Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori
Speaker 1: along with Matt Higgins. His website is linked up at
Speaker 1: Coast to Coast dot com. Matt, you say that you
Speaker 1: predict CEO failure? How do you do that? A great question, George,
Speaker 1: Not to get too psychological, but it's basically self awareness
Speaker 1: is really important in business because it enables you to
Speaker 1: make your own interventions without having somebody to say to you, hey,
Speaker 1: this project, this product's doomed, or you got to fire
Speaker 1: that employee's going to ruin your company. And so I
Speaker 1: find that CEOs who have the awareness to make the
Speaker 1: course corrections without me having to tell them, that's the
Speaker 1: whole game. And so I do a lot of work
Speaker 1: and when I'm doing a deal to figure out this
Speaker 1: is person willing to tell themselves the truth so they
Speaker 1: could make those course corrections when everything is on the line.
Speaker 1: How much of it is instinct within themselves. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: the whole reason I wrote my book Burned the Boats
Speaker 1: is we are conditioned in society to outsource our judgment.
Speaker 1: Books at Barnes and Noble or Ted talks or politicians,
Speaker 1: and we overlook our own instincts. And so it's amazing
Speaker 1: how people will seek outside help before first seeing what
Speaker 1: can I unlock within myself and what's my intuition trying
Speaker 1: to tell me? But everybody's always trying to talk to
Speaker 1: you out of your intuition. I try to talk leaders
Speaker 1: into their intuition and figure out what's blocking their confidence.
Speaker 1: How would you look at poutin next to Zelinski Zolinski,
Speaker 1: a former comic who turned president of Ukraine. I think
Speaker 1: Zelenski is the ultimate burn the boats move. I opened
Speaker 1: my book talking about this history of this philosophy and
Speaker 1: all these military leaders, you know, who've embraced it. But
Speaker 1: just to make anyone out there listening thinking, hey Matt,
Speaker 1: that's ancient history. You know, we're a civilized about society.
Speaker 1: Think about Zolinsky. There was think about when the war
Speaker 1: first started, everyone concluded that he's got he doesn't have
Speaker 1: a shot. In fact, the United States offered him safe passage,
Speaker 1: and then he made a brilliant burn the boats move.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this, but he went
Speaker 1: out and leaked the phone call in which he said, hey,
Speaker 1: President Biden called me, and I told him, and Biden said, listen,
Speaker 1: you're going to get assassinated, you and your entire family,
Speaker 1: and so we'll help, you know, ferret you out of
Speaker 1: you know, the Ukraine. And his response was, I don't
Speaker 1: need a ride, I need the ammunition. What he did
Speaker 1: was he burned the boats. He told the whole world,
Speaker 1: and he told his own people that I'm prepared to
Speaker 1: fight to the death and I'm gonna win. That was
Speaker 1: the turning point, that was the ultimate burn the Boat's movement,
Speaker 1: which all of us started to believe, what is Russia
Speaker 1: doing wrong? You would think they could annihilate the Ukraines. Well,
Speaker 1: they're a testament to the power of why. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I think the Ukrainians have a
Speaker 1: stronger why than the Russians have a stronger why. Why
Speaker 1: did you invade Ukraine? You know? And what is the
Speaker 1: Ukraine fighting for? They're fighting for their independence and freedom.
Speaker 1: They're about to be subjugated by their neighbor. There's tons
Speaker 1: of history, they've been through, everything, they've been preparing for
Speaker 1: this moment. And so I think it's a testament to
Speaker 1: when your why is weak or motivated by you know, greed,
Speaker 1: or power at the end, you're you're destined to fail.
Speaker 1: Does burn the boat's map teach diplomacy something I think
Speaker 1: we're lack keen right now in government? Yeah, burn the
Speaker 1: boats teaches nuance. You know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: diplomacy is nuance, right, trying to resolve crisis. So absolutely
Speaker 1: burn the boats teaches that. You know, these bombastic stay
Speaker 1: Even burn the boats is a bit of a trojan
Speaker 1: horse when you pick up my book. My book does
Speaker 1: not say burn the boats with you in it. It
Speaker 1: doesn't say burn the bridges. It says leave behind that
Speaker 1: which is holding you back. But it's all about nuance.
Speaker 1: So I totally agree with you. We are lacking diplomacy,
Speaker 1: We're lacking sort of a global solution, an endgame. But
Speaker 1: I am firmly on the side of a country defending
Speaker 1: its sovereignty. You have an Italian saying, and I'll say
Speaker 1: it in English, the fish rots from the head. What
Speaker 1: does that mean? Well, the Italians they have a saying
Speaker 1: for everything right, So it basically means that you can
Speaker 1: I can walk into any business and I could identify
Speaker 1: something going along wrong at that cash register that I'm
Speaker 1: telling you. I could chase all the traits all the
Speaker 1: way back to the management of the company, oftentimes the CEO.
Speaker 1: What it means is when the leader of an organization
Speaker 1: is out of kilter and as it has an out
Speaker 1: addressed their issues and they're you know, short, they're blind spots.
Speaker 1: That is going to cascade all the way downstream throughout
Speaker 1: the entire business. And it's and that's why the reason
Speaker 1: why I'm so heavily into that statement is because private
Speaker 1: equity firms and venture capital It's the whole reason why
Speaker 1: SFX they missed the fact that this guy was a
Speaker 1: complete fraud, is because they want the answers to be
Speaker 1: in an Excel sheet, whereas the answers are in the head,
Speaker 1: right in the head of the leader. I went to
Speaker 1: a pharmacy months and months and months ago, and the
Speaker 1: lights on the outside of the building the first letter,
Speaker 1: huge letter, it's either a C or a wall just
Speaker 1: tell you that was was burned out. And it drove
Speaker 1: me nuts because that tells me there's some carelessness going
Speaker 1: on within that company, within that branch or something. Am
Speaker 1: I right? I mean I love that example because think
Speaker 1: about what would have to happen for that. That means
Speaker 1: the worker on the you know they or does not care.
Speaker 1: That means the manager is not worried about whoever the
Speaker 1: owner is caring. Right, That means the owner telegraphed everybody
Speaker 1: down to the worker. I don't even care if the
Speaker 1: name of the company is correct when you pull up.
Speaker 1: So don't you worry about you know, the mice that
Speaker 1: are running around the back and you know, corrupting the refrigerator.
Speaker 1: I mean, so that's one hundred percent perfect example. Fish
Speaker 1: rots from the head. Absolutely, there's no question. And if
Speaker 1: you have a great leader, you've got a stunning company,
Speaker 1: don't you. You do? And I talk about that so
Speaker 1: much because I grew up under such tragic circumstances I
Speaker 1: talk about in my book, like probably a lot of
Speaker 1: people listening, right, I was desperate taking care of my
Speaker 1: sick mother, living on government cheese, right. And I had
Speaker 1: a choice when I was a kid. I could either
Speaker 1: choose to be a victim and decide that things keep
Speaker 1: happening to me, or from that moment forward, I happen
Speaker 1: to things. It's a much better life when you believe
Speaker 1: that good and bad, you have the ability to effect
Speaker 1: an outcome. When a leader is leaving those you know,
Speaker 1: life bolts blacked out. They're telling everyone else it doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter what we do, win or lose. We're either
Speaker 1: going to succeed or not. It doesn't matter about our actions.
Speaker 1: I always believe that I am at the epicenter of
Speaker 1: my good and bad decisions. Was that an La restaurant
Speaker 1: the last week in the former New York Governor Andrew
Speaker 1: Cuomo came up to me and said, high and he
Speaker 1: sure had his problems, didn't he? He did? I mean,
Speaker 1: I have a pretty long background in politics in New York.
Speaker 1: I work for Governor Pataki actually when I was overseeing
Speaker 1: the rebuilding of the Trade Center, and wasn't always a
Speaker 1: huge fan of Governor Cuomo. To be honest and interesting,
Speaker 1: when you take on this righteousness right when you're in power,
Speaker 1: the usually you get your come up and ultimately, so
Speaker 1: I suspect that's what happened there. What's the main message
Speaker 1: you would like somebody to learn from Burn the Boats? Okay,
Speaker 1: my mate, My book Burned the Boats was not written
Speaker 1: for the completely self possessed, for the person who has
Speaker 1: no problem taking risk. It's written for the opposite. It's
Speaker 1: written for the person who is fearful as has anxiety,
Speaker 1: has gone through hard things. They believe that their mistakes
Speaker 1: they're going to have to live with them forever. They're condemned.
Speaker 1: My message to you is that although I was born
Speaker 1: in extraordinary circumstances, I am not extraordinary. That you can
Speaker 1: unlock that what you suspect is great about yourself. What
Speaker 1: you need is the blueprint. And I have tapped into
Speaker 1: the blueprint by virtue of my life, and that is
Speaker 1: fully committing to my planning no matter what it is.
Speaker 1: I'm on the phone with you right now, George. It's
Speaker 1: one thirty in the morning of these coasts. I'm burning
Speaker 1: the boats from my book Burn the Boats, and I
Speaker 1: believe anybody can do it. I'm so passionate about it.
Speaker 1: It's why I wrote the book. I hope we crash
Speaker 1: your website with so many hits. Thank you. I hope
Speaker 1: you do. I hope you do. His website is linked
Speaker 1: up at Coast to coastam dot com. Folks, go ahead
Speaker 1: and crash it right now, and boy they deliver. They
Speaker 1: really do amazing. Thank you. George has Burned the Boats,
Speaker 1: your first book, Burn the Boats is my first book,
Speaker 1: you know. I tell you how it happens during the pandemic, right.
Speaker 1: I always believe that you can make an opportunity at
Speaker 1: a crisis. I had double pneumonia during a pandemic with COVID.
Speaker 1: I was sick, trying desperately to stay out of that
Speaker 1: hospital so I didn't end up on an intubator. And
Speaker 1: I said, my god, I am not going to waste
Speaker 1: this time if I get through everything. And I came
Speaker 1: up with my list and on that list, but I
Speaker 1: need to lift other people up. That does seem to
Speaker 1: be the purpose of being on this earth. And I'm
Speaker 1: going to finish this book. And that's how I used
Speaker 1: the pandemic day in and day out to write this book.
Speaker 1: My news guest earlier believes that crash is coming. What
Speaker 1: do you think you can on a crash? I one
Speaker 1: hundred percent believe we are in for a reckoning. It
Speaker 1: just makes sense. Free money isn't free. We printed trillions
Speaker 1: of dollars of it, and the only reason why it
Speaker 1: hasn't happened yet is because the consumer is paying for
Speaker 1: those eggs and milk and credit card payments and their
Speaker 1: negative equity in their car using their credit cards at
Speaker 1: twenty two percent interest rate once unemployment takes up, we
Speaker 1: are in for a crash. Not a fast crash, a
Speaker 1: slow car crash. I'm told the restaurant business has not
Speaker 1: bounced back yet from COVID, that they desperately need employees
Speaker 1: and they can't find anybody. Yeah, for those who don't know,
Speaker 1: I in my portfolio, I own a lot of restaurants
Speaker 1: all you know, a love of the country, fast casual restaurants,
Speaker 1: Mumbile Fuku, Bluestone Lane coffee shop. That is still true.
Speaker 1: It is. We're in this crazy place. You know, we
Speaker 1: know the storm clouds up ahead, but they haven't come.
Speaker 1: No one's leveling with us to batten down the hatches,
Speaker 1: and yet still can't find labor. So as a result,
Speaker 1: it's so expensive to get people to come to work,
Speaker 1: and that's the very thing driving inflation. We're stuck in
Speaker 1: this board text that we can't get out of until
Speaker 1: the reckoning happens. Do you know any restaurants we'd know?
Speaker 1: I own a company called Magnolia. It's called Banana Pudding,
Speaker 1: those who know it. Tillbron Bleaker Street was in Sex
Speaker 1: in the city. Anybody listening, by the way, I created
Speaker 1: a code for you. Matt Higgins ten go on, you'll
Speaker 1: get a discount, Milk Bar, David Chang's, Mobile Fuku, Bluestone
Speaker 1: Lane and Pizza, lots of brands. Do you know Tillman
Speaker 1: for I do? I do? I admired to him and
Speaker 1: what an incredible operator. He's done a great job with
Speaker 1: the restaurant Catch in New York, which I couldn't recommend more.
Speaker 1: If you're ever in New York City, it's incredible. In
Speaker 1: the Landry's, the chain, Mastro's, He's got them all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he does, he does. That is amazing. Do you sometimes
Speaker 1: pinch yourself, Matt going look where I am right now?
Speaker 1: If I'm honest, I always knew I was not destined
Speaker 1: to stay in the circumstances I was born into. It's
Speaker 1: why I had the fortitude to say, you know what,
Speaker 1: there's another way. Everyone's telling me, Matt finished high school,
Speaker 1: stay of the course. I'm like, my mother's dying in
Speaker 1: the room next door and I have nothing to eat.
Speaker 1: I see an alternative. I'm going to drop out of
Speaker 1: high school. I'm gonna get my g D, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start college at sixteen again. Everyone thought I was crazy.
Speaker 1: That single decision to trust my instincts and intuition change
Speaker 1: my whole life. So while I am so grateful and
Speaker 1: feel blessed, I don't feel lucky and it doesn't feel unexpected.
Speaker 1: If I'm honest, George, what was that moment that you
Speaker 1: realized at it? It hasn't happened yet. You know, when
Speaker 1: I get texted me after writing this book, it takes
Speaker 1: my breath away. I got a message the other day.
Speaker 1: I talk in my book about how divorce brought me
Speaker 1: to my knees and it wasn't cancer and everything else
Speaker 1: I've been through was actually divorced and the breakdown of
Speaker 1: my family life and my self esteem. I wrote about
Speaker 1: on the book not because I wanted to, but because
Speaker 1: I wanted somebody in the middle of the night, maybe
Speaker 1: somebody listening to this call right now who is desperate
Speaker 1: and feels like I spoke to them. I have been
Speaker 1: getting so many messages in the middle of the night
Speaker 1: from people who are going through tragedy and feel like
Speaker 1: my book gives them hope. That makes me feel like
Speaker 1: I made it. You know. It's the first time in
Speaker 1: my life I've ever experienced that feeling, and I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm starting to make it because of the feedback
Speaker 1: of the book. I have an issue with myself that
Speaker 1: I cannot pass up a homeless person without giving him
Speaker 1: some kind of or her or some kind of money.
Speaker 1: Doesn't necessarily have to be a great thing, George, I
Speaker 1: feel good about it, and I don't do it for myself.
Speaker 1: I obviously do it to help them. But there there's
Speaker 1: a young guy who sits outside a post office here
Speaker 1: in La that I go to quite a bit, and
Speaker 1: I see him all the time, and I help him
Speaker 1: out as much as I can. And finally I stopped
Speaker 1: to talk to him. I've never done that before. I
Speaker 1: just have always just said, hey, I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: I'll give you some money. I asked him his name.
Speaker 1: His name's Michael. I asked him how he got into
Speaker 1: the situation he was, and he was very forthright, and
Speaker 1: I said, well, hey, my name's George. Just remember that.
Speaker 1: And then as I left, after about a ten minute
Speaker 1: conversation with the guy, I turned a round and said,
Speaker 1: what's my name? He remembered it, and but you know,
Speaker 1: he must be about twenty five twenty six years old,
Speaker 1: sitting on the cement in front of the post office
Speaker 1: with a little blanket around him, and one day he
Speaker 1: might be like you or might like me. He may
Speaker 1: hit his home run. I love this story, George. You know,
Speaker 1: I want to tell you something really quick and probable story.
Speaker 1: But I have had two meetings in the last year
Speaker 1: and a half of Pope Francis, two private audiences for you, yeah,
Speaker 1: to talk about our shared passion for human rights. And
Speaker 1: I was sitting with him in this private setting extraordinary,
Speaker 1: and he gave a talk about the purpose of life.
Speaker 1: And he said about the purpose of life and to
Speaker 1: do good work on this earth is proximity to those
Speaker 1: who are in need. It's to get closer to them,
Speaker 1: to show them dignity. It's why he washed his feet right.
Speaker 1: And I remember I was sitting there thinking, I remembered
Speaker 1: my mother when we were desperate. All she wanted to
Speaker 1: do was to get her hair washed, and no one
Speaker 1: at a salon would let her because she couldn't bathe anymore.
Speaker 1: I would, It's hard to say, but I would give
Speaker 1: her sponge bass and she felt repulsive. Everybody who needs
Speaker 1: to be seen, that's what we crave the most. And
Speaker 1: that's what the Pope said, is go to the periphery
Speaker 1: where people need you. The most and give them the
Speaker 1: dignity of letting them be seen, like what you did
Speaker 1: with that homeless gentleman. How old your mother when you
Speaker 1: lost her? She was a fifty two yeah, yeah, so smart,
Speaker 1: fiercely intelligent, but just there were no answers society. It's hard,
Speaker 1: you know, people think, well, just you know, go to
Speaker 1: the hospital or like when you have all sorts of problems.
Speaker 1: She was very OBEs. There isn't a single answer, and
Speaker 1: we she was drowning. That's why I worked so hard.
Speaker 1: And the sad part is, George, I went from making
Speaker 1: three seventy five scraping gum and McDonald's, dropped out of
Speaker 1: high school. By the time I was twenty six, I
Speaker 1: was making one hundred thousand dollars Mayor Giuliani's press secretary.
Speaker 1: I had done it, and I go to work and
Speaker 1: she calls me and says, you know, Matt, I just
Speaker 1: called an ambulance and by the time I got there,
Speaker 1: she had died. And so it taught me there's no
Speaker 1: cavalry coming like you then there's no guaranteed happy endings
Speaker 1: in life. That you have to do what you can.
Speaker 1: But what I took from that, the best use of
Speaker 1: my life, my power, my money, my influence. This book
Speaker 1: is if I could ameliorate suffering like what you did
Speaker 1: with that homeless man, If I could give people dignity
Speaker 1: and never forget where I came from. Listen to were
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