Mark Cuban Talks About Strengths

Thank you to my strengths practitioner friend Johan Oosthuizen for sharing this video... 

In this short interview with billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavarick's Owner Mark Cuban, he talks about his philosophy of success.  He shares how he started to understand his own strengths at age 12.  Cuban shares his experience selling garbage bags from door to door:

"It was when I was selling them, that I realized that I like to sell, and that I could sell and I realized that selling was about providing a service and creating value for people.  I knew literally back then that I could always succeed".  If you are familiar with the Strengthsfinder Assessment... Cuban is sharing his recognition of the Talent Theme called "Woo".

Cuban continues, "I think when I was 16 years old, I started a stamp company and started going to stamp shows and trade shows, just working a little bit harder than other people (Strengthsfinder Achiever Theme) and trading up from one stamp to the next.  I remember I started with a quarter and bought one stamp and left with $50.00"

Cuban shares, "I've always been passionate.  I would stay up till 3 or 4 in the morning, even though I had to get up and go to school, and read Linn's Stamp News and Scott's Stamp Journals and have them all memorized.  Even when I was in college, I'd be in the library reading business books and looking for business biographies (Strengthsfinder Input Theme) and just reading all I could about business.  When I had Micro Solutions, I started with no money, I'd pull all nighters in front of borrowed computers teaching myself software and how to program (Strengthsfinder Learner Theme).  

I've always just really enjoyed the competition of business (Strengthsfinder Competition Theme).  The ultimate sport is business, and you have to do it 24x7x365 days forever.  There's always somebody out there trying to kick your butt.  There's always somebody who looks at your business and says, 'I can do that better - I have a better idea', and you have to compete with that person."

Cuban also talks about the importance of passion.  He shares, "Love what you do...it's not who you know, it's not how much money you have access to.  It's really about finding something that you really love to do.  I had no idea that I loved computers and technology.  I took one class in computers, then I bought a little PC, a 99/4A from Texas Instruments for $99.00 and started teaching myself to program.  I found out 4 hours later that I had been working this entire time and I loved it.  That was the difference.  I failed a lot of times and I didn't know where I'd find my success, and then all of a sudden, I started playing with PC's and technology and it just clicked."

Cuban concludes, "I think the most important thing is knowing your strengths and weaknesses and knowing what you enjoy doing.  If you look at it as job, you've already lost. It's not going to be your passion.  Your going to count the hours.  If you look at it as something you love to do, and then you know what your strengths are, then you can leverage those strengths in your business and helping others.  Once you recognize your weaknesses, then you can work with people that complement you.  In every one of my businesses I've had a partner that's very anal... Martin Woodall, Todd Wagner are incredibly perfectionist people.  I'm a slob.  I'm a big picture, think about what's around the corner... How's technology going to change things?  How can I change this industry?  I need to make sure that there's somebody there to dot the i's and cross the t's and keep me in the baselines.  Recognizing my weaknesses is just as important as recognizing my strengths and my core competencies and having a passion to do it."

That last paragraph is a pretty good summary of the Strengths Philosophy as I teach it.