#AskGaryVee Episode 50: White Lies, Klout Scores, & Musical Chairs

- On this episode, I try to meet you on Saturday, and I force you to leave a comment or I'm gonna quit. (hip-hop music) You ask questions and I answer them. This is the #AskGaryVee Show. Hey everybody! This is Gary Vay-ner-chuk and this episode five zero, 50, of the #AskGaryVee Show. So I'm super pumped about episode 50. A lot of talk about what are we gonna do, what special thing, and you know, once again, my insanity procrastination have created me to go this way, which is, we're not gonna do anything special. We're just gonna keep grinding and hustling, which is the PR answer to just didn't get to it. We'll do something awesome for episode 100. Before I get into the questions, I want to say that I miss the show. I feel like what was Tuesday the last time. This might have been the longest I've gone since we started the show without it. I know it's a lot of you who said that you missed it, which makes me feel nice. And I wanna also say to the VaynerNation, and especially the wine Vayniacs, I don't know what kind of graphics you do here, I'm gonna whisper for the podcast, it's a very substantially exciting day for me on Saturday. This upcoming Saturday. I don't know what I'm doing here for you, DRock. Staphon, do something. But Saturday, I will be at the Wine Library, back to the future, to my roots, working the floor, helping you pick holiday wines and spirits and beers and all that from 11pm to 6pm, Springfield, New Jersey. I'm excited. I hope a bunch of you roadtrip. Get in the comments and like, team up, Uber up, rent the bus. I'm really looking forward. Here's your chance to come take a little selfie, pick some awesome wine and spirits. I'm really excited for this. I think anybody who's been paying attention to me knows that I've caught the wine bug again. I'm really looking forward to it. So please. Oh, can we do an RSVP? Let's do a little RSVP on Facebook. Let's link that there. Let's make sure we do that right after this and set up an RSVP. RSVP up, bring your friends, send your friends. I really want it to be chaos. I want the Wine Library staff to be like, Whoa, what are you up to? This VaynerNation is insanity. So, stop by on Saturday. Let's get into the show.

- [Voiceover] Mike asks, "If you don't care about the competition, "what do you say when a client asks you "about a competitor, "and why you're better? " - Mike, this is a tremendous question. I've dealt with this in the past on VaynerMedia's road to success, and I still do all the time. People bring up competitors and I answer in a very condescending way towards them. I dislike my competitors in the context of the game. Some of them are friends outside of the game and I can share a beer, I can separate it. beer at a game or be cordial in public, but deep down, I'm not a fan of my competitors. I dislike them. And when people bring them up, I tend to tear them down as quickly as possible or remind them why I'm better and come up with historical things like, you know, in the agency world for example, I say, Oh you mean those people that try to win awards in a world where I grew up trying to sell stuff? Anything that I think will make that person realize that it is a worthwhile venture to go with us and why it's a wasteful conversation to care about somebody else. That is something I will do. Now look, I'm a good salesman, a good talker, I've got great tact, I have enormous empathy and great feel. I can read the room. So I know where to navigate in real time, which is why I sell and win so often. You may not have that skill set and you may come across as you know, inappropriate, awkward, inappropriate. And so, you know, for all of you on this side over here who can read the room, can move quickly on your feet, can rock and roll that way, just punch your competitor in the face. Over here, not as smooth, you're not quite as sure, you don't understand where they want to go, you've got to go with a different route. I don't know what that route is, but it's (bleep).

- [Voiceover] Dan asks, "White lies. "Do you believe the hype? "It seems you can't win in business "without bending the truth. " - Dan, this is a really intense question. I want you to show India right now, because I'm giving her props for navigating the questions and finding stuff. This question is one that I'm really struggling to figure out what the right answer is, which leads to the answer which is, appropriate embellishment feels appropriate at times to me, but I'm scared to say that out loud. If you feel like you're growing into it within weeks or maybe maximum a couple of months, I think it's okay. Right? Like, I feel comfortable saying VaynerMedia's a 450-person agency right now even though we're 417, but we have 59 job openings, and I expect this to be 450 by the time the far majority of people watch this episode or listen to it, right? So, I guess that's where I'm willing to go. I'm not willing to say we're 7,000. 1,000. I think fake it 'til you make it is a very scary line that I think most people struggle with, but you know, we live in a transparent world. Like, the reason I even say this answer is 'cause I'm always trying to correct myself, 'cause I'm scared to, like, get called out for, you're losing all your credibility by getting called out on something. So, it's a very fine line. I think the intent matters. For me, I'm just going in speed, rounding out numbers, I'm going fast. Not trying to trick you to think we're bigger than we are. So I would answer you a couple things. One, white lies that become truths within a very quick or short period of time feel a little more comfortable, and the intent of the white lie. If you feel like, if you feel like you're not trying to do the wrong thing, that you're gonna be able to deliver for the other person, you just wanna tip them over in their own, you know it's so funny, with my clients, I think they get so much more benefit working with us than the alternative that I'm like, I feel like I'm helping them along. I feel like it's in their best interest, not mine. Of course there's a secondary best interest of mine, and it's funny, I tend to not, you all right? What's that? (laughs) Are we meeting? - Yes. - I'm running just a few minutes late. Do you wanna say hi to the VaynerNation? - Hi guys! I'm Claire. - Um, you know, I think that it's all about like every other answer which is, it needs to have the right intent and it needs to be appropriate.

So, that's what I got. - Hey Gary. Miles Keever with HappyHumanoids. com. In episode 49, you were asked a question about high-end wine business and was it a hoax. Now, I thought your answer was brilliant and profound. So profound that I checked out and I began observing your staff members behind you. Lots of them are standing without chairs, and when you asked Lou to go get DeMayo, somebody snatched his chair out of the way. Do you have a set up in your community? A way to keep the competitive edge going by not having enough chairs? - First of all, who's Lou? - [Man] Little Lou! - Oh, Little Lou! You're right. I literally think of him as Little Lou. This question is so perfect for episode 50 because I'm so devastated that I'm not limiting chairs on purpose to create a competitive culture, so the answer is no. I haven't created that on purpose, but yes, yes, do I wish I did. I love the thesis behind it. I think it's a phenomenal observation. I desperately wish it was true. And I will say this, I don't have any hardcore tactics to create competitiveness. And as a matter of fact, one of the biggest things that I really value is that a lot of the senior people that have been coming into VaynerMedia say this is the first agency they'd ever worked in that people are competitive because they wanna do great work but not at the cost of their other employees around them which means we're building real culture. It excites me and it's something that I strive for. But I do think everything stems from the top, and I don't know how I do it, but boy, do I know I breed competitiveness here, because I'm competitive as (bleep).

- [Voiceover] Terri says, "I saw a discussion via Linkedin "about Klout scores on a resume. "What are your thoughts on them? " - Terri, this is a question. I'm glad everybody's gonna get to hear my answer and this has nothing to do with my feelings towards Klout itself. These kind of scoring systems that try to prove your social equity in the marketplace are not things I'm a big fan of. They're super gameable. Let me say something really interesting. Pssst. Psst. A lot of you have hit me up on Twitter because if I replied to you, you knew that your Klout score would go up. Now this is more of a 2012 move and has become something less and less of you have done, but you know, if you look yourself in the mirror right now, you knew that you were trying to game me for more Klout scores and I was thrilled to give it to you because I know how little it actually meant. And because I love you and that you even know who I am and I wanted to give you some love, but people who literally tweeted out, like oh, got some Klout juice, because they engaged with me on that platform. Look, my answer is very simple, and very, very hardcore, which is, I never signed up for a Klout account while I had one of the bigger scores up there, so that's kind of called eating your own dog food, right? Taking your own medicine. I believe in it so little that I didn't even want to acknowledge it by signing up, even though it was probably in my best interest both personally, and too, professionally to just understand how it worked. So again, has nothing to do with Klout. I feel the same way about a million other things. It is not something, the big data version of your worth is not something I'm super pumped about. You obviously might have seen my own last Medium article about empathy and the hidden truths of people. I'm so much more into the grey, intuitive and EQ of people than I am the black and white, which is what Klout is. It's just raw data dumped and figured, if like, it's high school math. And when I mean high school math, go deeper with me, it's the math of how high school works. The popular girl decides that she likes Steve and she goes out with him. Well, his Klout score went through the roof because he was in the band before that. You know, so it's that kind of thing.

- [Voiceover] Dan wants to know "Are there any common mistakes you repeat "over and over again? "Either way, any tips for overcoming them? " - Dan, I think I repeat all my mistakes over and over again. First of all, my thesis on life is scaling the unscalable, which is one big mistake in itself. We just had a meeting with the whole crew about all the mistakes I'm making, bottle of, bottom of the funnel things. So you know, like, I'm a big believer of betting on strengths, not weaknesses, you know, you try to get better as you go through the process and go along. I don't know if I'm the right person to answer this. I repeat a lot of mistakes. I continue to always, I have good moments for a year or two or a month of two of not trying to bite off more than I can chew, but then I get right into it. For all the process and scalability, I continue to create things that allow me to be the bottleneck, though I think this crew and I are doing a good job of hacking away and we have an ambition for '15 to be better at it in my limited time world. You know, I... But, really, these are all hard questions for me because I really struggle to think about what I'm bad at because I spend all my time thinking about what I'm great at and those are a lot of things. And that's where I put my energy and time and that's why I think I get the permission and the luxury and the awesome feeling of having so many of you watch this show, betting on strengths is the grossly underestimated execution of our time. And that's what I do and I do it well, and so I answered it out of being a cordial human being, but the truth is, I don't give a rat's ass about my weaknesses. I surely don't know how to fix them because I don't focus on them much. Once in a while, and that's that. And so in final thoughts, I want to thank so many of you for watching the first 50 episodes of the #AskGaryVee Show. I don't know how many more of these I have in tank, but it's been an amazing ride. Don't worry, DRock. I just mentioned we're gonna do episode 100. Just trying to scare the Nation. Uh... Question of the day. And I expect a lot of lurkers to come out because if you want me to get to that 100, I need the feedback loop. It's the only thing that keeps me going. As Wine Library TV's feedback loop waned, I waned. So you like it? Not asking you for money. I'm asking you for comments, god dammit. And so, in the Comments section, get out of the podcast people, pull your (bleep) car over and open up your phone and leave a comment. I don't care how you do it. Here are the two basic questions. Number one, are you coming on Saturday? Simple! Yes, no. Are you making the schlep? And by the way, PA, Connecticut, and New York, I expect things from you. Jersey, it's a forgone conclusion. If somebody flies in, forget it. And number two, I need your recap of the first 50 episodes of the #AskGaryVee Show. And to make it simple, 'cause some of you struggle with this which will give me less comments, give me the best thing it's brought to you. The best! You keep asking questions, I'll keep answering them. On this episode, I explain why I got the wine (mumbling). (laughter) Oh, crap! Wait! Subscribe! (makes bursting noises) I need subscriptions because I can't push this many right hooks in social. So subscribe!