Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori along with Matt Higgins. His website is linked up at Coast to Coast dot com. Matt, you say that you
predict CEO failure? How do you do that? A great question, George, Not to get too psychological, but it's basically self awareness is really important in business because it enables you to make your own interventions without having somebody to say to you, hey, this project, this product's doomed, or you got to fire that employee's going to ruin your company. And so I find that CEOs who have the awareness to make the course corrections without me having to tell them, that's the
whole game. And so I do a lot of work and when I'm doing a deal to figure out this is person willing to tell themselves the truth so they could make those course corrections when everything is on the line. How much of it is instinct within themselves. Yeah, it's the whole reason I wrote my book Burned the Boats is we are conditioned in society to outsource our judgment. Books at Barnes and Noble or Ted talks or politicians,
and we overlook our own instincts. And so it's amazing how people will seek outside help before first seeing what can I unlock within myself and what's my intuition trying to tell me? But everybody's always trying to talk to you out of your intuition. I try to talk leaders into their intuition and figure out what's blocking their confidence. How would you look at poutin next to Zelinski Zolinski, a former comic who turned president of Ukraine. I think
Zelenski is the ultimate burn the boats move. I opened my book talking about this history of this philosophy and all these military leaders, you know, who've embraced it. But just to make anyone out there listening thinking, hey Matt, that's ancient history. You know, we're a civilized about society. Think about Zolinsky. There was think about when the war first started, everyone concluded that he's got he doesn't have
a shot. In fact, the United States offered him safe passage, and then he made a brilliant burn the boats move. I don't know if you remember this, but he went out and leaked the phone call in which he said, hey, President Biden called me, and I told him, and Biden said, listen, you're going to get assassinated, you and your entire family, and so we'll help, you know, ferret you out of you know, the Ukraine. And his response was, I don't need a ride, I need the ammunition. What he did
was he burned the boats. He told the whole world, and he told his own people that I'm prepared to fight to the death and I'm gonna win. That was the turning point, that was the ultimate burn the Boat's movement, which all of us started to believe, what is Russia doing wrong? You would think they could annihilate the Ukraines. Well, they're a testament to the power of why. At the end of the day, I think the Ukrainians have a stronger why than the Russians have a stronger why. Why
did you invade Ukraine? You know? And what is the Ukraine fighting for? They're fighting for their independence and freedom. They're about to be subjugated by their neighbor. There's tons of history, they've been through, everything, they've been preparing for this moment. And so I think it's a testament to when your why is weak or motivated by you know, greed, or power at the end, you're you're destined to fail. Does burn the boat's map teach diplomacy something I think
we're lack keen right now in government? Yeah, burn the boats teaches nuance. You know, at the end of the day, diplomacy is nuance, right, trying to resolve crisis. So absolutely burn the boats teaches that. You know, these bombastic stay Even burn the boats is a bit of a trojan horse when you pick up my book. My book does not say burn the boats with you in it. It doesn't say burn the bridges. It says leave behind that which is holding you back. But it's all about nuance.
So I totally agree with you. We are lacking diplomacy, We're lacking sort of a global solution, an endgame. But I am firmly on the side of a country defending its sovereignty. You have an Italian saying, and I'll say it in English, the fish rots from the head. What does that mean? Well, the Italians they have a saying for everything right, So it basically means that you can I can walk into any business and I could identify something going along wrong at that cash register that I'm
telling you. I could chase all the traits all the way back to the management of the company, oftentimes the CEO. What it means is when the leader of an organization is out of kilter and as it has an out addressed their issues and they're you know, short, they're blind spots. That is going to cascade all the way downstream throughout
the entire business. And it's and that's why the reason why I'm so heavily into that statement is because private equity firms and venture capital It's the whole reason why SFX they missed the fact that this guy was a complete fraud, is because they want the answers to be in an Excel sheet, whereas the answers are in the head,
right in the head of the leader. I went to a pharmacy months and months and months ago, and the lights on the outside of the building the first letter, huge letter, it's either a C or a wall just tell you that was was burned out. And it drove me nuts because that tells me there's some carelessness going on within that company, within that branch or something. Am I right? I mean I love that example because think
about what would have to happen for that. That means the worker on the you know they or does not care. That means the manager is not worried about whoever the owner is caring. Right, That means the owner telegraphed everybody down to the worker. I don't even care if the name of the company is correct when you pull up. So don't you worry about you know, the mice that are running around the back and you know, corrupting the refrigerator. I mean, so that's one hundred percent perfect example. Fish
rots from the head. Absolutely, there's no question. And if you have a great leader, you've got a stunning company, don't you. You do? And I talk about that so much because I grew up under such tragic circumstances I talk about in my book, like probably a lot of people listening, right, I was desperate taking care of my sick mother, living on government cheese, right. And I had
a choice when I was a kid. I could either choose to be a victim and decide that things keep happening to me, or from that moment forward, I happen to things. It's a much better life when you believe that good and bad, you have the ability to effect an outcome. When a leader is leaving those you know, life bolts blacked out. They're telling everyone else it doesn't really matter what we do, win or lose. We're either going to succeed or not. It doesn't matter about our actions.
I always believe that I am at the epicenter of my good and bad decisions. Was that an La restaurant the last week in the former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo came up to me and said, high and he sure had his problems, didn't he? He did? I mean, I have a pretty long background in politics in New York. I work for Governor Pataki actually when I was overseeing the rebuilding of the Trade Center, and wasn't always a
huge fan of Governor Cuomo. To be honest and interesting, when you take on this righteousness right when you're in power, the usually you get your come up and ultimately, so I suspect that's what happened there. What's the main message you would like somebody to learn from Burn the Boats? Okay, my mate, My book Burned the Boats was not written for the completely self possessed, for the person who has
no problem taking risk. It's written for the opposite. It's written for the person who is fearful as has anxiety, has gone through hard things. They believe that their mistakes they're going to have to live with them forever. They're condemned. My message to you is that although I was born in extraordinary circumstances, I am not extraordinary. That you can unlock that what you suspect is great about yourself. What
you need is the blueprint. And I have tapped into the blueprint by virtue of my life, and that is fully committing to my planning no matter what it is. I'm on the phone with you right now, George. It's one thirty in the morning of these coasts. I'm burning the boats from my book Burn the Boats, and I believe anybody can do it. I'm so passionate about it. It's why I wrote the book. I hope we crash your website with so many hits. Thank you. I hope you do. I hope you do. His website is linked
up at Coast to coastam dot com. Folks, go ahead and crash it right now, and boy they deliver. They really do amazing. Thank you. George has Burned the Boats, your first book, Burn the Boats is my first book, you know. I tell you how it happens during the pandemic, right. I always believe that you can make an opportunity at a crisis. I had double pneumonia during a pandemic with COVID. I was sick, trying desperately to stay out of that
hospital so I didn't end up on an intubator. And I said, my god, I am not going to waste this time if I get through everything. And I came up with my list and on that list, but I need to lift other people up. That does seem to be the purpose of being on this earth. And I'm going to finish this book. And that's how I used the pandemic day in and day out to write this book. My news guest earlier believes that crash is coming. What do you think you can on a crash? I one
hundred percent believe we are in for a reckoning. It just makes sense. Free money isn't free. We printed trillions of dollars of it, and the only reason why it hasn't happened yet is because the consumer is paying for those eggs and milk and credit card payments and their negative equity in their car using their credit cards at twenty two percent interest rate once unemployment takes up, we are in for a crash. Not a fast crash, a
slow car crash. I'm told the restaurant business has not bounced back yet from COVID, that they desperately need employees and they can't find anybody. Yeah, for those who don't know, I in my portfolio, I own a lot of restaurants all you know, a love of the country, fast casual restaurants, Mumbile Fuku, Bluestone Lane coffee shop. That is still true. It is. We're in this crazy place. You know, we know the storm clouds up ahead, but they haven't come.
No one's leveling with us to batten down the hatches, and yet still can't find labor. So as a result, it's so expensive to get people to come to work, and that's the very thing driving inflation. We're stuck in this board text that we can't get out of until the reckoning happens. Do you know any restaurants we'd know? I own a company called Magnolia. It's called Banana Pudding, those who know it. Tillbron Bleaker Street was in Sex in the city. Anybody listening, by the way, I created
a code for you. Matt Higgins ten go on, you'll get a discount, Milk Bar, David Chang's, Mobile Fuku, Bluestone Lane and Pizza, lots of brands. Do you know Tillman for I do? I do? I admired to him and what an incredible operator. He's done a great job with the restaurant Catch in New York, which I couldn't recommend more. If you're ever in New York City, it's incredible. In the Landry's, the chain, Mastro's, He's got them all. Yeah,
he does, he does. That is amazing. Do you sometimes pinch yourself, Matt going look where I am right now? If I'm honest, I always knew I was not destined to stay in the circumstances I was born into. It's why I had the fortitude to say, you know what, there's another way. Everyone's telling me, Matt finished high school, stay of the course. I'm like, my mother's dying in the room next door and I have nothing to eat. I see an alternative. I'm going to drop out of
high school. I'm gonna get my g D, and I'm gonna start college at sixteen again. Everyone thought I was crazy. That single decision to trust my instincts and intuition change my whole life. So while I am so grateful and feel blessed, I don't feel lucky and it doesn't feel unexpected. If I'm honest, George, what was that moment that you realized at it? It hasn't happened yet. You know, when I get texted me after writing this book, it takes my breath away. I got a message the other day.
I talk in my book about how divorce brought me to my knees and it wasn't cancer and everything else I've been through was actually divorced and the breakdown of my family life and my self esteem. I wrote about on the book not because I wanted to, but because I wanted somebody in the middle of the night, maybe somebody listening to this call right now who is desperate
and feels like I spoke to them. I have been getting so many messages in the middle of the night from people who are going through tragedy and feel like my book gives them hope. That makes me feel like I made it. You know. It's the first time in my life I've ever experienced that feeling, and I feel like I'm starting to make it because of the feedback of the book. I have an issue with myself that I cannot pass up a homeless person without giving him some kind of or her or some kind of money.
Doesn't necessarily have to be a great thing, George, I feel good about it, and I don't do it for myself. I obviously do it to help them. But there there's a young guy who sits outside a post office here in La that I go to quite a bit, and I see him all the time, and I help him out as much as I can. And finally I stopped to talk to him. I've never done that before. I just have always just said, hey, I'll be right back. I'll give you some money. I asked him his name.
His name's Michael. I asked him how he got into the situation he was, and he was very forthright, and I said, well, hey, my name's George. Just remember that. And then as I left, after about a ten minute conversation with the guy, I turned a round and said, what's my name? He remembered it, and but you know, he must be about twenty five twenty six years old, sitting on the cement in front of the post office with a little blanket around him, and one day he
might be like you or might like me. He may hit his home run. I love this story, George. You know, I want to tell you something really quick and probable story. But I have had two meetings in the last year and a half of Pope Francis, two private audiences for you, yeah, to talk about our shared passion for human rights. And I was sitting with him in this private setting extraordinary, and he gave a talk about the purpose of life.
And he said about the purpose of life and to do good work on this earth is proximity to those who are in need. It's to get closer to them, to show them dignity. It's why he washed his feet right. And I remember I was sitting there thinking, I remembered my mother when we were desperate. All she wanted to do was to get her hair washed, and no one at a salon would let her because she couldn't bathe anymore. I would, It's hard to say, but I would give
her sponge bass and she felt repulsive. Everybody who needs to be seen, that's what we crave the most. And that's what the Pope said, is go to the periphery where people need you. The most and give them the dignity of letting them be seen, like what you did with that homeless gentleman. How old your mother when you lost her? She was a fifty two yeah, yeah, so smart,
fiercely intelligent, but just there were no answers society. It's hard, you know, people think, well, just you know, go to the hospital or like when you have all sorts of problems. She was very OBEs. There isn't a single answer, and we she was drowning. That's why I worked so hard. And the sad part is, George, I went from making three seventy five scraping gum and McDonald's, dropped out of
high school. By the time I was twenty six, I was making one hundred thousand dollars Mayor Giuliani's press secretary. I had done it, and I go to work and she calls me and says, you know, Matt, I just called an ambulance and by the time I got there, she had died. And so it taught me there's no cavalry coming like you then there's no guaranteed happy endings in life. That you have to do what you can. But what I took from that, the best use of
my life, my power, my money, my influence. This book is if I could ameliorate suffering like what you did with that homeless man, If I could give people dignity and never forget where I came from. Listen to were Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to Coast am dot com for more