YouSaid · the spoken record

Rey Flemings

lines on the record: 67
first: 2023-08-22
most recent: 2023-08-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Been thinking a lot about this lately because our business is growing and a lot of really interesting things are afoot that I frankly never would have dreamed would happen and I feel like I dream big dreams. But for me success is First and foremost, being a better father. My family Fulfilling my social responsibility and making a difference as glib and heard it before as that sounds Know, I've got a book coming out and all of these other things that are going on, but the stuff that really, really matters is the heartfelt pieces for me. My life has changed a lot in that regard. I love what I get to do every day. Being able to work with the folks that we work with, and I really do feel like we're making a difference, not only in the lives of our clients, but in the lives of everyone that we touch.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The advice that I would give would be to Holy face and embrace it. Don't shy away from it. Don't delay it. Mine was so crazy that I couldn't. I think I had kicked the can down the road as far as I could for me. And then, you know, when it happened, there was nothing that I could do. I had to face it. I think a lot of times people will start to get the inkling, hey, something's wrong. I need to face this. Boom, you're kind of delayed. You put it off because it's uncomfortable, all right, to go through kind of great personal change. To be free of these things. You have to defeat them, whatever that is, addiction to food or whatever these things, whatever problem it is for a person, you got to face that thing hold on.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That journey of the journey is the inward journey, right? Really reconnecting with an understanding. And being able to just kind of get outside of our own lens, our own perspective, and see ourselves more honestly and more candidly.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So in 2021, kind of the worst things that I could ever imagine happening to me all happened at once, like major, major life crisis, was the sort of thing which when it happened, my life would either be the same from the instance it happened and the outcome would be binary, right? I would go on to be okay or wind up in a very, very bad place. Going through it, I discovered that the things that were happening To me, we were not really happening to me. They were happening for me. It produced this really, really incredible personal effect on me. One of the most visible effects, if you see old photos of me online, I was 350 pounds. So I lost 100 pounds in about four and a half months. It would help me to rebuild my company, rebuild an improved time I get to spend with my kids and just all of these other things that kind of came through that.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, on that topic, I wouldn't even point a finger at my client, I'd point a finger at myself. I've been an entrepreneur. Building businesses. And look, I had a day of reckoning around this very point that I'm not spending the time and the care with my own children that I should have. And, you know, listen, everything that I'm saying out here about entrepreneurs and success I'm dealing with as a human as well, right? And so I definitely don't want to make this sound like, you know, I'm exempted from it. And a lot of these learnings and the things that we're encouraging people to do because I'm a dad of two and I've run multiple companies and sold a business and worked too much and trying to lead a happier, balanced life myself. So I get it, I guess, is another reason I hope that we're able to have good conversations with folks around it.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then you look down on it, you know, just all of this weirdness, where, of course, if a child grows up in this lifestyle seeing this thing, maybe they want to emulate it, maybe they don't. And who doesn't want to look out for their kids and do the best for them? But then when you get to the kind of wealth money transfer and the self-made thing, it gets kind of wonky. I can go deeper on it, but it's kind of a touchy subject.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, within the Forbes billionaire list, there's AIRS, there's all these, but that self-made billionaire, that's the designation that everyone wants. And it leads to this sort of thing where Everyone has to be self-made. Talk to any billionaire, the first words out of anyone's mouth will be like, I didn't come from anything. Whether or not that's true, right? They'll be like, I came from nothing. That's at the beginning. Of every story on the self-made thing. And I think it leads to some really, really interesting effects, particularly with relation to people's children and their ability to be self-made kind of in a parent shadow. And it's not just with money, it's also with what they're calling now Nepo babies. So your parents are famous actor, your parents are famous singer. Well, if you're interested in acting,”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That is Let's go back to our definition of success. In America, this Horatio Alger, I worked hard and I made it. You know, I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. I did it. I went out there and made it, young man, and you too, you're going to go out there and make it, right? So I'm worth $10 billion. I'm going to leave you $100,000 or nothing at all and you're going to go, you know, because I don't want to spoil you. You know, somewhere along the lines, our definition of success also kind of blended with masculinity in this weird sort of way. And it comes to kind of define the alpha male. You know, I'm super, super successful. And if you look at Forbes, So Forbes publishes the billionaire list, 26, 2700 names on it. That's actually not the most important designation. Important designation is self”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Think all parents want the best for their kids. If anybody out there has a rule book for how to get the best out of their kids, I definitely want that book. We're all a trying. Things that I, you know, people who have raised happy, successful kids, kind of some of the best examples, you know, I feel like are the parents who've kind of let their kids be themselves and been patient with them. Lord knows we all needed a lot of patience. The child parent relationships that have been the most strained that we've been exposed to have been those where the parents try to handle the fish a little too much. You know what I mean? Either positively or negatively, right? You can be a helicopter parent in one direction. You can be a jerk in another direction. The families that I know where the kids are. Just most normal, happiest leading their lives”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The broader sort of, you know, these are there are people who are, I feel like, really concerned about it, putting their money where their mouth is and kind of thinking through these problems. In a significant way. But yeah, people are people. So they have the basic fears, but it does kind of turn up the volume on some of the...”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think money is an amplifier. It turns up the volume on who a person is. It doesn't change who they are. With the caveat that great wealth does have the negative effects I was mentioning earlier. So the normal worries that folks have, safety and security. Kind of a big one. They become targets for frivolous litigation and a lot of bad behavior. things which if they were poor would never be an issue but even the minorist of infractions are like you know everything's super super litigious and so people this leads to the the kind of isolating and insular thing where they you know they have to be careful with people because they don't know what's going on oh i slipped and fell here's you know So besides the security and kind of the litigation issues, there's a lot of hand wrangling over what's going on in society.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The Carl Sagan idea that at the end of the day, when you zoom out and really look at it, we can realize that we're special through humility as opposed to ego, that thinking, well, we're so smart, we're so this, we're so that. Well, AI knows everything we have ever thought or will think in every language and can translate it back and forth. So if you could build a box, a machine, to do that, where we really all that smart all along, you know what I mean? I actually think it's kind of a pale blue dot moment for us to kind of look at ourselves and gain some humility around it. I'm actually not in the AI doom and gloom camp at all.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Again, I'm an optimist, right? When I look at the sort of folks that we're meeting, I think that the wealthy get painted with this broad stroke, a caricature almost. But certainly some of our mutual friends are literally some of the nicest and most genial humans on this planet who definitely care, who are definitely trying to get it right. None of us have this whole thing figured out. You know, we can sit here with all of our fancy words and our big talk and our learnings, but we really just don't know that much, right? I mean, humanity is frankly not that smart, right? I mean, when you think about AI. So here we've created a machine. can run on your phone. Knows everything, every human has ever thought. And for me, just really points towards a little bit maybe a more human humility.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Depends on who. We kind of over index on people who are thinking socially, but we certainly know a bunch of folks who aren't.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Would be the question. And it's different for everyone. There is no right answer. So for every person, for our clients, for every person who comes in young, 20s or 30s, wealth event, single, ready to go have fun, meet people, party, whatever. We have a mid-career person. With kids, the last thing they want to do is go party. They're trying to do fun stuff with their family. We have other people, late stage career, who are focused on wealth transfer, who are legacy, so forth and so on. There's no right answer to it. But if you ask the question, would we want to work with them? I think the what do you want is very, very helpful.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Much life is being wasted in America 2.1 trillion man hours divide that in half we're wasting about 200 moonshots of human productivity Being selfish Not letting The lessons of the past change our future. And there is no telling where our society would be. We could tackle all of these great issues we keep talking about but don't want to deal with in a meaningful way just by being more open and honest about these things.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's one of the most amazing things about all of this stuff that we're discussing. I wrote this section in my upcoming book called The Cost of Stupidity, Stress from Poverty and all of the crazy things that go on in America shortens the lifespan of African Americans. Blacks live five point eight years. Less than white people in America There's about 42 million black people in America. You multiply five point eight years times 42 million, and you get a big number, 2.1 trillion. Hours of life. The Apollo space program, the moonshot, 5.2 billion man hours to put a man on the moon. And the benefits to society has changed telecommunications. There would be no SpaceX today without the Apollo program. Think about all of the societal benefits from one moonshot. Then think about”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Even in early hip hop was weecentric, it was looking out at the world like At some point that changed, and all of the lyrics became me, how much I've got, how much money. Look at me, da-da-da-da-me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, And That knee-centric thinking is, I think, closely related to how we've defined success The money. I got this. I got the car. I've got me, me, me, what I've got. And again, we are all connected. We are not going to be able to ever create a society where we don't need each other. And if we could create it, who would want that? I don't want to live in some test tube without people, right? And we've gotten very myopic, very narrowly viewed. And I see it reflected in the culture and the music and the movies, et cetera, et cetera”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I agree with you. I would argue that you see it in music. I am old enough. Remember how black people in America acted before hip hop. I'm gonna sound like a boomer. I already know people are gonna be like what? Dr. Dre. Everybody can see Dr. Dre in their head. Well, before Dr. Dre was in a black ball cap and, you know, the NWA look, Dr. Dre was in world-class wrecking crew, sequins jacket with long jerry curl, right? Like it was a completely different thing. I'm the first hip-hop generation. There would be no such thing as hip-hop if my generation didn't like it. So I'm not criticizing hip-hop in any way. But what I'm trying to say is at that point in time, it was entertainment. Now it's become not entertainment, it's become lifestyle and culture for a lot of people. The music”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They're going to toast you. What would those closest to you say about you now if that birthday party was held tonight? What would they say about you today? And if there's a delta, what do you want to do about it? If your doctor called you right now and was like, you know, you've got one year to live, what would you be doing anything different than you're doing today? And if so, why? And just really asking these sorts of probing questions, who matters in your life? Talk to us about your community. And so it kind of starts at the me, you know, because we're all looking at ourselves. And then we try to broaden it to get our clients to kind of look outside of themselves and to start thinking about Obviously, they're family first, then their community, and then kind of the broader issues.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think one of the great opportunities is to choose happiness today and to choose a broader definition of what we think of as success. So when we sit down with people, we send them a questionnaire. And the questionnaire includes a bunch of different sections. There's a fun section because, again, I believe if people are having more fun in their life, we're all human beings. Who doesn't want to enjoy their life? Like everyone wants to be having a good time, to feel good, to feel special, have a great time. And so there's all of the bucket list questions, if you will, right? What's the stuff that you've done? What's the stuff that you've been wanting to do your whole life? What are the things that you're curious about? And then we get into more of the philosophical things. Imagine you're at your 80th birthday or whatever late life birthday you want it to be. Everyone you love has gathered around and they say.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm tops in music. And bringing those people together, not in an accusatorial way, not in an agenda sort of way, but kind of moving society forward in that way.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So they played by the rules of the game, they succeeded, and they want to change it, but no one person, even if one person said, hey, I'm a billionaire, here's a billion dollars, I'm going to leave it on the street corner in the poorest neighborhood in town, go run with it, right? Whoever wants it, it's all yours. What's the U.S. federal budget? Trillions of dollars. That $1 billion is not going to address anything. I mean, sure, the people who quote unquote hit the lottery that day and found the money would do better, but it won't fix anything systemically. This is why we believe we've got to create groups of people. Are having more fun, who are having these discussions, who are being inclusively exclusive. So, hey, I'm financially successful. Hey, I'm a great artist. Hey, I'm financially successful. Hey”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There's no honest fact based conversations to talk about how we solve these problems. And it just leads to this sort of spiraling, spiraling, spiraling, when does it end? You know, I would tell you that even my wealthiest clients. Don't like it.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right at the end of the day, people want to go to work. They want to obey the rules of society. I've paid my taxes. I've gone to school. I've done nothing wrong. I've voted. I've been a good person and there is nothing here for that system as it just keeps going breaks down. Now the founding fathers and their wisdom gave us a system voting to change it. I made that statistic earlier that three people are richer than 165 million. Well, what's the most votes ever cast in a U.S. federal election? 81 million votes. Literally. The next federal election, if they so chose, those 165 million people. Could vote their way out of poverty. You could tax their way out of poverty unilaterally. But there's too much division in the nation.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“From the founding of the country since we got there, right? From the start until 1978, I was five years old when that occurred, and specifically 1978 because you had the fair housing act and all of the associated lending protections to go in place. And so it took literally that long. 1776 to 1978. Now, federal taxes started in 1913, whatever that is, 65 years. African Americans are paying federal taxes for benefits that they do not receive. And it compounds this sort of wild inequality generation after generation after generation. And it's at the heart of eroding the trust.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because wealth compounds and the nation has protected the property records. You know, a generation is between 10 and 25 and 30 years. Let's kind of split the difference, call it 25. There's been about 10 generations in America. From the foundation until 1978, if you were black in America, you could not fairly compound money. Two hundred and two years out of the ten generations. So literally my son, and I'm not that old, is the first generation of black folks in America that could actually begin compounding money in the way that other people were allowed to in the nation.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It would solve a massive amount of the problems. So would property records. Why do you own the land past your natural life? So, you know, America obviously was settled. There was a Homesteading Act, and the American government gave over 10% of the land of the United States to people, but not all people.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, they didn't invent capitalism. They were born into it just like us. And if there's a problem with the game, if there's a problem with inequality, Then let's all work together to change the game that we all agreed to play instead of blaming the people who are playing it, right? I believe that they are us. We have this idea that like. This conspiratorial sorts of things. Someone's got their hand on the wheel, but no one has their hand on the wheel.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That America became a nation. 250 some odd years ago. And the capitalism that Adam Smith articulated in Wealth of Nations is not the capitalism that we practice today. Nowhere near it. In fact, By today's definition, Adam Smith would be labeled a socialist or a communist if you actually read Adam Smith's quotes in the book. He says the rich should not be taxed in proportion to their income, but something more than, right? I mean, there's all these crazy sorts of sounding things like, oh no, responsible capitalist would. But capitalism... And democracy, all of these things are meant to serve the people. And to hopefully make us happier and more productive and lead better lives. I also don't believe in this idea of a James Bond supervillain. Pick whoever you think of as the worst billionaire in the world. Were they alive in 1776?”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. Well, this is the whole changing the definition of success, changing what it looks like, what does it mean. So for us, if success is money, this goes back to that idea of the Arab Spring person. He did what society told him to do. Get an education. Well, he didn't just get one degree. He got two. You know, you play by the rules. You do what you're told. And then the shock of your life. You don't have what you thought would be there. And so we're looking at success as money. And even the rich are getting all of the money and are like, I thought happiness was here. Well, I thought community, you know, and it's just not because the definition was always wrong. All of these concepts, you know, we were talking about America's system of government or the presidency being an outdated concept. Even the economy, Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations the same year, 1776.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That circle to your point just keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. That is one of the things that we hope to correct with the community aspect of Miriam in exposing people who are super successful to other interesting human beings that are doing amazing things. Contact theory, right? Just by coming into contact with other Miriam members and the service people who make all the magic happen around the world for our clients, we think it helps everyone to be more successful and happier ultimately.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If you've built some giant thing to give you a bunch of money, you've spent the majority of your time doing that thing. And so whatever that thing is, it's just like one vertical, one business. And so that in and of itself is insular, right? So you're focused on that thing. You're missing the kids ballgames. You're not on the PTA board. You're at work, right? So it kind of starts there. Having a bunch of money has some awesome parts to it, right? The more money you have, the more stuff you can buy, the more places you can, right? There's some cool parts to it. But then there are some downsides. Most things are directly related to money. The more money you have, it's going up. But then a lot of the personal pieces are inversely related. So the more money you have, the fewer people you can trust, the more money you have, the harder it is for a person to look you in the eye and tell you the truth. Just tell you things that you don't want to hear.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. So it starts really and truly with the successful person being focused, right? So great financial success. I'm not talking about heirs, but entrepreneurs, people that are out there building businesses, it takes a lot out of you, right? And we are all only given.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He's there selling fruit in a fruit stand. And he's like, fuck it. He self immolates. He sets himself on fire, which literally was the spark for the Arab Spring because it touched so many other people there who were like in this position of like, I don't trust these people. I don't trust this system. I'm an optimist. I want you to hear me loud and clear. I actually believe that you and I are having this conversation because at the end of the day, the universe bends towards positive and most people want to do the right thing. And sure, we've got a lot of crazy things that we need to address. And I just want to promote honest and open conversation around those things so that we can get there the fun and interesting and happy way as opposed to the sort of powder keg situations that I think being divisive and not talking openly about these things promotes.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Then you see what you're seeing in America, the tent cities. You have people who are like, I've worked 60 hours this week and cannot eat and pay rent. Why am I working? I've worked a 60 hour work week in America and I am on public assistance. Why work at all? And this goes back to the whole three people in America with more money than the bottom 50% of Americans, right? So wealth is getting concentrated into so few hands that it becomes dangerous. And you never know where it starts. You never know the moment of ignition. Think about the Arab Spring. The forces which led to it had been underway for decades, right? All this upheaval and people were able to suppress it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. One day, a person whose name none of us will even remember his name, he had done everything society had told him. I think he had two degrees from grade school to”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I hit the jackpot, build a great business, or hit the lottery, whatever our path to success or money is. We have all the money we can dream of. We go and buy. $70 million G6. How many people have to wake up that morning? So that my plane can take off. Somebody's got to fuel it. Somebody had to drive a truck to get it there. Somebody's got to be in that air traffic control tower. Somebody's got to handle the baggage. You got to have pilots in the cockpit. And that's just here where you're taking off from. Somebody halfway around the world have to also get up and do the same thing. Well, those people who are getting up to fuel your plane, they have got to earn a living wage. Because at the point that they don't learn a living wage, then you have a problem.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That goes back to you know what if the wealthiest people in the world were also the nicest? What if they also were the most charitable? Well, if you're having fun in your life and you're enjoying your life and you're coming into contact with people and it's not insular and it's more fun, you're seeing and kind of touching the problems, right? I mean, Our primary service for our customers on the concierge side, of course, is human powered services. Being nice to and tipping well and making sure the people who are serving you are taken care of, it's a rounding error on the balance sheets for most of our clients. So why not do it? Because when you really, really think about it, let's say”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Program to kind of make those things right and then move forward. So your question was, how do we start to restore that trust? So that's actually part of our mission at Miriam. When we say that the world's most successful people should be, you know, that we're a community and a concierge, we want them to be having more fun. We want them to be spending more money. And it sounds very snooty. It sounds very exclusive until you understand that we believe in inclusive exclusivity, right? So success is not just money. So our members are not just rich. There are also people who are changing the world in many other walks of life. Very great academics and accomplished business people and artists. And solving the economic problems, we need to all kind of do our part.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You had committed the crime, then you could stand to account for it. So it was this encouraging, this sort of day of reckoning around all of the historical wrongs.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“South Africa did something really interesting. Here was a community thanks to apartheid, which there had been a lot of wrongs done. You could look at examples throughout history where when one group has been done wrong, if they come to power, they do the same things essentially to the other group that was done to them and back and forth and back and forth throughout human history. South Africa took a different approach. They instituted something called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And the basic idea was that if you that apartheid was wrong and people were wronged, we've learned from it and we're going to do better as a nation. And if you committed a crime under apartheid, come forward, admit your crime, and apply for amnesty by admitting it. But if you didn't, and they could later prove.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is not even everybody. They've got $130 billion of insurance money. How much money do U.S. depositors have in U.S. banks? $20 trillion, right? So how's $130 billion insuring $20 trillion? The entire economic system, we think it sits on money and people will sit there, these policy walks, and they'll talk about numbers and blah, blah, blah, and all these things. The economy is based on trust. And when that trust breaks down, you see what you're seeing in our society today when the rich aren't trusting poor and the whites aren't trusting the blacks and the Republicans aren't trusting. You begin to see this fraying of the edges, the things that you see in San Francisco right now with all of these things going on, it all actually sits on a lack of trust or an erosion of trust, this fraying of the American experiment.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, when the Constitution was ratified, a human being had never traveled faster than a horse could carry them, the world was much smaller, it was easier to manage. So here we are saying let's pick one person. Can run our military and educate our children, run the economy and healthcare and That person doesn't exist. There is no human being that smart who can do a good job on all of these things. It's far beyond their reach. And I think we've got to recognize The system is getting to a point where it doesn't make sense even to the people who are operating. Silicon Valley Bank imploded and people woke up to this reality that, oh my goodness, a deposit in a bank is actually not a deposit. It's an unsecured loan to the bank.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I wouldn't go a little further I would actually say that it's not that we don't want people to understand. It's that we don't understand. And I'm meaning the big we, the so-called leaders. You know, there's this idea that there is this group of really smart people who have their hand on the wheel guiding the planet left or right or kind of making all of these decisions. I actually don't agree with that. I believe that the systems are too big. You know, if you ask me, and I know this is not a political show, the problem is not Trump or Biden. The problem is not Obama or Bush. The problem in America is with the presidency itself. The idea of the presidency was developed so long ago, like, hey, let's elect our king.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that led to him, I think, at this time, has given away the largest percentage of his fortune during his lifetime than any other person after realizing.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And we're chasing 1 billion, 2 billion, 20 billion, 30 billion, 50 billion, what is the point, right? At some point, we need to be pushing those things further and further and helping people. I also loved Warren Buffett's quote in his documentary, you know, they basically said, hey, Warren, you were kind of famously not very charitable early in your career. Why? And his response was along the lines of, well, I believe that could compound money as well as well or better than anybody in the world. And my goal was to grow the pot as big as I could possibly grow it and then give away the maximum amount when I was done. And the interviewer says, well, why did that change? And I said, will it change because I discovered that the problems of humanity are compounding faster than I can compound money?”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Spend a billion seconds of your life every 32 years roughly. So the difference between a million and a billion is the difference between a two-week paycheck. Your entire career in time. If that's the difference between a million and a billion.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I have something that the billionaire will never have. And Vonnegut asks, what? And Heller says, enough. I have enough. I believe that people broadly don't understand the difference in large numbers. We don't have an intuitive grasp of what it means, you know, because what is that? A thousand books behind us or five hundred, you know, it's hard for me to just look at it at a glance and know. And when you get into really big numbers, millions and tens of millions and billions, we just can't process it. process it. We can't intuit it. And that leads us to just not knowing what these things mean and not having a grasp of what it means. So sharing the difference between or developing an understanding around what is the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is important. And I think the clearest example of that is to use time. Nearly all of us have gotten a paycheck in our life. If you're paid by weekly, you spend a million seconds of your life every 12 and a half days.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know there's the great story Kurt Vonnegut eulogized Joseph Heller who wrote Catch twenty two. And in his eulogy he told a story about he and Heller visiting a billionaire's island. You've probably heard this in all the great literature you have behind the wall. But the story goes something like Vonnegut teases Joseph Heller by saying, do you know that our billionaire host made more money today? You made in all the copies of Catch 22 you've ever sold since publication. And Heller said, yeah, I know that.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I agree with you, that is part of the problem. And I think all of the studies are pretty clear that it has a negative effect on people. It's like a slot machine, right? Every time you open your phone, you've got the notification and the uncertain what you're going to see. It's addicting people to it. And I also think it gives a false impression. So even folks who are way wealthier than you are, they're still lonely posting the great moments of their lives. They're still humans. They've got crap moments in their lives just like everyone else, but they're not posting that, right? And so you're seeing this highlight reel of life. And so you're not just looking at economic inequality. You're also looking at, you know, kind of the best of the best of the best moments in anyone's life. And the supermajority of your life isn't like that. The supermajority of all of our lives isn't like that.”
2023-08-22 · The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish · Rey Flemings: A Different Definition of Success · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT