In this Believe Nation episode, host Evan Carmichael opens with the mantra “Don’t listen to the little man,” framing the discussion around ignoring critics and pursuing one’s vision. Guest Carlos Ghosn emphasizes the need for a market‑driven, globally‑aware vision—specifically citing the push toward affordable electric vehicles that address climate concerns—and stresses unwavering commitment despite industry skepticism. The conversation then shifts to the pervasive problem of online haters and “little men” who undermine entrepreneurs. Speaker B shares a personal story about his 86‑year‑old grandfather battling social‑media negativity, while Evan categorizes haters into two camps: uninformed critics and knowledgeable detractors. He recounts his own experience of ignoring a video‑industry expert’s advice, posting a longer video that still achieved a million views, illustrating the value of personal conviction over external doubt. The segment concludes with a call to viewers to identify and eliminate “little men” in their lives, encouraging comments and reinforcing the motivational message with a final espresso‑themed sign‑off.
Chapters
Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is: Don't listen to the little man.
Now over to Carlos Ghosn.
You have to have a vision. This vision has to be based on understanding about the dynamics of the market globally. And then you have to pursue this vision no matter what. You have to build motivation inside your company. This is easy because you're saying, "Okay, we wanna be leader in technology that is meaningful for the consumer." And all the Nissan people, all the Renault people are buying into it. Then we need to come to the consumer and tell him, you know, tell the consumer, "That's a great product which is affordable and on top of this, it's gonna allow you to drive without the guilt of the melting of the icebergs and the change of the seasons and the temperature, et cetera." And I think it's gonna be very powerful. But again, before it starts, there is always a doubt. And now we are in the period of time where a lot of people are throwing at you a lot of stones by saying, "That's not gonna work." And then you have a lot of comments from competitors saying, "You know, you're too much bullish. It's not gonna work." Well, obviously, what do you want competitors to say? "He's in the right direction?" I'd say, "Okay, he's in the right direction?" And where is your car? "Well, I have no electric car." So what's your situation? So what do you think?
I think it's something you probably need to deal with frequently on YouTube. Hate, trolls, people who have an opinion that isn't really an opinion and wanna belittle you, wanna put you down, sometimes just for the sake of articulating something so they can have their voice heard. It reminds me of actually something my grandfather, who's experienced this at 86 years of age for the last 6 months. A man who actually is little kept telling him he was never gonna figure out social media, and if my grandfather at 86 wanted to run his business He needed to hire a lot of other people to do his social media. Took my grandfather 3 months to figure out Twitter and also figure out that Twitter wasn't Facebook, but he got there with a lot of hate, with a lot of people telling him it was useless, he was wasting his time. Someone even told him he was going to die before he figured it out, and he did. He persevered. Took a heck of a lot longer, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about entrepreneurs, business, and being able to stand your own ground.
So now he's doing it on Twitter.
He is, slowly but surely.
I think dealing with haters is definitely, uh, one of the biggest challenges that a lot of people face. I divide them into two camps. There's the ones who don't know what they're talking about. There's the ones who have never done what you're trying to do. And I don't get personally offended by those people. I know a lot of people, and I guess you do have to have a thick skin, a lot of people are easily offended. If you just say something really stupid stupid or irrelevant or just throwing out hate. It doesn't bother me. I'm more concerned if they attack, you know, if I've had a guest on my show. I did a video showcasing one of my programmers and wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him, and people would attack him. And because he was from the Middle East, somebody called him a terrorist and this kind of stuff. And so he didn't sign up for that, right? So that bothers me when they're hating on somebody else because I kind of threw them into the spotlight, and they weren't, you know, anticipating to get the hate. The other kind of haters, or little man, is the people who do know what they're talking about, and that's even harder to overcome. I remember the first Believe video that I made, I sent to a guy who was in the video industry, and he said that no YouTube video should be longer than 6 minutes, and this was like 6:18. It should be like 2 minutes long, and that's it. And all these reasons why this video would never work, and This guy knew what he was talking about. He's in the industry. He's not like some hater who's never actually tried to make a YouTube video before. And you know what? I thought, I love it, I don't care, I'm just gonna put it up. And the video did really well. It was the first video we had to hit a million views and keep growing. A younger, less confident Evan might have listened to him and made changes. And I think that's the biggest concern that I have for people watching, is if you have something that you want to try, something that you're really excited, interested by, even if it does fail, it's still a learning lesson for you. And to not again live with regret, to say like, I wish I did it my way, like I wish I gave it a shot. At least you know that it didn't work and you find a different way to stand. And if all you do is surround yourself with people who are hating on your ideas and all you do is listen to them, then you're living their version of your life instead of your own version of it. So Don't listen to the little man.
That's a good message. I completely support that. And I think that I need to listen to you a little bit more because working in television, we hear from a lot of little men and big men and big women who all have something to say all day long, and it hits you. But if they aren't part of the craft, if they don't know what they're talking about, I think that puts them in a completely different camp, as you said, and maybe that's easier to disassociate from. So the question of the day today is, how do you get rid of the little man or a little woman in your life? Are they in your life? And if so, good luck.
How are you getting rid of them in your life? Leave in the comments below. We're going to join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso.
