Impact and Legacy: Inside the Mind of Music Legend Scooter Braun

I'm ready alright welcome back to the school of greatness podcast we got my man Scooter Braun in the studio what's up brother um it's good to see you man I'm just really excited we've talked about doing this for a while yeah we uh we originally connected through your brother Adam who were I'm friends with and you were in the t-shirt where the teacher got a represent support pencils of promise I liked it and we when we met at South by I actually met you a couple years got the gala for like a brief second you probably remember and then I don't remember you you you did not make a mark I remember and then we met ad to get a we met in South by we played some basketball we had a good time it was a good time yeah we went out on that court we got busy it was fun man on that Texas court it was fun I got some random facts common facts about us to start the show ah it's common facts one is we both played basketball football and swimming growing up yes we did you were swimmer as well yes I was how many years four years on the Greenwich dolphin fact John Waters I just couldn't beat him and that's probably what discouraged me from continuing to swim and then he was like an alternate in the Olympics so I probably should have kept snow away yeah okay crazy so you played football too I played football until ninth grade and then I got serious about basketball and realize it wasn't that big so yeah yeah but I was I was all about uh you know hitting people it's a shirt middle school okay cool so those are common facts we also both played college basketball that is true you put it Emery yeah well I did for the time Horace they're kind of you're there for two years right what kind of not even and then we also both played sports at Emory because I did it to Kath lon at Emory you did yeah I competed there one time it's a beautiful campus actually yes it was actually I was there a lot and they thought I was a student but she weren't a student I'd already dropped out by then how old were you dropped out nineteen nineteen I was 19 that's incredible we both used to promote events yes you're an event promoter and cly yes that I was for a long time I was a party promoter an event promoter for til I was probably 25 okay very cool I used to promote like these LinkedIn networking events when I first started that so you were trying to like do the nice things like bring together not like drunk and like yeah I was celebs I was the drunk and like ciara c12 step and like you know try to get out the bottles and yeah yeah I wasn't I was selling them you saw me I know interested in drinking I was selling them did you drink ever when you were doing the part not when I when I worked I never drank you never drank gotcha yeah I mean a certain cases I might do a shot here there with cold buddies yeah yeah but I was about the business jay-z's like hey let's do a shot you're not gonna shy away yeah I wouldn't shy away from from jay-z but it was in but it was Atlanta so it was more like Jesus like you know he was like hello man on the Snowman take a shot me we are we both sit on the board a pencil promise yes we do and we both believe in the hustle in the grind we do we do we actually do but the real thing we're not talking about the Terrence Howard movie right it's a little bit different hustle and flow we're about hustle and grind that's our movie exactly you're Terrence Howard Terrence Howard I feel like you're the Terrence Howard in this group okay I'm just the chick yeah now what I'm curious about I've been doing a lot of research about you obviously I've heard about you from your brother but as I've been preparing for this I'm curious to know what your actual dream was as a kid because I know about your family and I've met your family and your parents are incredible but what was like was your dream to be I'm gonna drop out of school and promote these parties with celebrities like what did you actually want when I was a kid I just wanted I mean no one told me that a 5 foot 11 Jew wasn't highly likely to make it to the NBA they didn't know so I was watching like they gave you hope I was watching Mark Price and John Stockton I have a chance every every like six-foot white guard the NBA had to offer I was the kid who would go on like NBA you know live and create my player and he just had a ridiculous jumper and had more hops than I'll ever have Wow um but that was like my dream and then I read I was one summer I read one of Phil Jackson's books and I was like oops yeah that was a book you know I was I was kind of like I want to be a coach and then and then I thought maybe be a lawyer maybe be a politician because I was class president my high school so I'm not going to politics I did the whole boy State thing yeah and then you know I wanted to be an entertainment there for a little while my brother was always the guy with the five-year plan I was kind of like we'll just see what tomorrow brings but I'm gonna keep working Adam does everything planned out it seems like yeah I'm the opposite and uh what happened was I ended up in Atlanta started throwing parties never been to a nightclub before college threw parties because after selling fake IDs it was a legal way to make money um I like how your Cameron just made it faceook oh my god he said it out loud haha it's okay I don't do that anymore it was very short-lived so uh how did you make those did you have a printer did you know what it was I actually I mean a denominator I didn't make them there was a buddy of mine who made them and he made great fake New York IDs but he just had a really really bad way of selling them he was a bad salesman you were great at like saying hey I can get you inside well no not even that I just said there's a way to do this where you're not gonna get caught and we can make more money you just have to be smarter and I would tell you but then college kids would start doing this and I'd probably get in trouble and be liable for them going to jail so I'm gonna just say don't make fake IDs I did it was like a two-month thing he broke one of my rules of what I said look if you ever break these rules I'm out and he broke it he said what are you crazy everything else and I said no I'm out I told you don't break these rules and I quit cold turkey Wow and then I went by a nightclub called chaos in Atlanta and I said you know let me can I bring some people here next Thursday night give you some money and my first party was a paradox in chaos chaos time paradox and they gave me like $800 cash knowing what I know now they probably owed me eight grand right but that was the first $800 legally I'd ever made um you know in that short amount of time and I just bugged out cuz my summer job coach and basketball was like 1600 for the whole summer like every day yeah and such hours a day you know so uh so you know I made eight half as much and all and one night one night I bugged out and then I started learning the business of promoting funny enough from a guy named Alex Kidd one who was uh there were no I was the only white boy at Alex's parties sure but Alex told me about a cut line he taught me about how to create the hype and kind of the secondary market of Atlanta like how to promote and then I went to Miami and ended up promoting parties for a long time and how many people did you get at your first promotion your first gig I read somewhere 800 but about 800 to a thousand how did you get how many people your first time when I nineteen year old white punk yeah Franco freshman in college well who believed in you and trusted you to my first party was all the college kids sure and what it was but no a freshmen were pulling like that what I did was I realized everybody wants to go were the freshmen girls go Oh had a college party and I had a high school sweetheart at the time so the girls didn't feel threatened I could dance a little bit so they let you know you know they have a good time with me on that dance floor and I got three really cute awesome girls and I went to Kinko's I made my own fliers shut up and we fly 'red the campus and I told these girls like give you free drinks if you could get people there and sure enough eight hundred people came and I was I'm pretty good at this let's let's keep trying Wow so uh one thing led to another and then I became a very big party promoter so you did that for a couple years right and then yeah probably for about six years six years oh yeah I was a party motor I was like 25 you dropped out of college right after about a year after after you started Emma Stone started it got really big and then I started working with a young young rapper with his manager shotgun his other manager Jeff his name was ludicrous she had a song called throw them bows and I started working that song and I was my first exposure the music business and then there was another guy named Jermaine Dupri who um he can't you know he came to my parties who loved him and then he said I've got to meet with you I'll never forget your Mane's like not the tallest individual he's short right like five four I don't even know how he'll say five six you're almost higher level nice try 511 um look I love how tall people always like to talk I'm talking um alright so short people are usually smarter so we have to have sites okay we are oh well I'm like more than average alright now just be like huge human being um so what happened was Jermaine was took me to I'll never forget it took me downstairs this nightclub and you want to talk alone and he got on his stool and he's so short that his feet were dangling and he's like man I'm gonna get you living in mansions and these parties not gonna be there come work for me it's also deaf and I said okay and I went and worked for So So Def for three years and dropped out of school and I still remember when he gave me like my social deaf puffy jacket like it's kind of like a starter jacket associative intruder on it I thought it was the coolest guy in the whole world so I was like money ain't a thing so you made a name for yourself and he was like okay this guy can yeah consistently bring it yeah he used to call me his li or to his Russell Simmons hahaha so quite literally your white puffs I had a lot of cool little nicknames back then so what did you start doing for him so you learned a lot in this promotional business it sounds like you learned a lot just like guerilla marketing basically and being creative what did you learn while at the next level and what were you doing specifically for him was it more modeling artists and yeah it was records it was marketing artists it was building outside campaigns I was the vice president of marketing at So So Def Records I was 20 years old Wow and we went on this crazy run where when I signed out with Jermaine he didn't have distribution yet he signed on new distribution and then we did j-kwon tipsy we did Anthony Hamilton we did youngbloodz and then we did we did uh sure confessions Jermaine exact could produce that and that's how me and I should became close because we were in the studio every night in fact confessions part one almost didn't happen because I was trying to get them to come to the nightclub with me no and they kicked me on the studio Wow smart move guys but yeah I didn't I was still learning and while I was doing that I was trying to create my own artist I was spending all my money on the side since Asher Otis was this was early on these were acts that people don't know about because it was while I was still learning sure so I had this act OD and that fell apart because they dropped a bunch of banks in Atlanta oh my god I shut them down and they got caught because our mixtape I paid for to put out they were posing and the FBI finally identified them from our mix tape that we flooded Atlanta WA and then I had this artist Cato who was part of OD who I was very close with and I just financed everything for a long time I mean I paid for the mixes the Masters the housing I mean it was just like I was understanding how to develop an artist and I learned a lot from that experience because I failed um what were some of the big lessons you learned early on anything with that I learned how to make records first of all I mean I learned the mixing the mastering I learned the radio promotion side independently because I was working record independently I learned you know how to trust my gut at the right time and I hear all the time of like Oh everything you sign you know blows up but I I had a lot of failures before Asher Roth happened and Asher was kind of a new beginning for me because it was the first time I did it without So So Def so my back was against the wall I had it was all my money I had no income coming in are fused to do party you had everything to lose grace everything I mean literally I will never forget I'm now moving into my new house my wife now and I looked around I said I can't believe we live here because I remember paying for pizza would change you know I remember I ordered this pizza I realized I didn't have any money and I we had to wait till the next party the following week and I paid for pizza would change and then I was quick parties cold-turkey because I said if I have to throw a party and I failed hmm so I had enough money when I sign - her - you know live for about 13 months my lifestyle and then I was going to go broke and I sign Asher and Justin within four months of each other and I put everything into them I mean Wow housing studio time you know paying for the tutor paying for the the furniture paying you know everything and I really believed in these guys and it makes it all worth it now because it was a you know I couldn't I was far away from home I couldn't go home I was and ask my dad for money since I was 18 and I had to make it from my own and the idea of failing wasn't an option did you ever think that one of them wanted or both of them wouldn't be successful in their own way or that you wanted they wouldn't work out or you would have to find another way to make money no I really I really believed in both them when I found Asher I knew exactly what it could be what Asher also taught me though is sometimes artists don't want to be as big as you want them to be Asher was super happy being who he was and I had this vision to make him the biggest artist in the world and you know we had so much hype and he just that wasn't what he wanted and you know he's one of my closest friends now he's my brother for life and he just put on video the other day kind of chronicling the whole journey we've had together for himself and it was really nice to see because you know he just wanted to make music and enjoy his life and never really be famous and you know and he's achieved that and he's done very well for himself and he had the big hit he had the number three album and you know he I was a struggle for me with Justin Justin was like make me the biggest right like a perfect you know and and you know he was very much like me and uh um and we you know grinded and he was a young man and no it was uh it was a different thing but you know when Asher made I love college it was in the basement of this house I was renting this craphole at like red rats everywhere called the green house because truth is he was smoking so much weed done it but that night he was a smoke we never spoke with Justin was around but he recorded I love college and Justin actually was in the studio hmm uh he was a wood studio is like a little crap room in the basement you know my budding engineering but we all kind of came up together and there's this really great picture of me Asher and Justin on the front porch of that house and no new Justin was I mean there's videos of Asher and me with Ludacris and everyone's hyped because Asher and Ludacris in the same room and they don't notice is this little kid sitting behind let's show ins Justin so he was 12 from this he was at that time 1314 when you first had a move to LA he was 13 when I move I found when he was here the videos he was 12 yeah but he you know just the whole adventure to kind of you you respect everything so much more and it also reminds you when you get money that tomorrow isn't promised yeah and you value everything you know because you know what it's like to be a big promoter and have all kinds of money and then literally be paying for pizza would change because you spent it all trying to make it mmm you know so and promoting also you're trading your time for one event you're like promoting for one event then you got to make money another event yeah you're going to party to party and yeah it was um it was the best learning experience the Atlanta hustle taught me so much and kind of the you know when you're in a cash business and there aren't contracts like your word is all you have to it and you know having that experience and and being able to shake someone's hand and know that that's powerful and mean something it was it was very valuable lesson well now the money you had for this twelve or thirteen months to bring under your two clients I heard you brokered a deal with the Pontiac and Ludacris is that what happened now how did this come about and well I had sounds like parties and and that but it was um I was leaving social deaf Jermaine and I were kind of agreeing that it was time to go separate ways I was disagreeing with kind of certain marketing ideas I had all these ideas for social media and I just was getting frustrated you know I wanted to sign different acts and I went and I got great advice phone for my dad who said look if you work for someone shut up and do what they want at the end of the day mm-hm or do it on your own and you know put up a show up kind of thing and then I saw Little John and a nightclub in London and he said he works for Jermaine for 12 years and he had this idea for Little John but Jermaine was focused on what he was focused on and he said he finally left and he said don't take 12 years if you have an idea do you believe in go after your dream and um and I was like yeah oh no that's not what happened but that would have been awesome um but uh but yeah it was it was an interesting time and that Pontiac deal Ludacris had just got you know unfairly judged by a Riley who was kind of calling him gangsta rap and anyone knows Ludacris knows that it's nothing like gangsta rap yeah and he kind of lost all his endorsement deals and I told Chaka let me get you an endorsement deal and he said look the agencies not getting us anything right now if you can bring anything in Shore and broken a standard ten or twenty percent commission or whatever yeah I mean what it was yeah and what happened was um he had a song called two miles an hour and I said we can do a card deal with that I started looking and calling around and I bought an Escalade you know a couple years earlier and the guy who I bought it from won the dealership you know I've become friends with and he told me then you know the Pontiac you know was coming with campaigns and he had to ask around so I called up the Pontiac and I said I was a student writing for a student paper and how do I do this they said we have an agency called the agency I said the same lie I finally got this woman on the phone thinking she was going to do an interview to talk about how she decides the Pontiac campaigns and I said can I come see you in person I did and I pitched her Ludacris she said she got a kick out of the fact that I got to her Wow and the movie crash was coming out which featured Ludacris and she said I'm not really interested in Ludacris but I said we'll come see the movie and she saw the movie and she was blown away by him and and she took a chance on me and on Ludacris and we did the Pawnee solsa steel and here's the best part they sent down for the video they let us shoot our own video with Brian Barber directing who's a big director and a friend of mine he done all the outcast stuff bunch of Ludacris videos and they sent down the prototype of the Pontiac Solstice and said look you can't drive this on the regular streets you have to just have it at the video shoot and have it you know but I couldn't afford at the time to or the shipping of the car from my house where they dropped it off Wow a lot bed and everything I was trying to cut every corner like five grand or whatever so for for people to understand a prototype of a car is like a million dollars even though it looks exactly at the regular car yeah is when it's the first one it's the pro so I drove that thing oh my gosh from my house down the highway to the video shoot driver like 50 miles an hour yeah I just I just drove it and I just said you know I've been looking back now wasn't very smart or responsible but that's what happens when you give a young kid this is brilliant oh I love this story because I drove it right onto that video shoot I love this whole your your mindset behind getting the deal done and getting your foot in the door because so many people wouldn't have that idea of like let me act like I'm a journalist at a school and wanting to do a paper story around this cozy fellow like I feel bad talking about now but you know I think it's Atlanta it was fake it till you make it it's hustle - it was fake it so you know it was it was the opening scene of Schindler's List you know I'm actually serious my grandparents Holocaust survivor so I always had an interest but that opening scene affected me in a different way than the rest of the movie because the opening scene Schindler spent all his money to his name to impress the German executives so that he actually got the government contracts because they thought he was something that he wasn't and that's pretty much what I did with hip hop in Atlanta I would spend all the money I made on my Thursday night parties with college kids on Tuesday night at Alex's party at the velvet room where I was the only white boy with all the rappers everything else and they were amused they let me in for free because they were amused that I was showing up right like who's this white boy cuz it back then Atlanta was kind of segregated as far as how they party but I was from the North shooting in Paris I mean I you know I got my family's very diverse and you didn't see it so but they saw me like popping the bottle and hanging out these girls and the truth wasn't was I wasn't drinking anything sure but I was faking until I make out them bottles and they'd say what are you doing oh I want to come to your party and then I started mixing things up and you know I grew my business and uh it was it was a wild time now even are you talking about your family and I know family's been important to you and is it true you have family tattooed on your wrist yep right here there you go now how has family shaped you and why it is so valuable to you well funny enough today is the 35th anniversary of my parents I saw your Instagram yeah no faster bigger so I actually meant what I wrote I wrote that uh they showed me what real love is you know to have parents that really truly love each other and are good to each other it's such a blessing it's so rare in today's world yeah and to witness that growing up and to have that love you know all the time I always felt full you know what I mean I always felt safe in a way because you have that love for your family and you know I'm a big person about studying happiness and trying to figure out how to become content in life you know I think life is journey its ups and downs you just got to understand that once you understand it's kind of this there's this idea in Kabbalah where you have to rise you where God is where it's been kind of enlightened you know he's looking over the valley during this kind of tight ravine like a thing imagine a Grand Canyon but really tight yeah so you can't see what's around the next corner so it seems scary but if you can rise above and kind of see where all the turns and where the ending is you know it's not nearly as scary and that's kind of what life is like once you start to realize it's going to be okay and you'll get through those turns and there are ups and downs but tomorrow will come I think you get happier and I think what family has taught me is there's always this steadiness and I think if you can provide you know for your family if you can be you know build a family which I'm now doing with my wife we're gonna do with our first child you know you do all this stuff but what's it really worth and I think the only real legacy in life is family and charity you know and when you asked me earlier kind of I had a five-year plan I can tell you I'm sorry if I'm rambling but no it's good for me my perspective is I just wanted to leave a mark on the world I wanted to leave so I'm positive because I because I don't you know I think you only get a short time on this plan and and what's it worth unless you can do something right you know and I understand one of my mentors said no one's gonna remember you in a hundred years no one's gonna remember me no to remember you but they'll feel our impact yeah and who might remember me is my children hmm you know and so the idea of family the idea of working your ass off to share it with someone else is what makes it worthwhile so to me it's everything I mean it's you know and I don't even think I comprehend what that means until I meet this kid in February but um but family is everything and I think you know you look at a lot of third world countries and a lot of people don't realize I watched this documentary happy the other day there's a great documentary and they talk about how our nation in last 50 years has gone up 50 percent up in wealth how we are richer than we were 50 years ago by 50 percent but our happiness per capita has gone up less than 1% and I think it's because we chase the dollar but we don't understand what the dollar is for hmm and money is an amazing thing it can be actually a complete release and an avenue to freedom sure but it can also trap you at the same time you call in the rat race and I think family is that thing that you always need to know that comes first hmm and if you do that you're gonna live a happier life so in your 20s it sounds like you were chasing building things in your life making money you know hustling and it wasn't as much about building a family obviously I tattooed this in my wrist honest 20 well interesting not actually ha let me know I was in 20 hold on let me think was I 20 it was it was the day after Jay Williams had his motorcycle accident oh wow so it was June 19th of June 20th that I that I did it cuz Jay is one of my closest friends and I found out what happened to him and I chickened out about getting a tattoo a couple weeks earlier and my mom my mom had unfortunately got a little bit sick she's okay now and I you know how to realize everything I'm saying now and I'm actually glad because once again this tattoo brings us back to it i tattooed family on my wrist my only tattoo because I said I wanted in a visible place for the rest of my life people will ask me about this tattoo which you just did yeah and I will have to tell this story of why I got it which is this simple and it will remind me for us my life I was lost and I was chasing the dollar and I was chasing the money and what I because I didn't really understand I was just going for it yeah and what I realized was all I'm doing it for is this so I'm going to tattoo it on my wrist so for the rest of my life I'll get asked this question for the rest of my life I will be reminded of what's really important hmm did something shift when in your mindset and your energy or any way of being when you realize that yeah I was pregnant yeah completely what shifted for you um you start to realize and I think as a man which I've been told by everyone and I think it's true you don't really understand it till you see the child something's not right of me sure so I'm excited but I'm not like I can't I can't comprehend until I think I meet them to be crazy and I'm really excited about that but what you start to realize is you know you can live for other people you can do charity you can you know I I I manage so I have to I'm helping people a lot I'm helping that my job is to help people achieve their goals yeah um but I think what I realized when my wife got pregnant was for the first time in my life my wife's an adult she can fend for herself yeah um and if you know my wife she can really fence it right yeah uh when you become a father you start to have this idea of oh my god my life is no longer mine you know for the rest of my life there's never going to be a selfish decision again I can't you can't call me and say yo scooter we're going to Vegas you want to come with us I was come play basketball yeah every decision I make for the rest of my life I have to consider how that affects Wow someone who depends on me well like truly depends on me and and that has made me respect other fathers a moment she got pregnant I started looking at friends of mine who are great businessmen who have kids and I've worked my ass off but I've been able to be selfish in my time of your own time yeah I want to look out for no one look out for really like every my wife's an adult like I can do what I need to do to make it happen sure and I look at some of these guys who have multiple kids which I want and they're at the kids baseball game and they're here and then they're still handling all this business and they're present too and completely I have so much respect for them and I need to pull from their wisdom because I'm scared of how am I going to pull it off but I have to pull there's no other option hmm and I you know my buddy Charlie walk has four kids and he is a workaholic like me and I hit him the other day when I was thinking about this and I said Charlie I have so much respect for the fact that you work like this and have four kids right you know and and I you know because he's a present father sure and I think that is the ultimate thing that's why I look at people like Jeffrey Katzenberg and Richard Branson as role models not in it in a sense because these are very successful businessmen but they have great kids yeah great kids who are adults and they love their father and I think that's the ultimate test of success if you would have had you know been married when you're 23 25 and had a child then do you feel like you would be as successful in your business career and done as much now or do you feel like it would have shifted a lot this industry major I would love to say yes because people say that when you have a kid you grind even harder that's what I've been told because Gary B says that yeah like you grind even harder but I'd have to say no if I was really being honest with myself because um I had to be present because my acts are so young I to be present for them at that age and that kid so much yeah and I to be present for them and I I don't think I would have been able to do the things I needed to do at the time I was building my business yeah because now I would took me six months before I can do in a phone call because I've earned the beverage hey what time it is you you earn it you know earn equity in your relationships and time and the hard work you put in sure but back then I had to earn it and uh and I think that's actually why I wasn't ready to have a family back then because I knew wasn't the right time but now I'd be a complete hypocrite if I wasn't a good dad at this point because if I can't give my kid the time he needs at this point in my life then everything I worked for you know I be able to point right what's the point so but um but at the same time I have amazing artisan and people that I work with because we're all like a family and they're so excited to meet my kid too you know and and I think my child will grow up in this fabric of these relationships like Mara's are gonna be uncle's an answer yeah and we're gonna we're gonna have a fun ride it's gonna be it's on life that's cool yeah what you talked about mentors who are your your mentors right now and do you think it's really important that everyone has a mentor or coaches you know where I am I think sometimes people say they have one mentor I've never had one mentor if I had one mentor it'd be my father hmm I think I've learned more from him on how to be a man yeah and that has helped me more so in business than probably anything so I'd say he's the ultimate mentor to me but I have really great mentors in in Jeffrey Katzenberg who I asked how do you get a family like this and he gave me really great advice he pointed pictured his wife and he said get one like that and uh and then you know great mentors and people like Lucy and Grange was the chairman of Universal Music Group I'm very close with who's been an incredible mentor and friend yeah um and then you know I have people uh you know just friends I draw from but you know I read a book about David Geffen when I was 19 and that really inspired me and made me want to go into this business sure and now David has become someone who's become a mentor to me well I mean someone who I can draw from and every single time I get advice from him whether he's yelling at me or you know sharing stories I'm just appreciative because to be able to meet the people that inspired you is a really beautiful and incredible thing yeah and especially when they they offer you the guidance that you always wanted from them yeah so you know those kind of people I mean I'm eternally grateful yeah because I draw from people but sometimes I and father worked in it you know my grandmother worked in a sweatshop 15 years my dad grew up and my grandpa was a refugee and kind of did odd jobs and you know and I know where I come from and I think that I was always taught you treat the CEO and the janitor the same yeah and there's a lot of wisdom you can get from all kinds of people and sometimes the best advice I've gotten from mentors is all being in a random country in a car with a driver drivers always have the best involute and in you sometimes you'll talk to somebody and you'll just start sharing because they're complete stranger and they will give you a piece of whiz little nugget me a little nugget so good yeah and clicks with your like what yeah you never know you know it's uh it's the core it's the Plato quote that uh made me funny enough my wife said that's why I wanted to meet her she tweeted it I saw it I wanted meet her but it's that idea that be kind for everyone you meet walks a hard journey well um you know and you never you never know where you're going to you know get that greatness from sure um so good word yeah let's get work um your dad you said he taught you about what it means to be a man what does it mean for you to be a man today good husband good father I think everything else is secondary I think at the end of day if I die and people say oh you're so successful look at everything achieved in my kid and wife walk up there and they say I was piece of mmm you're a failure but if you if I lose everything and they walk up there and they said he was a great father a great husband I think I'm a success and what about for someone who's not a father or a husband yet what's the definition of being a good man um being a definition of a good man to me is uh look it life is not black and white there's a lot of gray yeah oh but understand your endgame do things with integrity mm-hm incorporate giving back into things that you do because it will I think it's really good karma yeah in our business everything we do has have a charitable component yeah and what is the idea of being a good man I think the I think the best way to be a good man is to simply live by the golden rule hmm you know do unto others as you want done unto you sure um if you just live by the golden rule I think you'll be okay right and when did you decide that you want to have a charity component to everything that you do as I read this about you as well that every investment you bring on it's like you've got to have something involved you know I think my mother instilled that nurse when we were very young even funny enough it's Hanukkah when I was a kid hanukkah's eight days still is hasn't changed but my mom always said one day of presidents one day of charity so we only got we got for presents and we got for charities that we would choose as a family and sometimes we would give money to the charity sometimes we would go to the soup kitchen and volunteer but we always had to have four days of charity it was something very important my mom so I you know in my parties every fourth party I gave the money to charity so I worked a lot of like on-campus charities and certain things like that because I always thought it made people feel you know all he's a piece of promoter it's not any other but they'd feel good and say okay well at least he's doing this right and when I started putting that into our business and our artists and look I'm really proud I know Justin's gone through a lot of crap this year but he's the number one make-a-wish giver in history of any musician ever and he's only twenty years old that's impressive you know so people can say what they want but he has taken that idea of giving and dove in headfirst and I see it with Arianna I said Martin garrix listen we went down to do ultra every other DJ's party and their ass off and these are all good guys I'm not talking to crap but sure I asked Martin I said would you mind if we did something good in the community Miami has a lot of very poor communities let's go to one of these community centers and teach kids how to DJ hmm and Martin wouldn't did that and he at first was like what are we doing oh he's young kid he never done anything like about before and he said to me afterwards he's like that's the most fun I've ever had Wow and I think that a lot of people want to give they're just not given the opportunity and they don't know how mm interesting yeah I mean I'm a big believer in giving and being of service and I feel like that's a key to greatness let me let me say something to your listeners real quick I want you guys to understand you listen to this man's podcast all the time but I want to tell you why I actually know this man because he started to do well in his life and make some money and the first thing he did is he reached out to my brother and said I like this charity I want to get involved in every single year he builds schools every single year he gives back so when you're listening it goes right back to the beautiful beautiful man sitting in front of me yeah and there's a couple there's a couple picture schools a couple schools that he's built I just built one last week so so what I'm saying is feel good about what you're listening to in this podcast every week and the reason I came to do this is because the is someone who gets it that understands that you get what you give and and and I feel like you live the same way as I do which is you are probably like me we're both very selfish individuals and let me say what I mean I think I know where you're going this you like to feel good of course and I think in our society this is way off topic so I'm sorry against drunk but in our society I think God I'm talking a lot today uh in our society I think we we get told it's okay for the CEO of a cigarette company make millions of dollars but the moment someone works in a non-profit makes more than hundred grand it's despicable yeah so our brightest and smartest people in the world they can't work in in the giving we call it non profit my brother calls it for purpose because why should you call it something that it isn't you know don't say the negative of something that's good say the positive it's for purpose it's an identity for peace 100% and I think when I say either we're selfish it's because we should tell our kids I'm gonna tell my kid this that you know you should do things that make you feel good and drugs aren't gonna make you feel good that short-lived everything else party and drinking all that stuff you will never feel as good as when you're giving back yeah and it's okay to be selfish about that it's okay to want to celebrate that to say you know what they're the pictures of the schools I built when you walk into my house you should feel good about that you should be able to share that and when people say you should only give in no one no look I think you should do that 50% of the time but the other 50% you should be giving it away people know so it inspires others to get to give and I think you know I get off on giving yeah so you know why not do that it makes me feel good if you have a problem me feeling good about getting go yourself right right and what am i I mean what do people that say they don't have any money to give their you know maybe give your time it'd be nice to a stranger open a door yeah like there's so many different ways to help somebody you know call a friend that you think you know unfortunately I've lost two really close people to me to suicide and I probably should have picked up that phone a week earlier and you can't blame yourself and like that but you call somebody that you care about who might be going through a tough time and just speak to them people need outlets and there's so many different ways you know and things that you'll do that you don't like years later people come up to me and said hey you did this I don't remember doing it and the truth is cuz it was just this little thing and you know I have those people in my life where I I say to them Steven Spielberg I was fourteen years old I made this little documentary somehow someone gave it to him it was a piece of crap 10-minute documentary but he liked the subject and he wrote a letter to me that changed my life it was from Steven Spielberg I was 14 it made me believe that I could do anything and years later I met Steven Spielberg and I told him this is like a little nothing letter he wrote one day but he didn't I forgot I forgot like who cares you know funny enough Steven Spielberg is the it was crazy actually remembered the subject no couldn't believe that I was the kid remembered the subject but that little letter that was nothing for him changed my entire life Wow so you know I think people you always hear about people near a big businessmen who killed themselves because they lost millions of dollars right but they had a billion dollars already yeah but did you ever hear about anyone working in a soup kitchen like my buddy Sean Stephenson you know told me that yeah I heard him say that I thought it was so brilliant mmm because you never hear about people giving experience severe depression yeah you know and that's why I was talking earlier about third-world countries they're happier than us so happy because they're giving to each other experiencing things and you know we we we're the only creature on the planet that takes more than we need and that's fine there's a lot of fun you can have with that trust me you know I enjoy art I probably don't need every piece of art but I enjoy it I heard you have a Mickey Mouse sculpture or something you got I just loved Mickey Mouse I love them Walt Disney I saw it on your wall and I loved it like that but yeah I'll let you ask your questions now because I'm talking too much know that's good I'm glad you're sharing we're doing okay guys yeah yeah okay glad you're I'm glad you're sharing um I want to talk about I mean service for me is very important I get a t-shirt too I've got one laid out for you right behind you okay I'll shut up now my my free swag exactly it's a great workout sure to play basketball yeah talk about building relationships and building teams your a master at giving to people adding value and building relationships and do you believe that you can build something so big will build an empire without a powerful team or without empowering others around you and supporting no no I think it was actually one of the hardest things to me because for the first for the sorry for the first seven eight years I really built it you know my own um and then with Allison K my first she's my GM now you know she was the first person ever came worked me and it was you know I didn't have an office till three years ago we built the whole thing like Bert on laptops and cell phones and traveling on the world in hotels and buses and planes but what I realize now is no one will ever do it exactly the way you want because no one is you right and that doesn't mean that you do it better it means the way you want it you're the only one who can do that because you're you and what you need to be okay with in scaling is saying you know what they might drop the ball because when you drop the ball you know it's you it doesn't bother you as much when someone else does you go crazy effects yeah but you got to realize too the only way to scale is to delegate and to empower others and to say you know what they're not going to do it exactly like me but they're going to do exactly like them sure and I have to be okay with that and in fact they might do it better than me in the long run and I've been able to bring in some amazing people in my life and surround myself with people I think were skilled in ways that I'm not sure and we've been able to scale an incredible business because they make things happen Scott Manson who works with me he is responsible for scorpion you know him and a guy named Danny rose but Scott found Walter he believed in it he got me to understand it but it was his baby and if it wasn't for Scott I would not be executive producing a TV show right now you know it was you have another one coming up right yeah we have we have signed a couple others but uh but that's also because the people in the business we're scaling I just really smart cable people who believe in what we're doing and I believe in them and you know sometimes they'll drop the ball sometimes I'll drop the ball but you have to you know that's the same ideas when we play basketball it's like you know some times are going to make a great and the guy's going to miss that easy shot and you're going to be frustrated cuz that was another assist for you on your stop but at the end of the day it isn't about our stat line it's about winning the game and you cannot win a game on your own everyone unless everyone wins unless your will champion what is the bet or how do you empower your team to raise to the next level to get the most out of them what are some things you do to let them know they are appreciated they're seen um one I think you have to you have to empower them you have to let them know that people can't call you and go around them even if you agree you have a private conversation so they look this now I want you to deal with this but you have to let people know that they're the end-all be-all on that decision on the thing that you've given them the task you've given them they're the ones who will decide how it's going to go down you'll advise you can take part but it's their decision at the end because they've them ownership yeah give them owners should make them bosses yeah um let them know that you will believe in anything that they dream of once hmm maybe twice but if it fails then they start to have a reputation and then you got to reassess things but if they say look blah you know I I know you're not really sure about this but just give me a shot that's how I got started someone Steve Rifton gave me a shot with Asher Roth didn't understand it at first everything else he gave me a shot and then we went on a great ride together well Ellie Reid gave us a shot you know right yeah yeah I mean we built that kind of huge on online anyway beforehand but um you know it's you you have to give people that shot because you are in the position you are in because someone else gave you a shot and how do you find the right people the right people how do you find people that are you know going to make a difference that are going to step up and okay so so I'm a firm believer that it's more important to have positive energy around you than the smartest people hmm now luckily I've been able to have in my pee and some of the smartest people around me and positive and positive but that's actually more important I learned that lesson the hard way because I had some negative in my life before and you start to question yourself because negativity projects onto you you start to look in the mirror and say you know my really good person am i doing the right thing and that isn't you that's their feeding on to you sure you know there's this this scientific study I read recently fun if our friends Sophia Bush put this online about the idea that the heart creates a 8-foot pulse of energy of energy Wow and you know the brain creates I think five feet pulse but the heart actually is eight feet and you can feel it you can so when you when someone walks in room and you say wow the person walked in the room when I felt their energy that's actually a real thing so when someone has negative energy it's going to bring you down mom so I think it's more important to get loyal people people that love you people just around yourself and they'll say you asked me how you create a good team they say don't mix business with pleasure I absolutely think the opposite I think that's BS I think if someone cares about you when it's 11 o'clock at night and they need to spend an extra hour in the office to get it done they're gonna stay because they care about you sure because they know you give a about them mm-hmm and I think that is how you create a really good business because in today's world you got look you're gonna have to make tough decisions you're gonna have to be a boss you're not their best friend um but if you believe in someone they'll believe in you sure interesting what about your daily rituals do you have any better like you feel like everyone should be following you magic I guess you take a piss every morning two bromines a build positive habits I mean that's a positive habit you gotta pee in the morning it's very important clean-out um I was true it's funny I put that Steve Jobs um my buddy Jon Chu gave me a poster of jobs Greg I actually introduced me my wife great director we've done a couple projects together now we played cards against humanity' at your wife's house before you were engaged yeah with John he's a just great guy he gave me a poster for our housewarming gift my last house of Steve Jobs speech of you know the commencement speech no no no the one the famous speech from the commercial oh yeah that John knows by heart you know about uh about the type of people in the world yes the movers shakers or something like yeah uh you know the kind of I'm going blank I'm having a brain fart right now I usually know it but it's it's this idea that uh that the dreamers in the Swiss fits right you know the misfits the dreamers that you know they're the ones who achieve you know it's this idea that nothing kind of the way I like to put it I've heard it from other friends is you know nothing reasonable ever becomes great it's the unreasonable things that become great you know it's stepping out of that status quo and you know I think that as part of my ritual actually put it up in my above my toilet guys I see I pee every morning as I go yeah perfect so actually put that poster up above my toilet and in my new house I told you have to install this above the toilet and and I you know when I go to pee every morning I I just read it one more time and I remind myself okay let's going out in the world and and do cool yeah I watched your interview with Sean Stephenson and you talked about you said never be realistic you have the you have to be done really unrealistic to achieve something great and I think you stole that from Will Smith I did and a couple other people telling people say the same thing but that's cool I still a lot of things man ok ok now look I think I think most great ideas I've already been thought yeah we've been here a long time and we say them in different ways but that's ok we have to draw from the wisdom of the past and I think too many times we try to create create create and and what you should do is innovate mmm you know it's all been kind of laid out for us just innovate and create the new idea off of something great recreate the idea and some what other way it's you know how many songs have someone created the guitar and then we've created so much beautiful music off the guitar sure so you know it's innovate with what you're given hmm I like that a couple questions left for you because I know you gotta move houses what are you most grateful for recently a scooter all my family yeah I mean I'm starting a family that's an easy easy answer it's it's a wild feeling to know that 3 years ago I didn't know if this would ever happen to me mmm because I think someone probably like yourself as well you say to us hey I have a mission for you and there's point zero zero zero one percent chance you'll achieve it I will smile and say what do I sign up right yeah because the idea that it's so hard but it is an answer is exciting for me yeah and I know I'm gonna figure it out because that's actually a task that you're telling me it's achievable it's just hard okay I think I can do that sure falling in love finding the right person starting a family that there is no point zero zero one it is either happens to you or it doesn't and that's something very frustrating for someone like me because I want to go and create my own destiny sure but that isn't you know it's either given T or it isn't and I think that if you live well and you're a good person you'll find that and I was very blessed to have found I actually told my wife on our first date I was going to marry her Wow um that's ballsy yeah she actually she asked me what's the scariest thing about yourself you don't mean to no and about ten minutes earlier I had this feeling about her and I said you don't think I'm crazy but I think you're it and now we're having a child together or madly in love and I will say the most grateful thing in my life is to have beautiful friends and family in my life I you know I used to hate my birthdays because when they came I felt like I didn't achieved everything that I wanted and I think my 30th birthday and every birthday since my buddy Kenny's in the room and he's been with me since like the ATL days of course um you know every birthday I look around the room and I see all those friends and the people in my life in my family and I'm just so grateful so um so yeah friends and family I love it what is something small you've done there maybe no one really knows about that you're really proud of it could be a personal or business related something small that you've done that you haven't talked about it hasn't been you know blown up by Bieber but like I'm really proud of this moment you know the thing I would like to say I'm probably because no one knows and I'd want to keep it that way okay so I'll tell you one that makes me proud but it isn't that the thing the things that usually make me really proud that no one knows I take pride in the fact that no one knows sure and I'll go to my grave with them maybe I'll tell my kids but with knowing a few people know you know look I actually here's something that you know I don't maybe I don't know it's not really what you're expecting but I really enjoy the achievements of others at this point when you know my artists achieve something for the first time I get a real joy out of that um I get a joy out of seeing my younger managers get their first platinum plaque because I I got that a long time ago and that first time I'll never get back but I get to live it through them so you know I think the the little things that I get joy out of don't seem like they should be that significant but I get serious serious joy out of them because they aren't mine but I get to relive that moment through someone else's joy mm um so yeah I like that that's cool what are the three biggest moments in your business career that gave you the most excitement over the last 10 12 years once again a lot of those are things I can't talk okay well let me say the credit changers you know I'm saying some of those game changers are deals that you pull off sure you know it's out of confidentiality to your clients you can never tell anybody um but it's that it's at that chess game of getting it done so exciting of course look I think a game changer for me that I can talk about was um getting Asher's record deal and publishing deal that was a game changer for my business helped finance everything else and getting to pull that off and it was first deal from my own company that was huge yeah um getting when Justin when they're chanting his names first time I played the garden during the c100 show Wow and he hadn't been on stage and every between every actor change Justin Justin and like everybody just wanted him on stage so there are lots of other acts before oh yeah and they were just John Mayer ended he said early because he goes I know what you guys know where it was pretty wild and it was funny he was funny about it but um but I remember that because my mom will never graduate college and broke her heart leaned over to me and said tonight's my graduation oh my god Dan chills and it meant a lot to me because it finally my mom understood that I was achieving something and I was going to be okay you know and Justin you know that experience with Justin gave me that and I told Justin about I was like I'm eternally grateful for you because you gave me that opportunity to have that moment with my mother and then another big game-changer in business I mean there have been a lot of them it seems like every day you've got a big hit now a big game-changer I think big game changer in business for me because there's been a lot of moments there's been a lot of moments but I can't really talk about um the last couple years you know was it was Steve Rifkin Steve Rifkin you know I said Jermaine gave me opportunity no one would give me a record deal um la gave me the record deal also because I was being very successful Asher at that point so he wanted to be in business with me but when I had Asher Roth I was known as a young marketing guy and people said what do you know about a NAR signing your own access I was really one building access so stood up for people and know that yeah and um Steve Rifkin literally took a shot on me that no one else would I mean I had so many friends in the industry I'd made so many people money and no one would give me a record deal and Steve Rifkin did and I why do you think he what did he see in you that made him want to give you a chance I talked earlier about sometimes you got to give people a shot because you believe in them someone else gave you a shot I think Steve saw that in me and he gave me that opportunity and I and I and I want to say this because I want the whole world to know this this is the kind of man Steve Rifkin is and why I will always always say he's the and he is the man last year I was planning right after New Year's to propose to my wife and I was overseas and I got word the Steve Rifkin it had a heart attack and now he's gotten much healthier and he's in a really good place and when I found out he had already had the heart attack ten days earlier but I was overseas I didn't know so I called from my beautiful little villa overseas I'm hanging out my wife loving my wife now but my soon-to-be fiance at that point loving my life and I call this guy in a hospital to make sure he's okay and he gets on the phone and goes wow I'm so glad you called I've written an email to you seven times and erased it seven times I said what are you talking about he goes you know at this point my career after wu-tang after Big Pun after all the things I've done I feel like giving you a shot being associated with you is one of the biggest things ever done in my career well I said Steve that's very nice hearing you say he goes no you need to hear what I'm saying he goes scooter I have three beautiful children and I had a stroke you know I had a heart attack and I almost died and I've been I was in ICU and everything else and he goes all I kept thinking about when I thought about different things I kept going back to you and saying I don't want to ever see him in this hospital bit Wow and I never want to see him put himself into a place where he's not taking care of himself and this happens to him so scooter all of it isn't important if you don't take care of yourself and if you're not there for your kids because if I would have lost my life my kids would have grown up without their father and here I was I get emotional thinking about it I'm enjoying with my beautiful smart woman a vacation this guy's in a hospital bed he's more worried about me Wow and that is a testament to the type of person he is and I was shook that entire night I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about that you know I want to be that kind of man that thinks about others the way he thought about me and I will not only did he give me a chance he's continued to believe in me and I will I will always always be grateful and I will always be a friend of Steve Rifton because he's just a great man a great father and a great friend mm-hmm I love that couple final things first one acknowledged your scooter you are you're you're playing such a big game in the world and your heart is so big I don't think people know this much much but your heart is so big you give and give and give and I want echnology for the revision you have you have incredible vision and you have a gift of seeing something before it's actually created and in making it happening and doing whatever it takes and I think if more people followed you and learned how you do this they would all learn a lot about how to be successful in their own lives so I just want to acknowledge you for showing up so big in the world every single day for showing up for your family for your brother for your siblings your parents and all your friends like I watch it from afar I hear about it every now and then you know you just do so much for the world and I acknowledge you for that so I appreciate that yeah thanks man what do you want your legacy to be when it's all said and done well it's a tough question when it's all said and done like I said I hope they look back and say I was good dad and grandpa I didn't stop good husband I hope people feel like what you just said that would be good legacy for me thing like you know the idea of why not you know you know the worst thing in life that's gonna happen to you when you try something he doesn't work yeah so go after your dreams especially when you're young I feel like until you have children you can live for yourself and you can be as aggressive about your dreams all you want yeah be selfish about your dreams yeah and when you have a child you have to understand now you're living for them and you have to be more conservative but while you're young all these young people who listen to you cuz I know they do my advise them is very simple go after it while it's just about you yeah because the worst thing that's gonna happen is you're gonna fail and guess what you get to wake up tomorrow and start again yeah um you know and that's a lot better than most people are sure um so you know I think I want my legacy to be something about positivity and just you know one of my mentors is Right most likely 100 years from now no one's can remember my name but I hope that I did enough in this world that they'll feel my impact mmm that's powerful that gave me chills final question is what I ask all my guests at the end yeah what's your definition of greatness you know um you like I take it copy my definition of greatness is so I posted something on my Instagram the other day oh did you read about the dogs I'm sure okay so it's this I got out I remember it but it was something about you know that two dogs walk into this house and one comes out happy wagging its tail the other one comes out growling and nasty and this woman is really confused about they both walked into the same house like what the hell just happened so she walks in and she sees the house is filled with mirrors and she realized that one dog saw a reflection of himself filled with happiness and he came out happier because he saw a thousand happy dogs looking up and the other dog walked in and was miserable and saw a thousand angry dogs and lifted his you know in his anger and he walked off pissed off and I think my definition of greatness is the idea of of giving with positivity and you know it's it's not enough to just go out there and give you got to give in a way to the world that you know makes it better than where you left it and so the idea of being great is you know I work with somebody named Brad Hagen who you know that's a great guy okay you know and and he's a great father great friend and everyone who meets him he just he leaves them better off than where they were before he got there and I think Brad's a great man in that respect so my definition of being great is is pushing your limits as far as they can possibly go and never stopping wanting to add positivity and then leaving a place better off than where you found it Scooter Braun thanks for coming on my man I appreciate you thank you buddy fun

Channel: Lewis Howes

Views: 36,148

Rating: 4.9277978 out of 5

Keywords: Scooter Braun (TV Producer), justine bieber, user, music, top songs, lewis howes, the school of greatness, soga, legacy, summit, impact, projects, arianna grande, as seen on ellen, dance, interview, 2015, pop music, justin bieber, dance music, electronic dance music, management, artist, record label, get a record deal, youtube, bieber, justin, wedding, tricks

Id: L-hf29e2JwM

Length: 61min 1sec (3661 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 19 2015