– [Voiceover] Jarek asks,
“Would you be able to lead any type of company? Do you think that the leaders
can switch industries easily?” – Jarek, this is a great question. You know, I’m speaking for myself that I fundamentally 100,000% believe that I can run any company. I just do. I myself, as you know,
are a reverse engineer. Show the t-shirt. And so what I would be able to do is look, I don’t know, I don’t know dick about
99% of the businesses out there, but it would only
take me about six months with my sponge like skills to figure out whats going on, look at the data, look at the numbers, look at the culture. Reverse engineer,
understand the marketplace and the consumer that’s selling, whether in a B to B or B to C place. There is no business that
me as an operator feel intimidated by. I can’t speak for
everybody, but I do think there’s clearly, I don’t
think I’m that special. I think that there’s other people that also have that
skill set where they can take a look back, really
assess the situation and then operate, and I think that balance comes with sales and HR. For me, I think that’s why I’m able to do so much, for me my strengths are within the HR universe and the sales universe which are really the
two things that you need to know in an organization. You need to be able to sell stuff, and you need to be able to build teams around you. If you’re lucky enough to have that deuce in your life like I
do, then you can do it. – [Voiceover] Ella asks, “What
do you think about Serial?

I work on new business and all things. I’m an account director here. I’ve been here, I don’t
know, about eight months now. Feels like a year almost. I’m really excited for my Vaynerversary. (laughter) So I wanted to ask you a question which I think is going to help some of the entrepreneur viewers but also just the future
leaders of VaynerMedia. When you’re transitioning
from that doer to a leader knowing what your priorities are and where to put your
focus, so that it counts. – Yeah. – Can you talk a little bit about that? – Yeah I can. And you know this is
something that I have a lot. And to put a little more
color for everybody listening, at Vayner and a lot of other
places you get into a place where you, I think you said it right, you’re in execution mode and then all of a sudden you’re managing a team. And those are two very different things. And it’s the thing that I most fear in the organization, period, end of story. Because you have incredible
executors who yearn for the financial upside and the title to then lead a team and boy are those two very, very, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very
different skill sets. And so I think the biggest
thing people struggle with, there are so many things people struggle with with the transition. Number one, the thing I hate
more than anything in the world which is micromanagment. I wanna kick micromanagment in the face. I hate it. And, you know, it’s something I just despise and it’s a major struggle
because if you are a great executor you know how to cross those T’s and dot those I’s. And you know, when you see the person on your team whose not
as strong at executing you can’t help it, it
goes against the grain. So that’s number one thing. Facing yourself in the
mirror and understanding, and I’ve talked to you about this, and I’ve talked to so many leaders in this company about this. This is where people get pissed at me. Most things don’t matter. And that’s a very tough mental transition to somebody that manages a team. The other thing that a lot of
people will struggle with, and I talk about this quite a bit in this organization as well, is when you’re a leader you have to be the bigger man and woman
in every situation. And a lot of times people,
especially when they make that first transition, and it’s the first time
that they’re the leader, they look at it wrongfully
because of society, as I’m the boss and they
try to impose their will instead of what I think
the real skill set is. Which is become a full time listener, a full time empowerer,
a full time eat crap and have humility and
empathy and self awareness. So you go from, what I
believe is I.Q to E. Q. and a lot of people can’t
make that transition. I think the reason this
organization has grown so much is that’s all I focus on
when that transition happens. And don’t try to put pressure on people for new business and client services and all the normal things
one has to worry about. Now I’m the leader, now this
client has to respect me. I need to make Steve happy. I don’t care about that. I can take care of that
at the highest levels. It’s about really empowering
people to become leaders. And leaders, you know I love this. This is obviously a subject matter I love. We talked about it even
in yesterday’s episode. It takes so much more motherly, historically, stereotypically
motherly skills to be a leader and I
think people are confused. I think by default people
think it’s fatherly stuff and I think it’s motherly stuff. It’s emotional skills that allow somebody to make that transition. And really one of the biggest factors in this whole thing is self esteem. If you’re not able to believe in yourself nobody else is gonna believe in you. So I think one of the things is, look I got fortunate, I
got a mother that instilled so much self esteem in me that I’m still trying to get some of it out of me so that I don’t come across
as an egotistical crap head. But I think a lot of
people don’t have that. A lot of people in my family
don’t have that, and I see it and one of the weird
little tidbits that I think can make this episode valuable is if you get into a leadership spot and if your self aware enough to know that your mom or dad put you
down your whole life, or society did, or you
grew up as a minority, or whatever took self
esteem out of your body. Or if you never instilled
in the first place. I think you need to find
an outlet to create it. I think you need to find
an outlet to create it. I think one of the things I
focus on here is I instill it. You know, I instill it. I do talk 90% of the
time about the positives. I just can’t help it. I’m optimistic and I just see it. I see the good, it’s what I do. There’s always bad, but I
think you need to seek it out. And it might come in the form
of extracurricular activities. You might be a great soccer
player, or an improv actor. Or maybe the person you date, maybe you look for somebody
who, instills that. I think that’s a very
attractive characteristic. I can tell you the reason
I married Lizzie so quickly was ’cause she was my mom. And so I like coming home
and having a cheerleader. Like, you’re great. I love that. I want that. And so, I think those are
the things that come to mind. – Thanks Gary.

_ Hey, I’m Jordan Moran. – Jordan. – I’ve been a huge fan of your
since the Wine Library days. – Thanks brother.
– Thank you for having me. – Of course, say hello to VaynerNation. – Hello guys, pleased to see you. So, my question for you is I am transitioning to a
new project management role in a company. How do you maintain having
high standards with your team making sure things get done, but still keeping the project
on time and on budget? – I wish Aaron Bear was
here from VaynerMedia because he is the head of
all that at VaynerMedia and he’s killing it. You know I think it takes humanity. I think the answer is humanity. I actually think the best way to be a great project manager or get things done is to be a great listener
instead of talker. Right? You go into this new role,
I see with a lot of my project management people. They’re organized, they’re good but they want to talk it to success. I actually think it’s the drop
down, flip it and reverse it. I think it’s a Missy Elliott structure. I think the way you win is
by listening to the people of to why they’re not doing well. Why are they two weeks behind? If you haven’t actually applied empathy and understand what’s going on there, you become known to everybody as the project manager that gets it. And so I say you walk in with, not your architecture and organization and like, I’m gonna guide this. You’re gonna guide it with
your ears more than your mouth. And that is most something
most project management oriented people only learn later in life and realize is the key factor. – Got it. Thank you. Appreciate it.
– Thanks for those kind words. I’m glad you got on. Alright next, let’s go.

“to one of genuinely
caring about the customer “when the current ethos
is so established?” – Andrew, Andrew. There’s only one way to change the culture when it’s broken to something genuine. Kill leadership. Leadership is in charge of the culture. Everything, my friend, stems from the top when it gets into the DNA. So do not let the leader,
the CEO, the board, whoever it may be, do not let
her, him, make an excuse that something is happening
below in middle management, or some other things,
because she’s in charge, he’s in charge of that middle management. Every problem at VaynerMedia, is my fault. Right here, you’re looking
right at this face. It’s my fault because I
empower everybody else to create that culture, and
so how do you change it? You change the top, and if the top owns it ’cause it’s the family business, or just became the new CEO, and it’s not going to
change, then you need to get the hell out of there
because the only people that can change culture are
the people from the top. It’s true you can hack from the bottom, you can maybe then inspire the top, but that top still has to make the decision. That is the judge of culture. – [Voiceover] Saura asks:
“How do you book speaking