What Does it Take to be a Titan?

In January of this year I attended a “Titan’s Dinner” here in New York City. For those of you who aren’t Aggies (I am sorry!), you may not be familiar with the acclaimed Britt Harris’ course at Texas A&M called Titans of Investing, but you can read more about that here. Britt is a legend, and it was an honor to listen to him share his thoughts — and they made an impact on me so I wanted to pass along some of what I heard.

As with all translations, there could be errors- rest assured, they are mine and not his. Here are the pieces that stood out for me:

1) There are “5 F’s” of decision making

a. Faith

b. Family

c. Friends

d. Fitness

e. Finance

When you are deciding something — anything really, but in this context we were talking about professional decisions- you need to ask yourself if the outcome is good for all of these elements. If the answer is no, you shouldn’t do it. Period.

2) At all times in our lives, we live on some level of the “Mood Elevator”. The floors, from top to bottom are:

a. Gratitude

b. Curiosity

c. Defensiveness

d. Depression

The quickest way to improve our mood is to actively practice gratitude. Happy is less relevant than grateful- but happiness follows gratitude. I also think that the middle levels of defensiveness and curiosity are interesting. Getting curious is a great way to move into a positive mindset. Defensiveness is always a negative spiral.

3) We spend a lot of time talking about work/life balance. But life is not about balance- it’s about juggling.

a. The balls we are juggling are the 5 balls of faith, family, friends, fitness and finances/work

b. People, particularly when they are starting off in their career- or even later if their identity is all wrapped up in their work, think that the one ball that is glass is work and the other are rubber. In other words, everything can be put “on hold” except for work — so they strive to not “drop the glass ball of work”. The reality is that it is the opposite. The only ball that actually bounces is the work ball. People come back from work setbacks all the time. All of the others- faith, family, friends and fitness- are the ones made of glass, and need to be protected as much as possible, which we quickly realize when one of them shatters.

4) What it takes to be successful:

a. Brains are only important to a point — there are plenty of unsuccessful “geniuses”, and there are plenty of people who are middling in intellect who have done great things. It helps to be smart enough- but that is only the beginning.

b. Curiosity is the key ingredient to achieve. It motivates learning and it furthers exploration.

c. Willingness to do whatever it takes- the ability to give 100% — that is the real key. Giving your all- working really, really hard- is what it takes to succeed. No person who is successful ever gave less.

d. Perseverance — also comes in the form of resilience, endurance — the ability to push through. Often the hardest one to practice, because you also have to know when it is time to stop beating your head against the wall if something is a futile effort.

e. Being kind and caring about other people — so often missed when thinking about being successful- but what kind of success do you want to have? It only matters if, in the end, you can look in the mirror and be happy with what you see. If you are lifting others up along the way, the success is real — otherwise it is empty indeed.

5) Speak the truth with love. I have written about this one before- because I have found this to be personally so important, and at times very, very challenging.

a. Speak- all the good ideas in the world are of no use if you don’t speak up

b. The truth — integrity and character matter the most- say what is true

c. With love — caring about the people you are interacting with is key to having the most positive influence — at your work, in your family, in the world

Chasing monetary success is a hollow endeavor. Being able to take care of yourself, your family and to help others is what matters. There is tremendous value and dignity in hard work, but we can’t lose sight of the other aspects of life that will sustain us through the inevitable tough times. It is not lost on me that these “tips” came from a dinner entitled “Titans” — which I think many people would imagine is about how to make as much money as possible or how to climb the corporate ladder. But in the end, being a true Titan has much more to do with how you positively impact the world.