RAW TRANSCRIPT:

ANDY: This is so unique guys, if you are listening to this like… Imagine the amount of hours that Ryan has spent deconstructing sales letters and imagine applying that to something so cool, such as like comparing Glenn Beck to Barack Obama, and seeing the common patterns among them, it is a unique perspective.

FLETCHER: Yeah, I mean so the other day I was listening to a Tim Ferris podcast, and he had asked Peter Thiel a series of questions. And it was fascinating to me because, when you listen to Peter Thiel answer a question, he wasn’t answering a question, he was giving you his argument, which is entirely different. Like you could tell, that this guy, wasn’t just answering a question, he had thought about this. And he put forth an argument, and by the time you got to the bottom of his question, you go, “Huh. Good point, I like the way this guy thinks.”

ANDY: What’s the difference?

FLETCHER: So think about it this way. The way I envisioned this, and the way I imagine what he did, and what I try to do on a daily basis is, if you are going to construct a religion, for you, your customers, your clients. That give you a foundation for all your decision-making, you have to come to some reasonable conclusion, as to why you think the way you do. And so most people, they take a question and the answer it at face value.

I think what Peter Thiel did is, now these questions weren’t live. And so he didn’t have that spontaneity that you might get if it were live. Instead, it was a very thought out answer, and you could think of it this way; he made an opinion, and this has happened over time, so his book just came out Zero to One.

He made an opinion. Now most people deem be opinionated, like your an ass. Like the guy who has a lot of opinions, he’s just a an ass. But it’s not the opinion that’s negative, it’s the ignorance of the person with the opinion. And so, I think what Peter Thiel does, and people like him, they state an opinion like an hypothesis and then they second-guess that opinion. And then the question that opinion. And then they try to disprove and discredit that opinion. And then, ultimately, they come to an argument that they believe with such conviction, it becomes their worldview.

And so I think that’s the major difference. And so Simon Sinek who is the author of, what is it… “Start with why?” Is that correct? So if you go to TED.com, you can watch his presentation, it is one of the most views, millions and millions of views. But he truly gives you the most powerful marketing message on earth in my mind – people by what you believe.

The question is, what do you believe? That’s the hard part for people to come up to. What makes you you? People go, “Oh, I am a good dad, I’m a good father.” It’s all too general, too generic. And so what I have done is, what I am doing now is, I will put together a document, I don’t know if you can see this but it’s called 35 undeniable truths.

And so truth number one – in business, there is a distinct singular form of influence – being perceived as a someone, the authority, those who possess it have power. And so they started off an opinion. It didn’t start off nearly that concise or eloquently said. It started off like, “Hey, I think having authority is like the ultimate thing in business that would give you power.”

And now you start to deconstruct it and you start to question it and you start to second-guess it, you start to try to disprove it and you start to try to discredit. And every time that you are not able to and every time that you are able to present this argument to somebody and they can’t refute it, it gives you more and more conviction to say, “This is my worldview.” And so what happens now, and you do this 35 times over for whatever your core product or service is, and now those people who hear your argument, their final conclusion is, “Huh, Good point, I like the way this guy thinks.”

And as soon as you get that reaction, you are no longer selling a product or service, you have an ideological connection. And all the facts and the figures and the rationale go out the window.

ANDY: Because at some level, they are seeing their selves in you right?

FLETCHER: Exactly. You’ve just taken what they have wanted to say, all of their life and communicated it to them and they go, “Yeah, what he said!” Right.

— END —

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