I want to start the podcast with this quote from Estée Lauder: “I never dreamed about success — I worked for it.”
There’s a perpetual question out there of whether people are born successful or if they work for it. Are successful entrepreneurs naturally that way? Or do they work their way up to the top?
On The School of Greatness, I’ve had so many successful entrepreneurs share their stories with you all — and the majority of them did not begin with success. In fact, many of them started with failure.
But what set them apart is that they didn’t quit. Despite the failures, the self-doubt, and criticism, they pushed through and worked hard to make their dreams come alive. And it wasn’t just about the money for these entrepreneurs — they all had a mission, and they held fast to that mission as their guiding light.
My guest today, Guy Raz, has been studying entrepreneurs for several years. You may know him as the voice of the incredible podcast How I Built This on NPR. I was so excited to have him on The School of Greatness to give his insight on the world of entrepreneurship and what sets successful entrepreneurs apart.
Who Is Guy Raz?
Guy Raz is the host, co-creator, and editorial director of three NPR programs, including two of its most popular ones: TED Radio Hour and How I Built This. Both shows are heard by more than 14 million people each month around the world. How I Built This is a podcast about the greatest innovators, entrepreneurs, and idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. In each episode, the founders of some of the world’s best-known companies and brands take us through their triumphs, failures, and insights. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already!
As a host and correspondent, Guy has interviewed more than 6,000 people including Richard Branson, Kelly Clarkson, Christopher Hitchens, Condoleezza Rice, Mark Cuban, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Roxane Gay, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and many, many others.
And now, Guy is coming out with a new book: How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World’s Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs. He has distilled all the wisdom he’s learned from these amazing entrepreneurs into a valuable resource for anyone aspiring to build a business or who is interested in the process!
In our interview, Guy and I covered some fascinating topics, including the key skills that set entrepreneurs apart, the importance of focusing on mission instead of money, and what you can learn from failure. This is an interview you’re not going to want to miss, so get a pen and paper ready to take some notes!
The One Skill That Sets Successful Entrepreneurs Apart
Great entrepreneurs come from everywhere. Some of them are extroverted, charismatic salespeople, and others quietly do what they do best from behind a podcasting microphone or a website. Entrepreneurs have a variety of skills, personality traits, and passions. But according to Guy, they all have one thing in common: the ability to handle rejection.
“The one thing that binds every person I interview is they all either have naturally or have learned to develop the ability to withstand rejection, to basically accept that lots of people are going to say, ‘no,’ and keep … grinding.” – Guy Raz
For a great example, Guy mentioned Tope Awotona, the founder of the scheduling tool Calendly. Today, he’s an incredibly successful businessman with a product that countless people — me included — use for their businesses. But before he was successful, Tope was a 16-year-old kid from Nigeria going door to door in Athens, GA selling ADT home monitoring systems. He had doors slammed in his face thousands of times, but he never got discouraged because he knew he’d eventually find someone who wanted to buy what he was selling. He overcame a ton of rejection because he knew that just one success would be enough to win.
And here’s the good news: The ability to overcome rejection is a learned skill. That means anyone can acquire it, and anyone can be a successful entrepreneur. For another great example, Guy talked about the Mormon church and their practice of having 18-year-olds spend two years out on mission for the church. Mormons develop independence and the ability to withstand rejection at a young age by having a thousand doors slammed on them just to get five or ten people to convert. They get used to rejection early in life, and as a result, Mormons have a much higher percentage of successful entrepreneurs than other populations.
So how can you and I overcome the fear of rejection? Guy says it’s all about looking at the bigger picture.
“There’s a really famous professor at Harvard named Ron Heifetz [who] teaches a course on leadership. He has this concept where he basically looks at successful and highly effective leaders, and basically what they do is they’re able to kind of step out of their own bodies and stand on a proverbial balcony and look down at themselves in the situation they’re in.” – Guy Raz
Next time you find yourself facing rejection, try to step outside your own head, and look at the bigger picture. Did one person reject you? Yes. But does that mean your idea or product or service is a total failure? Of course not! It’s a challenging skill to acquire, but if you can look at the broader picture and realize that rejection does not mean failure, you can tweak your sales technique as needed and keep moving forward.
