Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Will Packer Talks New Book; 'Who Better Than You,' Career Journey, ATL Falcons Ownership +More

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INTERVIEW: Will Packer Talks New Book; 'Who Better Than You,' Career Journey, ATL Falcons Ownership +More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up early in the morning.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Breakfast Club.
• 0:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the world more dangerous morning show to Breakfast Club,
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: charlamagea god, just hilarious. DJ VA is out, but Lauren
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Leros is in and we got a special guest in
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: the building. He's got a new book out, Who Better
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: than You, The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: We'll pack your something.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: My brother, family, what's going on.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: And how you feel.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling amazing, you know, I'm up here.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: I'm up here with one of the most incredible platforms
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: in media right now. Interesting time in media. You know,
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: we media ebbs and flows. We're in an EBB right now.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: In the movie business, Charlamagne, you know, yeah, just you know,
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: coming off the strikes, coming off of COVID, like the
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: the movie industry never really recalibrated. So there's a lot
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: of folks out there that are hurting right now, a
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: lot of folks that.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Aren't working, a lot of actors out of work, writers,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and so as.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: A producer, you know, I'm just trying to keep people hired,
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: trying to do what I do and create content. Most
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: people out there, they don't realize because there's so much
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: content out there in so many streaming services. It's like, oh,
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: everything out there, I can see whatever I want. But
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: actually the media companies are making a lot less. So
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: it's an interesting time in the business man.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Who better than You is the name of the book?
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: What makes you decide to write this?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Yo?
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: You know, I have been in the movie game for
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: almost thirty years now, and I have dealt with some
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: of the biggest names, some of the most impressive, successful people,
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: some of the most toxic, insecure people. And throughout that process,
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: I have gained a set of skills that I want
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: to share with people about how you can be successful
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: and manifest the more full life. How you can use
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: some of the skills that I've learned that are transferable
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: to any industry to navigate be it. You want to
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: start a new endeavor, you want to overcome a challenge,
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: you want to pivot in your life. And so I'm
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: telling stories I've never told before, stories from dealing with
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: you know, some of my Hollywood folks. But it's really lessons, right,
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: It's lessons about this is how you deal with people,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: how you position yourself to succeed, and how you have
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: healthy arrogance. Now to be confused with toxic arrogance. Right,
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: Toxic arrogant walks in a room and says, I'm better
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: than everybody here. I'm gonna win cause you're gonna lose. Right,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: I'm better than you. Healthy arrogance walks in a room
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: and says, okay, number one, I belong in this room.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: The most successful people feel that they don't feel like
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: am I supposed to be here with all these important people.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Healthy arrogance feels like I'm supposed to be here. However,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: I also have something to add to this room. This
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: room is better because I'm in it, and I'm gonna
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: get other people to understand how they and I have
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: a commonality in terms.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Of our goal.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: If you can get other people to see the value
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: in what you're going after, then you can then get
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: them to row in the same direction as you and
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: work towards your own goal.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: That's what leadership is.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Getting other people to realize that it's not me against you.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: If I can get you to understand that together we
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: both benefit from working together and accomplishing things that are
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: my goals as well as your goals, your chance for
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: success is increased.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: You know, when I read about you talk about healthy
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: ar against, so here your interviews about healthier against.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: It feels like you're saying you just got it. It's
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: like a sense of worthiness, it's value.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: It is it is very much understanding the value to
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: place on yourself, right, and you underste Charlotte Man because
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: you talk about mental health a lot. We all have
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: this drum beat in our head, right, and it can
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: be a negative drum beat of I'm not ready, I'm
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: not worthy, I don't have the skills, I'm not prepared.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: More and more you tell yourself that, the louder those
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: voices get. But there's a confidence muscle that you can build,
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: that you can grow by telling yourself the exact opposite
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: that I am worthy, right, that I am prepared.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: But it's really about assigning value.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: The thing I say to people that understand, from the
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: time you are born and to the time you leave
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: this earth, you are building your brand.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Everything you do, right. I mean, you can't make mistakes.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Everybody does, but every decision you make in everything you
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: do is building your brand, and it is telling people
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: what value to assign to you, whether that's somebody that
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: is looking to invest in you, looking to date you,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: looking to just hang out with you. You are telling them
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: what your value is, and you have to be healthily
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: arrogant in the way that you force other people to
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: recognize your value.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So if you don't have nobody, does that mean
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: you're not worth nothing?
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm not going to say that.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: You mean, like a relationship, Well, that just means that
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: you have to be sure that you're surrounding yourself with
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: people that understand your value. It might mean that you're
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: worth more than people want to give you credit for
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: talking about. It might mean you're single because other people
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: don't recognize your value and you're not willing to compromise
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: for it.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: You had something to what dog will won't they?
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: The sassiness off?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: God?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Is that what it is? Are you with me? Your
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: hair back?
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I was asking you a question because I like what
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: you're talking about.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Okay, all right, well yes, absolutely so if some you know,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: somebody happens to be an amazing, beautiful single sister, I
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: don't know you know the relationship status of everybody here,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: but let's just say present company.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Why Well, because and she said you had a sassy next,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: so she is she is immediately the most entertaining person that.
• 5:30
  Speaker 7: I want to ask you about imposter syndrome and when
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: you when did that? Like, when did you get past that?
• 5:35
  Speaker 7: Where did you deal with that at all? Yourself?
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Absolutely deal with everybody deals with everybody. Uh gets to
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: a point where they feel like, Yo.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Do I belong right?
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Do I deserve to be in the most important spaces?
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: And I've been very, very fortunate to be in some
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: incredible rooms with some people that are, you know, some
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: of the most powerful people.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: From around the world.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: And as I said, what I realize is that when
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: I walk in those rooms, I cannot question if I'm
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: supposed to be there. I need to realize what is
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: it that I have that nobody else in this room has?
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: And how can I double down on that? Right?
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: So, black man African American film AMAIC in Hollywood, not
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: a lot of folks at my level in the rooms
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: that I'm in. Oftentimes it's all white people in those rooms.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: What I choose to do instead of saying, Okay, I'm
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: the only black person in this room.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I know they're racist. I know they looking at me
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a certain way. I know they have a negative perception.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: I'm walking in the room and I'm thinking, Okay, you
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: know what, I'm bringing something that nobody else can bring.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: When I talk about my perspective, when I talk about
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: my audience, when I talk about my community, nobody else
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: can debate me on that.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I'm the only one with that lived experience.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: Whatever it is in the rooms and the circles that
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: you're in, what's the unique thing that you have? And
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: then you triple down on that that will help with
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: that imposter syndrome. The other thing is that you have
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: to understand, like you don't have to be somebody that's
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: just born with like an overabundance of confidence.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: It's something that you can build, but you do have to.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Build it by putting a success with a success with
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: a success, right Like just like a bog said, check
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: with a check with the check, you gotta build the successes.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: And sometimes to do that you gotta come back and
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: not say, Okay, my first success has to be so big, right,
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: just accomplish something. I call it fabricating momental. I believe
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: that sometimes we get stuck on the first wrung, the
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: very first thing I'm trying to get started.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I don't have any money, I don't know people, don't
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: have a network.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: That's okay, right, theyn't make the first thing you're trying
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: to do to climb the mountain, right, that's a lot.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: That's a momentous task. Make the first thing by the
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: shoes hiking boost, then buy a rope, then drive by
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: the mountain and look at it. Well, you know you've
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: done three things, right, Get started. Do something that helps
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: to build that confidence we all need that.
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: You have a chapter in the book. I think it's
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: chapter twenty Yeah, chapter twenty one. All you need is
• 7:51
  Speaker 7: one white guy.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, get into.
• 7:53
  Speaker 7: That chapter a little bit because I know you just
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: mentioned being the only in the room and kind of
• 7:56
  Speaker 7: dealing with that, like talk to us a bit of
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: putting that chapter in why and kind of what your
• 8:00
  Speaker 7: experience has been and why you titled it.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the chapter. Sometimes all you need is one white guy.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: And it's actually the irony of it is that I'm
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: saying that what you need is an advocate.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Right, everybody does nobody.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: I don't care who they are, how successful they are,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: nobody does it by themselves. What I'm saying is that
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: your person may not be white, may not be a guy.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: And so when I came into Hollywood, there was a
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: white executive.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: It was a white gay executive.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: He used to tell me that he felt like he
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: was trapped in the body of a black woman. I said, okay,
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: his name is Clint Culpepper. I said, Clint, first of all,
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: don't tell nobody else that secutive all. I can get
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: you some therapy to unpack that. But he was somebody
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: that was an advocate. He was He didn't play spakies,
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: he didn't know. He didn't go to fam you or
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: nothing like that. But what I said was, you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: he wanted to make movies that were aimed at African
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: American culture, and I was interested in be an African
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: American storyteller. I made him look good to the studio
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: and so he then in turn gave me more power
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: and more movies. Remember that advocacy is a two way street.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Oftentimes we have our hands out. I need somebody to
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: help me. What can you do for me? The best
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: way to get help and the best way to find
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: your advocate? Right your quote unquote one white guy. I
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: don't care what it looked like. It could look like
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: Charlotte Mann, could look like just it doesn't matter. The
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: point is to get that one person you gotta add
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: value to them, make them look smart, figure out what
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: it is that they need, and then once you were
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: able to help them, they're gonna want to continue to
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: help you.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: This guy wanted to make movies that were similar to
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: the ones I made. I made them look smart because
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: I was able to make them for a certain number
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: and they overperformed in terms of their budget.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: And so we made a bunch of movies together. Right.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: But you gotta figure out that person that you need.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: You gotta find that one person. Nobody does it by themselves,
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: and whatever that person is, figure out how you can
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: add value to their lives.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Don't just think about what can you do for me?
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: What can you do for me? No, that's not how
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the people at the top level think.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Did he get out your way? Did he let you create?
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: He absolutely did.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it became a very semiotic relationship.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: It was a two way street.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: Right, So he was He went out and got financing
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: from Sony Pictures for the movie.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Some of the early like if you look at My
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Think like a Man's No.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: Good Deeds, Obsessed Takers. Anybody remembers those movies? Those are
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: all movies that don't pen Number.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: One at the box office.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: Those are movies that I made when I was at
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: Sony Pictures, and these are movies that he financed. But
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: our very first one he gave it was called The
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: Gospel right, the Gospels gospel music movie. It had started yourself.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: It was Interest's first movie off the wire. Boris Kojo
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: had all the gospel stars in it, from you know,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Kirk Franklin, Elina Adams, Fred Hamill, everybody, and he gave
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: me a budget to go out and do that movie
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: totally on my own. I did not go spend the
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: money frivolously, and I did not go spend the money
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: and not return it. I went out spent that money
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: on a three million dollar movie and it made fifteen
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: million dollars. It's not all the money in the world,
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: but that's five times what they spent on it. So
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: he looked good at the studio, and so they said, oh,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: that's great. Who is this guy that you're working with.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: Clinty said, oh, yeah, that's my guy. We want to
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: make something else, and he continued to feed me as
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: I continue to make him look good.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Now, your book is motivational and inspirational, right, but it
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: leans on comedy too. You love comedy. Because the interesting
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: thing is the back the quotes you got quick quotes
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: from Kevin.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Kerry Washing.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: What made you do that?
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: It just quote is that I did not authorize Will
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: Packard to use my name in this book, and he
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: did it anyway, And that tells you all you need
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: to know about Will Packard.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: That's one hundred percent truth.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: All those quotes are truth because I come with Kevin
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: pretty hard and uh. And so he said, you know what,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: I don't have to like this and I don't have
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: to laugh at it. So if you look at the quotes,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: I reached out on my industry friends and I said,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: just be honest.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Steve Harvey's quote is by my book first and then
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: by Will. That's hilarious, you know what I'm saying. That's
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: very much how Steve as.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: But you know, for me, it is a lot of
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: it is told through humor, it's told through comedy.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I have had an incredible career. I look back and
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I can't believe it's been thirty years in the game.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I can't believe.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: I've had the success I've had. That is because of
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: the people listening to the show. It's because of you all.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: Let me come on the show. It's because of the
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: support of the audience. But the reality is that I
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: have been through some shit, man, and so telling it
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: now I can look back with levity and with light.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: And now I'm saying, Okay, learn from what I went through.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Learn from that moment when
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: Kevin Hart left me on the set of Ride Alone
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: to go shoot a stand up special and almost sunk
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: the whole movie.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I don't want to hear you talk bad about Kevin
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: no moore after reading chapter twenty two.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: What'sh's chapter?
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: If all those fails open the fruits then benefits of feelings? Yes,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: And I don't want to give it all the way.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but I'll just say, you got into Jamaica with
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: an inspired passport.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I snuck into a foreign country and you called.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Shaley to fix that problem for you.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Going into a country with an expired passport felssness is criminal.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: It was not the smartest thing I've ever done. It criminal.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: I just started shout out to Sheila, it was you
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: know what the point of that when you read that.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Chapter, sir, sometimes you can get away with cris No
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that is not the point of it, and that is
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: not what it was. It was the fact that I
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: was first.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: It was one of my first dates with this new
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: woman that I had met, and met this amazing woman
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: named Heather and sneak.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Into the contr.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: You know what it was.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: Just we got to the counter and my passport was expired.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Because with a passport, you know, it's like seven eight
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: years or something. Right, that's good, but that's also the problem.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: You don't think about it. I got to that counter
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: and they said my passport was inspired. This is my
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: first trip out of town, and I'm trying to be impressive,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: and she looking.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: At me like, oh, I'm with that guy.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: I'm with the guy that don't even have an acting
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: passport and don't check this stuff out and you.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Will pack it o what.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: So I was like, I got to figure this out,
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: so I do tell the story about how I snuck in.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: The bad thing was that I was able to get
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: out of America and I didn't think about the fact
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: that once I got into the country, my passport was
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: still expired and I would have preferred to be in
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: American jail versus a Jamaican jail. So I kind of
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: didn't think it all the way through. But here's the point.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: We all have situations, right, life is hard where we
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: have to then decide after we are in a situation
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: that we can't control. So once I got into Jamaica,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: I was there, I had the best vacation ever because
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: at that point, you gotta go hard. So I encourage people, right,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: there are times when you get into a situation that
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: you just got to say, you know what, there's nothing
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: I can do but live my life to the fullest
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: in this moment. Don't stress about it. Don't get anxiety
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: about it once you're in it. Once I was in
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Jamaica and I snuck in, I knew I might go
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: to jail. I said, Yo, I'm gonna have a good
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: ass time.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: You had to go hard because her group chats. You
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: ain't wanted to tell her friends, but.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I locked that down after she's my wife. Now that Heather,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: she is here with me right now, did you tell
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: your friend? Yes, whether you were.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: An accomplished I just want you to know that you can.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he Heather, definitely.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: She had to flirt with the Jamaican dude. Help was
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: get into the country. I don't want to say yeah, no.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: No, I did. I definitely.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I definitely threw my wife out there. It's not one
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: of my proudest moments. I said, you gotta do what
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: you gotta do.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: When keV wanted to go do his stand up and
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: go to the party, yes, we hear that it was.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: Completely irresponsible to do. Not try to defend that. Man,
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: he was irresponsible. He knew exactly what he was doing.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: It the biggest movies our careers, and he overbooked himself.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Come on, man, that was the biggest.
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: Moment of your career.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Like with the Heather you fifteen years later.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: It was, and it panned out.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: And one thing I would say about keV, if anything,
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: he works too hard, right, it wasn't.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: It wasn't malicious in what he did. He overbooked because
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: he does work too hard. And that's the other thing.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: The most successful people who have accomplished things that you
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: may look and say, how do I get there? The
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: only difference between them and you is just that they
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: haven't stopped.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: They just keep going. They've made all kinds of mistakes, right,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: They've had to pivot. And I always say giving up
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: and quitting her two different things.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Never ever ever give up.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: But you can quit, right. You might be doing something
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: the wrong way. You might need to quit. Everybody I
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: know that's really successful has quit doing something some way
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: and pivot it. The power of the pivot I will give.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: I want to get to the audit to pivot, but
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: first I want to ask you about the chapter that says,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: stay in your lane.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just just make it wide, lean into your thing?
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: How does one avoid being typecasted by leaning into their thing?
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: And when do you know the pivot?
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah? You know it.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: The whole point of that chapter is about when you
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: have something that you do really really well, because many
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: times people are afraid of being locked into something that
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: people will think that's all I can do. Right, But
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: if you do that thing, and you do it really
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: really well, do not stop.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, don't stop.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: The most successful people have a thing that they do
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: and they do it well. Then they use the ability
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: to be successful in a lane to go out and
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: do something else. I'm only able to write this book
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: with a major publisher because I've been very successful in
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: a particular medium. Right now, I'm able to go and
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: do other things. So don't worry worry about that. Oh well,
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: I can do so much other stuff. What's the thing
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: you do really well?
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Do that?
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: Triple down on that, be the best person in that
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: particular field.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: And by the way, find your passion within that.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: Right, too many times people are telling me, well, I'm
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: not passionate about something. I gotta wait to find my
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: passion and before I go out, and you know, work
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: really hard, and I'm telling you you're building your brand
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: from day one.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Work hard today.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: I didn't have a passion to be a filmmaker, I
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: will admit that, but I was.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I did not. That was not my dream growing up.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: But I found that I was really good at knowing
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: how to hire actors and raise money and self distribute.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: And then I found the passion in storytelling later. So
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: I found the thing I was really really good at,
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: and then I found my passion within it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I encourage people to do that.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Don't worry about being typecast. Stay in your lane, but
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: you can make it wide right. I'm not trying to
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: pigeonhole you, and I'm not trying to limit what you
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: can do, but stay in your lane. Too often we
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: are trying to do too much, and now you can't
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: be the person that's doing everything the best.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: That is just not how humans work. What's the thing
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: you do well?
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Triple down on that so you don't pivot.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: So once you've leaned into your thing and you find
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: that thing, there's never a pivot from that thing.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: It can be a pivot where you use that thing.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: You use your ability, you use your brand, you use
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: the fact that you have got credibility in a particular space,
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: you have done the exact same thing. You use the
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: fact that you have credibility in one lane in order
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: to then expand your lane. Right, But it should still
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: all be about this is the thing that I do.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: That's why I say stay in your lane, but make
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: your lane wide.
• 18:41
  Speaker 7: Is there ever a time where like you're because I
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: mean looking, I remember when you told the story about
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: Kevin and with the last time you guys were here,
• 18:47
  Speaker 7: and now I'm seeing in context of this book of
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: like who better than you? And I feel like in
• 18:50
  Speaker 7: that moment he had the arrogance to be like, I
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: can do both of these. I'm going to be fine
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: and it's all going to work out. But things like
• 18:56
  Speaker 7: that can kind of get pretty tricky because what if
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: it hadn't have worked out whatever a moment where you
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: have to tell somebody who's coming see you for this
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: type of who better than you at vice sight? Maybe
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: this is not it for you right now. Maybe there's
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: someone better than you right now, but that doesn't mean
• 19:08
  Speaker 7: later you might not be able to have that who
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: better than you.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Eric, you have to be honest with yourself Number one. Right,
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: we live in a world where people think either they
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: are too great or they are too awful. Rodger Kipling
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: has a poem called if, and my favorite stanza in
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: that poem is if you can meet with triumph and
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: disaster and treat those two impostors just the same. That
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: is saying that both triumph and disaster are impostors, neither
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: of them are real.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: Too many times, because we post some on social media,
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: everybody tell you, oh my god, you the greatest thing ever,
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: is so good, or the opposite.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: They just hate knowing you're telling you how awful you are.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: Neither of that is true. You gotta stay even keeled.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: So the first thing you gotta do is be honest
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: about you and your skill set. It's the only way
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: you're gonna get better. Don't worry about external factors. You
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: got to have a very honest conversation. One of the
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: things I talk about in the book is how we
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: have to make sure I'm a daily affirmation type of person.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: You're there encouraging yourself right, giving yourself positivity, telling yourself
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: how you're ready, how you prepared, what you can do,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: but also being very very honest with yourself. I don't
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: care what you tell the world. Don't lot of yourself,
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: a lot of your mom, a lot of your cousin,
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: lot of your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband and wife. Do not
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: lie to yourself. Be very very clear about what it
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: is that you do.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Well. You know.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to talk you about the pack of
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: family model too. If you want to have what others,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: won't you have to do with others don't?
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you got your mom with you, Yeah her, I
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: got moms, I got you know what.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: It's something that mom instilled in me.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: You know when I was growing up, Mom and dad
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: they took me like you know, like simmling the lion
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: king and lifting me up and said, you know, whatever.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: The son touches is your son.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Like I encourage my folks with kids, do that, tell
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: your kids, because that's when they're the most impressiable.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Tell them they can do anything.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: They told me that, and so I was very audacious
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: growing up with my family. It's me, my wife. We
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: have four children, So that's the six pack. If you
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: want to have what others don't, you have to be
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: willing to do what others won't.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Period.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: That is the mantra.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: The mantra is that understand whatever it is that you
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: want to do, if anybody else can do it, then
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: it's not special. You're not gonna get it right. You're
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: not gonna get something that's unique. You gotta be willing
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: to do what others are not to get that thing.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: And I believe that the more you do hard things,
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: the better you become at hard things. The more hard
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: things you do, the easier hard things become. So don't
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: run from doing hard things. Don't run from doing the
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: things that everybody else says it's crazy. That's the only
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: way you're gonna get strength and to build that muscle.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: It's by doing those hard things. Why I say dream
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: big because your dream has got to be so big,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: because they're gonna be challenges along the way. It's got
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: to be so big that it pushes you past those
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: challenges inevitably, because if the dream is just a mediocre dream,
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: like man, it'd be kind of cool to do that.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Then when you run into a speed bump and that's
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: really hard, you're gonna say, you know what, it ain't
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: worth it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I'm cool, right, But if the dream is so big, right,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: So big for a color H four KHD, like super
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: crazy beyond your wildless dreams big, then when you do
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: hit that hard moment, those challenges, you know it's worth
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: it to keep going and keep fighting because the dream
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: is big enough.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Is Will Packer allowed to turn his own book into
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: a movie?
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Limited seriously, Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm Will Packer. You
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: know what I think about doing it. I could do that.
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: I saw Heather in the background and that you know
• 22:40
  Speaker 7: what Heather say in the background.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: I just saw something.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I was given a lean like maybe no, don't do
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: it right now or something. You know what.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: I've made this book not to turn into a movie
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: or a TV show. You never say never, because you know,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: one of my biggest movies is Think Like a Man.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Steve Harvey will tell you he never thought of that
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: as a movie.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Never.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: He never wrote it for that. I wrote this to
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: give the master mentorship that I didn't have. I have
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: people coming to me a lot and saying, tell me
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: about your success story, tell me about your failures, tell
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: me about what you had to overcome. And so when
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: I tell these stories, right, and I talk about you know,
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: Beyonce turning me down five times, or or or or
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: I yourselba, you know, almost not walking the carpet at
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: the first Emmy's and how you get past that? Like,
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: when I tell these stories, I'm doing that so that
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: other people can benefit from them.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: So I could turn into a movie, That's not what
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I made it for.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: I literally made this book so that I could influence
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: other folks who are either on their way up, thinking
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: about making a pivot, or living a life that they
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: know could be a little more fulfilling.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: They said, you gotta leave nine forty five venture.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we do because we is.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: A tight schedule.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Ask you a question, why don't you have the books anymore?
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Will I see you screaming Atlanta Falcons all day, every
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: day everywhere you go. I know you're a minority owner.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, don't do it.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: I know, don't you said, why don't I rep the Bucks,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: so you can't context it out.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Before you give me a chance to answer the question.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: The time you were the only Buccaneers fan, I knew
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: that many people I don't well because there's levels, sir,
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: and I'm glad you brought that up.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: Because there's levels, There is fandom, and I have nothing
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: but respect for my fans.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: But sir, you of all people, know that there is
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: also a level call ownership.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: And I want to show people that I don't care
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: how high you can jump, how fast you can run.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: My forty time ain't shit. I'm sure. I'm sure my.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Left hit would have something to say if I tried
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: to get out on a track right. I can't throw
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: a ball far to save my life. I definitely can't dunk. However,
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: I am in a sports franchise. I am sitting in
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: the owner's booth and in the owner's box. I want
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: other people to see that possibility. And Arthur Blank, the
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: majority owner of the Atlanta Falcons, gave me that opportunity.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: Now in real talk, Charlotmagne, one of the things that
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: I really want to impress upon people I talk about
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: in the book is that you never know who's watching,
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: and that idea of always building your brand like keep
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: stacking the bricks. Okay, I never thought that I was
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: gonna be an owner of a football team.
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: He said, you were walking around delivering newspapers.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: I was literally delivering the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper. I
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: was delivering them door to door. I would get up
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: at three am every morning. I would get in rolle
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: my papers, put them in the back of my Honda Civic,
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: and I would go out and I had to have
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: them on everybody's porch by six am.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I knew my route.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: That's what I did right at that time. I definitely
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: wasn't thinking one day I would be sitting in an
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: owner's box at the Atlanta Foul because but you know
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: what I did. I was the best damn newspaper delivery
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: guy that the Atlanta Journal Constitution had because my name
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: was on it. So I gave it one hundred and
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: ten percent and so over a lifetime of always going hard,
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: I then put myself into position when somebody in power said,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: you know what I'm looking to add to my ownership group.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: My name came up. I made the cut life of
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: people want to be in that position. But I made
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: the cut because I had built a career that allowed
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: me to do it.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: When you go out and.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: Work hard and build a career and a meaningful life,
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: you never know how it's gonna manifest.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: But that's why I wrapped the Falcon Sir.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: I love that. But at what point did you say,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: you know what your booking is, it's over.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't think you have to say f anybody,
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: but I just have to say, rise up, and I'm
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: rooting for the for the Falcons because that's where the
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: opportunity can I've not seen you wrapped the books since
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: they wanted this, brother, I am a part owner of
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: the Atlanta Falcons.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: What part of this don't you understand?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Sir?
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, what if he's doing it is levels? Are you
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: trying to get the ownership revolt?
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Listen, I'm happy that you have who better than you.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: You know what this is trying to get better than you?
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: It's the Cowboys fan that's what that is. It went
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: out and that coach that nobody is excited and they
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: just Jarry Jones and as long.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: As he around.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: If somebody want to make me a minority owner, I'm
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: ready to denounce them.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Too seconds. Okay, we'll pack a new book.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Who better than you to are the healthy arrogance and
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: dreaming big out right now. Always a pleasure to see
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: you go out there and by this book, make it
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: the New York Times bestseller.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Massreciate you found.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: I appreciate you, man thank you, thank you all for
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: having me, Charlate mane, and thank you because you're somebody
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: that you know.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: And I told you this.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: We saw each other at the Democrat National Convention and
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: I told you I had written my first book, and
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: I was inspired by your books and by reading your
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: books and just seeing that process and the ground that
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: you put in, so you never know who's watching and
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: who you're inspiring.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Thank you, my brother, Thank you for having me.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: It's the breakfast Club.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club.