We recently let our older son skip a day in the 7th grade so I could take him for a different kinda day of education and inspiration at an Aspire Tour event near us. Our son is an extremely intelligent, mature and driven young man who I’m all but certain has the drive and ambition to accomplish incredibly great things. Not that I hang with a lot of 13-year-olds, but he seems further along the curve from what I can tell. He’s a fantastic basketball player and big Florida Gator basketball fan thanks to my hard work towards indoctrinating him into bleeding orange and blue. Walter Clayton Jr. of the Gators’ national champ team is a fantastic player and success story, so naturally he was interviewed a bunch. He mentioned ‘Never Finished’ by David Goggins as his favorite book in an interview, so our son of course wanted to read it. Thankfully, the social media algorithm put the Aspire Tour in our feed because of Goggins speaking involvement. Other presenters such as Mr. Wonderful looked interesting to me as well, so it was almost a complete no-brainer to go. Here is a short-list of our favorite takeaways from the day…
Kevin O’Leary spoke about Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in business which refers to the degree of clarity and effectiveness of information in the face of competing or irrelevant data. A high SNR means valuable/useful information (the Signal) is easily distinguishable from irrelevant/distracting/misleading/unnecessary data (the Noise). This concept is crucial for decision-making, communication, data analysis, and generally helping to focus on what truly matters. SNR is crucial to Effective Decision-Making by prioritizing valuable data, businesses can make more informed and strategic decisions; Improved Communication because clear and concise communication avoids confusion and ensures that the message is easily understood; Data Analysis and Interpretation since a high SNR makes it easier to extract meaningful insights from data, leading to better analysis and reporting; and Focus + Efficiency since reducing noise allows one to focus their efforts more so on the most important tasks and initiatives.
Tim Storey delivered some of the most memorable nuggets. A few that really stuck with us are:
- Alignment to Your Assignment >> a good reminder to always ensure our actions, thoughts, and beliefs are consistent with our goals and purpose.
- We’re all born an original and should never risk going out as a copy. Embrace our individuality and unique qualities rather than trying to be like someone else or following the crowd. Subscribe to authenticity and self-expression and live a life true to oneself and respective potential. Do not to let your life be defined by imitation or conformity.
- Almost is Not Utmost >> “Almost” suggests nearing a point or condition, while “Utmost” signifies the highest or greatest possible level. Degrees of completion or intensity is the difference here.
- Desire is Not Discipline >> Having a strong yearning or motivation towards a goal is different from the sustained effort and self-control required to achieve a goal. Desire can provide initial motivation, but Discipline is what ensures consistent action and commitment over time, especially when faced with challenges or setbacks.
Dan Fleyshman was a difficult one for me because of his very favorable stance towards social media and our disdain for it, especially as it relates to our kids being on it, but he made a compelling point in favor of trusting your kids to participate if they’re mature enough to understand the watch-out’s and confident in themselves. It reminded of this post this post by Cameron (Dr. Cam) Caswell, PhD, but I still struggle with the opportunity loss our kids may experience by allowing them to scroll their lives away.
Andrew Cordle spoke about his experience as a 1st gen business owner which meant zero business plan and just one speed for him. That really resonated with me since Jessica and I started and ran our business since 2017 in very much the same way for awhile. He also delivered a passionate plea to the audience to think and operate more like Creators than Contributors in the game of money. Contributors make up the vast majority and are the people who play by the rules they are told, don’t question it, and rarely get ahead. Creators are the people that know the game of money, play it, and create. Kevin O’Leary speaks a lot about treating each dollar as an employee that he can put to work to earn more. My father was a schoolteacher, and mother was an admin assistant. They were most definitely Contributors and raised me as such. I’m an aspiring Creator convert and certainly aiming to raise young Creators.
Pace Morby cautioned “don’t listen to people you would not trade lives with”! People may hate on you for trying to do / be more in a misery loves company kind of way and dissuade you from pursuing your utmost greatness. I had that experience years ago when plotting to start the first retained executive search firm exclusive to the cannabis industry. Fortunately, I have Jessica in my corner to assist me in my SNR battles and even more fortunately I’ve learned to listen to her advice as much as humanly possible.
Finally, the weird, cool, funny (and punny!), and smart Sophia Amoruso sat down for a very relatable Q&A that I will likely always remember when prepping for any future speaking engagements. Her humble and hilarious style, despite all her impressive entrepreneurial success, was quite memorable. Fireside Q&A’s can easily be very lame, but she proved they do not need to be.