Jay Shetty receives the Social Influence & Leadership Award at Mindvalley's gala. With 16 million Instagram followers and over 3 million copies of Think Like a Monk sold, he credits his eight-year partnership with Mindvalley and thanks his audience. Early on, 14 of 17 publishers rejected his book title.
Questions this video answers
16 million Instagram followers.
More than 3 million copies sold.
One of the most downloaded podcasts in the world.
14 out of 17 publishers disliked the name.
Over eight years.
For this award, we'd like to invite the brilliant host of One World with Zane Asher on cnn. She's insightful, articulate, and a true visionary. Please welcome on stage Zane Asher.
Thank you for that introduction, Erwin. So here's what I'm going to about the next award recipient. I've been an anchor at CNN for 10 years, and in that time I've interviewed a lot of people at the start of their careers, and I've watched them over the course of many years become a little bit more successful, a little bit more well known and a little bit more famous. And I have seen up close how fame, if you're not careful, can really change a person. I've seen perfectly good people become famous, and as a result of that fame, there's just a little bit, a little bit more ego in their interactions. People often underestimate how hard it is to navigate fame, success and fortune while still being grounded in humility, in kindness, and in love. And what I admire the most about the person I'm about to give this award to is not the fact that he has 16 million Instagram followers. It's not the fact that he has sold more than 3 million copies of his book. It's not even the fact that he has one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world. It is how well he has navigated the pitfalls of fame, success and fortune while still being grounded in in his core principles. Many of us here want to be successful, but how many of us are conscious enough not to allow fame to change our personalities? And that is why the prayer should never be, dear God, please let me become successful. The prayer should be, dear God, please let me survive becoming successful in such a way that allows me to hold on to who I really am. I actually spoke to a dear friend of the award recipients a few hours ago who said to me, zayn, if anything, fame has actually made him a better person. That is why this individual is just that special. Please welcome to the stage Jay Shetty.
My God. Congratulations, Jessica.
Before this guy accepts this award, I would like to say very continuously with what Zayn said about him. I've known this fine gentleman now for probably eight years or so, and the first time we met each other, it was almost like a match made in heaven in bro World. It was one of those things that thanks to this mindvalley community through a friend, Claire Ansi at BBC, when Jay was finding himself in New York City, to say, like, hey, who do you know in New York that can be friends with me and the first person she suggested was me and she said, but you know what's funny? I think if I connect you guys, I think you guys are gonna have a bromance together. So I am truly honored to have one of my best mates be here on stage and receive this award. I love you, my brother.
Well, first of all, a big thank you to each and every one of you for being here tonight. A big thank you to Vishen and Mindvalley, who've been an incredible family and community to me since over eight years now, which I'm so thankful to be back. When I first told some media executives in London that I wanted to make wisdom go viral, they said I was too unqualified. And so we did it anyway. And then I remember saying I wanted to start a podcast and I remember sitting down with production companies in LA and they all told us that no one wanted to listen to us for more than four minutes. And so we did it anyway. And then I wanted to write a book and I wanted to call it Think Like a Monk based on all my incredible teachers who taught me so much. And 14 out of 17 publishers told us that they didn't like the name and we should change it. We kept it anyway. And the reason I share all of those things is not because we were strong and we were resilient, but because it wasn't for those people at all. It was for all of you. It was for the people who watched the videos, it was for people who liked it, it was for people who shared it. And I want to thank each and every person from the bottom of my heart who's ever liked comment shared because that takes so much courage and that takes so much trust. And I thank you deeply for your trust. And I thank you deeply for your love. I don't take it for granted. Thank you so much.
Congratulations, Jay Shetty, for this well deserved recognition. And thank you, Zane, for presenting this beautiful award and the beautiful words that you said about fame and ego, truly touching.
