Thirty Minute Mentors Podcast Transcript: Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Van Zandt

I recently interviewed Stevie Van Zandt on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview:

Adam: Our guest today is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Stevie Van Zandt is a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, a New York Times bestselling author and actor and activist, and the founding member of Little Steven's Underground Apothecary. Stevie, thank you for joining us.

Stevie: Hey, Adam, how's everything?

Adam: Everything's good. How are you doing?

Stevie: I'm all right.

Adam: Happy to hear that. Stevie, you grew up in New Jersey. And as a teenager, you performed in a number of New Jersey clubs. And in one of those clubs after one of those performances, you met another teenager, and the two of you clicked, you started working together. And he was the only person who you knew who was as dedicated to rock and roll as you are. Next thing you know, you and Bruce Springsteen have created one of the most successful bands in American history. Can you take listeners back to your early days? How did you uncover your passion for music for rock and roll for playing the guitar? And what did you do to become great at your craft?

Stevie: The truth is I wasn't really capable of doing anything else and was a complete, misfit freak, an outcast. It was the one thing I didn't know where to fit into society. I didn't like the options society was offering me at the time. I didn't know where I was gonna fit in. And then along comes what we call the British Invasion, which is where I tuned in to the rock and roll world, this would have been 1964 or so when I was 13. I had been buying some singles at the time, listening to the radio, and buying a few singles. But I didn't have any desire to actually do it. Until I saw two bands do it for me. The Beatles, first of all, appeared on a variety show, February 9th, 1964, and really blew everybody's mind because we hadn't seen that many bands. Bands were not really a thing in those days, not that played and sang. You went to your high school dance as an instrumental group and singers usually were individuals such as Chuck Berry, or Elvis Presley or Little Richard. And then there were singing groups, but there were not a lot of bands. So the idea of a band really was a different communication. For me, it was friendship. It was a posse, a gang, and ultimately a communicated community. So the Beatles were the first thing that said, whoa, this is an amazing, new thing. But they were so good. We discovered them halfway through their career really, we've been together more or less since ‘57. And we're going on ‘69. So we discovered them at the point where they were really quite sophisticated, quite good. The harmony was amazing, the hair was perfect, and the clothes and everything was just a whole nother species of human being. But a perfect one. As a revelation that it was this. You couldn't quite imagine actually doing it. But it was this wow, here's this whole, a whole new world that I want to be part of somehow. And then four months later, the Rolling Stones came. And they really they're dressing the way they feel, like their hair isn't perfect, except for Brian Jones. They didn't have any real harmony to speak of. They made it look easier than it was; they were really the first punk band. And so how I like to put it is the Beatles revealed a new world to us. And the Rolling Stones invited us in that combination of those two bands made me want to do it and I've dedicated my life to it more or less ever since.

Adam: What do you do to become great?

Stevie: Greatness is a goal. Greatness is a decision you make every day, every hour probably. What I tell people is whatever your craft is, don't compare it to what's going on right now. Because our society is drowning in mediocrity. But whatever your craft is, compare yourself to the masters, compare yourself to the best there is, whatever that is. I don't care if you're building houses or playing guitar. Because greatness is not born. Greatness is developing. This is the challenge now for the younger generations because everything is so sped up, everybody's so into immediate satisfaction. And greatness doesn't happen that way. It cannot happen that way. Greatness has to be developed over time. It takes time and it takes focus. It was easier for our generation because this wasn't that much to distract you. We had three channels on TV and pinball machines. There were no computers, no cell phones, no video games. At night, you either went to the drive-in theater to see a movie or you went to see a band. Once the British Invasion came, the Beatles and The Who and the Yardbirds and The Kings, it became a band culture. Our entire generation became a band culture. You would go out to see bands, either you were in a band, or you're going out to see a band. And that was all we had to do. I mean, there was nothing else to do, literally nothing else to do. So it became a little bit easier to focus on being a musician, especially in the suburbs, where I grew up in New Jersey. We didn't have that kind of pressure from living in an urban setting, a little bit more room to breathe and a little bit more time to develop. We add a different band every couple of months, every six months, for years. And then even once we started recording, we didn't really have any success, Bruce had some success on his third album Born to Run. The next album, darkness got a little bit of attention, but not as much as Born to Run. And then we finally broke on The River, which was five albums in so by the time we were successful, really a success. That was 15 years of work. 15 years of paying dues as they say, that took a little bit longer than most people granted. But it does take years usually to get good enough at something where you're starting to approach greatness. But greatness is a goal. And it's an ambition. It's a concept. It's something that you have to consciously go after you want to achieve greatness. That's your goal in life. And part of that is realizing your potential whatever your potential may be.

Adam: Stevie, I love it. And I recently had Joe Maddon on my podcast, one of the most successful managers in modern baseball history. And a big theme of our conversation was that there is no such thing as overnight success. And when I asked Joe, how did you become the Joe Maddon that everyone knows? This unique individual who is so comfortable in his own skin, so confident, so willing to go against the grain. He shared a few different things, but they all ultimately came back to what you just shared, which is that it takes time. And he didn't become a major league manager until he was in his 50s. And everything that he did was different. Over the course of his managerial career, it was something that he had tried in the backfields in single A or double A, and it worked or he tried things and they didn't work. So he knew not to try them at the major league level. And it's dedication. It's a single-minded focus. I love the fact that in your case, album number one wasn't a successful album. Number two wasn't a success. But you kept going. You kept plugging away. 15 years later, you're an overnight success.

Stevie: That's right. That's exactly right. And even as a record producer, I produced the first three albums by Southside Johnny in Asbury Jukes, and each one was an experiment because I just jumped in, there was no school for record producers. There was no internet where you could learn. I just jumped in and I'm just going to do what I feel. My mother used instinct. I'm gonna use my ears most to try and create what I want to hear. But each one of those first three Jukes albums, if you listen to them, they're very, very different from each other. Because of that reason, because I was trying things out. And it really didn't all come together for me until the fourth album that I produced, which was The River with Bruce Springsteen, E Street Band. And at that point, it was the fourth album and I was doing okay, the jokes are good. It all really comes together ‘till the fourth. As a producer, and then same thing as an actor. I jumped in on Sopranos, and you're learning on the job, man. That's just my thing. I'm not sure I would recommend that to everybody. But I just tend to learn on the job. I just kind of jumped in. And that's a whole new craft that I was given, that gift by David Chase. And everything I learned on Sopranos I used on Lillehammer, which ended up being Netflix's first show, and not only was starring in it, but I also co-wrote and co-produced it and directed the final episode and did all the music. So I was able to parlay that opportunity of going to The Sopranos acting school, where you did a scene with Jimmy. You walked away a better actor, as simple as that. And I took everything I learned there. And I applied it when I became the star of Lillehammer. And that's something that you never stop learning. I mean, you're always learning, you're always improving, but you gotta reach for greatness in order to get there. Sometimes you get there, sometimes you don't, but I'm always reaching for it. Man, if you notice anything with my name on it, it's gonna be high quality, I don't care what it is. Because I make a point of it. You have to make a point of it, of being among the best in that field. You know, I don't care what it is. Whether it's my rock, man, whether it's my radio show, whether it's my record company, whatever it is, I'm going to be among the best. Why? Because I make a point of it. That's why.

Adam: So many great lessons there. Never stop learning, reach for greatness. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Don't be afraid to jump in headfirst.

Stevie: Yeah, because if you wait around if you wait around for somebody to encourage you, it's not coming. It's not coming. I know it sounds a little harsh. But a lot of times people come up to me and say, what can you tell a kid who encouraged him to be a success? And I have to tell him, I say, look, I got some pointers I can point to and I wrote a whole book about it. But the title truth, if the kid needs encouragement, he's not going to make it. That's the simple truth. If you’re really looking around for encouragement, and a pat on the back, and income, and you're going to rise above that in a way and say, listen, I just feel really strongly about this, and I need to do it, and I'm gonna do it. Regardless of what people are telling me or telling me I can't do it. A lot of people are going to tell you what you can't do your whole life. I get it to this day. Look, advice is good advice and should be welcomed. Always welcome advice. I don't care who it is. The janitor in the recording studio, he has an opinion, I want to hear it. Because all I'm interested in is making my work the best they can be. I listen to the advice. Sometimes it's useful and sometimes it's not. That's okay. You don't have to take it. You don't have to use it. But it's good to receive the advice. Why not? That's how my ego works. Some people, they gotta do everything themselves. I don't feel that way. I just want to win. I'm here to win, baby. I'm here to make greatness. So we want to contribute to that. Come on, I'll take an army, I don't care. That's how I feel about it. 

Adam: The greatest leaders are the greatest listeners. And to make it to the top, you're not going to do it by yourself, you're not going to do it alone. It requires the support of the people around you. And if everyone around you is telling you exactly what you want to hear, you're never going to get better. You're never going to receive the advice you need. That's going to allow you to improve, that's going to allow you to make the right decision. You don't need to act on everything that everyone says. But it starts with being open-minded, being receptive to opinions that might conflict with your natural instinct.

Stevie: Yeah, yeah, that's right. Keep your eyes and ears open and sometimes keep your mouth shut. 

Adam: Stevie, you mentioned your time working on The Sopranos working with James Gandolfini. We're going to talk about that. But first, I want to talk to you about the period in between your time with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and your time on The Sopranos. A key theme of this podcast, a key theme of so many of my conversations with so many of the most successful leaders in America is that the path to success is not linear. It's filled with many ups and downs, highs and lows. And your career has been filled with many highs and lows, many ups and downs. You walked away from the E Street Band just as the band was reaching real success. And while your former bandmates were thriving, you found yourself struggling. You were on the outside looking in. And at that down moment, the last thing on your mind was acting. You had never acted before, as you mentioned, and you got a call from a guy who was also on the outside looking in and he had a concept for a new TV show. And the rest is history. That show, The Sopranos, you were actually asked to audition for the role of Tony Soprano. And what I want to know is if you could share with listeners how you were able to navigate the tough times in your life, in your career, and what advice you have for anyone listening on how they can navigate the toughest times in their lives and in their careers?

Stevie: Yeah, yeah, started off with all these streams of ideas. And I think sooner or later for most people, it's very possible that that first dream doesn't quite work out, you hit the wall, for whatever reason. And the original plan you had for your life just doesn't quite work out. And that's the critical moment of your life right there. Because in my life, when I left, these three panels, as I said, took me 15 years to make it. We were only successful for one year when I left. So if you're working for 15 years, you finally make it, now you walk away. I thought my life had ended. And I think what's interesting, and what may be instructive and helpful, is everything I've done in my life. Most everything I've done, happened after I thought my life was over. If I hadn't left that band, would I have gotten involved in politics and rockin’ Mandela to jail? We have toppled the South African government. Would I have done The Sopranos and Lilyhammer? Would I have done seven solo albums? Now, none of those things would have happened when I've started my school curriculum, my music history curriculum, maybe not. So everything I've done happened after I thought my life was over. So when you hit that wall, when that first dream dies, if you can find a way to move forward, and not succumb to self-pity, drugs, drinking, suicide, all of which I considered. If you can find a way just to keep moving forward, and stay focused on yourself, and then learning about life and saying, this is a challenge. And I'm going to get through this somehow. If you can do that, you're going to find that destiny has other plans for you. That you didn't necessarily think about yourself, just survive that first disappointment. And find a way to move forward and stay as straight as you can without succumbing to all of the self-destructive urges you're going to have. As you can do that, you're going to find that destiny has other things in mind, you're going to end up doing something and finding what your life was supposed to be really about. Because it wasn't that first dream, it doesn't mean your life is worthless or useless. You just haven't found the right thing yet. And then in my case, like I say, everything I have done, except being a rock star, in the beginning, everything else I've done happened after I thought my life was over. So I think that can be a little bit of an inspiration to people, motivation because my life is as weird as it gets. Mine's a pretty extreme example. Because I was all the way down, I went from all the way up to the first half of my book about local kids making it to the top of rock and roll. And that's a good story in itself, it really is that whole first half of the book, then when I leave, the whole second half of the book is really about the bigger themes. The search for identity, the search for enlightenment, the search for purpose in life. Now you really get into the nitty gritty and what life is really all about. And sure enough, it revealed itself. Then David Chase calls me out of the blue to be an actor. Okay, let's try that. Maybe that's what I was supposed to be doing. And then I started listening to the radio one day, I'm like, man, what happened? A lot of my favorite songs and all long-run radio. What am I going to do about that? Well, maybe I'll start my own radio station. That was the motivation for that, just selfish reasons. I want to hear something good on the radio. Nothing wrong with radio as it is. I take pride in the fact that radio is fine. And that's where we get played. But Classic Rock is gonna play what? 300-400 songs. Basically, on every single station in America, you hear three, four or 500 songs. I started my radio format, I have over 6000 songs, there's a lot to listen to. It needed that compliment. It was a gap in the world that I felt necessary to fill. Same thing with my record company. Same thing with the music curriculum. I tend to be attracted to gaps. What's not happening, what needs to be happening, it's not happening. I kind of get attracted to that and then I try to make that happen. And that became my thing. Let's be creative in other ways that I never would have thought of being creative. 

Adam: You shared so much great wisdom there. And I want to zero in on a couple of things that you shared. Even in the darkest times, life isn't over. Just when you thought your life was over, your life was really just beginning. And a big part of it was because you didn't pigeonhole yourself. You spent that first half of your life thinking of yourself as Stevie Van Zandt, rock and roller, but you were willing to redefine yourself, open your mind to who you could be. And that allowed you to become Stevie Van Zandt, activist, actor, entrepreneur, so much more than rock and roller. And ultimately, you continue to be the great rock and roller you were but in different avenues. You went out on your own, and you ultimately went back to the E Street Band. So just because you did something that you felt was a mistake that you regretted doesn't mean that you can't reconcile for that mistake down the road. I think all too often, people say that they live life with no regrets. And I don't know how anyone who's intellectually honest, can say that they live life with no regrets. We all have regrets. So it's really about being honest with yourself and saying, you know what? I do have regrets. And what can I do to either reconcile those regrets or learn from those regrets. In your case, you did just that.

Stevie: Yeah. And sometimes the regrets you think you will regret, actually will not be regrets. Actually, I thought I was messing with destiny, big time when I left the street, man. I'm like, man, you are fucking with destiny, maybe. Because that's where you were meant to be. And as it turned out, I regretted that. I regretted that for many years until I wrote my book. And I really was able to examine my life because I never looked back. I'm not one of those people that's constantly looking back. So I was forced to look back when I wrote the book, and really relive it and really think it out. And I realized I wasn't fucking with destiny, I actually was fulfilling destiny, which you don't realize at the time. Of course, that takes some distance before you're able to really give it some perspective. So even the things that I regretted the most turns out, actually, it felt like a mistake at the time. Maybe it wasn't. I agree with you, though. We all have regrets. Sometimes there'll be regrets that turn out to be fulfilling destiny instead of ignoring it.

Adam: You bring up a really interesting point. And I think that the best takeaway for anyone listening is don't live in the past. You revisited the past because you were writing a New York Times bestselling book and it was cathartic for you. But if you're living life in the past, if you're harping on your regrets, you're not going to be able to move forward, you're not going to be able to build the kind of future that you need to build to be successful. That isn't to say that if you make a mistake, you shouldn't learn from it. Understand what you did, acknowledge it, and don't repeat it again.

Stevie: Yeah, I think everybody would agree, you learn more from your mistakes. You learn more from your failures than you do from your success. That's just a fact. Success can kind of fool you in a way and make you want to repeat that success and in a kind of dishonest way. Success is nice. Obviously, we all strive for success. But I think you actually learn more from your failures.

Adam: You've been the right-hand man to two men who've enjoyed enormous success. One on screen, one off-screen, Tony Soprano, and Bruce Springsteen. Two of the most famous bosses in modern American history. And you've had a lot of experience as a leader in your own right, leading your own band, leading different businesses, leading as an activist. In your experience, what are the key characteristics of a great leader? And what can anyone do to become a better leader?

Stevie: The best way to be a leader is to first be a soldier. See both sides of that story. It helps both things. I'm a great soldier for those leaders, for Bruce Springsteen, because I'm a good leader. I'm a good boss myself. So as a boss, I know what I need from my people. So when I become one of those people, I know what that boss needs. So you want to try and experience both sides of that if you can. I got a couple of rules. I try to go by as a bandleader. And this probably would apply to any craft, but I always try to learn what my individuals in my band are capable of. And then I try to use as much of that as I can, and try to have at least one part of the show where they are featured, where they can actually shine. Then you want to try and spread that spotlight around as much as you can, spread that creativity around as much as you can. I tell bands, if you're a success, and you're keeping the same band all the time, which these days, not so easy to do. Everybody seems to be in five bands now. But when I grew up, you were basically in one band at a time. If you keep that same band and help and you end up being the main writer, or maybe two of the guys are the main writers, give everybody a piece of the publishing, spread around a little bit, just throw five points, because you want to try and keep some kind of balance within the band. And you don't want this one or two guys getting much richer than the other guys, it's going to affect the whole thing. I tell people to try and keep separate rooms, it's very important to have your own identity, and your own space. That helps longevity, you're going to try and let everybody contribute. As the main thing, I think no matter what your business is, make some room for creativity. Because everybody, the creative part of their soul, it's a very satisfying part of their soul. Everybody has the mechanical side of them. But everybody, whether they exercise it or not, has a creative part of their soul as well, a creative part of their personality. Sometimes you gotta bring that out, sometimes they don't even know it themselves. What do you like to do? What are you good at? What are your hobbies? What do you do in your spare time? Get the chance to know your employees, your fellow band members or whatever it may be. And then try and get them to contribute something artistically to give them a chance to express their own identities. Yes, they're all working towards your vision, as the leader within that division, allow some space for their own contribution of their own identities. I think that's a very important part of leadership,

Adam: I cannot agree with you more. So much great stuff. Taking care of the people around you, empowering everyone on your team, giving people space, and bringing out the creativity in every member of your team. And I think that all too often we think of people as either creative or not creative. But the reality is, to your point, Stevie, everyone has creativity in them. And it's a matter of a great leader acknowledging that. A great leader saying, you're creative, and let's find that, let's bring it out.

Stevie: A lot of our society makes that mistake and alienates the workers. And that alienation is extremely serious in terms of quality of life. You don't want your workers or your employees or your band members or whatever it may be, to be alienated from their work. You want them to be emotionally engaged, and able to express themselves creatively at some point in their daily work. You don't want them to have to tolerate work and then live their life when they go home. Which a lot of our society is like that. I've always said you're gonna get the workers to give them a piece of the action man when you are successful. Obviously, from the day I started producing, the first thing I did, Jimmy Iovine was my first engineer of my first production, I gave him a percentage point on the record. Now most people don't do that. And especially in the early days, they didn't give their engineers a percentage. I wanted to give them a piece of the action, we're still waiting for that royalty to come in. That's beside the point. The point is, you want to express your gratitude or your connection to them and more than just as a worker from a boss. You want them emotionally and creatively engaged in what you're doing because that's going to make them better at their jobs. I hate people looking at their watches. When I'm putting together a band from a rehearsal I see somebody looking at their watch, they're not there the next day. If you're looking at your watch, you're the wrong guy for me. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna probably overpay you because I believe in overpaying. But I'm gonna ask you to work a little harder and be a little better and reach for greatness. Because that's a requirement for me. Everybody around me, if you're not reaching for greatness, you're not gonna last long. I need that buttressing. I need that good energy around me all the time. So these are the things that in the end. They're both self-serving, in a way, but at the same time, they're also allowing people to enjoy their work and enjoy their life. Because I just don't believe in working all weekend and living your life and the weekend, I'm sorry. I don't believe in that. I believe in living life, every minute, every hour of every day, I believe very much. It's a journey, not the destination, you got to. I fixed on the destination. And that's all you're seeing is that weekend, I can't wait to live for the weekend. Man, you're not living, you know, you're only living two days out of seven. What kind of a life is that? But yet most of us are like that, unfortunately. 

Adam: Stevie, you really are hitting on two words. Number one is passion. You have to have passion. You have to surround yourself with people who have passion. If you're not a passionate person, man, I don't know that I can help you. To your point earlier in this conversation, if you don't want it, you can't change someone. But if you're a passionate person, I want you on my team, you want them on your team. It's all about having passion. Secondly, it's about ownership. That's really the word, it's ownership. When someone has ownership in what they're doing, when someone has ownership in their life, in their job, in their time, they're going to be that much more successful. Passion and ownership really goes hand in hand. And that to me is really your message right there.

Stevie: That's it. That's it. Whatever your product is, whatever your content is, it's going to be better.

Adam: Yeah. And Stevie, your passion is visible in everything you do, including in your new business, Little Steven's Underground Apothecary. You've built a number of different businesses over the course of your career. What are the best lessons you've learned from building this business, and from your experience as an entrepreneur?

Stevie: Everybody involved in the business contributing creatively one way or the other, that's a given, everybody involved will have a piece of the company. When money exceeds, give people peace, and let them be creative. Once we get into profit, we're gonna give a piece of the profit to my foundation, because you want to give something back also, to whatever foundation you know, whatever charity you choose, so you want to give a little bit back. And that's it, this high-quality product. Like I said, you don't see my name on anything that isn’t the highest possible quality. In this case, it's herbs and spices and various things that are from organic farms. There's no poisons, no chemicals, no pesticides in anything we do, or coffees or teas, or herbs or kava, or maca or Manuka honey. It's all very healthy, very anti-inflammatory, helping you with something, helping you with digestion, helping you with anxiety, we have something for a lot of those kinds of ailments. The basic idea was to help the immune system as much as we can. And everything we do strengthens the immune system, from the most natural products to the most exotic, which we get from Fiji and Nicaragua and other places. He's trying to create new good habits for people, what's life all about, life's habits. A bunch of habits that you develop for two years, unfortunately, in our country, and mostly bad habits. So at some point, you have to start switching those bad habits to good habits. And that is maybe changing the brand of coffee or tea, or stopping as much sugar as you can try and get more exercise, whatever it may be.

Adam: It really all starts with taking care of yourself. And at the heart of entrepreneurship is risk-taking. At the heart of your career has been risk-taking. Some risks have worked incredibly well. Some maybe not as well. What advice do you have for our listeners on the topic of risk-taking?

Stevie: You don't want to go to Vegas on a racetrack and gamble your rent. That's what you don't want to do. I gotta tell you the truth. I don't want to be accused of too much nobility here. A lot of the risks I take, I gotta do it. You do what you gotta do. You follow your instincts. You just feel compelled to do something. Maybe you get obsessed. I got obsessed with politics. So a lot of times it ends up being risky in some ways, but you don't think of it that way when you're doing it, you just do what you need to do at that time. So I don't think you sit down at a table and say, okay, how can I take a risk today? I don't think that's human nature. I think you do what you have to do. I'm a bit extreme in that area. And no doubt, I'm not sure I would recommend anybody exactly following my path. But if risk-taking means doing what you love, what's in your heart, then that's a risk worth taking. Like you said before, passion, and whatever you're passionate about, I think minimizes the risk. Because it may be a risk to do it. But what's the risk if you don't do it? You have a dream and you ignore it, and you deny it? Well, that's going to stay with you the rest of your life. So sometimes it's a bigger risk, not to take the risk.

Adam: That is great advice.

Stevie: Follow your heart, follow your soul. The man said, follow your bliss. No matter how impractical it might be crazy, it might seem. It's riskier, sometimes, to not do that.

Adam: Trust your gut, follow your heart, follow your soul, follow your bliss, believe in yourself. Stevie, what can anyone listening to this conversation do to become more successful personally and professionally?

Stevie: We've already said it, really. Follow your heart, your bliss, your passion, decide what you love in life, and then make it work. As far as business, make it work. Somehow find a craft you love, and focus on it, and stay with it. It's not going to happen overnight. And I know everybody wants everything to happen overnight now. But that's not how our country was built. That's not how greatness is achieved. Unfortunately, we become this Wall Street-conscious country where everything only matters as far as the next fiscal quarter. That's how everything's measured. Now, in terms of business, even the arts, the business part of art, after all the mergers, most art companies aren't content companies run by businessmen or countless lawyers. And all they care about is the next fiscal quarter. That's all that matters is the next three months. Well, nothing of value is gonna get done in three months. That's just a fact. And we need to be thinking long-term. Like my indigenous peoples tell me, the American-Indian thinks about seven generations ahead. What's good for seven generations ahead? Not the next fiscal quarter. So it's a challenge these days, it's a challenge to not be distracted and focus on your craft. And it's a challenge to find your passion and stick with it because it takes time to develop greatness. So be prepared to put that work in and focus. And you gotta shut your device off now and then, read a book. You'll get a lot more out of it than spending all your life on Twitter, which I do too much.

Adam: Stevie, thank you for all the great advice and thank you for being a part of Thirty Minute Mentors.

Stevie: Nice talking to you my friend.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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