet points that I, every Friday I get bullet
points from tons of Vayner Media employees and 80% of them have a bullet that’s like,
“Rick is stretched too thin “and is crying in the bathroom.” That’s devastating. It’s very tough to be
at the top of something, even when it’s going great. Vayner’s going great. This is not even, like, you
know Wall Street collapsed and we lost a lot of clients
and we have to have layoffs. This is, like, we’re
rolling and we’re the best and we’re crushing and there’s
always things to worry about. Because you know that there’s no, “Oh, it’s India’s fault.” Everybody here, at some
level, all the way up can still say (snaps
fingers), “It’s Gary’s fault.” I can’t and when you say it’s my fault, there’s a really tough burden emotionally, forget about financially,
that comes along with that. And so I think it can get
very lonely, you do recognize. It’s amazing to me, for
as much of a communinary and extrovert as I am, how
much I keep in my own mind. How much is going on in
this noggin every day. Calculating, strategizing, thinking. And there is no vacations. I desperately love national holidays and, like, I can’t wait for
Christmas and Thanksgiving because everybody else is checked out and that’s the only time,
that’s the only time that I’m able to be off. I have my 40th birthday
coming on Saturday. I’m going away with my family. This is an incredible moment in my life and I will not be able
to be 100% checked out. Because then those, you know
and that Friday and that Monday the world is moving, this world is moving. My responsibilities are moving. I’m always one phone call away from a fire that I have to address. It is a very intense, lonely
place to be, at the tipy top. And so, when you think about, you know, I always think
about, like, “Is life fair?” Right? There’s always things that happen, there’s things that we can’t control. But the notion of, like,
somebody getting compensated a lot of money for things that we, do I think somebody making
20 million dollars a year to be an athlete or an actress. We never talk about
actresses and actors, right? We love to zing on athletes
but, like, actors make, like, the big ones make like
eight, 15 million dollars to make a movie. But still, at the end of the day, it’s because they command the market. People want to pay attention and there’s enormous amount of pressure. As I’ve lived my life and
started spending some time with A-list celebrities, there
life is, I mean, it’s intense. Like, I really secretly
think that I could be an A-list celebrity. That I literally could go
on TV and be a breakout hit. Like in a Mad Money
kind of like, you know, not like Jennifer Lawrence. I just don’t have the looks. But in a Mad Money, kind of like Regis, kind of like Andy Cohen way. But man, real celebrity status is intense. You just have nowhere to
go and so there’s that. Or an athlete where the
physical shape that you have to, 18, you know, 10 hours a
day of putting in that time. People look at the outcomes
they don’t think about what’s coming along with
it and the pressure. The pressure to know
that if I get hit wrong, that my entire life collapses, especially an athlete
that has a short window. Or the pressures that we’ve, look, I don’t think it’s a coincidence
that some of the greatest artists of all time pass
away in their mid-20s because of the intensity. It’s intense, it’s intense. It’s very lonely and so it
could be extremely lonely. I, ironically, and you’ll
find this wild, I love, look I want random extra
people in the room. So, like, I love being around
people more than anything but I’m also very comfortable in my own, being one-on-one with myself. So I’m good but I know that I’m emotionally stable as fuck
and it’s intense for me. I can’t imagine people that
are not as fortunate as I am pulling from both directions. Ambition but humil, you know. Like, do you know how content I am? A lot of people watch
this show and you hear I wanna buy the Jets and you misunderstand really where I’m at. I want it all and I
wanna win the whole thing but if I never win again,
if I plateau at this level, there’s an amazing amount
of content in my body for all my hunger. And that balances me
but I couldn’t imagine if that was tweaked just a little bit. If I really felt the pressure because there’s enough pressure from a day in and day out standpoint. It’s intense, it’s intense. I think people say it I
think much like stereotypes or statements there’s
always so many truth to it. I think the reason so many people say the road is lonely because
to really be successful, in the context of business especially, you’ve gotta make seven to 7,000 decisions that are critical and you can
only make them with yourself. It’s an intense moment on a daily basis.

“How do you prepare
employees transitioning into “a leadership role when they’ve
never managed people before?” – Dan, I think one of the big
mistakes a lot of people make running organizations as
me, CEO of this company, is they, eventually
somebody gets into a place where they’re good enough,
they go into managerial roles, so they go from being a
mason to an architect, they no longer do the day-in-day-outs, they have to architect
people doing it at scale and the CEO, or the
business owner, or the boss, never put that person in
position along the way to do that. Like, I’m really curious
how many people at Vayner are gonna watch this or
listen to this answer, but it may make them start rewinding a lot of their day-to-day
things that they may not realize that I’m puppeting from here, because they’re getting
told by their bosses, but a lot of people,
whether you’re a, you know, an account manager or
an account supervisor about to become an account
director or group director where you’re managing more people, there’s a lot of things I’m doing, changing the accounts you work on, changing the team that’s underneath you, there’s a lot of puppeteering going on to really a lot of different, like, groups I want them to be a part of, just different little
things that are happening to create a proxy and a context point and a data point on who they would be if they were manager. And so I think the answer
to this question is, I prep by prepping them along the way, versus ripping off the band-aid, and then, I hope they can be a manager. You know? I think you’ve gotta prep people, and I think you’ve gotta
give them some context points and put them in positions to succeed and really, like, know them, too. Know if they were babysitters or the head of their sorority, or,
you know, how they roll. Like, really auditing
them as human beings, 360 outside of the context of
just them being an employee. There are all very
important parts, and if you can replicate some of the
versions that matter to you, a lot of my people, I think, are really capable of being
managers from a skill level, but they don’t have the HREQ, they’re too type A, they
need to take a step back and zen a little bit to let
their employees breathe. They need to realize they
can’t impose their skills. Biggest mistake a lot of managers make when they first become
managers, is they try to turn everybody underneath them into them, versus turning them into the
best version of themselves.

“knowing you before they worked for you, “how did you establish your
authority as the boss?” – You know, funny thing about VaynerMedia, a lot of them didn’t know who I was. Kaylen. Please. – [Kaylen] Hi, oh God. – Let’s find out. Question is, you know, when most of my employees knew who I was prior to them working here, how did I establish my authority? Did you know who I was
prior to working here? – I knew you were in
the marketing industry, but I had not much context. – See, thanks Kaylen. – Yeah. – That’s the scoop, you’d be stunned. I appreciate everybody
thinking everybody knows me, I would say more than
half of the employees, if not 80, 70, 63% of the employees, did not know who I was. So, India? Staphon? – [Voiceover] Nope. – Thank you DRock. (laughter) So, there you go, right? Yo, you know, Eddie! Come here. You know, so, I’m gonna keep rolling here. One, whether they knew or they didn’t, there was just no breathing room. I’m the CEO of the company,
I’m gonna establish, Eddie, did you know who I was before you started working here? – I did. – Oh crap. – I did, I did know. – How? – My friend was reading Thank You Economy. – Got it. – And I just talked to Gary, and that’s when I found out about Vayner. And now I’m here. – Love you, brother. – Love you, man. – Great employee, too. Thank God for that book. So, you know, most of them didn’t. The ones that did, it wasn’t hard. They either had one of two things. They had no idea who I was,
easy to establish authority, I’m the damn CEO. They knew who I was, they
knew all my accolades, respect for the game, I’m the damn CEO. Easy. – [India] Easy.

“of HR and employees getting along. “How do I implement that when
everyone talks about everyone?” – Well, I don’t know if
employees getting along or HR is predicated on everybody
talking about each other? – [India] No, it’s like
how do I implement that in a place where everybody’s
talking about each other. – Oh, talking about
each other, like gossip? – [India] Yeah. If you wanna read it, but that’s how I interpreted it. – Where everyone talks
about everyone. Oh, jeez. I mean, that means it’s
broken from the top. People are gonna gossip. I’m
sure in the 600 employee– 550 employees of Vaynermedia, I’m sure people talk about each other. But it’s a net-net score.
Don’t be crippled by– Make sure you’re judging
the gossiping appropriately. Maybe it’s not as bad as you
think in the collective– Ryan, be careful. This
is an active shoot, Ryan. Yeah, clearly you didn’t realize. I’m just kidding! Do you wanna come on and apologize to the
show? Get over here, Ry. Let’s get you seven Twitter followers. – @guildgonewild, I’m
sorry for ruining the show. – Say, “Dear Vayner Nation.” – Dear Vayner Nation,
I sincerely apologize for ruining the show. And I’m
pretty sure Gary hates me now. – I don’t, I love you. – Oh. Well, thank you. – Tell them what football team you like. – The New York Jets. – That’s my boy. Get outta here! Alright. Hey, Brunchback. – Hey, what’s up? – Alright, get outta here. We need to come to 15 more often, there’s some good action going on here. Creating a culture where
people are gossiping negatively about each
other is devastating. There’s a lot more to fix.
The leadership needs to be looked at. Maybe you’re the leader. You need to really look at yourself. I think the only way to fix
a real burning building, if it’s really rampant and
negative, is to call an all hands-on meeting and go straight kumbaya, it’s all communication, it’s
put it out on the table. It’s address it head on and move forward. So, one, make sure you’re
judging it properly. Because in the scheme of
things, humans are humans. You can’t– It’s not like– I mean, Vayner’s great
culture, but at a micro level, there’s a million little
bad things going on. It’s just that you have to
look at is as a collective. You can’t turn people into
robots and not make them have all the emotions humans have, but way more importantly,
to me, if it is rampant, the only way to fix a
complete storm of this, is to bring everybody together, the leader needs to put– Starting with them,
I’ve clearly screwed up. Let’s talk about this. Probably
make some firing decisions. Because there’s probably
some cancer cells in there. It’s a real aggressive,
you need to address it. Truth is, so many of you
do not want to address it, or don’t know how, or
don’t have the stomach to, that’s the bigger issue. I
went for the dramatic moment there, you know what? Kick
in a little soft music here, for that part. This is
the important thing. Are you willing to address it? Do you have the appetite to deal with that kind of confrontation at the global scale? That’s the friction point. The
leaders don’t wanna step up and actually be leaders.

– [Voiceover] Gregory asked,
“If you ever become the CEO “of a local Chamber of
a community of 12,000, “what would be the first
thing you would do?” – If I became the CEO of a
Chamber of Commerce for a small group of 12,000 people, 12,000 members or 12,000 people in a town? – [Steve] Community, yeah. – You know, I’m a very big
fan of scaling the unscalable. Right, I talk a lot about engagement, one on one engagement, Twitter
videos, depth versus width. When you’re talking about
a town of 12,000 people, even if we’re answering this incorrectly and it’s a membership of 12,000, it’s still a very small number
in the scheme of things. So, what I would fundamentally
do is create a infrastructure to allow me to connect one by one with every single member of the Chamber, and even considering if it’s
a 12,000 person community the thousand to 4,000
people that really care about business in town, and
connect with them one by one via coffee, via Skype, via phone call as much face to face as possible, and ask them to reverse
engineer their objectives, meaning what can the Chamber do for you? What do you want out of it? I’d also have a better
understanding of what I was trying to get out of it
if I was the CEO of that. So, I don’t know if that’s fees, I don’t know if it’s something
as simply noble as making business better in town, if
that’s the objective at hand. That’s a little bit of a tongue in cheek for the people that don’t get my humor. I think I get razzed a
little bit too much for this. I was reading plenty of
comments on these three weeks. Basically my job would be to make the business environment in
this community better, and I think the number
one way to do that is to get people aligned. I think leadership comes
from getting entire group of people aligned on a mission. I actually think the most
effective way to do that is to actually understand
each individual person’s goals and objectives and
then come and find that little sweet spot that
is the closest thing to the overall masses that brings value across the board, and then go backwards. What’s the number one thing
that I can do that brings value to all 600 people at Vaynermedia? That brings value to all 12,000 members, and then go down the
list to where the number 10 thing maybe brings value
to half of the people, but it’s still better
than to three people. So, I reverse engineer
by listening upfront, collecting the data, and
then executing against the top 10 things that will
bring value to everybody in the organization.