May 22, 2022 by Brian Weiner No CommentsChanging The World One Thought At A Time., Lessons From The Mountain

I do not care how many billions I have down the road, I am still going to treat each person just as I wish to be treated now.

I do not care how many billions I have down the road, I am still going to treat each person just as I wish to be treated now.

BRIAN WEINER

We have all had the experience of being brushed off or discarded… Treated like we do not matter. Made to feel non important. This is the walk of life.

In many cases, we are probably more sensitive to the circumstances than perhaps we need be. In other cases, the circumstances are what they are and we truly are being made to feel like we do not matter.

I think one of the true marks of a great entrepreneur is the ability to accelerate into stardom or success, and still remain every bit as humble as they were at day one. To me, that is a true status symbol. The ability to stay grounded, even when life elevates you to a level you have never been on before. I recently watched both We Crashed and Super Pumped and watched two entrepreneurs rise so high that they were wholly unfair to everyone who helped to get them there. What a great lesson to watch!

I was fortunate to have had a chance to visit for an hour with Katherine Hepburn when we had her on one of her last films, This Can’t Be Love, opposite Anthony Quinn. This film was loosely based on her life, and while I have never sought out to meet any of the actors on the projects I have worked on, the chance to speak with her was too good to pass up. It was 1994, and I was still young in my career, in my young 30’s and walked up to her after she finished a shot, and we spoke for the better part of an hour about life, love, Hollywood, Howard, Spencer and everything about making a relationship work in the entertainment industry. If anyone had cause to be egotistical, with 12 Academy Awards to her name, it was her, but to the contrary, she was genuine, sincere and so warm. These qualities were never lost on me.

As we work our way through the myriad relationships in business, we meet them all. Some amazing, others, not so much. We encounter ego on all levels, some over the top, others quite in check. To me, the lesson is simple…. The more powerful and successful you become, the more humble and nurturing to others you should be. You should never lose sight of what it feels like to be the “little guy,” struggling and doing whatever it takes to make life work. You should opt for compassion and empathy over arrogance and attitude.

When given an option, go towards kindness and understanding over short temper, and an unwillingness to understand. Find your deeper inner being that guides your emotions and drives your corporal being through this 3 dimensional playground called Earth and let that inner being guide you to ever greater degrees of brilliance through humility and tenderness.

Life can be hostile in so many ways. The only thing that mitigates this for all of us is our collective ability to recognize that we have no possible idea what the other person is weathering and as such, we are well served to approach everyone with compassion and extra degrees of latitude.

Happy Sunday!

Please follow and like us:

Written by Brian Weiner

When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!