Jordan Belfort, "the real-life Wolf of Wall Street," is earning $100,000 a day as a motivational speaker and will be making $100 million on his speaking tour. This was the guy that spent 22 months in jail for money laundering and securities fraud in the 1990s and owed the federal government $110,362,993.87 in restitution. This was also the guy that his "legendary" life was turned into a blockbuster film starring by Leonardo DiCaprio. After 22 months in jail, he is planning to pay back his victim in 1 year through his earnings from a 45-city speaking tour in the U.S. In his speech, he stated that: "The world is divided between ducks and eagles, "The
'duck, has a story,
their bullshit story... why can't they have what they want... their story stops them from getting what they want while the Eagles are different, they soar above the crowd."
What is your perspective toward the Ducks and the Eagles? In TED talk by Nick Hanauer, he claimed that his success was the consequence
of spectacular luck,
of birth, of circumstance and of timing. Do you think those three factors are what differentiates the Eagles and the Ducks? If not, what makes the Eagles soar above the crowd and what makes this world is divided into ducks and eagles?
Furthermore, there was a woman and her husband who paid $500 each for VIP seats and a one-on-one meet-and-greet Jordan Belfort. If you had lots of money, would be you be willing to spend that amount of money to listen to such motivational speaker?
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jordan-belfort-cringeworthy-la-convention-center-2014-11
This was really difficult for me to read. The amount of ignorance and arrogance that Belfort displays is shameful to all people. I would not listen to a motivational speaker like Belfort because I know his views on issues that I care dearly about. I am always open to listening and discussing difficult topics, but when someone does not display the same sort of open-mindedness it shows that they are not as smart as they appear to be. One aspect of success is grit, determination and hard work. I truly believe this. It might not be the hardest worker that is the most successful, but he/she too will have success. There are aspects of success that cannot be predicted such as certain circumstances of birth or luck that play a role. No one is individually in control of their destination in life, but they can do things to put themselves in positions to succeed.
ReplyDeleteThere is a great book called "The Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell that studies this topic. He looks at a wide variety of extremely successful people and compares them to less successful people with similar skillets. He attributes that while it is important to be an expert in your field, you will not make it big without a little (or a lot) of luck. Many millionaires (Nick Hanauer, Bill Gates, and others) have all stated that without luck they would not be in their current situation. I think Belfort is oblivious to this idea and attributes only his work ethic and skills to his success. However I would still be interested in attending one of his sessions. It is not worth $500, but it would be interesting to learn his perspective on his life and topics, even if it is over the top.
ReplyDeleteI like Belfort's method of describing people as either ducks or eagles and I think it's pretty accurate. As far as the makings of a successful person, I agree with both T.J. and Scott. I think that success is the result of a combination of hard work and determination as well as luck and talent. I personally would like to listen to Belfort talk. I doubt that I would spend $500 on it but I think that there's a lot to learn from him.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a whole lot about actual Jordan Belfort's life, but if the movie is accurate, I'm pretty sure he was not born into riches. I think there are ducks and eagles in this world. The difference between the two, in my opinion, is the ducks like to play things safe and are willing to be satisfied with mediocrity. Eagles, on the other hand, are risk takers. Eagles refuse to accept life the way it is and are always looking to advance. They are never satisfied. Jordan Belfort took his insatiability a little too far to the point of getting in trouble with the law. I would definitely like to hear this man speak. The guy is a legend. I wouldn't pay for the whole VIP treatment, but I would definitely fork over a decent amount of cash to hear his thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Clay when he says that ducks play it safe while eagles are will to take risks. We alway hear about the eagles that are so rich, but we don't hear about the ones who took a risk and are now poor because their risk didn't pan out. People like to watch movies like "Wolf of Wall Street" because it's entertaining to them. If this movie had not been made, the real Jordan Belfort would not be making millions of dollars doing a speaking tour. I do believe that working hard plays a big part in how successful you are in life, but I also believe that luck and timing are substantial factors.
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