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In order to get the best out of the people around you, sometimes you have to clearly and forcefully articulate the opportunities you see for them. Just because you see something for them, you can’t assume they see it, too. If someone is not responding to, or taking advantage of, the opportunities you’ve created for them, you’re going to have to take them to that place. That’s literally what “leading” means.
Great advice
You cannot construct a team and then expect everyone to instinctively know what position they’re supposed to play. That’s how confusion, and later frustration, sets in. If someone is not in a competitive mode, then it’s on you as a leader to activate that mode for them.
you need to be able to articulate not only where you need that person to go, but also the steps the...
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Remind them of what they’re capable of. Believe in them so openly that, eventually, they start believing in themselves.
You can’t have a one-size-fits-all mind-set when it comes to effective leadership. You need to tailor a specific approach to every single person on your team in order to get the most out of them.
I’m so supportive of Tiffany that I didn’t even flip when she knocked the mirror off one of the Lambos I let her drive. That’s how you know it’s love!
Lol
It can be scary to open up your life to someone new, but when you pick the right person, it can also be incredibly beneficial.
one of my greatest negotiating strengths is actually patience.
I knew I had been groomed for the moment by all my other failures and misses.
You cannot, under any circumstances, compromise when it’s your vision on the line.
You wait until you’re 100 percent sure he’s Mr. Right before you even think about saying yes.
“Remember, if just one person was interested, that means your idea has value,”
“Know Your Value,” but the first check you receive should never be your biggest concern. Always focus on the long-term potential instead.
that not many people may find themselves in that position. Still, no matter what your situation is financially, if you really believe in something, I’d always recommend you go for the piece of equity over an up-front payday.
company’s stock price by the number of shares outstanding. If it hasn’t issued any stock yet, it’s going to be harder to figure out. You’re probably going to have to ask the founders what their method of determining the valuation of the company was. If they don’t want to tell you, or give you a vague answer that doesn’t make sense, then it’s probably not a deal that you want to pursue anyway.
Most stock options are vested, which means you have to stay with the company a certain amount of time before you can cash them
Probably the most egregious example is my former associate Sha Money XL.
Did he purposely name it like this xD
That single point on Get Rich or Die Tryin’ ended up being worth $1.3 million.
Woah
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when entering a negotiation: Never get fixated on a number.
Instead, he got only a fraction of that. I was offering him a chance to enter a new tax bracket, and he negotiated himself into nickels and dimes due to ego, insecurity, and, possibly, lack of faith. That’s not hustling stronger. It’s hustling weaker.
to this day I still have to work to get to the number I’m looking for.
I’m just waiting to see how my energy is received.
Me
But more often than not, a few pushes get me to where I want to be. And then we seal the deal.
Jamie was just trying to motivate his team—in reality, he makes as many things happen as anyone—but in that moment he managed to capture one of my fundamental principles in creating success: just do shit!
It seems like an obvious enough approach, but we spend a lot of time waiting for permission to do shit instead of just making it happen.
through. One of the best ways to bypass those gatekeepers is to go directly to the people with your ideas. The more time I spend with corporate executives, the more I’ve noticed how clueless they are about how to connect with the public.
My strategy has always been the opposite. I always try to connect with people on the most basic level.
I was training my fan base to see the incentive in supporting Effen. It became a cool thing to do. I had created an online movement without spending a single marketing dollar.
Amazing personal brand
The internet is making the gatekeepers much less relevant.
You’re not a dreamer with an idea hoping that someone takes a chance on you. You’re a proven asset who can sit back and wait for the best deal.
“Because I don’t want to go on tour for months and then I come home and Hailie’s grown,” he explained, referring to his daughter.
Awwee
One of the reasons Em has been so successful is that he’s never chased things. He’s never let external forces tell him what to care about. He’s cognizant of what matters to him, and that’s what he focuses on. And I would argue that not chasing dollars is one of the main reasons he’s made so many of them.
And a lot of times the easiest way to break in is by working for free—as an intern.
Having a realistic understanding of what a record company wasn’t going to do for me probably saved my career.
Corentin was able to make his dream back in France a reality because he understood two key concepts. The first was persistence. He didn’t wait for us to post a job listing somewhere. He took the initiative to cold-call our offices. When that didn’t lead anywhere, he showed up at the office.
value. I don’t care if it’s hip-hop, film, or the financial sector—if you can make a convincing case that you can add value to an organization, they’re going to find a spot for you. Once you’ve got that spot, now you can build up your value.
Getting all your agreements, promises, and plans down on paper in the form of a contract is absolutely essential. Never let your value rest on someone’s “word.”
When the money starts coming in, the knives start coming out.
Trust me, everyone loves each other at the start. That handshake agreement feels firm when you’re starting out. But jealousy and envy are real. They might be buried so deep in a person’s nature that it could take years for them to come out, but they’ll find a way if there’s money involved. Protect yourself. Put it on paper.
Forget about three years—Nike ended up selling $70 million worth of Air Jordans in the first two months after the line launched in 1985.
Amazing
Falk’s deal for Air Jordan is the type that almost every entrepreneur dreams of. So what enabled him to execute such a winning vision?
In every profession or field, the most successful people are always the ones who refuse to settle into the status quo, who don’t get satisfied and complacent once they achieve something, but always push toward the next goal or challenge. Conversely, people who get too comfortable or are unwilling to adapt are usually the ones who get left behind.
Hip-hop loves things that are damaged. It’s been the defining trait of the culture.
people tend to stop viewing you as human once you taste success. In the public’s mind, once you make it, you’re fixed. Time to move on to the next one. The perceptive artists accept this
It’s because those first three recognized that their time as a rapper wouldn’t last forever, and they transitioned into other pursuits: Method Man into acting, Cube into acting and the Big Three basketball league, and Dre hit the jackpot with headphones and Apple.
Those guys were smart enough and humble enough to understand that the public can never be wrong. When people don’t respond to what you give them, they’re telling you they’ve moved on, loud and clear. If you don’t hear them, then you’re just not listening.
No matter what you do, you have to be able to accept that your role is going to change. When you first break into a space or industry, you view that inevitability as a positive. If a company’s or organization’s staff didn’t evolve, you’d never get a chance in the first place. That endless evolution is the key that opens the door for you.
No matter how many promotions you’ve received, how many corner offices you’ve moved into, or even how many times you’ve seen your name in the headlines, you can never settle. You have to keep finding new ways to challenge yourself.
Once we get the things we are striving for, we rarely remain satisfied with them. The things are just the bait. Chasing after them forces us to evolve, and it is the evolution and not the rewards themselves that matters to us and to those around us. This means that for most people success is struggling and evolving as effectively as possible.
one generation knew me as a rapper, there’s going to be another that knows me as a TV mogul. But only because I was willing to change with the times and my audience.
