Talking with a Genius & How It Relates to Business | EP 029

In this episode, Phil shares his experience of meeting and conversing with Walter O'Brien, one of the world's top IQ holders and the inspiration for the character in the TV show 'Scorpion'. Phil emphasizes the importance of asking high-level questions to extract valuable wisdom from individuals who are ahead in life or business. By analyzing the way Walter O'Brien thinks, Phil develops an understanding of algorithmic thinking, which he applies to his personal and professional life. Phil encourages listeners to avoid superficial questions and focus on understanding the thought processes of successful individuals to better solve problems and achieve their goals.

Welcome to The Phil Bohol Show, hosted by USMC veteran, mindset coach, sales expert, self-made entrepreneur, husband, and father, Phil Bohol. On this podcast, we don't just offer strategies — we offer a war cry, a call to arms, a challenge to rise, to break free from the shackles of mediocrity. You’ll learn the raw truth on how to break your limitations, scale your business to 7-figures, and level up every area of your life. Together, we won't just face challenges. We will crush them. Relentlessly.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction to the Phil Bohol Show

(00:43) Meeting a Genius: Walter O'Brien

(02:14) Observations and Analysis

(05:45) The Importance of Asking High-Level Questions

(13:34) Understanding the Genius Algorithm

(18:07) Applying the Algorithm to Life and Business

(24:54) Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcription:

[00:00:08] 

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If you only had one chance to talk to a fucking genius, please don't waste your time and their time.

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What's going on, you guys? 

It's Phil Bohol, and welcome to the Phil Bohol Show, where we have 

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real talk about family, fitness, finance, and everything that would hold you back from leveling up in every area of your life. 

And more importantly, how I personally got through them. 

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Everybody else in this world wants to bullshit you.

I'm here to give you the truth.

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Alright, what's going on everybody? 

So, we're gonna be talking about my experience, having the opportunity to talk with an actual genius. 

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Um…

4th highest IQ recorded in the world - actual genius, which is awesome. 

Before we jump into that though, 

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Do me a favor, like it, heart it, that helps me help more people.

So let's dive into it. 

So, I had the opportunity to talk to an actual

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genius and I'm going to be sharing with you today my biggest takeaway is what I was thinking about, what I noticed when I was 

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surrounded by others, the quality of the questions being asked to an actual genius, and where my headspace kind of went to where I felt I could

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extract the most, not only for personal answers, but also for business.

And I want you guys to understand when you're talking to somebody 

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that's high level, it's very important that you take the time to think about and consider the questions that you're asking.

What I mean by that is 

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if there's somebody in your life, whether they're a genius or somebody that's just higher level than you, that you can extract wisdom from, 

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please do yourself a favor and do that person a favor, because I'm sure they talk to a lot of normal people, 

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and what stimulates their mind is a higher level conversation.

So, here's what I noticed. 

I went to one of my Mentor's events. 

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And, um, he had a guest Walter O'Brien. 

Walter was actually the, 

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main character in this show, that apparently you can watch on Paramount, called Scorpion. 

It's an awesome show. 

I started watching it after meeting him, obviously, because I wanted to 

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get a better understanding of his mentality.

And, um, we had an opportunity to have a chat with him backstage. 

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And the first thing that I did, I didn't immediately approach him, I wanted to analyze a genius. 

What, what's the difference between a genius and some random dude that immigrated here from the 

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Philippines that apparently doesn't have that high of an IQ, according to a Google test.

Um, my wife's a lot smarter than me. 

Shout out to my wife. 

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And I wanted to analyze what makes this guy a genius. 

And before this, I already watched him on stage, how he spoke. 

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He'd already explained a little bit more about himself. 

But I wanted to see like the, the, the man behind the speaker on stage.

And so I just analyzed. 

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Okay, so he was like sitting like a table next to me or yeah, a table next to me. 

I was here and I was just analyzing and what I like to do whenever I'm like in a 

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public setting, I like to analyze, I like to understand my environment. 

I don't know if this was a Marine Corps and me kind of being hyper aware of my surroundings or if 

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I'm just that way, I'm just going to assume I'm a little bit of both. 

And so I'm noticing that he's looking away. 

He's looking like, 

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there's people asking him questions over here to his right. 

And, he would be looking away. 

And what that normally tells me is somebody is not interested.

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Somebody is disinterested, maybe disengaged. 

And I'm like, Hmm, I wonder what they're talking about to make this genius, not look at them in the eyes and be engaging.

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Is he bored? 

Is this just how he is? 

Is this what geniuses are like? 

I don't know. 

So I was watching, I was watching. 

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And I was talking to my team, and we were kind of debriefing on some of the things.

Damn, I wish I brought my, um, or maybe I did. 

Hold on.

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Check this out. 

I took notes when the genius was talking, okay? 

Shit. 

Oh, it's over there. 

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Hold on. 

Check this out. 

This, bam! 

This is what I gathered from a genius, okay? 

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This is also what I gathered from a genius. 

And this is an algorithm. 

Now, this is my algorithm, and I'll explain what that means in a bit. 

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But I was showing my team what I was able to extract from watching a genius teach a room of business owners and entrepreneurs.

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And I was actually dissecting his mind. 

And I was asking my team, I said, so when you guys were listening to this genius talk, what did you get from it? 

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And I was expecting for them to have a very similar drawing as I did. 

And we found that we all took away so many different things, 

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but only I was the one that took away a new algorithm, a new way of thinking.

And that's when I realized the question that I need to ask this guy, 

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when I walk up to him, has to be really, really, really good. 

If I was able to extract an algorithm on how to think about life, situations, scenarios, I need to 

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put a good amount of energy and effort into whatever question I'm going to ask this guy, because God knows when I'm ever going to be able to talk to the dude again, right?

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I kept looking back and I'm like, why do people, why does he seem like he's looking away? 

I'm like, why is he not engaged? 

And I'm like, damn, maybe, maybe he's having a bad day. 

Do geniuses have a bad day? 

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Um, maybe it's not the right time. 

Maybe he's just getting bombarded with people asking him questions and shit, because he's a fucking genius.

Maybe, I don't know. 

Maybe, is this the right time? 

Should I do it? 

Fuck it. 

Let's do it. 

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And I was like, I'm gonna walk up. 

So I walk up, hands behind my back, sign of respect, right? 

And, um, just waiting my turn. 

It's like, okay, they're having a conversation. 

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Be respectful. 

And then I understood