If you're not familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee), you're in for a treat. He's raw, in an F-bomb kinda way, but the business and life messages he delivers through the web, books and speaking engagements are spot on.
His backstory is an immigrant who reshaped his family business, flipped the stuffy wine trade on its head by launching an "honest" wine channel online. (Sample quote from a recent webisode of Wine Library TV, a blind taste test of three wines: "These three wines are awful. All of these should be on your "Do Not Drink" list. Please never, never, ever put them in your mouth."). Vaynerchuk's success with Wine Library led to the world of business advice and consulting. In addition to Wine Libary, he has a popular Twitter feed, a best-selling book and what appears to be a successful consulting business.
He's energetic beyond belief and delivers sharp insight on things big and small. The core of his mission is to "do the right thing." For most people, that's a hackneyed, empty expression, but when GV says it and lays out all the benefits of being a good human, you want to fall in line (if you're not already).
This particular video, from a speaking gig to Ruby on Rails developers in Baltimore in June, is about an hour. There are some interesting takeaways throughout, but the one I found most intriguing was when he explained why he's taking a break from speaking. The reason I'm not going to be speaking as much any more is I think it's time for me to shut the f*** up for a little bit. I 've been talking for quite a while and it's time for me to "do."
When's the last time a rising star walked away from the spotlight just when they were peaking because they believe they needed to do more homework before sharing more advice?