Categories: Articles

A Punk's Guide To Success

I used to be an angry young man.

Heavy metal. Punk. Street. That’s the music that captured my attention. The early days of that music. I would also read. Nothing got me more riled up to be a better writer than Henry Rollins. Most know him as the frontman for Black Flag or his own solo venture, Rollins Band. I liked the music, but I loved his writing. He had his own book publishing company (long before the Internet and long before self-publishing was truly accessible) called, 2.13.61, and his writing was raw, visceral and deep. You could feel his moments. With that, he has one of the best quotes ever about writing: "If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you."

Magic.

I came across this video of Henry Rollins talking about what it means to be young, to become successful and to think about one’s life in a greater context. I read a lot of books these days. I read a lot of books about personal development. I want to be better. I want to do better. I want more success in my life. I want the people who work in and around me to be successful as well. If you don’t have time to read these types of books or put in the type of work it takes to find and define success in your life, spend four minutes with this…

…(and show this to every young person you know… or those who are old and have forgotten about their own potential)…

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.