I just spent the morning listening to Ruslan Kogan – founder and CEO of kogan.com – share his business and life wisdom. Probably the best speech I’ve ever heard. Not because he made everyone laugh a lot – although he did; not because he had great stories – although he did; and not because he’s so down to earth – he is. The reason I feel his talk was so inspiring is because his message was both powerful and truthful. Rusian did something unique this morning – he spoke the truth. And, truth is a rare commodity these days.
I hear lots of powerful messages from people and organizations all the time. Unfortunately, most of these messages are not truthful. Like when the government boldly states, “We create jobs.”
Ruslan told us the exact opposite, ‘government doesn’t create jobs – never have and never will.’ And, that folks – contrary to what you hear in the mainstream media and from government – is the truth.
He summed up his life philosophy so eloquently when he told us:
“… only one person in the world who knows what makes me happy. And, only one person in the world who is responsible for making me happy.”
I got the message. If I ain’t happy with my life … guess what? It’s my fault.
Again, he spoke the truth.
Finally, he shared 4 Lessons as follows:
- Every relationship must be win-win. There are always ways in life to create win-win situations. A win-lose arrangement will never hold up; never last.
- You must be accountable. Take responsibility for your own actions and education.
- Social proof is very important. People want to eat where everyone else is eating. People want to buy what everyone else is buying.
- Profit is not evil. Every single product or service that enhances your life has a business person behind it losing sleep wondering how to make the product or service better.
I spoke with Ruslan in the lobby of the Alice Springs Convention Centre after his talk and told him I’m reading a book by a Russian immigrant called Ayn Rand. Ruslan’s parents are also Russian immigrants. Ayn immigrated to the United States; Ruslan parents immigrated to Australia. I was about to tell him his talk had many similar elements to Ayn Rand’s philosophy about business and life. But, before I could get the words out he asked, “Altas Shrugged or the Fountainhead?” Those are Ayn Rand’s two most popular books … he’s already read them. And, he told me, “Atlas Shrugged is required reading at Kogan.”
I finished reading “The Fountainhead” a few months ago, I’m 400 pages into “Atlas Shrugged.” If you want to get a better idea of where Ruslan is coming from, you may want to read these books. As I listened to Ruslan this morning, I could sense the Ayn Rand philosophy of life coming through.
We need more – lots more – wealth creators like Ruslan Kogan on the planet.