In today’s episode we take a look at the generation before us. We have a lot that we can learn from our forebears, and I even pull out the guitar and sing about a certain “old man”.
But why are we talking about our elders and what can we learn from the generations before us?
Well, there’s a specific man by the name of Warren Buffett that we discuss, along with his value of certain certifications.
I probably don’t need to tell you who Warren Buffet is (an no he’s not related to Jimmy Buffet 🙂 but is probably the most successful investor of all time, and one of the richest people in the world. He’s wicked smart: University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School of Business), University of Nebraska, and Columbia Business School where he studied under the great Benjamin Graham.
And, for all that education, any idea what he considers his most valuable training … and something he prominently displays in his office in Omaha, Nebraska?
Take a listen to this Jamming with Jason podcast episode to learn what Warren believes has been his biggest key to success.
Listen in at: http://www.jasonmefford.com/jammingwithjason/
Transcript
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Jason Mefford: Welcome to another episode of jamming with Jason ah, I just had to throw that in there for.
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Jason Mefford: some reason, just to make myself laugh So there you go well hey today we’re going to talk a little bit about Warren Buffett.
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Jason Mefford: and also about professional certifications and at first, you may be going, how do the two actually relate.
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Jason Mefford: Well, trust me hang on but whatever you do listen to this whole episode and, at the end you’ll go Aha I got the same Epiphany that you did as well Jason So here we go let’s cue that episode.
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Jason Mefford: All right, well, welcome to another episode this day the mood of this day, yes, this day whenever you happen to be listening to this.
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Jason Mefford: we’re gonna have some fun today because i’m going to take the podcast in a little bit different place than where we’ve been going now just a little backstory for you and I might actually pull out the guitar here a little bit too so hold on for that, but.
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Jason Mefford: I spent about a week with my dad this last little while so i’m probably getting a little nostalgic here, but you know my dad is 88 and I got to spend the week with him and just kind of deal with some.
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Jason Mefford: Family estate planning issues and in got to spend the time kind of again like I said, with my dad you know, an older man.
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Jason Mefford: And just kind of Reminiscing some of the stories that went on, but you know i’ve always appreciated being around older people.
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Jason Mefford: i’ve always enjoyed it since I was a young, a young man, even as a young child I would prefer to be around people that were usually a little bit older than me.
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Jason Mefford: And I think one of the reasons is, we can just learn so much from them right and so today that’s one of the reasons why i’m also bringing Warren Buffett into today’s podcast.
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Jason Mefford: Another older man if you’re familiar with him the Oracle of omaha is what he’s been called, one of the richest men in the world.
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Jason Mefford: And a person who is arguably probably one of the best investors that has ever lived I mean this man has amassed billions and billions and billions of dollars for himself.
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Jason Mefford: And for others and i’ll tell you i’m reading this book The snowball Warren Buffett in the business of life by Alice Schroeder.
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Jason Mefford: Now it’s a great read i’m going to warn you upfront don’t just go grab it and throw it in your Amazon card it’s about 900 pages long, so.
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Jason Mefford: you’ll want to make sure that if that’s something that you want to read go ahead and go read it like I said i’ve.
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Jason Mefford: been a little nostalgic this week because of seeing my dad and i’m also currently reading this book, which again is about another older man and some of the wisdom.
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Jason Mefford: from him over time, and so I want to share there’s a particular thing that I want to share with you from the book that kind of ties into what we’re going to be talking about today.
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Jason Mefford: But let’s segue for just a minute, because I know it’s been a little while since i’ve actually played the guitar for you here, and so, since it’s jam with Jason and we’re all friends let’s do a little bit of jamming and like I said just because of being a little nostalgic.
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Jason Mefford: One of the play one of my favorite songs with you, or at least part of it and it’s a song from Neil young called old man.
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Jason Mefford: And so, if you’re familiar with it, when I when I start playing it you’re gonna you’re going to recognize it.
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Jason Mefford: And again i’m a little bit rusty but we’re all friends here, so if I make mistakes, not a problem right but want to tie this song into what we are talking about today.
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Jason Mefford: as well, so let me, let me grab the guitar here and and just start going through and again, you know, hopefully from that I won’t blast you out from the audio quality on here.
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Jason Mefford: Excuse me, but let me just get in and play a little bit here and then let’s talk about what we’re going to talk about today.
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Jason Mefford: Oh man.
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Jason Mefford: Oh.
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Jason Mefford: Man, I want to.
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Jason Mefford: live alone in.
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Jason Mefford: A.
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Jason Mefford: Such a.
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Jason Mefford: Give me.
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Jason Mefford: A.
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Jason Mefford: Good.
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Jason Mefford: Oh man take a look at my life.
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Jason Mefford: The whole day.
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Jason Mefford: Alright there’s a little old man, and let me, let me tell you a little story actually about that song and one of the reasons why I love it.
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Jason Mefford: One reason is, it reminds me of my dad so.
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Jason Mefford: In, as I told you, before you know we there is a lot a whole wealth of experience that older people can can provide to us and so again that song reminds me of my dad little sentimental this week, as well as he’s aging.
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Jason Mefford: But you know when when when that song was actually written so let’s let’s go off track a little bit here because I want to tell you the story behind this.
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Jason Mefford: Neil young very successful very early on in his in his career, in fact, you know, one of the lyrics there says 24 and there’s so much more.
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Jason Mefford: Because he was actually 24 years old, he had gotten some success early on as a singer songwriter had some money and actually ended up buying a ranch here in California and in the old man that was on the farm, as the caretaker was the inspiration behind this song.
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Jason Mefford: Because again as he looked at it and he thought you know here, I am a young man at the beginning of my life at the beginning of my career.
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Jason Mefford: And here’s this older man who has lived his life and and how much similar we are old man young men old women, young women Okay, and so again, this is not gender specific.
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Jason Mefford: But just happens to be the name of the song that he wrote because of thinking of this man and how similar we all are, as human beings, the difference being.
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Jason Mefford: we’ve just had different experiences right and so again, as I said, that’s one of the reasons why I just love hanging out with older people.
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Jason Mefford: hearing what they have gone through and learning from them, and that is one of the reasons why I tend to end up reading a lot of biographies.
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Jason Mefford: And so, as I told you, before the one that i’m reading now is Warren Buffett it’s called the snowball but it’s about Warren Buffett.
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Jason Mefford: And at the beginning of the book Alice Schroeder, who is the the author of it, she was invited in she spent some time with Warren in his office in omaha and he’s always been one of those people that’s just he just.
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Jason Mefford: goes along to the beat of his own drum Okay, he does what he wants to he’s he’s a very eccentric person, but he’s very, very good at what he has done and the wealth.
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Jason Mefford: That he has ended up bringing up over over the course of his life okay and and so at the beginning of the book, you know she’s she’s talking with him in his office.
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Jason Mefford: And kind of getting shown around showing some of the different things in his office and he’s telling her some different things, and then the book rewind and starts talking about his childhood.
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Jason Mefford: But during the book, there are things there are things, called callbacks that you see, especially in in comedy where something that I have talked about before.
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Jason Mefford: All of a sudden, I will do a call back, and I will talk about that thing again and I remember at the beginning of the book.
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Jason Mefford: that she was talking about, you know, in his office very prominently displayed in his office was a Dale Carnegie public speaking certificate, something that Warren Buffett had gotten I think it was 1951 he’s about the same age as my dad is around 1992 somewhere in that range.
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Jason Mefford: But that was hanging prominently in his office, and he made a point of actually showing it to Alice Schroeder.
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Jason Mefford: Now again seemed a little odd at the beginning of the book, but as it went through and you’re talking about his life what you found is Warren was a very shy child.
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Jason Mefford: In fact, he was afraid of public speaking he hated speaking in general, he had signed up for the Dale Carnegie course.
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Jason Mefford: and stopped payment on the check didn’t actually go down at the first go around and then, when he had the opportunity again.
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Jason Mefford: He made sure and took cash and said take my money so that I can’t I can’t get out of it this time.
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Jason Mefford: And went through the course and what was very interesting to me now let’s put this in context okay Warren Buffett is a very, very smart man.
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Jason Mefford: In fact undergraduate he started at the University of Pennsylvania in the wharton Business School so that is one of the top five business schools in the United States.
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Jason Mefford: Now he went there for a couple years and then I think he ended up finishing at the University of nebraska at Lincoln go cornhuskers Okay, but it shows that he is very smart he got into one of the top colleges in the country.
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Jason Mefford: Later on, he went back and got his master’s degree from Columbia University again, one of the top universities in the world and in the United States, so this is a man who is very, very smart.
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Jason Mefford: He has degrees like I said it, you know technically his degree is from nebraska but he went to wharton you University of Pennsylvania, and he got a master’s degree degree from Columbia.
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Jason Mefford: Now, how is this all tying in well later on, as he was talking to Alice he made reference that the most important diploma he received in his life was that Dale Carnegie public speaking diploma.
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Jason Mefford: Okay now again I told you this is a man that went to wharton he went to nebraska he went to Columbia very smart man.
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Jason Mefford: And wouldn’t you think right that he would have said Oh, you know my masters at Columbia with Ben Graham.
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Jason Mefford: That taught me the philosophy that I have that’s made me billions of dollars, that was the most important training that I took in my life.
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Jason Mefford: But no, no, no, no, no, he said, you know and again it’s in the book go look it up, but that that Dale Carnegie.
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Jason Mefford: certificate or diploma that he received was actually the most valuable thing that he did in his career.
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Jason Mefford: So it got me thinking and again because I just think a little bit differently this lines up very much with some of the stuff that i’ve been talking to you about for a long time if you’ve been a longtime listener.
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Jason Mefford: You know you’re competing with people and what actually makes you different.
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Jason Mefford: And i’ll tell you the degree that you got even some of the basic certifications that you might have like a CPA or a CIA those things don’t actually differentiate you in the marketplace those end up becoming what are called Table stakes right that in the word we’re table.
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Jason Mefford: table stakes actually comes from is for playing poker Okay, in order to play poker at the table you’ve got to put up the table stakes, whatever the buy in happens to be 100 bucks 500 bucks a million dollars if you’re playing a big game right.
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Jason Mefford: You have to show up with the basic table stakes, which is your diploma it’s your it’s your you know bachelor’s degree and even honestly today it’s your master’s degree as well.
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Jason Mefford: You know a lot of times, you have to have those things to be able to compete, but what really makes the difference it’s not those things because everybody else.
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Jason Mefford: Already has those things, and in fact you know it, whether you went to Harvard or Yale or Columbia, or you know Timbuktu university.
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Jason Mefford: It doesn’t matter that much in fact i’ve worked with people in fact i’ve gone to you know Boise State University is a pretty good pretty good university when it comes to business.
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Jason Mefford: I got my masters at university of southern California top 10 program for the the the what I went through in that program with them.
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Jason Mefford: i’ve worked with people from Harvard from Yale from you know ut Austin Illinois champaign top accounting schools in the country.
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Jason Mefford: And i’ll tell you, you know, again, those are great organizations, but those people aren’t any better than someone who got a degree from TIM buck university okay.
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Jason Mefford: Those are just the table stakes that’s just what gets you at the table So what can we learn from this experience and from somebody who has obviously been successful in their life.
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Jason Mefford: IE Warren Buffett well it’s not the the diploma thats hanging on your wall from your university.
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Jason Mefford: that’s necessarily what is going to help you the most in your career sometimes it’s those things like the Dale Carnegie public speaking.
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Jason Mefford: It can be other certifications like what see rescue academy offers, what is it that actually makes you different than someone else.
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Jason Mefford: And what can you get like a professional certification on a particular topic that actually proves to people that you know what you’re talking about.
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Jason Mefford: That you know more than some of the other people who aren’t willing to invest in themselves because that’s really the biggest game changer now in today’s work environment.
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Jason Mefford: Is it’s those soft skills and we’ve talked about before those skills that you learn that a computer can’t do and most other people aren’t willing to do.
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Jason Mefford: Around communication about building relationships about leadership those things and, unfortunately, a lot of times.
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Jason Mefford: You know people don’t actually get so if you want to be different than everybody else, if you want to take your career to the next level getting some skills in those areas is going to be helpful.
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Jason Mefford: It is going to be the thing that differentiates you from everyone else, now there are still technical things you know certificates related to agile auditing or risk based auditing or some of these.
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Jason Mefford: You know, specific areas that again it acts, just like that diploma that was hanging on Warren buffett’s wall.
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Jason Mefford: It proves to everybody else who sees it, that he actually went through it and, in fact, with you know blockchain technology with.
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Jason Mefford: With the way that linkedin is working, the way see risk does their certifications those things are effectively hanging in the virtual world for everyone to see.
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Jason Mefford: somebody comes to your linkedin profile and it’s like holy crap Jason not only went to Baba Baba BA schools but look at all the different training that he’s gotten.
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Jason Mefford: Look at the at the titles of it look at the different professional certifications that he has gotten because again i’ll tell you, even in my career my undergraduate my graduate MBA.
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Jason Mefford: doesn’t really distinguish me from other people it is those other things that I have gone through that I have invested in myself that I have done.
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Jason Mefford: Over the course of my career, that is what really differentiates me from other people so that’s the point that I wanted to get home to you today is.
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Jason Mefford: You know first off let’s learn from people who have been there and done that that’s again why I shared with you that song old man.
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Jason Mefford: talk to you about my dad talk to you about Warren Buffett is because there is a lot of wisdom that we can learn from people who have gone before us.
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Jason Mefford: right we learn a lot quicker we don’t make the same mistakes that they did in really we can get further ahead by learning and doing the things that made them successful.
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Jason Mefford: And again, as I told you a lot of times those things that are going to make you successful may not even be the things that you think they might.
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Jason Mefford: You know a lot of people again are like oh I gotta get my certified internal auditor I got to get that I got to get that.
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Jason Mefford: that’s table stakes for everything else find something that is going to be different, that makes you different makes you unique to be able to help you get ahead in your career because there’s again and again as i’ve talked before and i’m going to be talking more and more about this.
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Jason Mefford: The future of work is changing and the things that made you successful or got you where you are today are not necessarily the things that are going to help you in the future.
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Jason Mefford: And because of that there’s some new learning that we’re going to have to do there’s some things that we’re going to have to upscale or up level ourselves.
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Jason Mefford: In order to be able to compete with others in the workforce and honestly, even with computers Okay, and again just kind of On a final note, I was just reading.
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Jason Mefford: I don’t think i’ve shared this on the podcast yet, but the World Economic Forum.
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Jason Mefford: The number four job that is at risk of being outsourced to computers are accountants and auditors now again, not a surprise to me that they were on the list big surprise that it was number four.
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Jason Mefford: So again, one of the reasons why i’m talking about this, I don’t want you to get blindsided in your career and so again just sit back take stock of where you were at and start thinking about.
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Jason Mefford: How do I want to be different than everybody else, what are some of the skills that I need to work on that I want to work on.
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Jason Mefford: To be able to help separate me from every one else, and when you do that again, just like the Warren Buffett story.
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Jason Mefford: Most of the people weren’t willing to go through that Dale Carnegie training, he was willing to go through it when others were not.
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Jason Mefford: And it had a huge huge impact on his career and i’m sure that things like that will also have a huge impact in your career as well.
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Jason Mefford: Whether it’s things like agile auditing whether it’s you know additional leadership training psychology that’s one of the reasons why i’ve spent so much time studying psychology as well.
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Jason Mefford: Whatever it is just start thinking about what it is start making a plan so that you can again continue to be successful in your career.
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Jason Mefford: take time to listen to people who have gone before you as well.
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Jason Mefford: Because you know we’re all the same we’ve just had different experiences so learn from people who have had experiences that you haven’t had yet.
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Jason Mefford: And it will help you because, at some point you’re going to have those same experiences too so with that.
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Jason Mefford: Little saying in a little about Warren Buffett a little about my dad and about certifications and so go out have a great rest of your week everybody, and I will catch you on a future episode of jamming with Jason see ya.
