Keith Ferrazzi, Best Selling Author & Entrepreneur

Willy welcomes Keith Ferrazzi. He is an entrepreneur, a global thought leader in relational and collaborative sciences, a sought-after public speaker and coach, and the Chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight, where he works to transform organizations with new behaviors that promote growth and shareholder value. In his successful 20-year career, he introduced co-elevation, a new transformational operating system that leads to exponential change and value. Previously the CMO of Deloitte and Starwood hotels, he is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Who’s Got Your Back, Never Eat Alone, and his latest book, Leading Without Authority. He writes for the Harvard Business Review, WSJ, Fast Company, Forbes Inc, Fortune, and other publications. The podcast begins with Keith talking about his two introductions for a TEDx Talk and how people usually open up with their achievements to compensate for their insecurity. He brings up a friend, Zappos founder Tony Hsieh and how his humility and creativity showed in his work as an “evangelist of his mission.” He recalls meeting Donald Trump at a prestigious networking dinner at the Forbes Mansion and his parting words, “The number one driver of anybody’s success is insecurity.” As a father of foster children and noting that 80% of the US prison population are from foster care, he acknowledges how trauma and distrust fuels insecurity, something he deeply relates to as an openly gay man. “I’ve always wondered why some people, when faced with that kind of insecurity, collapse and become very small. Some of us become very big, grandiose, and overcoming. I got lucky in some regards and went in the latter,” he says. He reminisces his experience of wanting “rich kid” jobs back then, so he lived out of his car and ate once a day for $2 to afford to live in the city. “You will never fully eradicate your insecurities, fears, and abhorrent natural reactions,” he adds. But he encourages becoming more grounded and elevated to transform in life. As a young boy, he once worked at a golf course where his dad encouraged him to show up an hour early. The best golf player in that country club introduced him to her son and the then-governor of Pennsylvania, Dick Thornburgh, who then coached him into winning the National Speech Debate Tournament. He emphasizes the importance of two lessons: valuing the people opening doors for you and how nepotism isn’t always about family relations but cultivating relationships with people who bring you to success. He considers the foundation of an “elevating” relationship to be candor and accountability. He believes being “polite” is political and that terrible, pent-up frustrations will come out in passive-aggressive statements unless expressed respectfully. He shares that 50% of average Americans say that no one has their back, and 60% of that statistic is married.

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