Evan Carmichael shows the photo wall in his office and explains why each person matters to him. Steve Jobs taught him to make a lasting impact. Howard Schultz showed leadership grounded in values. A.P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America, bet on underdogs and immigrants. Kanye West represents fearless self-expression and doing the work now.
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Welcome everybody, happy weekend! I wanted to make a quick video because a lot of you were asking about my wall. You see it in, in my live recordings and who the people are, what the meaning is, so I thought I would make this quick video for the weekend for you guys to learn about the wall and to get some inspiration for what you might be able to create in your office. So first up, We've got Steve Jobs here, and there's a picture of me and Nina and Hayden. Now, this is where my computer is, and normally I put the picture of Nina and Hayden here because I can look at it, and I can see them here. But when I do the live recordings, I move it here so that people can see Nina and Hayden as well. So Jobs is number 1, and that, you know, his thing of just wanting to make an impact and make a dent in the universe, that's the constant reminder that I have in my head when I want I walk in and I see this picture. Next behind me is Howard Schultz, and he is the head of Starbucks. And the thing about Starbucks that I love, and Howard Schultz specifically, is about leading through values. And there's one great clip that we featured on the channel before where there was a guy who got up at a Starbucks shareholders meeting and was upset that Starbucks was recognizing gay marriage. He felt that gay marriage is wrong and Starbucks should not recognize gay marriage, and that it would hurt the Starbucks price. And Howard Schultz got up on stage and said, "This is not an economic decision. We're doing this because it's the right thing to do and because it aligns with our values." And I really love that sentiment. And ever since I've been a Howard Schultz fan and picked up his books. And so that's why he's here is to, you know, make an impact, but make the impact through values. Next up, this is a picture of me with my parents. I feel like I'm around Hayden's age here. 6 or 7. And the reason why this is on the wall is because my parents were the foundation of belief for me. I've told you guys in tons of videos that the, the believe here, right there on the shirt, uh, comes from my mom, whose last name is Castrilli, and my dad, whose last name is Carmichael. They would always tell me I'm a Castrilli Carmichael and I can do anything that I wanted to and put my mind to. And I remember always having to sit down at report card season and I would never get as good grades as my sisters, and they would tell me that, and that would just fill me with confidence. And every time that I tried to do something different or new, you know, even if they didn't have any knowledge or experience. Like when I wanted to try to learn about baseball cards and sell baseball cards, you know, they had no interest in baseball cards, but they always made me believe in myself. So here I was, this 12-year-old kid negotiating with 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds over baseball cards, and they would drive me to baseball card shows and take me to spring training every year in Florida to meet the players and get autographs. And so this is a theme and a story that there's a reason for the order here too. So Jobs is have an impact. Howard Schultz is do it through values. And my value is believe. That came from my parents. Whoa, I'm falling here, hit something. Next up is A.P. Giannini. Here we go. He's the founder of Bank of America. He's my favorite entrepreneur. You may be thinking, why is a banker a favorite entrepreneur? For me, he was the believe banker. He was at a bank and he was having success as a board member of a bank after being a successful entrepreneur. And he wanted the bank to expand to offer loans to immigrants and hard-working, you know, blue-collar type of workers, where he was an immigrant himself. And at the moment, banks only lent to really safe deals, really safe businesses, and didn't want to lend money to immigrants because it was too much of a risk. Where he then decided to quit that bank, leave the board of directors, and open up his own bank across the street from the original bank that he was on the board of. And he lent money to immigrants. He made loan decisions based off of a handshake, the calluses on somebody's hand, and a look in their eye. Can you imagine a banker today making a loan to somebody based on a look in their eye? Sounds crazy, right? But that's the foundation of Bank of America. I don't know how much Bank of America kind of still rings true to his initial visions, but I love him and For me, it's the application of believe. So my parents taught me to believe. This is the application of believe. And he bet on Walt Disney when nobody would give him money. Like, Walt Disney wanted to make full-length animated videos, which everybody thought was crazy, but he gave him the money to do it. He bet on the Golden Gate Bridge when everybody thought it was crazy and they shouldn't do it. So he had a history of just betting on the little guy, believing in them, and I really respect that. And that's why a banker is my favorite entrepreneur. And then last up is the most controversial, Mr. Kanye West. And I've talked about him a lot on the various episodes that I've had. For me, I feel like a lot of people don't give Kanye enough respect for the stuff that he's done. And you can learn from him even if you don't want to be exactly like him. You know, if you don't respect the fact that he might, you know, interrupt people and say the wrong things and be too controversial, that's okay. But what I learned from him and why he's on the wall here is not being afraid to express yourself. When you have an idea, when you want to do something, when you got that thing inside you that has to come out, a lot of times we hold it down. A lot of times we tell ourselves, "Oh, we shouldn't do that. People will judge us." Kanye is unafraid. Kanye will not take crap from people, and that to me is inspiring. Now, I use that to turn up. If you've seen my videos, what I'm at now compared to when I started, you'll notice a lot more passion, a lot more energy. And that's a variety of factors, but one of them is having Kanye watch some videos and seeing how he's unafraid makes me less afraid to do things. And also the sense of urgency. This picture is from a radio interview that he was doing where he was basically saying that the time is now. I don't want to work inside a corporation for the next 20 years and then try to express myself. The time is now to be the greatest you. And that sense of urgency really is inspiring to me, really is motivating to me, and so that's why he's up on the wall. So quick recap of everybody here. Jobs is about having an impact on the world, trying to make a difference. Howard Schultz is about leading through values and making that impact through values. My parents are about the value of believe and making sure that that's what I'm having the impact on. Apio Giannini is a role model for showing me how to make an impact on believe and betting on the little guy. And Kanye is about not waiting, urgency, do it now, you're running out of time, express yourself. So those are the 5 on the wall. And then of course, my amazing wife and son, Nina and Hayden. I look at them every day and they inspire me too. So I'd love to know what you guys think. I'd love to know what's in your home office. The environment matters. If you wanna do great things, you need to be surrounded by greatness. So share below some of the things that you have in your office or you're going to put in your office now to help you aspire and inspire yourself. To be the best version of you. Look forward to seeing you in the comments. Take care, continue to believe, have a great weekend, and, and I'll see you soon.
