Oct. 1, 2024

Embracing Adversity to Navigate toward Fulfillment and Impact

Embracing Adversity to Navigate toward Fulfillment and Impact

What’s your relationship to adversity? Do you resist it, complain, or assume the victim? What would happen in your life if you embraced the myriad of challenges cast upon you? Every single person encounters challenge, heartbreak, and overwhelm. Yet...

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What’s your relationship to adversity? Do you resist it, complain, or assume the victim? What would happen in your life if you embraced the myriad of challenges cast upon you? Every single person encounters challenge, heartbreak, and overwhelm. Yet it’s the way they navigate those difficulties that results in the person they become and ultimately the impact they have in the world. In this episode, we meet a refugee turned who literally crossed the desert, turned billion-dollar IPO businessman, has inspired countless people to pursue their dreams, and is now out to redefine capitalism. Guest: Payam Zamani

Working on Purpose is broadcast live Tuesdays at 6PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Working on Purpose is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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The topics and opinions express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W FOURCY Radio.

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What's Working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the

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answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose

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at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their

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lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization

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that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their

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highest potential. Business can be such a force for good

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in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide

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guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we

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all want Working on Purpose. Now, here's your host, doctor

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Elise Cortes.

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Welcome back to the Working and Purpose Program. Thanks for

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turning again this week. Great to have you. This show

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has been brought to you with passionate price since February

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of twenty fifteen. I'm your host, doctor Earliest Cortes. If

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we've not met before and you don't know me, I'm

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an organizational psychologist and loco therapist, speaker and author. My

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team and I at Gusto Now help companies to enlivenen

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and fortify their operations by building a culture and leadership

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activated by meaning and purpose. Our mission is to help

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our clients create a destination work for workplace where people

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flock to join, are intrinsically motivated to perform at their best,

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can grow too the Florida potential, and are committed to

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stay and identically deliver on the company's mission, all which

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translates to higher profits. You can learn more about us

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and now we can work together at gustodashnow dot com

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or my personal site of Thescortes dot com. Getting into

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today's program we have with us today. Piem Zamani an entrepreneur,

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investor and the founder of One Planet Group and the

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author of Crossing the Desert The power of embracing life's

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difficult journeys, which we'll be talking about today, among other things.

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Born and I Samani was forced to flee at the

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age of sixteen due to his religious reliefs as a Buhie.

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He and his brother founded autoweb, one of the first

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online car marketplaces, which they took public in nineteen ninety nine.

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Since then, he has built and currently owns multiple technology

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and media businesses, has invested in more than fifty companies,

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and is striving to redefine capitalism in an attempt to

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elevate business to serve humanity. He joined it today from Denver,

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whereas his home is the Bay Area in California. Piem

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welcome to working on Purpose.

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Thank you, ele, It's good to be here.

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It's great to have you. And let me just start

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by saying you are why America is great.

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Thank you. I appreciate that. And I love this country

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and I love what this country has done for me

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and so many others. As I talked about in my book,

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it really represents hope to the world. So that's a

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special thing, a special place to be.

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Yeah, it is special place. And I know. I'm a

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native born American and I had the opportunity to live

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in Spain and Brazil for three years. And I am

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in twenties, which greatly colored my life, and that's why

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I still speak Spanish and Portuguese. That's why my company

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is named Gusto. Now I'm married to Costa Rican, which

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is why I have the name that I do really

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really really impacted and colored me and living here. One

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of the things that's really really interesting is I see

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the the people that I get to work with who

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come from a different country. They bring a whole different

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level of appreciation for America grit to persevere, and I

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think sometimes we Americans have maybe lost that. And so

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when you come in, I am you bring us this

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beautiful inspiration that shows us what America really can be.

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And I really want to celebrate that.

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Well, you know, I appreciate that. Often. I tell people that,

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you know, if today you're a teenager in you know,

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some other part of the world, you've lost hope because

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of conflicts, because of social undress, all kinds of stuff

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that you may be dealing with, there is a country

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that gives you hope. And that country is not China,

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is not Russia, it is not Saudi Arabia. That country

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remains the United States. And I view that as almost

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like a spiritual destiny that this country has sometimes we

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don't really appreciate what that truly means to be the

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hope to the world. And sometimes I feel like, you know,

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the way that you know, we see the politics operating

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in this country, we are forced or asked to lose

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that hope and allow that light to dim. But I

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don't think that's going to happen. I think that there's

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a foundation here that's very special and it's meant to

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be special.

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I agree, And even when I lived outside the United

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States and I could see it through other people's eyes

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and it gave me another perspective, But yet still I

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was so happy to come home and appreciate it, and

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grateful for the opportunity to live abroad, but still very

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happy to come back home to America. So I'm very

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curious as a person who didn't grow up really steeped

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in a particular religion, PEM exposed somewhat to Catholicism, but

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I really consider myself really more of a spiritual person.

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On a spiritual quest, I am really really interested to

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understand why your faith as a Bahigh was such a

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I don't know a threat is the right word to

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your country of Iran, or why it was so unacceptable.

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You know, by faith came about about one hundred and

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seventy years ago, and tens of thousands of Bahighs have

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been killed over the years in Iran, where the religion

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came from. But after the Iranian Revolution there was spike

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again in the things that the government did to basically

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keep the population of the high is down and to

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try to get rid of them. However they could, so

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they killed hundreds of the highs, and they expelled many

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bhighs from their jobs, their schools and so on. And

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you're right, the question is why. One of the fundamental

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reasons that they did that was because as the highs,

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it sounds simple, like you know, but in that dogmatic

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kind of environment, it is not as simple as behigh

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as we believe in a concept called the progressive revelation,

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meaning that we think that there was never a beginning

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to profit. There will not be an end to profits

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of God. If there's one God, there's one truth, they

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all I mean, no profit ever came and said from

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now they don't have a soul. There is no life

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after death. The essentials are always the same, the non

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essentials change. But just because of the fact that we

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don't believe that any of the profits of the past

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were the last profit. That's something that the Iranian government

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that's run by clergy, they view that as to be

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blasphemy and to them that is punishable by death, so

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they do whatever they can to keep the population down.

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Top of that are profit founder who came from Iran

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and he's buried in Israel because back in the eighteen

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hundreds they sent him to exile to Ottoman Empire, to

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a place that was named Palestine. He died there, So

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now our holy places, surprise, are in Israel. That wasn't

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by choice. He was sent to exile by the same people.

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But they kind of accuse us of being connected to

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the state of Israel, and they call half a million

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behighs in Iran spies of Israel, so that gives them

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one more reason to, you know, mistreat the highest. However

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they can.

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The stories and the details that you share in your

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book about just being bullied and just what it is

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to even just walk home the short distance from school

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to home and everything that you endured was just heartbreaking

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to me. I just I cannot fathom all the things

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that you have gone through to be persecuted for your religion,

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for your faith, and yet you really, you know, you

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stuck with it, you come to it, you never never

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abandoned it. Even coming here to the States, you never

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abandoned it. And I just really applaud you for your conviction,

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for your strength.

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Well, thank you. I appreciate that. You know, I feel

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that ultimately that spiritual connection that we as humans have

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that is what makes this life special. And you know,

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I'm somebody who even I was born in the Bahi faith,

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I was also taught that we It's one of the

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tenets of the faith that you are required to independently

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investigate the truth, meaning that religion is not inherited. You

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need to find out on your own what is the

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truth that you want to believe in. And frankly, I

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think that if that wasn't the case, if I was

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forced the faith as something that I have inherited from

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my parents, I don't think that I would have handled

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that well. The fact that I was allowed to have

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freedom to choose and that I was taught different religions

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and I realized that for this day and age, this

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provides the best remedy for the ills of the world,

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and that made it that turned it into something that

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was acceptable to me, and also studying it by itself.

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And also the other thing that has really attracted me

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as both a young person and now is the fact

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that there is no conflict. There shouldn't be a conflict

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between people, because if I believe that religions are part

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of one progressive revelation, then there's truth in Jesus, there's

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truth in Moses. It is and it's not or there

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is no conflict. They're the same voice from the same truth,

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So why would there be any conflict. So the unifying

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message that I learned and I was taught was something

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I didn't want to give up, and I thought that

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I wanted to live a life of impact, and I

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felt that these Birch timeless spiritual teachings would give me

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the best in a sense foundation for that. So, I mean,

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I'm still learning. It is something that that that never ends,

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but I feel like it's something that's been very helpful

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to me.

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It's very inspiring. And then on top of that, you know,

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here are You're sixteen years old, You and your brother

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make your way to the United States without your parents,

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without your family, and you start school and you you

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say you really don't know much English, and here you are,

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you know, doing your very best to earn grades. You

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wanted to to get a four point average, which I

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believe you did, and so listening to you now you

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have a nice accent, but your English is beautiful. Piem,

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thank you, thank you.

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I mean it's I remember. One of my first memories

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from coming to the US was that it's probably the

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second or third day, I was walking with my cousin,

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who was a person who had sponsored us to come

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to the US. He was walking on the street with

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a friend and he passed by and said something and

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I couldn't tell what he said. And then another person

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he said the same thing. I'm like, Sean, what are

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you saying? He said, I don't know what you're talking about. Okay,

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next time you say, I'm going to say right down

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and there. And he was saying, how are you doing?

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And of course I wasn't taught that. I was thought,

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how are you doing it? Are you doing right? And

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even if I knew how are you doing? Which I

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didn't really know that well, but but you know, it was.

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It really took took a while, but I feel like,

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you know, the first twelve months in the US. Going

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to high school was extremely helpful. It really allowed me

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to you know, become an American. And then I talk

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about that in the book. You know, like one of

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my best memories from Sundays in the late eighties was

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listening to Casey Kase.

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Yeah remember them.

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Yes, those kinds of things. Experiences allowed me to really

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become a part of this country, and I really cherish shows.

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One thing I really want to call out listeners and

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viewers to this very very point about language is there

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is a tendency for people who don't speak anything beyond

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their own native language to hear someone else working at

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speaking their language, and when it's chopping, they assume they

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are ignorant, and that is just not the truth. I

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really want to hammer that home and just spell that

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myth it is. It is absolutely inaccurate. I would challenge

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anyone here listening to go learn something about another language

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and then see how difficult it is to express yourself

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and listen and learn and try to understand in that language,

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and then come back and listen to your friend who's

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come and speaks English as a second language. So I

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just had to say that I won't get off my

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soap box.

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Oh ah, I'm glad you said that. Also, speaking louder

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won't help e.

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There, no, no, yeah, speaking loud American English doesn't do it. Yes,

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I know. One of the other things I want to

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celebrate about your book is, you know, as somebody who

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really works to activate meaning and purpose inside organizations and

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really also as a logo therapist, which is really to

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Frankel's work in existential psychology to accept the idea that

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meaning is our chief concern. It's also a really chief

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source of energy. I am just so present to the

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power of the human spirit to persevere in your story.

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I am like, it's just indelible in you. It's indelible

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on every page of your book.

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Well, thank you. I you know, I appreciate that. I

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think that in my formative years I had no choice

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but be a survivor and going from one calamity to another,

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from one channel to another. The things I did not seek,

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but they just happened to me. But then as I

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became older, as I, you know, became an adult, I think,

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maybe even to a fault, I was seeking, you know,

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basically almost like a chaotic life that I wanted to

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be busy doing a lot of different things. It wasn't enough.

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I almost have this fear that this life is going

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to come to an end and I've not done enough,

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and I want to make sure that I get the

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most out of it. Again, sometimes to a fault, But

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there is something I think valuable there, at least for me,

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and that is the idea of living a life of meaning,

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at least for you. So the concept that you want

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that life to matter. You know that after I'm dead

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and I'm gone, I feel like maybe the world was

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ever so slightly better that I existed on this planet.

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You know, that will allow me to, like, you know,

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close my eyes and be done and feel good about

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the life that I lived. And you know, I think

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that's important. I think about that. I do think about

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it all the time.

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Well, I really, of course, echo that's one of the many,

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many things that I found. I found so inspiring about

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your book, and Pie, I want to understand that for me,

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your book has really given me so much hope in

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so many ways and inspire like in ways I just

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didn't imagine. I generally read when I go to the

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gym to work out, and then I do read my

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guest books cover to cover, and I really needed your

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message and I really think writing it.

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M well, I appreciate that, you know that was it

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took me a few years to come to the decision

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to write the book. I you know, I started the

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book a few years ago initially, and I felt like

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I did not have enough to share and the timing

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had to naturally be right. And there were a few

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reasons that I decided to write a book when I did.

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One was, frankly, I was tired to see the situation

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behinds in Iran is not improving forty five years later,

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but hy youth still do not have the right to attend

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universities in Iran, and the world doesn't know it or

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doesn't care. I mean, it just has gone off for

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forty five years. And then also looking at the social

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discourses in the US, both about immigrants and the role

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that immigrants play, and also you know, so much conversation

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about becoming an isolationist in this country, and it always

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worries me when I hear about that that if not

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the US, who will leave the world. And I know

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we don't want to be the policeman of the world.

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I get that, but at the same time, the world

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does need leadership, and I don't know what country would

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take that vacancy if this country doesn't do it. So

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I really hope that the US will will take that.

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Like you said, I say that there is a spiritual

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destiny and has meaning. And you know, the final thing

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is entrepreneurs. I'm an entrepreneur. I've always been an entrepreneur

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and you had to be, well, I had to be.

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But I know so many entrepreneurs, I know so many

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professionals and CEOs and so on, that they're not getting

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enough meaning out of their jobs and out of their

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companies and businesses. Even if they're successful, they're still not

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getting it getting enough meaning. And I think there's a

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way that we can do better and we can really

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bring about and elevate our work, uh to you know,

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to something that would bring joy to us. Yes.

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Please, And on that note, let's take our first break.

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I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortez. We'll be on the

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air with pay him some money. He's the founder and

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chairman and CEO of One Planet Group with the people

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First culture in which he wanted to bring all along

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for the first The first company he co founded, Auto Web.

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We've been talking about his early life there in Iran

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and then his his trek to the United States. After

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the break, we're going to start talking about how it

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is he ultimately turned himself into an entrepreneur, fully an entrepreneur.

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Stay with us, will be right back.

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Doctor release court Has is a management consultant specializing in

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meaning and purpose and inspirational speaker and author. She helps

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companies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose

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inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance,

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and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to

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invite a lease to speak to your organization, please visit

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her at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to

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get your employees working on purpose. This is working on

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Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today

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00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:34.400
or to open a conversation with Elise, send an email

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to Elise A. L Se at elisecortes dot com. Now

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00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:41.400
back to working on Purpose.

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Thanks for stating with us, and welcome back to working

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on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes. As like Pam,

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I am also dedicated helping create a world where people

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realize potential at work and they are led by inspirational

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leaders that help them find in conture with their greatness

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and do business at Betters the World. I continue to

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research and write my own books. So my last book

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came out in March of twenty twenty three. It's called

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The Great Revitalization. How activating meaning and Purpose can radically

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in liven your business. And I wrote it to help

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leaders understand today's change workforce and what is it they

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really want from work? And then I offer twenty two

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best practices to help equip those companies to provide the

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culture to actually meet them where they are. You can

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learn more about the book at least qoretest dot com

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or on Amazon if you are just joining us. My

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guest is Piem Zamani. He's the author of Crossing the

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Desert The Power of Embracing Life's Difficult Journeys, which we're

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talking about today along with his life. So what was

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interesting for me about reading your book? And there were

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so many pieces to it, I did, I mean, we

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could have several episodes, I am, but it seemed to

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me that you're being elected to the president of the

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international club in high school and then leading the charts

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using your entrepreneur talents was a real turning point that

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really ignited really your journey to become an American and

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an American entrepreneur. Do you think that that's truer than

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just me?

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No, I think you are probably right, and you're the

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first person who's brought that up. And it was actually

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at the Modesto Junior College that that happened. And it

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was a special club because I felt that they were

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my tribe. They were people, and I would say, for

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lack of a better term, we were the misfits from

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all over the place and we were all together in

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one club. And it was a broken club with really

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bad finances and no money. And there's one thing I'm

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good at in life, and that is to fix a

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broken financial situation, and I did that. So we were

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fortunate enough that that club became really wealthy. I mean

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we had a lot of money. We had so much

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money that we would take our members on outings without

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them paying because we had the cash, to Jeland, to

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Disneyland and so on. Yeah, Whitewater rafting, and we were

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also we had so much cash flow that you were

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able to spend our money also on providing grants to

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other clubs on campus. And that was special to me

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because here's a group of misfits from all over the

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world and they are providing grants to other clubs on campus.

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That was a pretty special place to be.

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The other thing that I want to celebrate about that

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part of your life is that you say in your

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book that you inherited it. It was a pretty dark

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financial situation of this club when you first got it,

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and you say, you know, we really we need money

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to be able to have an impact, and we don't

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want to be associated. We don't want people to associate

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us our club with having no money and being immigrants

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that are pulling from anything. And I really want to

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celebrate that too.

400
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Yeah, no, thank you. And also bringing vibrancy to campus,

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I mean the campus that you were part of, you know,

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with the events that we had, I feel like we

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added to the community that you were part of by

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having these amazing and fun events. Whether it was you know,

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a food fare or if it was you know, just

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a barbecue on Earth Day on campus or on the

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un day it was, it was just it brought us

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an element of fun and community the campus that I

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don't think we had that before.

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Something to be definitely proud of, for sure. Yeah, And

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of course we can't to not have this conversation without

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talking about how you and your brother Frank came up

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with the idea to start auto web when he was

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working in Microsoft and the Internet was just becoming a thing.

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And of course you know your love of cars. I

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forget how many cars you said you had bought and

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sold by the time you were in high school, some

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crazy numbers. Yeah, And so I just I think there's

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just I remember, you know, I started I got into

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the technology space in late nineteen ninety eight in Seattle,

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selling it staffing services when things were just kind of

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you know, but you got into it earlier. So can

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you tell us briefly the story of how it is

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that you birthed autoweb.

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I mean, this is probably the most unlikely story that

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that that could have could have turned to a reality.

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In nineteen ninety four, right out of college, and my

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brother and I, even though you know we're six years apart,

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we graduated from university at the same time because we

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came to the US at the same time, and so

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he got a job at Microsoft and he called me

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one day and he said that I want to buy Honda,

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but Honda does not even have a website. Now this

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is nineteen ninety four, and I'm like, I have no

435
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idea what you're talking about, and so he had to

436
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explain the whole thing to me. He signed me up

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00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:38.279
on compu Serve, and probably nobody was listening knows what

438
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that is. But about mind is that, you know, these

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were the early days. And I tell people that those

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of us who started internet companies back then in the

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early nineties, we didn't know we can make money off

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of it. We did it because we have a passion

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for it, and so we ended up starting a company

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focused on are made a consumer with more information about cars,

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the cars that they were interested in potentially owning, than

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the car sales man had. And we knew that if

447
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we do that, consumers will come. After consumers come, the

448
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industry at some point has to show up. And that

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that was an initial idea and we launched it in

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nineteen ninety four, but it was a struggle to really

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be able to get going. And and you know a

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few of the people that I acknowledge on the back

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of my book are some of the people that they

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did not want anything. They did not know us, but

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they really played a meaningful role in our story and

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how we were able to actually build that business into

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a real, real organization that became worth, you know, something

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significant a few years later.

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You know, it's just again, you know, going back to

460
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what we were saying before about the idea that you

461
00:24:56.839 --> 00:24:59.200
as an immigrant brings such a you know, a strong

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motivation work ethic that you know, just seems to be

463
00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:06.480
hard to encounter elsewhere. Even you said when you were

464
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.000
working for the pizza place, you couldn't understand why people

465
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.720
weren't just so motivated to come to work. We're making money.

466
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.720
And you tell the story of how you worked for

467
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.720
the house painting organization and you went from making twenty

468
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:21.480
thousand dollars annually by age twenty eight in nineteen ninety

469
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.839
nine to when you did sell Auto Web to suddenly

470
00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:28.240
have a personal networth more than two hundred million dollars.

471
00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:30.079
What in the world was that like?

472
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:35.799
Well, you know, I remember I remember that day as

473
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.440
I was twenty eight years old when we took the

474
00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:42.839
company public, and back then I remember that United Airlines

475
00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:44.759
at a market cap of three hundred and fifty million

476
00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:47.920
dollars and my brother and I were on a flight

477
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.519
back on United Airlines from New York to San Francisco,

478
00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:55.920
and I think that was my second time ever flying

479
00:25:55.960 --> 00:25:59.279
business class. The first time was going to New York.

480
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.799
Second I was coming back from New York to the

481
00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:05.079
Bay Area. And him and I thought, that, isn't it

482
00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:09.240
crazy that the two of us together can buy United Airlines?

483
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:12.000
How do you even make sense out of that? And

484
00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.559
then we opened the paper and it said that other

485
00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:19.720
web worth more than Rose Royce. And it was unfathomable

486
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.880
about how that's even possible. I mean, it was even

487
00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:25.720
difficult for me to understand. But again, I talked about

488
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:28.039
this quite a bit, and then I've written about it

489
00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:31.119
in my book that I lost almost all of it,

490
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:36.319
and you know, going back to the idea of having

491
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:39.440
that grounding and a faith and having that grounding and

492
00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:42.759
the fact that we are really spiritual beings, that the

493
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:45.599
material things are great, but at the end of the day,

494
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.480
those material things are not supposed to find us. That.

495
00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.319
I mean, I can stay with the straight face that

496
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:54.559
I lost that money. I did not get depressed for

497
00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:57.759
a day. I did not because to me, it was,

498
00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:01.279
you know, something that I viewed it still as progress

499
00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:04.440
because I was still better off. I was still a millionaire,

500
00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:08.319
but you know, I lost most of it, almost all

501
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:10.599
of it, but not all of it. And there was

502
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:12.400
a life to be had. That was only twenty eight.

503
00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:14.599
There was a lot more that you know, I could

504
00:27:14.599 --> 00:27:17.880
do and I could potentially learn and contribute. So but

505
00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:21.000
it was definitely I think one of those experiences in

506
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:26.000
life that I'm glad it happened. If it had not happened,

507
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.160
if I had not lost that money, I don't know

508
00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:30.279
where I would be today. But the chances are that

509
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:32.680
would have been toxic to me at that point in

510
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:33.160
my life.

511
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:38.640
I can certainly imagine that. And I really also appreciate

512
00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:42.000
how you say in your book that you just don't

513
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:46.599
dwell on any kind of mistakes or setbacks. It's just

514
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.599
not any It's not productive at all to do that.

515
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:51.799
But for our listeners and viewers, how did you lose

516
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:54.279
the money?

517
00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:59.160
So the company that was supposed to go public for

518
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:05.079
about three hundred fifty million dollars went public for a

519
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:07.759
bit higher than that. Because we wanted to sell five

520
00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:12.400
million shares in the IPO to generate money for the company,

521
00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:15.359
we had demand for ninety five million, so as a result,

522
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:19.119
there was a lot of interest that the plus some

523
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:20.880
other things that again I talked about in the book

524
00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:23.319
that I don't think we're the kinds of things that

525
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:26.319
I wish our bankers would have done. That caused the

526
00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.319
stock price to appreciate too quickly, to the point that

527
00:28:30.359 --> 00:28:33.559
within a day the company was worth one point two billion.

528
00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:37.960
And the way I lost the money was that I

529
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:40.319
did not sell the stock when I could have, and

530
00:28:40.359 --> 00:28:43.599
maybe I should have, but I didn't. So the stock

531
00:28:43.640 --> 00:28:46.759
price that was fifty dollars ultimately went all the way

532
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:49.799
down to eighteen cents before it came back up to

533
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:52.759
I don't even remember to what level. But the company

534
00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:57.599
went public in nineteen ninety nine, and I sold all

535
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:02.200
my shares I think by two thousand and maybe two

536
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:06.079
thousand and one, so, and I don't know if you'll

537
00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:09.160
get to it or not. But in twenty twenty two,

538
00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:13.559
as luck would have it, I bought back that company

539
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:15.559
and took it private. So I owned that business. Now

540
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.599
after twenty some odd years, I brought it back in

541
00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:21.039
the company had become an orphan of a business. It

542
00:29:21.160 --> 00:29:23.680
was badly managed, and that's why it left because of

543
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:28.759
what had happened to it, and how the board had

544
00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:31.680
brought on board a CEO, which I did not think that,

545
00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:33.480
despite the fact he was a nice guy, I did

546
00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:36.000
not think that he was the right guy for that business.

547
00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:40.559
And the company suffered and suffered for many years because

548
00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:43.680
of that bad decision, and ultimately, you know you fast

549
00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:47.759
forward to two decades later, the company had accumulated losses

550
00:29:47.799 --> 00:29:50.319
of three hundred and fifty million dollars with no light

551
00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:52.480
at the end of the tunnel. So I had the

552
00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:54.799
opportunity to buy that company and take it private, which

553
00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:56.759
I did, and I'm really glad I did that.

554
00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:00.839
Another thing to be proud of, and I would be

555
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.279
completely remiss. I'm so hopelessly interested in you as a

556
00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:06.880
human being who's navigated the planet and done what you've done.

557
00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:08.839
But I would be remiss if I didn't ask you

558
00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:13.519
about some of the leadership and company culture lessons that

559
00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:16.279
you learned as you built autoweb and beyond.

560
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:23.519
Yeah, you know, I mean autoweb auto web days were

561
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:27.960
my formative years as an entrepreneur. That was my first

562
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:35.039
real company, and so it was on the job training

563
00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:39.839
and there was a lot that frankly I didn't know,

564
00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:42.279
and frankly when I think back, I'm embarrassed I did

565
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.119
some stuff the way I did, you know, because I

566
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:47.400
didn't know any better, including the fact that again I

567
00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.400
talked about this that when the company went public and

568
00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:52.920
was worth one point two billion, the first thing that

569
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:54.960
went in my mind was how am I going to

570
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.079
now do something bigger than this? Because I thought, again,

571
00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:02.599
we live in the police society that our value is

572
00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:06.920
measured by how much of the world's resources we can consume.

573
00:31:07.559 --> 00:31:10.519
Think about it, that's how we measure one's value by

574
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.559
how much we can consume and how much damage we

575
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:15.759
can cause of this planet that will represent somebody's net worth.

576
00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:19.000
So what was I thinking? How can I now do

577
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:22.640
something bigger? And I'm embarrassed that that was my mentality

578
00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:27.880
at that point. And so and I also firmly believe

579
00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:31.240
that life is full of tests and difficulties, and crisis

580
00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.640
are followed by victory and victory by crisis, and this

581
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:36.480
cycle will always go on. So that was the crisis

582
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:39.279
in my life. I lost that money and I lost

583
00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:43.640
my company the way that that happened, but that allowed

584
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:47.000
me that that I think prepared me for building a

585
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:50.519
different kind of business and kind of like having that

586
00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:53.480
internal search for what's the best way. I mean, I

587
00:31:53.559 --> 00:31:58.359
had those foundational spiritual beliefs, but how can they present

588
00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:03.119
themselves into a business. And the biggest thing that was

589
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:07.319
bugging me for many years was that we raise our kids,

590
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:11.599
we teach them spiritual values, but then when they go

591
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:15.880
to work, they say business is just business, right, and

592
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.640
business is just about maximization of share O their value.

593
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.119
What happened to all those values then? What happened to them?

594
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:23.039
I mean, you were just telling me I need to

595
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:26.359
be truthful, ethical, kind, loving and all that, but then

596
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:29.279
business just business. I'm dealing with other human beings that

597
00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:32.759
they have the same aspirations, the same virtues matter to them,

598
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:35.839
their spiritual being having this material existence for a short

599
00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:38.200
period of time. Why is it that all of a

600
00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:41.000
sudden I should view them as simply a token of

601
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:44.839
economic value for me? And that was bugging me, That

602
00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:47.799
was really bothering me. So I really wanted to see

603
00:32:47.799 --> 00:32:51.680
how I can intermingle business and spiritual beliefs into one

604
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:55.319
and I didn't know how. I still don't know how.

605
00:32:55.599 --> 00:32:58.960
But the whole idea was to experiment, to try and

606
00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:01.400
know that that to the north star and we'll try

607
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.799
to go there and that the term that always I

608
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.319
try to remind myself is to walk in a humble

609
00:33:07.400 --> 00:33:10.640
posture of learning, because the moment that you feel like,

610
00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:12.720
you know, I got to figure it out, that's a

611
00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:15.839
moment that you really completely lost sight of the fact

612
00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:18.240
that no, you don't know, and there's so much I

613
00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:21.920
don't know. So that was that was the thought process

614
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:24.160
that caused me to want to build a different company.

615
00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:26.440
So when you look at the values that we have

616
00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:31.880
in my organization, the first one is love, and that

617
00:33:32.039 --> 00:33:37.279
is love is the magnet that keeps existence together people

618
00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:43.119
you know atoms, planets, that that magnet is very and

619
00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.440
love that we have in a company should be extended

620
00:33:46.920 --> 00:33:50.400
to our employees, to our vendors, to our to our clients,

621
00:33:50.599 --> 00:33:55.440
to even our competitors. Yes, if my business will thrive

622
00:33:56.519 --> 00:34:01.640
only if somebody else's, if only if another company goes away,

623
00:34:01.880 --> 00:34:04.799
I should go into a different business. If people want

624
00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:07.240
my product because that serves them better, will so be it.

625
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:09.280
But I'm not going to wake up every morning thinking

626
00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:12.400
that I want another company to go away, because again,

627
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.679
at the end of it, we are as a humanity,

628
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:19.840
we are We're in this journey together. And our collective

629
00:34:19.880 --> 00:34:23.719
success requires a level of collective unity, and we need

630
00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.079
to appreciate that. I really think that we should.

631
00:34:26.519 --> 00:34:28.239
I completely agree with Iam, and we're going to talk

632
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:31.599
more about that. I am completely echoing every single word

633
00:34:31.639 --> 00:34:34.199
that you say from a different perspective and a different

634
00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:36.800
set of experiences. But let us let our listeners and

635
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:38.719
viewers just kind of think about what you've just said.

636
00:34:38.760 --> 00:34:38.920
There.

637
00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:41.400
Let's let rab our our last break, and then we'll

638
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:44.360
come back and converse more over those topics. I'm your host,

639
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:46.760
Doctor Releasee Cortez, who are in the area with Piems

640
00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:49.559
and money. He's the founder, chairman and CEO of One

641
00:34:49.639 --> 00:34:52.760
Planet Group. We've been talking a bit about his rise

642
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:54.880
in entrepreneurship, and after the break, we're going to talk

643
00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.440
more about what he's doing at One Planet Group and

644
00:34:57.519 --> 00:35:00.559
hear more about his ideas about how we can improve happiness.

645
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:02.000
Stay with us, We'll be right back.

646
00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:21.000
Doctor Elise Cortes is a management consultant specializing in meaning

647
00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:24.880
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies

648
00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:28.760
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

649
00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:32.800
leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance and

650
00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:36.119
commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite

651
00:35:36.119 --> 00:35:38.880
a lease to speak to your organization, please visit her

652
00:35:38.920 --> 00:35:42.159
at Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get

653
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:51.000
your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose

654
00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:54.360
with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or

655
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:57.159
to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to

656
00:35:57.239 --> 00:36:02.159
a lease a Lise at at Leastcortes dot com. Now

657
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:04.000
back to working on Purpose.

658
00:36:09.719 --> 00:36:11.840
Interesting with us and welcome back to working on Purpose.

659
00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:14.159
I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes. I mentioned in the

660
00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:16.320
last break that my latest book came out in March

661
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:19.079
of twenty twenty three. It's called a Great Revitalization. What

662
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:21.000
I did for you is I created a three page

663
00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:23.599
organizational assessment for you to learn the extent to which

664
00:36:23.639 --> 00:36:26.280
your company's leadership and culture meet the standards of today's

665
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:29.159
discerning workforce. You can get it from my website at

666
00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:32.360
gustodeshnow dot com if you are just joining us. My

667
00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:34.679
guest is piems A Money. He's the author of Crossing

668
00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:37.440
the Desert The Power of Embracing Life's difficult Journeys, which

669
00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:40.400
we've been talking about as well as his life. So,

670
00:36:40.599 --> 00:36:42.559
going back what we were talking about before the break

671
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:46.760
of this idea of maybe spiritual capitalism, I mentioned to

672
00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:49.159
you in my notes that I also embraced the idea

673
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:52.719
of conscious capitalism, which really has the four pillars of

674
00:36:53.679 --> 00:37:00.360
higher purpose, stakeholder orientation, conscious leadership, conscious culture. I also,

675
00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:02.639
in my last book that I just mentioned, the last

676
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:06.159
chapter is on spiritual intelligence in the workplace, and that

677
00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:09.480
does speak to those higher values like love and compassion

678
00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:13.239
and peace and purpose. And I'm seeing more companies start

679
00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:15.320
to at least pay attention to those things, if not,

680
00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:17.719
you know, somewhat start to put a little toe in

681
00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:21.480
the water to embrace them. So I'm very interested in

682
00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:25.119
your notion of stewarting. I guess what you're calling spiritual capitalism.

683
00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:26.440
Can hear a little bit more about it?

684
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:31.800
Yeah, So, to me, its spiritual capitalism simply means a

685
00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:40.280
capitalism that considers the true essence of who we are

686
00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:46.599
as humans, and it goes beyond viewing us as simply

687
00:37:47.400 --> 00:37:54.320
these organisms that care only about greed. So I don't

688
00:37:54.360 --> 00:37:56.880
think that Melton Freedman version of capitalism I served us.

689
00:37:56.920 --> 00:37:59.679
I just don't think. So I agree, and I think

690
00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:05.960
that the funny thing is that that mentality that still

691
00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:10.320
majority of companies, majority of the financial market runs based on,

692
00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:15.800
has left the people that is supposed to benefit most empty.

693
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:19.519
And so I often when I have these conversations, I

694
00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:21.639
tell people that do it for your own sake, Forget

695
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.440
everybody else, forget humanity, do it for your own sake,

696
00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:27.119
because what happens is that people do well a lot

697
00:38:27.159 --> 00:38:31.639
of people in that space they do well, but then

698
00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:34.960
financially they do well, but then they look in all

699
00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:38.840
kinds of wrong places for that sense of meaning. But

700
00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:42.679
the sense of meaning can come from your every day occupation,

701
00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:46.800
from that every day engagement that you have. All that

702
00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:49.320
means is that you have turned You need to turn

703
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:53.800
that every day engagement into something that meaning is a

704
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.239
part of it. So, you know, I talk about this

705
00:38:56.360 --> 00:38:59.559
quite a bit in the book that you Know. There

706
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:03.000
was epiphany that I had, if there's an epiphany, was

707
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:05.519
one day I was at this conference with my wife

708
00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:11.079
and this woman gave a keynote and she was the

709
00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:15.480
head of a nonprofit and I remember I turned to

710
00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:18.039
my wife and I said that I'm jealous, and she said,

711
00:39:18.039 --> 00:39:20.199
what do you mean. I said, look, she doesn't have

712
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:22.119
to go home and say that, Okay, well is the

713
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:24.440
evening or the weekend, I'm going to do some service.

714
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:27.559
I feel better about myself and I'm giving back to

715
00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:31.719
the work. Her job every day is service. And in

716
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:34.840
the by faith, we have also this concept. It's an

717
00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:38.239
important part of our teachings that work offered in the

718
00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:41.639
spirit of service is the best form of worship. Yes,

719
00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:47.360
and so I'm like, okay, how can I Why can't

720
00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:50.000
pe blurred the line between for profit and nonprofit? Why

721
00:39:50.039 --> 00:39:53.199
should for profits stand for great nonprofits for the betterment

722
00:39:53.239 --> 00:39:55.840
of the world. Now again, keep in mind, I don't

723
00:39:55.920 --> 00:40:00.000
necessarily I don't want to build a social impact business.

724
00:40:00.039 --> 00:40:02.440
And the reason I say that is because I want

725
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:06.679
a business to either sign up for strong financials or

726
00:40:06.719 --> 00:40:09.280
say I'm a nonprofit. When you're in between, it becomes

727
00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:12.239
actually very difficult to operate. It's very difficult to raise money,

728
00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:14.480
very difficult to raise money as a nonprofit or a

729
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:17.280
for profit. So I feel like you need to pick

730
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:21.119
a direction. But a for profit can have a just cause,

731
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:25.480
A for profit can decide for standing for something good.

732
00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:28.400
A for profit CEO can say that you know what,

733
00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:31.119
at the end of the day, I'm a community builder,

734
00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:33.639
and what kind of community do I want to build?

735
00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:37.280
Because that will define the organization I have contributed to.

736
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:42.920
So and if you look at my biggest operating business

737
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:47.199
is a company that basically sells leads and clicks. It's

738
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:50.320
an online marketing platform. So it is probably as meaningless

739
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:53.960
as anything can be. But we decided to figure out

740
00:40:54.039 --> 00:40:57.800
how can we infuse that with spiritual teachings, How can

741
00:40:57.800 --> 00:41:01.920
we infuse that with basically values that could make it

742
00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:04.800
that kind of a company had in mind that represents

743
00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:11.760
spiritual capitalism at work. And the funny thing is that

744
00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:15.800
company today is more profitable, more stable than any of

745
00:41:15.800 --> 00:41:20.800
these peers because what changes is that, I think fundamentally,

746
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:23.480
what changes is that you cannot have a ninety day

747
00:41:23.559 --> 00:41:26.280
window of measuring your success. You need to have a

748
00:41:26.360 --> 00:41:29.639
much longer perspective as you build that kind of a business.

749
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.000
But once you're into it, you build it, your employees

750
00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:34.519
don't want.

751
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:36.039
To leave you.

752
00:41:36.039 --> 00:41:39.719
Your customers don't want to leave you, because you're a

753
00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:42.119
reliable company or a good company. You care about them,

754
00:41:42.559 --> 00:41:45.440
you know as a spiritual being. Your vendors don't want

755
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:48.239
to leave you. I mean, it becomes a great community,

756
00:41:48.920 --> 00:41:52.159
and that's what we've been blessed with. We implemented this

757
00:41:52.679 --> 00:41:58.639
in twenty beginning of twenty fifteen, and we've been profitable

758
00:41:58.960 --> 00:42:04.519
at every single month since then. Our profits have grown

759
00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:08.760
eight hundred percent and the company is doing well. We

760
00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:13.079
have not had layoffs. We are I mean, and again

761
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:15.679
I'm not saying that you should do it for that,

762
00:42:15.800 --> 00:42:18.800
but I will tell you if you run your business

763
00:42:18.840 --> 00:42:21.679
based on those principles, the only thing you will be

764
00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:24.239
embarrassed about will be the fact that you have very

765
00:42:24.239 --> 00:42:25.000
successful business.

766
00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:29.960
At the end, you're absolutely speaking everything that I preached

767
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:32.000
by and this is how. This is how I also

768
00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:34.760
consult with organizations too, the same sort of message, the

769
00:42:34.760 --> 00:42:39.159
same sort of desired outcome. I'm completely convinced I'm on board.

770
00:42:40.239 --> 00:42:42.119
And the other thing I also wanted to just applaud

771
00:42:42.159 --> 00:42:44.320
you with along those lines is I really loved how

772
00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:46.840
you shared in your book early on in autaweb, where

773
00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:49.079
you went from the subscription model one thousand dollars a

774
00:42:49.079 --> 00:42:52.360
month to twenty nine ninety five per lead, and the

775
00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:54.400
board was like totally against you, but you were like,

776
00:42:54.400 --> 00:42:58.039
but this is the right thing for everybody. Why Because one,

777
00:42:58.559 --> 00:43:01.920
it's more palpable for our customers who are willing to

778
00:43:01.960 --> 00:43:04.199
spend that for a lead versus maybe an unknown what

779
00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:06.840
they might get for the thousand dollars investment. And two,

780
00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:10.000
we are more likely to be fully compensated for the

781
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:14.519
value we bring distributors who sign on. And I just

782
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:16.880
really wanted to celebrate that. You kind of put it

783
00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:18.639
down as a lead gen sort of thing, but the

784
00:43:18.679 --> 00:43:22.840
way that you went about situating value and really disrupting

785
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:25.880
everything was just really Also you had another thing to

786
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:26.679
celebrate about you.

787
00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:29.360
Well, I appreciate. I mean, I think that the real

788
00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:33.639
thought behind that was if you take conflict out of

789
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:38.320
that relationship. So otherwise, if it's a subscription program every month,

790
00:43:38.360 --> 00:43:41.159
I would feel like either we delivered a lot didn't

791
00:43:41.159 --> 00:43:43.559
get paid enough, or the other side would feel like

792
00:43:43.599 --> 00:43:45.960
you didn't deliver enough. You got me the same. Yeau

793
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:48.639
wanted that conflict to go away. So if you look

794
00:43:48.679 --> 00:43:53.480
at our business today, our primary business buyer lank, that

795
00:43:53.559 --> 00:43:58.679
business has no contractual terms, meaning that when people sign

796
00:43:58.840 --> 00:44:02.280
up with us as a client, they are not committing

797
00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:05.159
that they're going to stay with us for any specific duration.

798
00:44:05.719 --> 00:44:09.280
They can stop at any moment in time. Ninety percent

799
00:44:09.320 --> 00:44:11.840
of our revenue comes to accounts that they almost never

800
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:17.119
cancel because that conflict has been removed from the relationship.

801
00:44:17.960 --> 00:44:21.239
And I think that's really important. I think that's that so.

802
00:44:21.320 --> 00:44:23.840
And you know, along those lines, if you talk to

803
00:44:23.880 --> 00:44:28.360
my legal team, this is what they hear from me,

804
00:44:28.480 --> 00:44:32.719
and they are they're tired of me saying it, but

805
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:36.599
I tell them, always a contract, when you write it

806
00:44:36.639 --> 00:44:39.840
doesn't have to sound that cold. At the end of

807
00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:42.480
the day, you can protect yourself, but even a contract

808
00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:46.559
can be kind and loving. The way we communicate matters.

809
00:44:47.239 --> 00:44:49.840
How did we get here that we just talk to

810
00:44:49.880 --> 00:44:53.280
each other the way we do, and particularly in business.

811
00:44:54.119 --> 00:44:56.079
While a lot of these issues are just simply I

812
00:44:56.119 --> 00:44:58.320
want to tell you I appreciate your business. You're about

813
00:44:58.360 --> 00:45:01.320
to become my client. I'm so grateful for that. I

814
00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:02.960
just want to make sure that we have agreed on

815
00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:04.280
the terms of this relationship.

816
00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:07.719
We don't talk like that, right well, please help us

817
00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:09.559
change that time if you could, that would be great.

818
00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:11.639
If you could also add that to your list to

819
00:45:11.719 --> 00:45:15.800
dos and accomplishments. Please, Now, I can't let you get

820
00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:18.440
away before you give us at least a short orientation

821
00:45:18.519 --> 00:45:20.679
of what you're all doing. At One Planet Group, I

822
00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:22.280
just it sounds amazing.

823
00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:26.360
Well, thank you. You know. One Planet Group at the

824
00:45:26.440 --> 00:45:30.079
end of the day is it's some sort I don't

825
00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:31.719
know what to call it. I call it private equity,

826
00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:34.679
but it's not really a private equity because we don't

827
00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:37.079
have outside investors, we don't have limited partners. So it's

828
00:45:37.119 --> 00:45:41.320
at the end of the day, basically what I get

829
00:45:41.360 --> 00:45:45.039
to operate, which really gives me the freedom to do

830
00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:48.079
things that if I probably had a board of directors

831
00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:50.639
at One Planet, it would have been very difficult for

832
00:45:50.679 --> 00:45:53.320
me to do because sometimes I don't know what the

833
00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:55.800
outcome is going to be. I really don't, but I

834
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:59.119
want to have the freedom to do so One Planet

835
00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:03.400
allows me to live my chaotic life, which is I

836
00:46:03.559 --> 00:46:07.400
love to work with entrepreneurs. I think that that brings

837
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:10.760
joy to me to see the younger generation coming up

838
00:46:10.760 --> 00:46:14.280
with amazing ideas that can change the world. I love that.

839
00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:18.159
So we do that. We invest in in entrepreneurs, and

840
00:46:18.239 --> 00:46:22.599
we do that with an idea of justice. So two

841
00:46:22.599 --> 00:46:25.079
percent of all VC money in the US goes to

842
00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:28.519
women founders. Majority of our money goes to women founders

843
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:32.840
or people of color, and they're some of our best

844
00:46:32.840 --> 00:46:38.599
performing entrepreneurs. And so that's one aspect of our business.

845
00:46:38.679 --> 00:46:41.480
The other aspect is that we operate a few businesses.

846
00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:44.280
And these businesses are a few that I just know

847
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:47.679
extremely well, all the Web being one of them. By

848
00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:52.360
our length. They're primarily focused in the marketing space, and

849
00:46:52.599 --> 00:46:55.760
they're big businesses, north of one hundred million dollars in revenue,

850
00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:59.360
profitable businesses that we operate. And I'm an operator because

851
00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:02.159
I love the idea of building a community, and an

852
00:47:02.199 --> 00:47:04.760
operation allows me to have a few hundred employees and

853
00:47:04.880 --> 00:47:10.119
build that community. And ultimately, we also like to do

854
00:47:10.159 --> 00:47:14.159
what can beyond those businesses contribute directly to the betterment

855
00:47:14.159 --> 00:47:17.400
of the world. So that is done through content. We

856
00:47:17.480 --> 00:47:20.079
own a studio that we are actually making a feature

857
00:47:20.119 --> 00:47:20.760
film right now.

858
00:47:21.239 --> 00:47:21.360
Uh.

859
00:47:21.639 --> 00:47:24.440
It's it's a love story, but the love story that

860
00:47:24.519 --> 00:47:28.800
will hopefully bring people of different backgrounds together by seeing

861
00:47:28.880 --> 00:47:35.320
the beauty in their diversity. And uh, and then the

862
00:47:35.400 --> 00:47:39.079
nonprofit element of our organization. So at the highest level,

863
00:47:39.079 --> 00:47:42.760
those are three things that we do. Uh. I'm a fixer.

864
00:47:42.840 --> 00:47:44.920
I love to fix stuff. So when I'm provided with

865
00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:47.920
the opportunity to fix a broken something, I like to

866
00:47:47.960 --> 00:47:48.440
be there.

867
00:47:50.519 --> 00:47:56.000
Very We're very uh grateful and blessed that you are

868
00:47:56.039 --> 00:47:58.719
on on this planet walking with this piem. You are

869
00:47:58.760 --> 00:48:01.000
a beautiful soul who is really making a difference with

870
00:48:01.039 --> 00:48:03.559
your one precious life. We have come to the end

871
00:48:03.559 --> 00:48:05.719
of the show already. It goes by so fast. Is

872
00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:08.079
listen to white people around the world who are wanting

873
00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:11.039
to be part of something more of like what you created.

874
00:48:11.800 --> 00:48:12.920
What would you like to leave them with?

875
00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:18.199
You know, I would love to connect with people, and

876
00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:20.519
sometimes I'm slow, but I usually at least send a

877
00:48:20.559 --> 00:48:24.559
short message. I cannot meet with everyone, but I do communicate,

878
00:48:24.599 --> 00:48:27.800
and you know they can follow me on Instagram, on

879
00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:31.239
LinkedIn and easy to find times of money, no space,

880
00:48:31.400 --> 00:48:34.920
no highend and I will love to connect with them.

881
00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:36.159
Thank you.

882
00:48:36.199 --> 00:48:36.480
I am.

883
00:48:36.559 --> 00:48:38.920
I am very grateful our paths crossed. You have really

884
00:48:38.920 --> 00:48:41.400
many difference in my life already and I'm very very

885
00:48:41.400 --> 00:48:43.320
happy to share you with my listeners around the world.

886
00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:45.760
Thank you so much. Thank you for your time.

887
00:48:46.079 --> 00:48:49.280
Very welcome. You will learn more about piems and money,

888
00:48:49.320 --> 00:48:51.599
the company he first co founded, autoweb, the company he

889
00:48:51.639 --> 00:48:54.639
currently leads One Planet Group, or his book Crossing the Desert.

890
00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:57.519
You can start by visiting two sites. One is Crossing

891
00:48:57.599 --> 00:49:02.079
the Desert book dot com. There is One Planetgroup dot com.

892
00:49:02.639 --> 00:49:05.360
See you next week for another inspiring and educational conversation

893
00:49:05.440 --> 00:49:07.559
on working on purpose and remember work is one of

894
00:49:07.559 --> 00:49:10.239
the best adventures and means of realizing our potential and

895
00:49:10.320 --> 00:49:13.079
making the impact we crave. So let's work on purpose.

896
00:49:15.840 --> 00:49:18.519
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

897
00:49:18.559 --> 00:49:22.199
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,

898
00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:25.639
each week on W four CY. Together we'll create a

899
00:49:25.679 --> 00:49:30.280
world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion performance

900
00:49:30.400 --> 00:49:33.119
and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the meaning

901
00:49:33.159 --> 00:49:37.000
and purpose they crave. See you there, Let's work on Purpose.