YouSaid · the spoken record

Scooter Braun

lines on the record: 145
first: 2025-06-09
most recent: 2025-06-09
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

“Yet each one of them has had a different experience. Each one of them has had a different experience. Story of perseverance and tragedy. And that's the thing. It's like with kids, you just never know what the cocktail is going to make of life. And I think I think, you know, that idea of we're not made to be worshipped that can play funny things on the mind.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And what I think also is important is I don't think we can. Push everything, I think adversity is important. We can't just talk about mental health and say adversity shouldn't exist. But I do think I understand the importance now of Really putting in the time to make sure mental health is addressed and that we have an outlet to speak to someone outside of the crew. There's a lot of things that I learned within myself that I wish I knew back then I met those one direction kids when they started. They came to LA and actually the whole group because Niall reached out to me. They came to my house to hang out in the backyard when they were first starting before they really blew up like their first US visit to LA. And I met Liam back then. and I met the excited young kid with the voice.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think that when we worship human beings, it changes something within us. It messes us up a little bit because that's not what we're built for. And I think that can be very confusing. And I think being able to transcend the childhood of, you know, people cheering your name and everything else at that level and get to the place where the artists I've worked with are where they are in healthy relationships and with their families and still working through stuff, but like having a human experience, I think it's a testament to their strength. So I think that's part of it. I just think the nature of being on that stage, you know, that young and people chant. And I didn't realize that until I got older. The other side of it is I never understood, even without me, I didn't have that childhood. Yet I broke.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you ask me this question, At this age, I feel a lot of guilt. I feel a lot of guilt because I worked with so many young artists. And like I told you, I hadn't taken the time to look at myself or. The therapy myself until I was older. So I didn't understand at 25 years old, at 27 years old, at 30 years old. They each were coming from very unique backgrounds, of their own stuff with their own families and their own childhoods and growing up this way and being seen by the whole world and being judged by the whole world at a very young age. And I think it's two things. I think one, human beings are not made to be worshipped. I think we're made to serve.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It sounds like the same thing with a relationship maybe. I put in the foundation those first three to five years and really be there together. I really believe that. I think. You put in that time in the beginning, and you can break through the noise and set a foundation for everything else.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To break out of the noise. So, and by the way, I don't think that's particular to artists or music or film or TV or anything I've done with entertainment. I think that's every business I've ever been a part of. The first three to five years of any business I've ever built in any arena or worked with anyone who's ever achieved anything great, those first three to five years are the most important.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think it's vain, personally. I think To be able to convey emotions on the level that it touches people around the world, you have to understand emotions. And I think I think great artists, great performers are able to draw from different places and sometimes it's joy and sometimes it's pain and sometimes it's just a natural God-given gift. It's very important. I think, especially in the beginning, in the beginning, you're stepping into a pool where everyone talented wants to be seen. And you have to work incredibly hard.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Them succeeding is tarnishing your legacy. Every artist that I worked with, I believed in them because they were great. And if they continue to be great. I think that's the best testimony to that belief. So to see Justin move forward and succeed, to see Ariana with what's happened with Wiccan in this past year. See Tori Kelly, you know, to see everybody that I've ever had a chance to work with, to see them go on and do great things on their own.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not the same that it was. I think these things go with ebb and flows. I think there comes a point where Understand he probably wants to go on and show that he can do it. I mean, we work together for so long and we had such extreme success. And I think you get to a point as a man where you want to show the world you can do it on your own. And I completely respect that. And I think at this point, That's what he's doing, and myself and everyone from the old team is rooting for him. But I stopped managing two and a half years ago. And now I'm a cheerleader from the side and I want everyone that I worked with to do well. I think sometimes when you walk away from management, I've heard managers watch, I never understood, they'd be like deep down behind closed doors, they don't want to see them do as well without them is almost like.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And they put it on the line for me too. You know, they believed in a 25-year-old kid. And, uh, We were able to achieve some amazing things. And I'm very proud of what we achieved and always rooting for them.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, they flew to I talked to her for like an hour and a half that night and first plane ride they ever went on. And I remember he was so excited that there was a fridge inside his hotel room.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was like... He had incredible tone and he had soul, and he had charisma. He was doing like, there's one where there was an instrumental and he was like jumping around. And I just believed in him instantly. And then when I met him, he had even more charisma. He was funny. And I was like, all right, this kid, let's go. And he was an athlete, so he was competitive. He was a very special, special talent and very unique individual. Those were special times.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I knew when I saw online. I was like, this is the kid I've been looking for. And I felt the same way about Asher. I mean, I relentlessly kind of pursued both of them. I had a clear vision to what I could do and what he was capable of. And it was funny because no one believed me. I mean, even after we met and we did the deal and we started working together, literally no one believed me. And YouTube was not a big thing back then. So when I took him from 60,000 views and we took him to like 60 million, now he's like one of the biggest YouTubers in the world. And everyone's like, yeah, youtubers don't turn into musicians though.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I like Googled the background of the church to look up the businesses and then called the regions of Canada school boards to figure out where he was because his mom had a different name than him because her name was Millette, his was Beaver. So I went a little crazy to find him with it. Once I saw him, I kind of”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If you want to go for it, now's the time when you don't have anyone to support where you can really go for it because later on in life you got to think about other people. And back then, 19 years old to 24. Let's go for it.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There was just nothing. It wasn't even because I was so driven by also the fear that I wouldn't be enough that back then I would have lied. I would have said, oh, I had such a deep belief in my conviction that I could do it. It was partially that, but it was also Why not me? And no one told me I can't be here, and also now that I'm here, I can't fail because then everyone will see that I shouldn't be here. And so it was this fear, excitement, fear, excitement, conviction. Let's always tell people when I meet them as young people, I'm like, you don't have kids. You can starve a little bit. Your parents want you to go the easiest route because they don't want to see you suffer. But now is the time when you should be suffering.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“this why not me? I had no right contacting Asher on MySpace. I mean, at that point, I could say, okay, I came from Soso Deaf. I was the youngest vice president music because of Germain when I was at SoDeaf. I was 20 years old. So I had the right, you know, some credibility other people didn't have. I definitely could do that. But to tell him to drop out of college and move down to Atlanta, Georgia for be the first artist on my record label to, you know, find Justin in Canada and convince his mom and him to be on the first plane they had ever been on to come down to Atlanta and meet me. I mean, it was... 25 years old, 24 years old. I was insane.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ignorance. I'm telling you, every aspect of my life, if we talked about every little thing that I've been in, you said earlier, I've been in all these different things, and probably your listeners have no idea who the hell I am. So they're like, what is he talking about? Every time I put myself in that next arena,”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Eminem was a very big rapper, was one of the biggest rappers of all time. And I was in college and I'm watching all these at the time these frat guys, but they loved hip-hop. And I don't think they had anyone who spoke to their life. So I wanted a kid who could speak to college life who had the skills to be credible within the world of hip hop.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I wanted to sign three types of acts: and Asher fit the mold for one, Justin for the other, and the other one I never found.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But doubt from someone who dislikes me or doubt from a hater, I can pretend like Amzen as much as I want. But if I'm being really honest with myself, sometimes that's the fuel that I need. So I think if it's solely one thing, it's not healthy. But I think if you can admit you get fuel and different influences from different places and don't try and be ashamed of the one that doesn't fit in your narrative of how evolved you are. Know then it's okay.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If you are only driven by haters, no. But I think that everything plays its role at the time, like Robert Green. He talks about this idea of embracing your dark side. And I think that there's truth in that. If you continue to fight something that's naturally inside you, you're going to really struggle with it. If you can accept that's part of you, you can use it as fuel and you can move right through it. So yes, there are things that drive me, my curiosity is a big driver for where I go. My children now are big driver for where I go and how I live my life. The people I love, the joy that I find, the introspective voice that now I can go to when I'm meditating or working on myself.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Every great story we have of success, people tell of that pivotal moment. whether it be this Dean or Michael Jordan being cut by his coach is the varsity coach when he was younger. We all talk about the Dream Buster as a catalyst to our success. And in life, I kind of feel like everything, even, you know, it's like I have this tattoo, a more fati from Marcus Aurelius. It's the concept love of one's fate in Latin. And it's this concept that you have to love the sorrow as much as you love the joy. You have to love the pain as much as you love the success. You know, it's, if it wasn't for that dean, I wouldn't have had that chip on my shoulder in that moment. I would just push you on the fact that you hate these dream busters, but I am so grateful for them.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You ask me about my father, I want to ask you a question. You made a face and you paused. You have your own story of something happening like this.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And he says, Do you know the story of Robert Woodruff? And I said, you know, Robert Woodruff, he goes, yeah, the founder of Coca-Cola, the Woodruff Center, the largest endowment in Emory. And he tells me this amazing story of this entrepreneur who created Coca-Cola, who is the largest endowment in our university, and I'm so hyped. I'm like this guy gets me. He gets me. He's going to help me. I'm going to be at the school. And just when my hopes are really high, he looks at me and goes, you know what we're going to do, right? Because we're going to stop all the nonsense. You're going to focus on school. You're going to get a degree because the chance of you being like Robert Woodruff without an Emory degree is like one in a billion. And the moment he said it, that's when I dropped out of school.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't have to drop out of college. I did because I went to work for Germain and now I'm traveling all the time. I'm still throwing parties. You know, we're gearing up for Usher's album. We're doing this. We're doing that. I'm working with Youngbloods. Anthony Hamilton, like, it's, and I'm 19, 20 years old. And my grade point average went from a three-point something to a one-point something. And they brought me in on academic probation. And they said, um... What's going on with you? Is there a drug problem? Are you being abused? And I said, No, no, no, no. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm building this. I want to build a record label. I'm working for Jermaine Dupri. And this guy's looking at me like I'm insane. And he's this dean.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Probably my insecurity is I never wanted anyone to feel like I needed them. I never wanted to feel like a user. It was like my own insecurities of how they might see me But I think on top of that, I just It was that same old thing of never wanting to be in a position where you're begging somebody for something.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't want to be that kid who was going Hey, give me an opportunity. And by the way, sometimes that works, but I wanted them to see what I was doing and then say, come over here. I didn't approach Germaine Dupree to work it so deaf. Germaine heard about me in my parties and he met me and he said, you have more potential than parties. Why don't you come work for me? I didn't approach, you know, ludicrous who was coming up as a rapper and say, let me do that. A lot of people in my life, I never really approached them. And then even as my life changed and I got older, I made a lot of relationships. I have a lot of relationships now that I've never done business with. And people will go, well, you have that. Why don't you? And it was because I never wanted anyone to feel”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“One, I think it's important to pay people respect I came from a household where you respect your elders. And when I was coming up, I was 19. So I was very respectful to the people that are giving me an opportunity, and I never forgot who helped me along the way. I think the other thing, there was a big part of my philosophy was let your work be the reason they want to meet you.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was ran by a guy named Alex Gidowan. Alex was so fascinated to see me in the line he said, let this kid in here. And Alex taught me how to promote. He taught me what the value of the door actually was, what I should be getting from the bar, and I would start moving my parties and I would spend all my money that I made on Thursday nights at the college party on Alex's Tuesday night, meeting people, meeting rappers, meeting singers, meeting different people, faking it till I make it, and getting people to come back and forth between my parties. And that's how I started. That's how I met Jermaine. That's how I met Luda. We all kind of came up together.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Combination of things. I think one, I wasn't a threat to the freshman girls. I had a high school sweetheart at the time. Very committed to her. I was a decently cute kid and I could dance. I was a good person to go out with and have fun. So that was one thing. Number two, I was playing sports, so I had a lot of friends in different teams and different arenas. And three, I was in the right place at the right time. That first party I threw was successful. And at that first party, I was approached by a guy named Jason Weaver. He's an actor. And he was in this old Michael Jackson movie I used to watch as a kid where he played young Michael. And he came in and he said, this is crazy because Atlanta at that time was very segregated in the club scene. So it was like, if you were black, you went to a party that, you know, a club that played hip-hop. And if you were white, you went to a club, they played techno. But I didn't grow up in the south. And I wanted to listen to hip-hop and rock and roll. And we played that. And when Jason came in, he was so fascinated to see a mixed crowd listening to hip-hop that he was like, you want to see how the other half lives. And Jason brought me to a club called Velvet Room on Tuesday nights in Atlanta, Georgia.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I started selling fake IDs. That's what I started doing. Yeah, I sold fake IDs because my friend sold fake IDs and I thought he had a bad business plan. So I was like, I'll market them. You make them. And quickly, he broke my golden rule of not keeping in touch with people we sold to. So I stopped immediately because I didn't want to get caught. And I walk by a nightclub and said how much would you give me if I brought people here the next week? And that was the beginning of my Atlanta party promotion days.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Walked away and it was one of the best lessons ever, you know, because he was. He was right. You can win certain ways, but you're going to know how do you want to win? You want to do it the right way. And that tough love, I'm appreciative of it”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And usually he would punish me and his punishments could be severe, but this time he just said, hey, Kamir, I want to talk to you. It's not going to be a punishment this time. I just want you to know you got the gift for Gab. You could talk your way out of anything, and in life I used to tell you if you lie, you're not going to be successful. I want to tell you the truth. You're so good at it. You might be successful, but you're going to be a liar. And I'll know you're a liar, and you'll know you're a liar. So do it that with what you want. And I was so beaten down and ashamed because it wasn't like raining down fists on me. It was just like the guy I admired so much called me a liar. And I walked, I was messed up. And I went back to him and I said, Dad, I want you to know I'm not going to lie. I'm going to be a man of integrity. Yeah, I could do that, but I understand this opportunity, what you're saying. And he just looked at me and said, okay, good.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My dad grew tough. And it was almost like when you're being raised by two people who lived through what they lived through, they were raising him for a world that took everything away from them. They were so loving that they still raised him that way. And then he was so loving, but he still raised us really tough. And I was the first born son, so I'm the oldest of all our kids, all the kids. So he was very tough on me. You're referencing this time when I was probably 14. He caught me in like a white lie.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Or they swing two, three times everyone's selling them selfish, and they get, you know, oh my God, and they're embarrassed and they leave. Takes a lot for someone to stand there in the middle of the noise, shut out the noise and understand the opportunity was given to me I deserve this, I'm going to keep swinging.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“People ask me what drove you, I thought it was all the outside noise. I thought it was the fear of failure, the fear of letting them down, all these different things. And it wasn't until recently when I hit some hardships as an adult and really had to look inward that I realized everyone's got the same crowd and everyone has their own issues and everyone has their own stuff. And what actually brings you to success and self-worth and happiness is actually understanding how to stand at that plate and shut out the noise that's here. Not the millions of people around, the millions of people are in your head screaming at you, telling you're not enough. The deep, deep lie from the most confident people they have it. So I'm glad I get to finally publicly say the difference because I've had it wrong all these years.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I never understood who the crowd was. I always thought the crowd was being able to shut out the outside noise. I always thought the crowd was the naysayers and all the people who in your life will tell you you're never going to achieve anything, and that's part of it. But the crowd, all those people waiting in line is actually you. What I never realized till now that that's the difference. I always thought.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“but stays at the plate and now people are saying are you kidding me there's lines of millions of people waiting for their turn and you're gonna stay there you're gonna stay there and swing again and they swing again and then everyone's booing and they swing again and they literally keep swinging as everyone is booing them and booing them and booing them for hours they're the most selfish person in the world you don't deserve here get off that plate this is not and then they finally hit that homer and everyone cheers because oh my god they did it And I said that years ago, and it wasn't until recently that I realized there's one difference in the story.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I will tell it again, but I will tell you on your podcast the difference I hold today They asked me what it takes to be successful. And I made up this analogy with baseball. And I said, imagine Syng Award winner CC Savathia at the height of his career in the middle of Yankee Stadium, and they invite everyone to come hit a home run. And they say you get as many of bats as you want, and whoever hits the home run wins like the billion dollars, million dollars, whatever it is. And you can imagine everyone flies in from all around the world. People are fulfilling for New York City. The line is crazy. And I said, the person who's successful is not only the person who finally gets up to the plate and swings and misses.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No one, I think, you know, as a kid growing up, I read it that way because, you know, you're hearing the stories of the Holocaust and my dad every night before he put me in my brother to bed would say, hey, boys, you're different. You're special. I hold you to a higher standard every night before we went to bed. And we started to really believe him of like we need to hold ourselves to this higher standard. We need to do more. The idea of failing, the idea of looking at my parents and not achieving it, that's what drove me. And years ago, I was on a podcast, probably 10 years ago. I was doing a podcast with Complex, with this guy Noah.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My father's refugee from Hungary, my mother, her dad died when she was eleven, you know, and her mother struggled to raise them with family help in the Catskill Mountains. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and here I am first generation born in America, and I wanted to prove that. that I could be more than the privilege I was born with. And so I had that chip on my shoulder. I wanted to prove my value. I wanted to prove I was worthy of this.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, it's funny because you started by asking Scooter, what drives you? And it took me a long time to figure out as an adult that it was actually Scott, my real name, that was the real driver, and I really created this guy's scooter when I was an adult because I didn't think Scott could achieve these things. So I almost like created a mask, and it wasn't until I was forty years old doing some intense therapy that I fell in love with my name again and realized that. The answer to your question, which is part of it with shame of why. With my family's background. Am I getting all this privilege?”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My ignorance, but it was also realizing that so much of insecurity drives us and makes us great. Like now that I'm here, I can't fail because then everyone will see that I shouldn't be here. So let's go for it. And then at such extreme success, the whole world thought I was crushing it, but I had built this mask so big. I didn't realize how far away I'd gone from Scott. So here I am. The top of my game, I wanted to kill myself. I went to a very dark place. And I broke down crying because I spent so much time trying to impress people who didn't love me instead of realizing how many people already did. I was so desperate to do the thing I had never done before.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Never really said this out loud until right now. At this age, I feel a lot of guilt because I worked with so many young artists and we were all kids living so fast and we all wanted to succeed so bad and it wasn't until I was 40 years old doing some intense therapy that I realized. I was so driven by the fear that I wouldn't be enough. Let's go back. As a kid growing up, I wanted to prove that I could be more than the privilege I was born with, and I created this character scooter because I didn't think Scott could achieve these things. And that mask made me absolutely relentless faking it till I make it. Like, I have no right convincing Justin and his mom to be on the first plane they'd ever been on and meet me.”
2025-06-09 · The Diary of a CEO · Scooter Braun: The Lie I Chased Almost Broke Me... You’re Probably Chasing It Too! · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT