From Start-Up to Grown-Up: Gary Vaynerchuk — The Value of Candor

How have you changed personally as you've grown as an entrepreneur, as a leader?

As a public figure, my biggest strength is candor. As a private business owner, my inability to be candorous to my employees because I liked them too much and I was scared I was gonna scare them by giving them critical feedback was disproportionately my shortcoming as a leader. All— all that I was doing was creating resentment, passive-aggressive behavior on my end, resentment towards people, which was hurting me, passive-aggressiveness with little zings, which was hurting them, and very sloppy firings, which hurts me and them. And so it was a very tough 20-year journey for me from 22 to 42 in having— that was my my kryptonite. In a world where I was gifted with so many talents, that was my kryptonite. So I would say by far the biggest thing that has grown is my ability to now give candor. I call it kind candor. I want to deliver it with compassion and sympathy and empathy, but it's a real thing. And, you know, so that was real. You know, the gray hairs give you experience. Yes, I was a natural talent, but, you know, when I look at LeBron James 20 years later in his career, he, he's still a physical specimen. There's things he can't do that he did in his youth, but boy, oh boy, oh boy, does he understand the game of basketball.