Big Think

Question: What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Gary Vaynerchuk: My Dad told me very early on, “Your word is bond.” Right? He said – it came at a good time, it was when I was into Wu-Tang Clan too, so, I’ve heard it in the hip hop Song, so it was probably a little more powerful to me, but the fact of the matter was my Dad told me, “You make a commitment,” I became the buyer of the store at 22 years old. He said, “You make a commitment, no matter what happens, you eat that wine. You made a commitment.” And that is absolutely to this day the reason I think I am doing well in a lot of ways. Because I think DNA-wise, I’m a very ADD type of character and a lot going on, but because that principle has been stuck in me, it’s helped me not have egg on my face probably a lot of times where it could have really hurt me and that’s a very substantial core of my principle.

Recorded on:  September 15, 2009