WEBVTT - Neha Kumar ON: Building Resilience to Negativity & How to Make Your Passions Practical 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.120 Does everybody need to have a formalized education? Now, what 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.080 I'm going to say is not very popular, especially in 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:12.000 the world of academics, but no, not everyone needs to 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:20.960 go down that traditional path. Hey everyone, welcome back to 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:23.960 On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:25.959 Thanks to each and every single one of you that 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:29.920 come back every week to listen, learn and grow. Now 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.600 you know that I'm always excited to speak to people 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.840 with a broad range of experiences, different backgrounds, different walks 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.640 of life, people who've achieved incredible things but maybe taken 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.839 parts less trodden. Now today's guest is none other than 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:49.840 Neha Kumar, who has over fourteen years of experience operationalizing 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.479 and scaling startups and is currently running a venture fund 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:57.200 on a mission to build the next generation of game 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.800 changing consumer focused brands. So, if you also someone who's 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.680 wanting to be an entrepreneur, learning about finance, learning about 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.800 building a business, this is the episode for you. In 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.959 addition to running a venture fund, Naha is also a 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.760 lecturer at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, where she has 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.559 been teaching for over nine years. Prior to launching her fund, 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:22.120 Nay has served as the CEO and CFO of creating Cultivate, 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.840 which sold a majority stake to a private equity firm 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.360 in twenty twenty, and also led growth efforts at drinks 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.840 dot Com. She received her undergraduate degree from the University 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.800 of California La UCLA and her MBA from the University 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.639 of Southern California. Welcome to the show, Naha, Kumara, Naha, 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.440 thank you for being here. It's so great to have 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:44.679 you on the show. Thank you so much for having me. 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.760 And after the introduction even I feel amazing. I mean, 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:50.760 it's an amazing it's an amazing bio. And of course 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.600 we're friends. We've been hanging out a couple of times 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:55.920 this year. Excited to share that part of the story 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.280 as well. Every time I've sat down with you, you've 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.200 told me stories. You've told me moments of your life, 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:08.440 your childhood, and I love people who communicate their life 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.959 in such an interesting way. And I was just saying 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.440 to you before we started taping that you have one 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.840 of the hardest jobs in the world, which is keeping 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.520 eighteen to twenty one year olds excited, enthusiastic, and engage 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.720 in the learning process. So I'm going to be like 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.639 a student today asking you questions in a lecture hall. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:28.560 But first one I wanted to start it by saying, 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.880 it's your five year of wedding anniversary. Congratulation. Thank you, 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.519 thank you so much. Yeah, it's been five years since 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:39.120 we got married today and we started dating when we 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.799 were in business school, my husband and I fifteen years ago. Wow, 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:48.040 that's pretty unbeliuble. Thank you, thank you, that's amazing. Actually, 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.399 my husband got me the cutest guest this morning. Tell 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.639 me about it. And so for five years it's would 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.960 and so my husband isn't consulting, and he would travel 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.360 a lot before he probably will start traveling a lot again. 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.720 What he got me is a heart box. It's a 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:05.520 wood box, but it has a heart on it and 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.240 it basically sends you messages. So you can look at it. 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.560 It's plugged into the wall and then the heart starts 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:12.239 to spin and that means somebody sent you a message 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.280 and they can do it from their phone. You open 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.240 up the box and there was a digital picture and 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.160 a message in there. And so today before I came, 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.120 I this heart was spinning and I looked at it 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:23.600 and I opened it and I was like, wait, what 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.720 is this? And it says, I am your rock today 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.799 and always. Oh, and there was a picture. No, he's 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.200 here today, but he wanted me to see it so 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:35.320 that now when he travels, he can just send me 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:37.240 messages and then the heart spin so I know a 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.000 message is coming in. It is the cutest thing. My 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.680 six year wedding anniversary just went like a couple of 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.120 weeks ago and Rady said to me, she goes and 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.120 we haven't seen each other. She's in London, and her 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.680 rule was she was like, you're not allowed to send 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:52.440 me anything. I don't want anything. I just want to 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:53.960 see you and then when I see you, then we 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.000 can celebrate. So I wasn't allowed to send my wife 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.800 anything because that was her order and her rule because 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.280 she knows that I usually go quite over the top. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.720 But that is a beautiful idea. I love that. Thank you. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.480 That's awesome. Yeah, I can't wait for you to meet him. Also, 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.160 it's just been an interesting right and it's a big 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.600 deal for us the five year because we had a 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.280 long road to getting married. It was a bit different 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:20.520 from a cultural standpoint. My parents are traditionally Indian, as 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:25.440 you know, and he's not. And my parents now love 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.159 him they absolutely love him, and we have two of 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.080 the most beautiful, adorable children. I have a one year 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.560 old and a three year old, And it's so amazing 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.080 how when you really want you can make things happen 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.200 and make it all come together. It's beautiful. Yeah, tell 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:41.960 us tell us a bit about that journey. Before we 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.159 dive into the depths of your journey and each part 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.200 of it, I want to hear a bit about what 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.880 is that like. First of all, dating someone at business school, 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:56.039 someone that your parents may not initially culturally accept, but 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.240 then going on that journey to now being in a 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.360 place where he's loved, you have beautiful family together. Because 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.760 I think for a lot of people listening they may 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.560 face elements of that in their journey, whatever that dysfunction 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.159 or challenge may be. In business school, a lot of 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:13.240 people made a joke and they said women are just 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:17.159 here to get their mrs, not just get their MBA. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.240 And I ended up dating someone in school and it 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.840 was really challenging, you know, getting married after all of that, 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.160 and I always felt that I had to prove myself 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.080 more that I wasn't just here for that reason. And 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.160 it was very interesting. And there is a unconscious bias 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.080 that not only other people have, but we have on ourselves. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.880 And I don't know if years later anybody was looking 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.320 at me anything differently, because I did marry somebody when 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.000 I was in business school. From business school, but I 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.680 looked at myself a little bit differently, and I felt like, 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:48.680 I need to work harder, I need to strive more 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.320 to prove myself to myself. I wish I would have 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.880 let a lot of that go, because we just get 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:58.039 caught up in all these small trivial things which aren't necessary, 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:00.880 and it's, you know, pushing a bull older uphill to 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.479 prove to ourselves that were okay. And I wish I 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.960 would have let that go. That's the first one. The 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.440 second thing was going through it with my parents, and 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.320 it was very, very hard, and it was very challenging, 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.520 and there were a lot of times Jason, my now 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.800 husband's name, we broke up, got back together, broke up, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.599 got back together because it was am I letting my 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.760 family down? Am I not doing things right? And in 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.240 the end it worked out. But it was the hardest 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:31.920 thing and it was a journey that I never thought 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.640 I would go through. I remember when I got engaged 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.599 I took my ring home. I hit it in my wallet, 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.560 my engagement ring, because I was scared. How am I 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:44.200 going to tell my parents? It was the hardest time 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.960 of my life. I'll never forget. It was around Thanksgiving, 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.320 and again, in hindsight, it's twenty twenty. It was going 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:52.200 to work out. We're going to have the cutest kids. 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.480 Everything is going to work. But going against the grain, 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.480 whatever that might be in your life, while it seems 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.680 really challenging, and while you might have different expectations put 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:06.560 on by other people onto you, or you think that 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.520 other people have on you, at the end of the day, 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.080 you have to do what is authentic to you and 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.320 what you think is important to you. And I know 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.720 this might seem a little bit far fetched, but I've 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.000 recently been really reading and learning a lot about the 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.480 concept of faith, and sometimes you just have to have faith. 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.320 You have to have faith that it's going to work. 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.360 You have to have faith that I can take a 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.280 leap and it's going to happen. And that's very hard 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:36.880 for somebody like me who's a planner, accounting in finance background. Right, 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:41.800 So it was definitely a process and it's great now 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.360 it's amazing, But Jay, it was really hard. This idea 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:52.320 that women go to business school to get married. I mean, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.800 it's incredible to me to hear that that idea had 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:59.680 seeped in to that place because you're at this repute 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.720 book school, you're getting this incredible qualification and the fact 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.720 that that's the rumor mill around this space. I mean, now, 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.080 when you're someone who's been so extremely successful in finance 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:15.280 as an entrepreneur, as a business person, tell me a 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:19.360 bit about where that discrepancy began in your life, where 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.880 you started to feel like you had to work harder, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.560 where you started to feel like people look to you 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.400 in a certain way, and what were the actual steps 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.760 you took to keep confident, to keep focused, to keep 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.000 driven on that journey. Because when I meet you today, 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.040 one thing I do appreciate about you is that although 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:42.800 you're a very powerful business person, I don't believe that 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.640 you've lost the ability to have a compassionate heart, or 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.160 the ability to connect, or the ability to be mindful 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.680 and thoughtful like it seems like those are very balanced 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.520 for you. A lot of that compassion and empathy comes 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.280 from what I had to go through, and it was 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.679 really hard and I'm so happy to see things changing 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.120 so much in the world right now. It's great, but 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.199 you know, as a young girl, it is hard. I 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.040 was always interested in accounting in finance. My dad is 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.319 a financial planner, and so we grew up with him 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.679 always wanting to tell and teach me and my younger 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.320 sister about personal finance so we could be independent and 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.400 we could do things. And I remember I was working 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.840 in banking and I was in a credit training program, 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.240 and I remember another guy saying to me, why are 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.160 you doing this. You could just throw parties, be a 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:37.440 party planner. And it was really hard for me to 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.000 hear that. And it was a lot of moments like 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.880 that that had me say, I'm going to work harder, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.640 I'm going to work smarter, I'm going to work stronger, 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.439 I'm going to do what I have to do to excel. 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.400 And we can look at a lot of those things 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.080 and say they were bad, but in some way, shape 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.000 or form. I think everybody goes through something, whether you're 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.120 a woman, whether you're a male, whether you're a person 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.240 of color, or whatever it is, you go through something, 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.720 and we can either look at those things and we 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.720 can let them beat us down. And sometimes I did, Jay, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.760 but we also can take those as an opportunity to 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.720 push ourselves harder. And it all comes down to attitude 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.319 of how we're going to view these things, how we're 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.560 going to look at this. And again, I want to 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.280 be clear, a lot of times they did beat me 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.240 down and it was really tough. But you have to 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:29.640 constantly find yourself and create yourself to be resilient and 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.200 to bounce back up and to deal with all the 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.800 things that can come your way, no matter from where. 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:41.160 It's so difficult because you realize that there are challenges 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.920 that everyone goes through, but when it's like a whole 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.199 gender is treated a specific way that you know is 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.040 a much larger challenge. I saw this video a few 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.800 years ago that I think summed it up brilliantly. So 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.880 in this video, they had blue balls and pink balls, 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.920 and they asked a ten year old boy and a 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.480 ten year old girl their job was to go and 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:06.880 pick the blue balls up for the boy and the 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.880 pink balls up for the girl, and they had collect 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.960 them and put them inside this container. So the boy 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.000 ran off. He started picking up all the blue balls 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:16.719 was the same amount as the pink balls. As girl 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.440 ran out, they filled their containers up. They pretty much 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.160 finished around the same time, and then they gave the 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.760 boy this huge jar of sweets, and they gave the 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.240 girl like three quarters the jar of sweets. And the 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.079 whole video was to show the gender pay gap and 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.640 how men and women doing the same work are rewarded differently. 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:41.520 Talk to me about how you've seen that in the industry, 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:46.160 Like did your friends who identified as women from business school? 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.199 Have they gone on to feel satisfied and accomplished in 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.720 their careers or are they noticing those discrepancies along the 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.079 way as well? And for yourself in your path there 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.599 you took too. I think what's really interesting is a 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.320 lot of people talk about the pay gap, all of 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.840 these things which are there and they're apparent, But what 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.240 I think a lot of times is missing is the 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.040 type of careers that you see a lot of people 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.960 go into. And the question would be why so in 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.080 business school, for example, the school that I went to, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.319 the majority of women went into marketing. We have different verticals. 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.960 We have a marketing vertical, finance, etc. In the finance vertical, 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.439 there were three women total in the marketing vertical. I'd 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.040 say like ninety percent of them more female. Now, certain 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.200 industries pay more than other industries. That's the way the 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.439 world right now, right or wrong, that's kind of how 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.640 that works right now. Right. What I think is very 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:40.280 important is taking the time to educate and allow for 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.840 opportunities for women at younger ages, to show them that 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.880 there's different things that they can do. So here's an 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.840 interesting thing. When I was in junior high, we had 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:53.840 an elective course we could choose and you could either 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.000 take Homac or wood Shop. And day I really wanted 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.280 to take wood Shop, Like I really was excited to 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.520 like cut the things and things. I thought it was amazing. 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.800 And all the girls were going to take Komac, and 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.880 I remember asking my mom, like, what should I do? 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.480 All the other girls are doing this or taking this class, 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.200 And my dad jumped in and said, no, you do 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.640 what you want. And I ended up taking wood Shop, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.239 and I'm glad I did. But it's just so interesting 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.120 that even when I was taking wood Shop, I kept thinking, 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.200 did I do the right thing? What are my friends 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.600 doing in the other class? Am I being left out? 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.280 So I had a lot of that that was there. 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.480 So I come back to I think it's really important. 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.680 We see a lot of things right now like STEM 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.240 programs that are created, or there's some great programs like 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:46.000 Girls Who Code to teach women how to do these 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.400 things at younger ages, and I think they're phenomenal, and 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.160 I think we should continue to create more things like that. 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.600 In finance and accounting, one of the things I do 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.600 on my own part is I also teach, and so 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.000 I think that getting to people at younger ages not 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.440 to steer them in a certain direction, but basically to 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.679 let them know that they're options and you get to 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.840 choose what those options are, regardless of your male or female. 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.640 You're someone obviously who's so well educated, you've gone to 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.800 great schools, gone on to become an entrepreneur. I wonder 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.120 there's a lot of debate right now about the value 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.520 of a college education and business school too. And what 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.120 I'm fascinated by is two things again here and you 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.640 can answer them in any order you like. The first 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.640 one is do you see a genuine value and correlation 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.720 between the education you've got and the success you have today. 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.600 That's the first question. And the second question is if 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.440 someone didn't have the opportunity to have the education that 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:53.400 you've had, whether it was access, capability, interest at the time, 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:57.000 whatever their reasoning may be, how do they today build 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:04.280 up financial literacy, goal planning, understanding of their investments, understanding 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.520 of how they manage their money. So my dad was 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.680 an electrical engineer by education. He came here and he's 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.840 now a financial planner. And I remember when I was 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.640 in college. I thought I was pretty cheeky, and I said, Dad, 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.600 I mean, did your education do anything for you? Like? 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.480 Why do I have to work so hard? You're doing 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.200 something completely different? And he said to me, said, Naha, listen, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.360 my education gave me the framework from which I can 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.520 have a way to think. And he said, I've been 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:36.400 successful at my job because I had that education that 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.480 I had. Now, after you know, I've been graduated a 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.160 long time ago, I can say the same. I can 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.200 say that my education in undergrad and grad school and 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.440 everything that came between and around it has absolutely helped 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.680 shape who I am and the success that I've had 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.680 to date completely. Can you tell us how, like what 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.800 parts of it? I love what you said about your 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.160 father saying that he gave him a framework of how 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.560 to think. What did he do for you? Business school 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.440 was a great one, because what it did is it 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.560 gave us a breath of knowledge of how to look 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.800 at companies. So now when I'm evaluating companies for the 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.800 fund or back when I was in banking, it gave 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:17.960 me a proper understanding of how to think and what 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.840 to look at and if you think about it, right, 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.800 experience that we get from people in academia, etc. It's 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.480 just trying to learn things at an accelerated rate. Now, 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.600 could you learn them on your own? Absolutely? You could, right, 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:32.200 Maybe one day we'll get to the point where we're 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.720 like the Matrix the movie where you get plugged in, Yeah, 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.160 and then all the information comes in. So the way 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.960 I view academia is it's you go four years for 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:43.960 a college degree or whatever it is that you do, 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.960 but you're trying to learn the information at an accelerated rate. 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.440 So instead of you having to try and learn and 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:52.600 figure these things out, it takes a quicker time. Like 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.520 I'll give you a quick example. You might already know this, right, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:17:00.000 but our dogs color blind. Yes, dogs are color blind. Right, 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.520 I told you that information that took me a second 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.240 to tell you. You might have known it, you might 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.320 not have known it. Now if somebody had to go 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.640 figure that out on their own. It's months and months 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.040 of study and research to figure that out. So what 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.879 education allows us to do is learn things at an 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:19.399 accelerated rate. Having said that, your second part of your question, 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.800 does everybody need to have a formalized education? And what 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.760 I'm going to say is not very popular, especially in 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:31.679 the world of academics, but no, not everyone needs to 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.359 go down that traditional path. So if you think about it, 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.720 back in the day, will really shifted education. The first 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.679 thing was the printing blocks. Before you had to have 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.240 a teacher. Now you can have books, so information could 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.200 be easily accessed through these textbooks instead of just from 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.360 one person talking. Then later, if you think about it, 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.919 online learning and education came up, So now you have 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.720 that big shift over there. I think that there's multiple 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:03.000 different ways that people can get access to education and information. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.439 And I think that the pandemic, it was already going 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:10.600 to happen. The pandemic just accelerated that. And I think 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.800 it's amazing. Yeah, it's just fascinating because when I think 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.240 about my own education, I feel the same way I 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.960 went to my high school was where it started. I 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:23.359 went to a pretty rough and tough elementary school. The 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.040 education was okay. I was surrounded by a group of 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.600 people that didn't have the parenting structure that I did 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.680 when my parents were already forcing me to study hard. 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.199 I was one of probably three people that ended up 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:38.679 going to a grammar school or a school that you 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.880 had to take an exam to get into in England. 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.000 My parents couldn't afford to somebody or private school, so 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:46.560 our grammar school is the next best thing where you 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.639 got a private school education for free by passing an exam. 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.439 And so that school is where everything changed for me, 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:55.280 because all of a sudden, I went from being like 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:57.760 one of three people who was at the top to 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.879 being literally like in the middle of a bunch of 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.159 really smart people. It was almost trained to us in 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.640 how to work hard, to how to compete, how to build. Now, 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.000 not everyone liked that environment. A lot of people will 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.760 actually look back at their time there and go, I 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.560 would never send my kid there. And that's why I 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.880 think it's so interesting to think of people are so unique. Right, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:20.720 what works for us doesn't work for everyone, which is 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.359 what you just said, which is I completely agree with 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.119 that that you know, maybe I love a child one day, 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.399 who wouldn't have flourished in the environment I flourished in, 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.159 or who wouldn't have gravitated towards the teachers that I 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.359 gravitated towards. And so for me, I look at my 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:37.480 education as having a massive impact on me because I 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:42.520 value being really right brained and creative but having been 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:47.640 given lots of logical, hardwired structural thinking. And I think 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:49.959 that where I am today is because I can toggle 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:55.280 between those two things. And my education gave me the hardwired, logical, 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.960 rational brain. But then I had teachers that allowed me 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.560 to bring out my art history and creativity, which is 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.199 what I value myself and what I love about myself. 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:06.639 It is really interesting because I look back at education 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:08.320 and go, actually, I learned a ton of stuff too. 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.600 And I think the mistake we make is we look 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.479 at our education and we go, I don't do that 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:17.080 for work today, And that is probably true. I mean, 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:20.160 it's definitely true for my life, but it's not what 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:22.000 I do for work today. It's well, what did I 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.399 take and what did I collect and what did I 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.920 grasp and what did I put into my tool kit 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.439 that actually today makes me better at making decisions or 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:33.200 makes me better at doing this or that. So, yes, 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:38.000 was my education directly correlated to my career? No? But 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.239 were there's skills and lessons and tools. And that's what 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.960 I'm hearing you say as well. I think we feel 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:47.040 aligned on that. When you're teaching today, right like you're 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:50.400 you're an academic, now you're a professor, You're like you're teaching. 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:53.840 What I find really interesting about that part of your 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.719 life is how much of what you're teaching do you 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.119 think or do you encourage people to go out to 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.000 the real world and practice. Because I know you have 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.200 lots of interesting methods that you've shared with me before. 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.280 Talk to me a bit about how you think teaching 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:12.399 has transformed and how you're transforming teaching because a lot 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.840