- [Kenny] Hey. - Hey.
- [Kenny] Nice to meet you. - Gary.
- Kenny Cousins. - Real pleasure, Kenny.
- [Kenny] Same here. - How are things?
- [Kenny] Great. - Good man.
- [Kenny] Yeah. - What's going on?
- [Kenny] Good Friday.
I wanted to finally get some time on the books.
- I'm glad. - [Kenny] Been here for just
over three and a half months.
- Awesome. - [Kenny] Had my 90 day review,
two weeks ago. - How'd it go?
- [Kenny] Great. - Good.
What do you do?
- [Kenny] I'm an ACC on Lisa and David's pod.
- Awesome. - So I'm an ACC on Axe
and Dove Men's Care. - How'd you get here?
- I got here, it's a long story but I'll truncate it.
I heard about you through Charlamagne's podcast
and I've been friends with Tyler since Montclair days.
- No shit? You grew up in Montclair?
- [Kenny] Yeah. We were playing lacrosse together.
- I love it.
- [Kenny] He's one grade above me.
And I saw that you guys had moved into Hudson Yards
and I've been coming here for another client upstairs
for my old company. - Okay.
- [Kenny] And I did PR at a small shop there.
And I saw that he had posted the video of you
touring this office and I was like
"Oh, my God. This is the most amazing office."
I'd been here a few times and so I hit up Ty
and I was like oh you work at VaynerMedia?
I know nothing about it, I just heard your name a few times.
- Understood. - [Kenny] I looked into it,
I thought it was amazing.
The number of people that worked here,
the amount of services that you guys offered
and how quickly you guys have grown.
And I've always wanted to go somewhere
where I could see myself in terms of
demographic, age and skill set. - [Gary] Yeah.
- And so I talked to Ty,
and from there it was just like feel in love instantly.
- [Gary] And how's it been going?
- It's been great. - [Gary] You enjoying it?
- My team's great. I love being an ACC.
I love Lisa's pod.
Every individual person on that team.
So many different strengths.
We just combine and work together well.
It's really good. Like not a bad thing here.
- [Gary] (laughs) That's awesome, man.
That makes me so happy.
- I used to hate my old job but
I never get the Sunday Scaries any more.
Straight up, I don't. - [Gary] Makes me happy, man.
Where do you live? Jersey still?
- I moved from Jersey to Brooklyn a year ago.
I live in Bed Stuy. - [Gary] Very good.
And how you thinking about your career?
Now you got a little bit of the lay of the land,
like do you want to be Lisa one day?
How do you think about things?
- [Kenny] So I have account experience in my old job
and now here and I've been thinking a lot.
I know I want to be on the account rep for a while
just to get more experience in my belt--
- Yep. - [Kenny] in terms of business.
- Business, running shit. - [Kenny] Yep.
- Mhmmm.
- [Kenny] I do have aspirations of trying to
work on the Talent team. - Oh, interesting.
- [Kenny] I've always had kind of a
knack to working with talent.
Whether that was in music or entertainment.
So, I think, you know, if I'm hearing you right,
if you're thinking in the mindset of 24, 36 months
on the account side by the time,
if that plays out and you get those skills which
I recommend 'cause you'll get them more there
than you would-- - [Kenny] Yeah.
-- the VaynerTalent thing is going to be a monster by then.
I think there's just a million.
I'm sure the more you've been doing homework on me
and things of that nature, like, I don't know,
VaynerSports wasn't supposed to be a thing.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - You know?
VaynerMusic's not a thing but the world thinks it is.
And it could be. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- The entrepreneurial vibe is deep here.
So, good, man. - [Kenny] Yeah.
And also, I just want to tell you something.
- Sure. - [Kenny] On the train here,
I came from my (inaudible) orientation
and I was like I got 10 minutes to spare
so I was watching the last 10 minutes of "Billions"
that TV show on Showtime. - [Gary] Yep.
- And one of the characters, one of the main characters
he's trying to purchase a sports franchise.
And he happened to want to purchase the Giants.
- [Gary] Okay. - And he's on the phone with
another business partner and he says that in America,
the royalty we knight them with sports franchises.
- [Gary] I've heard, I've been tweeted
a little bit this morning about it.
- And I didn't know that it was a thing before I heard that.
- [Gary] I'd never heard that either.
- And I was like things happen for a reason.
I knew I had my meeting with you today.
(Gary laughs)
I heard this line. - [Gary] That's so cool.
- So maybe he'll like this and
I was just like this is perfect timing.
- [Gary] I can't believe you said that.
I literally saw it this morning or last night from some tweets.
I never thought about that. It's interesting.
- [Kenny] Yeah. So I saw that and I was like
my brain just blew up. (Gary laughs)
You know, things happen for a reason.
- For sure.
- [Kenny] Not a coincidence, perfect timing.
- Anything I can answer for you?
- [Kenny] It was more a personal question
back to the ACC rep,-- - Sure, sure.
- [Kenny] 'cause watching some of the videos last night,
and specifically about telling people what they should do
and not what they hope to do.
It's kind of like be your true self.
- Yes. - Knowing what you know now,
if you could go back to your 25 years old--
- Yep. - I'm 25, how would you
best conquer this ACC position? 'Cause I know it's brand new.
- The number one thing you should do in this company,--
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - it's a little bit slightly
turned on what you just asked but it's the absolute truth,
is you should get to know every single person in this company.
- [Kenny] Yeah. - With every ounce of my soul,
I'm telling you right now, every one of your lunches
if you've got the time and you're not on something
should be in the cafeteria and
you should literally roll up and be like yo, hey.
- [Kenny] Yeah. - It's everything.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - People is the game.
- [Kenny] Yeah.
- Skills are commoditized, my man.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm.
- The skills of taking good notes, being organized,
being on time, being smart like they're stunningly commoditized.
It's the relationships. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- How'd you get here? - [Kenny] Mhmmm.
- You played lacrosse with somebody.
- [Kenny] Yeah. - Relationships. Right.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm.
- You shake somebody's hand, you become friends with them.
Do you understand what VaynerMedia's gonna be?
VaynerMedia is going to be the company that spits out
the digital ninjas of the future world.
Somebody in this room right now is literally the CEO
of Nike. Right now.
Somebody in this office is the CEO of Nike.
- [Kenny] Yeah. - 17 years from now.
Woulda been really good if you said what's up?
That is the game. Now, everybody's different.
Extrovert, introvert, duh, duh, duh, right?
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - But that's it.
There's nothing even remotely close.
Know everything about your team.
Ask them how you can help them.
Bring value to other people.
I do it now at this level. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- When you're here, that's (blows raspberry).
That's what people remember. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- Give a fuck. - [Kenny] Gotcha.
And then one more thing,
Ty said this morning also
he was like I've been hearing good things and I was like
that's what keeps the engines running.
And it's something so small but
I know you've said in a lot of your videos
putting more positive content out there.
- [Gary] Mhmmm. - Even if it's just personal,
how are you doing? You're doing this well.
Great job. I've just seen that in this environment,
it just seems to just reinforce so much more than elsewhere.
- [Gary] 'Cause it's a dictatorship, man.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - This place is a dictatorship.
You're just not going to be able to win here with negativity.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - You know?
- [Kenny] Yeah.
- Now negativity should not be confused with
critical and actual feedback. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- Like if Sally sucks, she needs to hear it.
In one way or the other. - [Kenny] Mhmmm.
- And there's only so much you can sugar coat
you stink at your job.
But, you're absolutely right.
Like, I don't know where you came from
but I know that no matter where people come from,
negativity is allowed because the player
that's deploying the negativity is
bringing value in a different way.
I don't play that shit. - [Kenny] Mhmmm.
- I'm the first one that would trade my super star player
if he's bringing cancer to my locker room. First.
I'll send his ass out for a third round pick,
I don't give a fuck. - [Kenny] Mhmmm.
- 'Cause you're not gonna win.
And everybody, Lisa, and Joe, these people know.
That's why. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- And it's cool, right? - [Kenny] Yeah.
- It's like fun. - [Kenny] It's awesome.
- You don't dread Sunday.
You know you're not walking in to any room here
and getting yelled at for no fucking reason.
- [Kenny] It's a complete 180.
- And I promise you it will happen,
and it does happen, those people get fired.
I can't stop humans from doing shit,
I can just react to what they do.
And then it becomes something everybody knows.
- [Kenny] Mhmmm. - Right.
- [Kenny] Yeah.
- And that becomes the culture. - [Kenny] Yeah.
- Cool, man. - [Kenny] Awesome.
- Really glad we met. - Appreciate your time.
- Have a great day. - You too.
See you at the Town Hall. - Can't wait.
("Still Waiting" by Jura Kez)