Businessman, author, podcaster Patrick Bet-David gathered 3,000 people together at the Miami Vault Conference to build relationships and find new way to grow their businesses and their dreams. Alongside Bet-David were two of the most notable figures in recent sports history, football player Tom Brady and boxer Mike Tyson. The two had remarkably different backstories, which in turn was a far cry from Bet-David's own.
Each gave an intimate perspective on how they became the men they are today, and judging from the crowd response, were inspirational to those in attendance.
What those at the conference had in common was a dream of success and a desire to achieve at the highest level at which they are capable, and then some. While talent is not something that can be taught, the common thread that was imparted was that hard work, diligence, drive and determination are the factors that can take talent and turn it into mastery.
The four day conference featured Brady on Friday for an interview with Bet-David. The four-time Super Bowl MVP sat with Bet-David and offered insight on this beginnings, his early love of sports and the camaraderie that came along with it. He cited his work ethic and discipline as being the keys to his success and continued to success.
"I'm gonna get killed out here," he said of the first time he stepped out onto a football field, his freshman year of college. He'd only played football in the street, and didn't even know how to put on his pads. He didn't get off the bench that year, his coach even yelled at him "Brady, you're moving in slow motion!"
The team went 0-8. By the time his sophomore year came around, the quarterback quit, not wanting to be on a losing team, and Brady stepped up. He pushed himself into training and practice. By his third year, he got a starting spot on the team, gave up basketball, and focused on football and baseball.
"What you know is very limited and what you don't know is limitless and you have an opportunity every day to surround yourself with people who will help you grow," he said.
He said he was blessed with "hard work, discipline, and being very f*cking naive." He went to Michigan, red shirted his first year, and while he competed to be a starter his third year, and didn't start until his 4th year. When he asked his coach about it, he said "you want to be the best, you have to compete against the best." By his fifth year of eligibility, he was competing against Drew Henson to start as the quarterback.
The Michigan coach couldn't decide who should be the lead quarterback, and switched the two back and forth during games for the first games of the season. He would put Brady, who was team captain in to start, then switch to Henson, then decide at half time who should finish the game. For the first few games, Brady got put back in for the 3rd and 4th quarters.
But then Henson won the half time chance in the coach's eyes, and Brady was out. Henson won the game, and when he did, Brady sang the victory song the loudest. He did this so that his team would know he had their back. It was an inspiring moment that shows what leadership really means.
Bet-David linked Brady's stories to the business world, saying that "if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best."
Tyson sat with Bet-David on Saturday, and his imparted wisdom was that success is an internal condition before it can be manifest.
He said that "all success is about belief."
While the interview touched on a range of topics, it was the question and answer period during which Vault attendees were able to ask Tyson about his life and lessons that Tyson really opened up. A Navy vet related to Tyson through a famous quote of his, "No one will ever know the violence it took to become this gentle."
"Hey you know," Tyson said in reply, "about that fighting stuff you're only as good as your last adversity. All that anger, fighting for you friend, is because you want to love."
"Self love is like buying a new car, or buying clothes. self love is about buying somebody else clothes, it's helping other people, self love. You have to love everybody else to love yourself," Tyson said, in direct contradiction to so many self-help gurus who claim that one must love one's self before loving others.
"I just believe in me," Tyson said. "I've overcome all my adversities. The truth is going to set you free but it's going to make you miserable first. I tell the truth, and then 'fuck i wish i didn't do that,'" he said to laughter and applause from the crowd.
Tyson and Bet-David agreed that in many ways it is the threat of consequences that tempers their willingness to take big risks. As a person gets older, and has more responsibilities, the question becomes one of if you have more to gain through the risk or more to lose.
A powerful moment came when a Vault attendee asked what Tyson would say to his mentor, Cus D'Amato, who was his coach until his death in 1985. Tyson choked up, and the crowd was stunned into silence by it.
Tyson took a moment, he gathered himself and his emotions, and in a quiet voice, he said "I would say 'they call me the greatest.'"
"Why did that emotion hit you so quickly?" David asked.
"Because I'm a savage," Tyson said.
After Tyson left the stage, Bet-David imparted his closing thoughts, enouraged people to make lasting relationships with others in the space, and to take the lessons they had learned, through his talks and the inspirational speakers, and come back next year different than they were before.
"People have to know you're not the same when you come back," he said. "Don't leave this place without creating some kind of relationship with 5, 15 people."
As the crowd broke up and went on their way, many small groups stayed behind, exchanging contact information, taking the words to heart.
