Dan Peña - 50 Billion Dollar Man Dan Pena QLA - Quantum Leap Advantage Intermediate Part 4 (Audio)

Key Takeaways

I'm surprised you didn't ask that in paler. Okay. Well, I'm not so interested in the court action. You're not in the court action. Well, I'm Did you sign that it's not his Yeah. Yes. Formal education you make a living. Self-education you make a fortune. That's what we're talking about. Ace Greenberg, the former friend of mine, not former friend, a friend of mine, former chairman of Bear Stearns, he said well, we want to hire PSDs, which is poor, smart, and the deep desire to become rich. You know, that's what we want, PSDs. Uh Question is how rich is for somebody from poor background that can vary immensely. Yes, it can. Okay. How much money do you think is being Oh, no. No, before it. Write on a piece of paper in front of you. Take a piece of paper in front of you. And write how much money you think is being rich for you. For you. For me, I'm rich. Yeah, I know. How much money to you is rich? You know, 50,000 euros, 5 billion euros, 100 million euros, whatever. And paler, what are we waiting for? Open. Okay, I'm going to take I'm going to collect a piece of paper so we can write the name of both of you. Yeah, what's your name? Okay. How much? Okay. Okay. Okay. Before I start, one billion from one. Is that a seven or a [ __ ] one? Um Is that seven or a one? It's a one. It's a one. It's a [ __ ] one. Looks like a limp dick. Okay. Okay, one. Um One what? No, one billion. One That's a billion, right? It's a pretty one. Okay. Um Is that Is that Michael? Yeah. Is that What's that say? Five million? Okay. Um the impaler one billion. Byron, one billion. Less 100 million, but at least 10 million in liquid. Okay, 100 million uh in less 10 At least 10 million in liquid. Uh less 500,000, right? No, 100 million, man. Byron. No. No, that's Byron. That's my one. Oh, then 500 million. Yours was a billion. Yeah. Okay. 500 million. Okay. So, we got five million to a billion. Okay. Now, this so What about the the billion here, guys? Do you know personally any billionaires? Have you You know, do you talk Yeah. shoot Yeah, I talk. Okay, shoot the [ __ ] with, you know, I know three. Okay. Um I said you didn't ask for the billion. I'm only asking the billionaire guys, the one that's a billion. Okay. The Okay, you know a billionaire, you talk to them. Do you know a billionaire? No, no, you're 500 million, right? Okay. I've seen Mr. Trump. I know you've seen him. I know. Well, I've seen the Queen of England. Okay, but have you talked to him? Okay. No. No, okay. Um Okay. The guy with 5 million, do you know somebody with 5 million? Yeah, you do. Yes? Do you know somebody with 5 million dollars? 5 million euros? Okay, well that's that's that's too hard 5 million euros. Okay. And so one of you 5 you're 500 million 500,000. 500 million, excuse me. Do you know anybody I mean that you talked to that's got 500 million euros? Well, 300 million doesn't count. 500 million counts. Okay. Okay. And you know you know people with 100 million. And because if you know people with a billion, you know people. Okay. Now Have the guys that know the billionaires, has anybody discussed a deal with a billionaire? Doing a deal. Um I discussed becoming his mentee. Mentee, okay. That's not doing a deal, but that's okay. That's okay. I've done two transactions and I've discussed a third transaction which did not go through. Okay. Okay. Well, there's a big deal there's a huge quantum leap Stephen's closer because he's he's done business with him. But there's a huge quantum leap between writing the money on down on a piece of paper and becoming it one and two the uh understanding what it takes and the commitment to be a billionaire in this case uh and actually being a billionaire. Ken Langone is a billionaire who was one of the founders of Home Depot. And I have a mutual friend named Bob Denardo and we were at a dinner about a year ago. And and I'm sitting at the table with Ken Langone and Ken Langone is has the has donated hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and he's got hospitals and bridges and [ __ ] named after him. He's exactly 10 years older than I am. And we're sitting there and I'm talking to him I'm at the Bel-Air Country Club. And he said I hear Bob tells me you moved to Philippines. Well yeah Manila I really like it I you know I'm I'm trying to cut back a little I'm I'm I'm spending less time working and and he goes why? And I said you know uh you know just you know I haven't found any excitement just before I decided to go to China. Uh this was October 2008. And um and he said um he said well what do you do? And I said well I can still get up and I look over my investments etc. And he says I'm 74 years old or 73 I guess he was then. 73 years old I still work 70 80 hours a week. I still travel 10 of course this guy has his own plane. He travels 15 20,000 dollars miles a month. Uh you know I overlook my three trusts and the hospital and the various other things plus I'm still a board member of Home Depot. And he says why in the [ __ ] do you want to cut back? Cut back and it'll it'll kill you Dan. It'll kill you. And the then at the charity auction that next night we all we all went to. Um and for all we were donating money for ALS which is Lou Gehrig's disease when your immune system and your muscles and everything will stop working. And um the I paid $6,000 for a pair of sunglasses designer sunglasses Sally wanted not winning but anyway plus I bought a bunch of other [ __ ] and the and he stands up and he said and they say I'm crazy. And they said you know I would no more pay $600 for a pair of sunglasses than $6,000. And and he plus HE WANTS TO RETIRE. You know and uh and it really got me thinking and I didn't say I was retiring, I said I was cutting back. And the um And so, interfacing with guys that have a billion dollars, unless they inherited it, and there's a lot of billionaires that inherited it. And some I don't know, some of the billionaires you you guys have talked to or seen inherited it. Donald Trump made most of his money, uh although he started, I believe, with 20 million bucks, which is a a nice start in life. Um uh 35 4 years ago when he had it. Um there's a huge quantum difference in understanding um what it takes to make and to spend. Uh Stephen's goal for $100 million and $10 million liquid is more realistic, especially since he has dealt in million-dollar transactions, and I don't think I'm I'm giving away any information cuz it's probably public information because of the uh the the public company you're involved with in Switzerland, which is a billion-dollar fund, billion-euro fund. Um and so, he understands, he's more in line or in tune with the thinking of what it takes to make that kind of money, and that's maybe why his his goals, I won't say are more realistic, are are more pragmatic. Because for you to go out and you say you want to make a billion dollars or 500 million, and then you get 2 or 3 years into this and you've made half a million dollars or million dollars, it's easy to get disappointed. And one of the things that you need to do is how are you going to make the billion? How are you going to make the 500 million? And um the uh Because if you have a real plan, I had a plan how to make make that too. And mine wasn't as as as concrete as make 2 billion. I wanted that I wanted a 2 billion-dollar company. I had a concrete plan. I had a I had a I had a plan. I had a road map. And unless you have a road map, how are you going to make a 500 million, you're going to make a billion? The odds of you making 500 million or a billion are are absolute zero, but they're pretty close to being zero because it's just like the wishing and hoping slide that we had. God love my mother. Wishing and hoping and praying. I should change that and say wishing and hoping and praying. But I let the prayer I went lightning bolt come down and hit me in the head. Especially especially since I'm carrying Mother Teresa's little card around with her, little piece of her habit. And the uh So, I mean, part of what when you leave here, you got to put a plan together, you know, with no timelines, but a plan. Okay, I want to make Now, curiously enough, I wanted to make $50 million. I wanted to do $50 million my first year in business. And you know, I did $50 million 540,000. What if I What if What if I put 500 million? You know, maybe I would have gotten 10 more contracts with the federal government. But I sat back on my laurels after cuz I knew $50 million in 1982 for your first year in business with no employees was pretty [ __ ] impressive. It's still [ __ ] impressive today, okay? And even I who had set high goals, 30 years on, they were too low. But I had a plan how to get there. Not just a billion dollars, you know, from scamsters on the internet or whatever or swindling old ladies in Kaiserslautern or whatever. And so, you got to put And what I want you to do between now and Sunday, excuse me, uh Friday uh night uh is how you going to how you going to do that Where you What are you going to do? What do you have to do other than marry it? Which I I don't have, you know, I don't have any trouble marrying a billion dollars at my age. Uh, Sally doesn't have a billion dollars, she's got a lot of money. So, uh, I don't have any trouble with that. But, other than marry it, uh, you know, how you going to get the money? Where's it going to come from? I have to correct my because you asked how much money is rich and I answered that question, not what's your goal with what you want to accomplish. Okay, but but but see, I understand see this is a German excuse. Okay. Okay, well then what if I said what if I said what what if I said how much money is poor? No, I want to my my goal is much more than 500 million. Okay, well fine. Well fine. Well well well then we'll let you change yours. It's all right. How much money is rich? If how much money is rich and how much money if you want to adjust the number, fine. You adjust the number. You adjust the number. If you want to be German and you want to, you know, you want to adjust the number and you want to do a spreadsheet and I don't want a [ __ ] spreadsheet. All I want I I want I want 10 points. How are you going to make whatever the amount of money is? 10 points. How are you going to do it? How are you going to do it? How are you going to Well, I'm going to I don't tell it. I said to you [ __ ] by Friday night you put it on a piece of paper. Yeah, but I don't have already this. OKAY, WELL FINE. YOU WRITE IT DOWN AND AND you print it out. You ask somebody to print the [ __ ] out. But I don't have the business plan. I It's not a business plan. It's not a business plan. IT'S 10 [ __ ] POINTS. 10. FOR THE Germans we'll make it 20 points. For everybody that has German blood in them you can make it 20 points. If you got no [ __ ] German blood. Okay, now are are the Germans smarter? By uh, supposedly? I don't know. They're very close. What? They should have given the barrier to the Polish people and not Russia. I'm I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to send these tapes to find out. And when he says to me, he emails me back, "Who is you?" He's an ex-Siemens guy. And I [ __ ] died. Well, and then and then I said he's past his golden Siemens now. He says, "Where was he? What division?" Was he in health care? I know, I think he was in automotive [ __ ] I don't know what he was in. And he say uh But my fav- I told him my favorite Siemens employee is the guy that ate the homosexual that ate a lot. He [ __ ] ate him a lot. He didn't kill him off. He ate him alive and then cooked him in front of the guy and ate him in front of him while I was watching. There's a lot of weird people out there, believe me. And we've seen a lot of them sit in this not this room but in the castle living room. We've seen a lot of weird people in this this goddamn thing. And whenever I think that I've seen the most weird, I have another seminar and then I'm just, you know, I just can't believe it. That people are walking around the earth, you know, like when you see these movies about the the Walking Dead, the zombie time. They're alive and well in Frankfurt. I mean, it's unbelievable. Maybe maybe you can send some regards to to Klaus because I tried the same way to be him my mentor and ask him whether I Oh, you did? While he was while he was at uh corporate Siemens? Uh and I call I spoke to his assistant. Well, well, which assistant? Uh from him. Oh, no, but what's He's got three. Which one? I don't I don't know if it was a girl or woman. Well, there's three women. There's Okay, you probably got through to the junior woman. I can't Yeah, I can't. I I think I wrote her an email. I can give you her Okay, and and and did she have a German accent? Sorry? Did she have a German accent? I can't recall. Okay. We've got one German I think she she spoke because we made a lot of fun. I think she was very American. Okay. I can I can Well, she's Well, he I don't know if he's still there, but he uh I was teasing him because I I can't recall it. I I thought I I I he didn't call back. No, no no answer on the phone. Okay, well, I I I called him recently and I got a voicemail from a girl and so then I called the other number I had and I said I got I I I guess uh Stephanie, whatever her name was. I don't know Stephanie left left I'll call you a year ago. I said, "Well, why are you still, you know, a number that I've got for Klaus's private number is still got some bimbo that's not there anymore?" Oh, this is not possible. I said, "Here, 212" and I give him the You [ __ ] dial it. You see who you get." You know, and of course she never called back. But because it was, but um the Yeah, he's got three assistants he's got three and um but uh it's yeah. But Klaus, you know, if he took the time to be somebody's mentor, he's great. He's working with Derek. He's he's helping him mentor him a little uh as are a couple other of my mentees, you know, and um the uh uh But but but but Derek says, "Dad, are you are you as tough on these guys as you are on me?" When you ask him, Derek, what do they say? They say, "Yeah, your father's very hard." You know, I'm afraid to have lunch with them. I'm afraid to nap. Klaus included. I'm afraid to have dinner with them. When Dan pulls out his notes, I mean, it could send a shiver up my back. Because when you tell me something, Stefan, or you, Robert, you better [ __ ] do it. I don't care if you're [ __ ] Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Siemens, or whoever the [ __ ] you are. You know, you better [ __ ] do it. What? I did the plumbing. Okay, fine. But don't show me right now. Don't show me [ __ ] right now. Anyway, and so when I when I when I pull out my and sometimes I come with a whole file because I've got the backup emails and all the references, you know, when they say, "Well, I don't remember saying that." I go, you know, and Okay, as I was saying, point three. And and so and this buddy asked cuz you know, another guy named Andrew Reed who's a an Olympian guy from Montreal or no, Toronto, excuse me. Um and he said he said your your your your father's extremely hard. You know, there are no excuses with your father. He says, "Yeah, well, that's about same with me." So he treats as as Claus would say, he treats everybody the same, like [ __ ] And I do. I'm the same with everybody. Whether you're my own flesh and blood or you're the CEO of Siemens, you know. And and as you the Germans will probably know, the CEO of Siemens is nobody tells him anything wrong. He's got so many yes-men sucking his ass. I mean, he doesn't need sex with Birgit, his lovely wife, because he's got these everybody got their head up his ass telling them, "Oh, Herr Herr Doktor, Herr you know, so so smart. What a brilliant idea." You know, it's unbelievable. And that's why so many things go wrong in these big companies because everybody's bucking for promotion, you know. And you can't tell Bomhard or Kleinfeld or any of these guys that they're [ __ ] crazy. We're trying to build an elite team. We will build an elite team and that's what that's what you're going to be. You're going to be trained assassins with your directors. Trained assassins and assassins don't leave any prisoners. The boss drives his men, the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority, the leader on goodwill. The boss inspires fear, the leader inspires enthusiasm, the boss fixes the blame. The leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, "Go." The leader says, "We go. Let's go." I mean, seven words that you lose from your vocabulary. This is the way we do it here. But those those that dog doesn't hunt anymore. It's not this is the way we do it here. You know, what do you think? Some people are Some people are so good that nothing a leader can do will make them better. Others are so incorrigible that nothing can be done to improve them. Uh but the great bulk of the people will go with the moral tide of the moment. The leader must help create that tide. Yeah, most people will go with the flow, even a German board, they will go with the flow. You know, with moral authority, strong. You saw it Yeah, you have to keep You're going back to your heritage. Your legacy Legacy wishes everybody Everybody wishes it never happened, but it did. So, you you obviously went with the flow, you know. You went with the flow. To be a leader, you have to have followers. Leadership and selling your dream. My task is to get grown men and women to do what they want don't want to do when they want I So, they can be what they want to be. My goal is to get you what you don't do normally in your comfort zone. So, you can be what you want to be. So, you can have what you want to have. So, you can have the choices you want to have. But it's not easy because inherently you don't want to do it. It's not in your comfort zone. You know, it's like going in Who's the other the big the two Russian brothers that are world champion uh Klitschko. Yeah, one has one belt and the other one's got two other belts, yeah. It's like, you know, back in the old days the uh when Mike Tyson was at his prime, you know, people used to say, "Would you get in the ring with Mike Tyson for 20 million? 10 million? 50 million? 100 million?" And 20 years ago, I was 20 years younger, and I said, "Yeah, sure, I'll get in the ring with him for the 10 million. [ __ ] right I would." And um the uh but most people wouldn't, you know? And I've seen him fight, you know? And I see I've said that even after that. Now, at 64, I wouldn't get it Well, of course, now he's 44. So, I'm you know, so it's And he's got a big pot belly now. And Tyson was a great athlete, but I you know, uh My comfort My comfort zone is I'm I'm a big strong guy. I'm trained well. So, you know, how bad can I get hurt in one round, you know? And so, I wouldn't do it. But, my comfort zone is different than your comfort zone. And in a transaction in a business deal, it's just like I've represented myself in court three times. I fired my lawyers, represented myself three times, and I've won all three. Twice in front of judges and once in front of a jury. I was so pissed off, I said, "You're [ __ ] sacked." And I the judge more than once said, "Mr. Panahi, are you realized?" And they go through all the [ __ ] about I did not supposed to I'm aware of this. And in a couple of cases, I made the QC Queen's Counsel look stupid, you know? I had a senior guy from the University of Edinburgh Law School, a third-year law student, come here and do all the research. I had two He had two guys there. I was prepared, I got up there. "Well, the recent case uh that and that." And I mean, it was great fun. You know, I should I'm sure I would have been a great litigator. Um not many people Now, I didn't do it because I didn't have the money to do it. I did it because I wanted to make a point because they weren't being aggressive enough. Because the legal community up in this Scotland is very close. Everybody's nice to everybody. Nobody wants to piss anybody else off. Well, I don't give a [ __ ] so I'm I'm happy to piss them off. And and and so but it's about the comfort zone. So, I'm comfortable in almost any kind of situation. But, I've got to get you to do things you don't want to do so you can be what you want to be. I'm not going to teach you about leadership but guide you based on my own experience. Leadership is is like gravity. We all know it's there, but we don't know how to define it. As uh this is great line. At Parris Island, the Marine Corps, at the the his or the title is "Upward Mobility: How to Succeed in Business Without Losing Your Soul". Um at Parris Island, the Marine training camp, officers and NCOs adapted the affection uh of carrying a swagger stick uh everywhere they went. Then the island got a new command commandant, a general named David Shoup. He was already legendary, a Medal of Honor winner for heroism heroism at the Battle of Tarawa, and a man who was reputed to write poetry in his spare time. With nothing left to prove, the general's style was adamantly u- utilitarian. Um from Oh, that's it. From the minute he became uh he came on board, it was conspicuously obvious that the new top man did not carry a swagger stick. A few days after he had made his first inspection tour of the island, the following memo was passed on the bulletin boards of all units from the commanding general regarding swagger sticks. If you need one, carry one. Now, does anybody Everybody understand? If you need one, carry one. What What is a swagger stick? German officers. Okay. So, if you need one, carry one. These are decorative. Nobody uses them anymore. So, what the general is if you need one, in other words, if you need to beat your subordinates, carry one. So, he's being insulting. He's ins- He's insulting the other officers and the NCOs. You shouldn't need a [ __ ] swagger stick. You You command from the top because of your rank, not because of your swagger stick. I got to I got to get a book of book of [ __ ] definitions here. Anyway, if you need one, carry one. He's insulting everybody. Just like I've been trying to insult the Germans without that much effectiveness. Okay. The next day, not a swagger stick was to be seen on Parris Island. If you go there now, almost 30 years later, you won't find one. I've never forgot the the succinct brilliance of the memo, which achieved its desired effect totally, instantly, and elegantly. In six words, the general had his way with an ironic twist that made the direct order superfluous. If you need one, carry one. Whatever leadership is, there is a price of leadership and a cost of conviction. You will pay a price. Your price of leadership is that you are going to have to lead from the front. You will have to convince people of your dream. And the way that you convince your people of your dream is we've already talked at nauseam about bringing on uh anchor chairman. But is leadership an art or a science? It's really both. What is the sum total of all thoughts you have about yourself? You are a good leader or a poor leader now based on your own self-confidence, your own self-esteem, what you think about yourself. Most of you don't have such good leadership skills cuz you don't really lead your business. Okay? You lead your business, your practice, whatever, by the line of authority because you write the checks. That's not the way you lead. I often ask the question, and don't answer out loud, just answer to yourself, if you couldn't pay your people, you had a cash flow problem, you couldn't pay your people. Couldn't pay your programmers, couldn't pay your [ __ ] whoever you got, whoever you paid. How long would they stay with you? One week? One month? One quarter? Six months? A year? When you tell them that you can't pay, would they even stay the day? I know the answer. You'd be lonely [ __ ] sitting there. Tell your bank, I can't make the interest payments for a year. Or and or worse yet, I can't make the capital or principal payment. How long would it take before they foreclose? That depends. It always depends. Whether they want to manage the assets. Yeah, that's exactly it. Always depends. In most cases, your employees would leave. And they would use the excuse, well, I've got to I've got to feed my family, I've got to do this, I've got to do that. Which is uh some portion of truth, but mostly [ __ ] If they want to stay, I've had people work for me for six six months for nothing. With no promise of me ever winning and being able to pay them again. And they're not staying there because they love me. Well, they say they love me because you know, you know, they say I'm hard not to to love because I'm such a beast, but