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What Warren Buffett and Howard Hughes Teach Us About Communication & Success · How To Talk To Humans

• 0:00
  Larry Wilson: Hi, this is Larry Wilson, and this is How to Talk to Humans.
• 0:04
  Larry Wilson: This is the podcast that shows you how to improve your communication skills.
• 0:10
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to get a better job?
• 0:12
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to find a relationship?
• 0:15
  Larry Wilson: Are you trying to do things in your life that have you and included you so far?
• 0:22
  Larry Wilson: I can show you so easily how to change that.
• 0:25
  Larry Wilson: Now, I can only do it with humans.
• 0:27
  Larry Wilson: If you're looking to deal with vampires and zombies extracretos, this is not the joke.
• 0:33
  Larry Wilson: But if you're really looking to improve your communication skills, I can show you what I've learned for 40 years in the show business working with the biggest celebrities and superstars in the world.
• 0:47
  Larry Wilson: And their secrets are unbelievable.
• 0:52
  Larry Wilson: What I'm going to be teaching you during the course of this podcast every week are tools that you can use to communicate toward success.
• 1:05
  Larry Wilson: I'm promising, I promised, I should say really, because it was past tense, that I was going to teach you today something to make you more successful at whatever your work is, whether you have a service you provide, whether you produce some goods that you offer for sale, whatever it may be, whether you're a coach, whether you're uh involved in real estate, in the health industry, uh in uh accounting, that sort of thing, and whatever it may be.
• 1:44
  Larry Wilson: We're gonna do something today guaranteed to make you more effective and more successful.
• 1:52
  Larry Wilson: What's the simplest way to begin?
• 1:54
  Larry Wilson: Uh, well, sometimes a number of you have brought up to me, you've said, there's so many things that I'm teaching that sometimes it's hard to remember them all.
• 2:06
  Larry Wilson: Of course, of course it is.
• 2:08
  Larry Wilson: Now, uh, some of you may know, I sometimes have referred to what I call the one thing principle.
• 2:18
  Larry Wilson: And all that means is in a training, in a seminar, in a coaching, anything that I do where I'm hoping to learn valuable information or valuable skills, or even if it just maybe theory, although I'm not, as you may know, not as keen on theory as I am on real practical things.
• 2:42
  Larry Wilson: But in any of those situations, I'm aware that I may be overwhelmed with a flood of information.
• 2:53
  Larry Wilson: There may be a ton of stuff, and frequently you can tell I'm taking notes about things, and now Zoom offers to have AI take notes for you.
• 3:05
  Larry Wilson: I've never tried it, but I'm sure it works like a dream.
• 3:11
  Larry Wilson: And all these things, of course, uh can lead to panic, where you feel like I just I can't.
• 3:21
  Larry Wilson: I've been training uh recently with a good friend of mine, a man you've heard me talk about before here, Barry Friedman.
• 3:29
  Larry Wilson: And he has uh some specific training for people in entertainment.
• 3:34
  Larry Wilson: And it's uh it has to do with marketing, it has to do with um uh prospecting, finding people who want to hire you for what you're doing.
• 3:44
  Larry Wilson: And it's a lot of it's focused really on corporate uh work, and it's been fantastic.
• 3:53
  Larry Wilson: Uh, it's really brilliant stuff.
• 3:56
  Larry Wilson: Um it may not be as appropriate for people who are not in entertainment, only because he makes reference to things and he has ideas and he has techniques that specifically are are tailored for people in entertainment.
• 4:10
  Larry Wilson: But there's a great temptation to give in to panic when you see all this stuff, but let us always revert back to the one thing principle.
• 4:23
  Larry Wilson: If in a training, if in a Zoom meeting or Microsoft Teams, or I can't remember all the other ones, if you could learn one thing, just one thing, that's how you become like Howard Hughes, the famous story I know I've told you here before, about how Hughes held more aviation patents than anyone in the world.
• 4:51
  Larry Wilson: This is in the late 1950s.
• 4:53
  Larry Wilson: And someone asked him, How did you accumulate this vast knowledge?
• 4:57
  Larry Wilson: He said, Oh, wherever, he's traveling all the time.
• 5:00
  Larry Wilson: He said, Wherever I am, if I have any extra time, I jump in a cab.
• 5:06
  Larry Wilson: Uh, for those of you who are younger, that's uh what people did before Uber.
• 5:11
  Larry Wilson: Um, and I asked them to take me to an airfield where they have flying lessons where they'll teach you to fly.
• 5:22
  Larry Wilson: So they would take him to wherever it was, and he would say, uh, I'm very interested in learning to fly.
• 5:30
  Larry Wilson: And they'd say, Oh, great, when do you want to start?
• 5:32
  Larry Wilson: And he'd say, right now.
• 5:33
  Larry Wilson: And they'd say, Okay, well, what experience do you have?
• 5:36
  Larry Wilson: And he said, Nothing.
• 5:37
  Larry Wilson: I've never been in an airplane before.
• 5:40
  Larry Wilson: Now, keep in mind, this is the guy who at this time held more patents in aviation than anyone in the world.
• 5:49
  Larry Wilson: But he pretended to have no experience, to have no knowledge.
• 5:55
  Larry Wilson: And he said, every single time, he said it was excruciating sometimes.
• 6:00
  Larry Wilson: They would start at the most entry level.
• 6:03
  Larry Wilson: You know, this is called the wing, and this is the propeller, you know.
• 6:11
  Larry Wilson: I mean, imagine how painful it must have been.
• 6:14
  Larry Wilson: But he said by pretending that he knew nothing, every single time, every single time, he would learn one thing.
• 6:28
  Larry Wilson: It might be it might seem really small, or sometimes it was bigger, but every teacher, every instructor had this wealth of experience and information in their head, and sort of spoon feeding it to a beginner who had no experience, which is what they thought he was, something would come out.
• 6:53
  Larry Wilson: And it could be the most seemingly inconsequential thing.
• 6:58
  Larry Wilson: Oh, you know, when the temperature outside, when the air temperature gets above whatever, you have to tap on this dial because it frequently will stick at or could be anything.
• 7:15
  Larry Wilson: But doing that three, four, five times a week for years, he accumulated more knowledge about aviation and flying than anyone in the world.
• 7:30
  Larry Wilson: Obviously, we can all learn from this parable of Howard Hughes.
• 7:36
  Larry Wilson: We can all learn from it.
• 7:38
  Larry Wilson: So I only say that because I don't want you to be in a state of panic.
• 7:44
  Larry Wilson: I know there's some uh gurus who uh purposely try to throw too much at you, hoping that you will panic, I guess because they think then it will weld you to them.
• 7:59
  Larry Wilson: I it's not my style, it's not my belief.
• 8:05
  Larry Wilson: I don't think it's a good way to teach people things.
• 8:09
  Larry Wilson: I think we all learn better when we're relaxed and when we feel calm and confident.
• 8:17
  Larry Wilson: And confident doesn't mean uh boastful, it doesn't mean cocky, it just means you feel whatever circumstance you're in, it's a safe situation where you can learn.
• 8:33
  Larry Wilson: That's all.
• 8:34
  Larry Wilson: And I'm hoping always that these VIP trainings are precisely that.
• 8:43
  Larry Wilson: So uh a couple of you who have reached out to me privately and said sometimes I get a little overwhelmed.
• 8:52
  Larry Wilson: I want to give you a mantra.
• 8:56
  Larry Wilson: Uh, you know, for people who are involved in uh meditation in Eastern uh philosophies of meditation.
• 9:05
  Larry Wilson: A mantra uh really is uh it's a sound that you create in your mind while you're uh meditating.
• 9:18
  Larry Wilson: Now it look for a moment there.
• 9:21
  Larry Wilson: Oh, there, there of course is Adam Hannon, and uh let us all just say happy anniversary to Adam Hannon.
• 9:31
  Larry Wilson: Thank you, sir.
• 9:32
  Larry Wilson: Yes, and so uh, you know, uh a mantra can be anything, but I'm using it in the sense of a phrase that can center you and remind you of basic principles.
• 9:53
  Larry Wilson: Uh that's the only thing I mean by it.
• 9:56
  Larry Wilson: I'm not suggesting you have to meditate or adhere to any religious principles, nothing like that.
• 10:03
  Larry Wilson: Just a phrase, and the phrase is really foundational to Wilson Method.
• 10:11
  Larry Wilson: And that phrase is communication is human.
• 10:19
  Larry Wilson: That's all if you get lost, if you get confused by something, go back to the center principle and you can't go wrong.
• 10:33
  Larry Wilson: If you start to think, I have to do something tricky to trick people or manipulate them.
• 10:40
  Larry Wilson: If you go back to that guiding foundational principle, you go, oh, that's right.
• 10:46
  Larry Wilson: That's not what we do here.
• 10:48
  Larry Wilson: This is not about manipulating people, it's not about deceiving people.
• 10:53
  Larry Wilson: As you know, I my alter ego, uh Larry Wilson comedy magician, I do deceive people for amusement, but part of what I think is funny about my character on stage is it's so clear that I'm trying to deceive you.
• 11:13
  Larry Wilson: That uh, I mean, I'm a the character I play really is a buffoon on stage.
• 11:19
  Larry Wilson: Uh some people think it's not that far from my personality in other circumstances.
• 11:24
  Larry Wilson: So but but I'm gonna give you a couple of classic examples.
• 11:30
  Larry Wilson: And as always, I don't expect you to take my word for it.
• 11:38
  Larry Wilson: I think all of you know how much I admire Warren Buffett.
• 11:44
  Larry Wilson: And it's not just because he's the world's most successful investor.
• 11:50
  Larry Wilson: There's no question that he is.
• 11:53
  Larry Wilson: It's uh I like that, and of course I aspire to follow in his footsteps.
• 11:59
  Larry Wilson: I think that would be a great thing.
• 12:01
  Larry Wilson: But I'm so impressed by his communication skills.
• 12:08
  Larry Wilson: He always uh I wish I could meet him sometime because I wonder if he's like this constantly, that it's just one pearl after another coming off his lips, you know.
• 12:24
  Larry Wilson: The things he says are so clear, they're so sensible.
• 12:31
  Larry Wilson: Uh and I was just reminded of one of them.
• 12:34
  Larry Wilson: I hadn't thought of it in a long time, but it's a classic Warren Buffett quote.
• 12:39
  Larry Wilson: He said, and he was referring to his company, Berkshire Hathaway.
• 12:44
  Larry Wilson: And I hasten to point out, I do not own any shares of that.
• 12:49
  Larry Wilson: I'm not, you know, I want to make sure you know that I'm trying to be as completely transparent as I can.
• 12:57
  Larry Wilson: Uh his company, he said, we've never made a good deal with a bad person.
• 13:10
  Larry Wilson: Uh if I was inclined to theatrics and I had a microphone, I would drop it the way young performers do now to show how serious they are.
• 13:21
  Larry Wilson: We've never made a good deal with a bad person.
• 13:26
  Larry Wilson: And you know, then Buffett goes on to elaborate, but you get exactly what he means, I think you do, that he's saying somebody who's dishonest, somebody who's shifty or a little sketchy.
• 13:43
  Larry Wilson: And you know, this is not always, this is not etched in stone.
• 13:51
  Larry Wilson: But if someone offers you a deal that seems too good to be true, it frequently means it is too good to be true.
• 14:05
  Larry Wilson: It's not true.
• 14:07
  Larry Wilson: But of course, that's what's so appealing sometimes.
• 14:11
  Larry Wilson: I'm sure that everyone on this call or watching this replay either has had the experience or knows someone who has gotten into some deal, they may have had misgivings about it, but it was just too good to pass up.
• 14:29
  Larry Wilson: And if that accursed phrase came up, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• 14:39
  Larry Wilson: I'm here to tell you personally, this is this is the the distillation of my life.
• 14:52
  Larry Wilson: There's never just one once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• 15:01
  Larry Wilson: They come around all the time, and that's I hate to say it, because it's possible someone might offer you something, they might offer it because they like you or because they like what you're doing.
• 15:18
  Larry Wilson: Uh it's possible.
• 15:20
  Larry Wilson: But that phrase always rings an alarm bell for me.
• 15:28
  Larry Wilson: If this deal is really so good and their communication is good, you should be able to see it.
• 15:36
  Larry Wilson: You should be able to look and go, oh, that's a great opportunity.
• 15:41
  Larry Wilson: But that story, if it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that's some sort of device, hopefully, to get your thinking to shut off so that panic sets in.
• 15:58
  Larry Wilson: It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• 16:01
  Larry Wilson: If I miss this, I'll have missed everything.
• 16:03
  Larry Wilson: My life will be ruined.
• 16:05
  Larry Wilson: I I'm, you know, uh the most obvious example, and you certainly don't need me to guide you through this, but if you look, you know, I reference Warren Buffett, look at the stock market.
• 16:20
  Larry Wilson: As far back as I can remember, when I was a little kid, you see certain stocks that for whatever reason they had a new technology or they changed management or they reorganized in some way and they blew up.
• 16:37
  Larry Wilson: And I'm sure you've heard these and you've seen these examples where someone said, if you put$1,000 into this in whatever year, 1976 or 1951 or 1984, whatever, you know, then today you would have$1.6 million or whatever.
• 16:55
  Larry Wilson: And I'm sure it's true.
• 16:56
  Larry Wilson: You know, uh they're assuming that when the stock shot up, you did not sell it and reap the benefits of that.
• 17:05
  Larry Wilson: But they're thinking you kept reinvesting and reinvested dividends, so on and on and on.
• 17:10
  Larry Wilson: But the very fact that there's so many examples of that should be proof to you.
• 17:16
  Larry Wilson: There's no once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• 17:20
  Larry Wilson: And I think that's what Buffett was sort of talking about is people who are a little sketchy, or there was some faint scent of the flim phlegm about them, or they answered almost every question except some really pertinent important, and they couldn't quite answer that, but they sort of skated over it and acted like, oh, it's not that important.
• 17:49
  Larry Wilson: Well, that may be something really important.
• 17:51
  Larry Wilson: They may have neglected to mention something that might leave you holding the bag in some situation you don't want to.
• 18:00
  Larry Wilson: But I couldn't have put it as well as Buffett did.
• 18:05
  Larry Wilson: Now, Buffett has the advantage of having, God, I don't know, 60, 70 years of phenomenal success investing.
• 18:16
  Larry Wilson: So if that guy says, we've never made a good deal with a bad person, to me that sounds like they made some deals that they regretted later.
• 18:26
  Larry Wilson: That they thought, I'm not sure this person's really on the up and up, but this deal sounds so perfect.
• 18:32
  Larry Wilson: And then later on, they thought, we really shouldn't have done that.
• 18:37
  Larry Wilson: This to me sounds like the Warren Buffett uh analogy to communication is human, that I don't think you can ever have difficulty if you always return to that foundational idea that communication is human.
• 18:58
  Larry Wilson: Now, should I give you an example that seems so pat that it seems like it was set up?
• 19:07
  Larry Wilson: Sure, I'll do it right now with Adam Hannon.
• 19:10
  Larry Wilson: Adam Hannon's right here.
• 19:12
  Larry Wilson: I won't go into a whole Adam Hannon or story here, but I'll tell you this.
• 19:18
  Larry Wilson: Uh he invited my wife and I, and my son actually, too, to a holiday gathering they had last December, and we drove down from Reno to where Adam lives in the Bay Area and had a fantastic time and fantastic food.
• 19:36
  Larry Wilson: Uh I can't start talking about it because my mouth will fill up with saliva at the thought of it.
• 19:43
  Larry Wilson: But we just had a fantastic time, and we met his wife, and we met his daughters and their friends, and it was fantastic.
• 19:51
  Larry Wilson: And I know that my wife and my son are sort of used to this by now, you know.
• 19:57
  Larry Wilson: Anyway, at the end of the evening, just before we're leaving, Adam brought out a program that I had signed, I had autographed for him.
• 20:09
  Larry Wilson: But it was like from a hundred years ago.
• 20:12
  Larry Wilson: It was, or maybe a million years, it was from a long time ago.
• 20:18
  Larry Wilson: And I didn't remember signing it, but all that jumped out at me was oh, this had to be after I had started to learn these principles that evolved to become Wilson Method.
• 20:34
  Larry Wilson: Whenever I first met Adam, so many years ago, there couldn't have been anything in it for me.
• 20:41
  Larry Wilson: He came to see the show.
• 20:44
  Larry Wilson: I, wherever I was, I did the show.
• 20:47
  Larry Wilson: But it was just being human.
• 20:51
  Larry Wilson: That it was just me acknowledging I'm so pleased that someone came to see the show and enjoyed it enough to ask for an autograph.
• 21:01
  Larry Wilson: That's not something to be poo-pooed or cast aside.
• 21:06
  Larry Wilson: Now, flash forward.
• 21:08
  Larry Wilson: Now, Adam Hannon is directly involved, is one of the newest board members of the nonprofit that I created to foster literacy for children.
• 21:20
  Larry Wilson: Some of his ideas that he's already presented have been not only fantastic, but have sort of been what this nonprofit needed.
• 21:29
  Larry Wilson: A lot of times, I don't know how to do the things I get interested in.
• 21:34
  Larry Wilson: I jump into them and I worry about the details later.
• 21:39
  Larry Wilson: Well, seems to have worked so far.
• 21:42
  Larry Wilson: I'm not necessarily recommending everyone should follow that model.
• 21:46
  Larry Wilson: I'm not sure that it's good for everyone.
• 21:48
  Larry Wilson: All I know is for me, it seems to have served me very well.
• 21:52
  Larry Wilson: This has been Larry Wilson.
• 21:54
  Larry Wilson: I want to thank you for spending this time with me, and I hope you found this information useful.
• 22:01
  Larry Wilson: If you're looking for more, you can find it at thewilsonmethods.com.
• 22:14
  Larry Wilson: Send me an email at info at wilsonmethods.com because I read everything all.