The #Incredible: Jay Shetty

Some people in the world can leave an incredible impact on you. These are the people that can stir you to your very core and push you to take action. Jay Shetty is one of those people. I've been following Jay's content for quite some time now. Not only is he one of the best creators on LinkedIn, but on every social platform out there.

It was an absolute joy and privilege to chat with Jay on LinkedIn Video in order to bring you the fourth article in the #Incredible series profiling one of my favorite creators on the entire planet.

Jay Shetty is an award winning host, storyteller, filmmaker, viral content creator and urban monk. Since launching his video channel in 2016, Jay's viral wisdom videos have garnered over 1 Billion views, and attracted nearly 5 million followers globally. He’s been named as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 and regularly shares knowledge at the pace we want entertainment, something he likes to call “making wisdom go viral.” He has created content for and partnered with Snapchat, Facebook, National Geographic, Nasdaq, HuffPost and many more.

1. Jay, what's your story and how did you get to where you are?

"I was born and raised in London, here in the UK. I was raised and did what every average person does. I went to school, got good grades. Graduated from Cass Business School in Behavioral Science. I always had this fascination for understanding people. Everything changed when I was 18. I met a monk who just captivated me like no other. This monk talked about how he gave up jobs at Google and Microsoft and his words really resonated with me. He showed me success is not defined by your job and that there's more to life than money and fame. I made a bold decision to turn down lucrative offers myself and shadow this monk. I literally traded my suits for robes, shaved my head and lived out of a gym locker for 3 years. After that, I had accumulated over $20,000 in debt and moved back in with my parents. I finally got a break with Accenture. They hired me to be a Social Media coach for their executives in terms of online branding, digital strategy and innovation. It was around that time I started sharing on social media myself. My videos were spotted online by Ariana Huffington and she invited me to be the Host of HuffPost Lifestyle in New York. This was a massive opportunity. The exposure was great. It helped me grow to around 400,000 followers. Shortly after, I had the itch to go at it myself and build a brand around the momentum I had already created. After I left HuffPost, I grew my following to over 2.3 million. Huge breakthrough. Now today, I get to coach some of the biggest brands in the world and live out my passion to serve others, by making wisdom go viral."

2. How does someone go about understanding their passion or act upon an idea?

"One thing I like to say is:

"Passion is what you do, purpose is what you do for others."

There are 3 key things I've learned:

Become Absorbed: "In other words, you have to dive right in. Learn more about what you're passionate about and about the idea you have, research it, see who else around you at conferences or other groups share that same passion and learn from them."

Become Great: "Next, get good at it and then get great at it. If this idea is a passion, you have to get good at it. Test, experiment, learn and iterate. Also, shadow other people. Anyone who's ever done something of truly great impact, wasn't only passionate about what they did, but they were great at it."

Have the network and knowledge to do it: "You have to have the network of people to help you and the knowledge of that topic to execute. Then you'll be able to monetize your passion and make a career out of it. "I learned this the hard way. I was rejected by I kid you not, 20,000 employers for a media job. I was begging so many people. That's when I realized I needed to prove myself first. It was because I had no media background that nobody was willing to take a chance on me. So I created my own videos, became my own host and put my knowledge to work. I absorbed, got good at it, and executed. Only after that did I gain credibility in the industry."

3. Jay, you’ve built such an engaged community here on LinkedIn and beyond. What 3 pieces of advice would you give others to do the same?

"First, you have to understand what you stand for. If you don't understand what you stand for, you can't build a community to stand with you. You really have to understand what you value and then create a community around that. One of my favorite quotes is from a book written by Salim Ismael called the Exponential Organizations. He talks about the best companies in the world have an MTP, which is a Massive Transformational Purpose. For example, Google's is "Organizing the Worlds Information." TED's is "Ideas Worth Spreading. You have to have a Massive Transformational Purpose that underpins your community. So mine is "making wisdom go viral." So you should be able to sum up exactly what you stand for.

Second, you have to serve your community with content that lives and breathes what you stand for. I like to say if you need to have an "explainer video" for your community, it means your content is not embodying the message and articulating clearly what it is you stand for.

And thirdly, I'd say live for your community. By that I mean - watch them, serve them, observe them and understand their needs while also listening to what they're asking you for. Community isn't about simply leading it, it's about serving it."

"If you don't understand what you stand for, you can't build a community to stand with you."

4. The world’s next-gen young leaders are in front of you, what is the biggest piece of advice you would give them?

"Find what you love and enjoy doing, get really good at it and serve others with it. Let your passion be what you do and your purpose be what you do to serve others. Learn also about how you can turn your passion into a paycheque. There are great courses out there that you can take."

5. What is one big challenge or failure you’ve faced and how did you overcome it.

"It would have to be getting rejected by every company when trying to break into the media world. I nearly gave up thinking I will never be able to break in. I told myself 'Crap, I'm all out of options.' Then I asked myself, have I exhausted all options? I was reminded by the quote "A winner is just a loser who tried one more time."

This Thomas Edison quote also came to me.

I was able to push forward. So thankful I did.

6. What is the most valuable skill anyone can learn (soft or technical)?

“There are two major ones that come to mind for me. First I would say at the top of the list is purity of intention. If you do not have purity of intention, you cannot give and serve others genuinely. It will ultimately always be about you.

Secondly, pattern recognition.

If you are able to spot patterns that nobody else can spot, especially when others see opposition, that's amazing. Making these connections and spotting major links can help identify major emerging trends. Steve Jobs talked about this stating as he tied observing calligraphy to major advancements with Apple. Pattern recognition is not easy, but it can be built. It just requires more observation and self reflection. It can take longer for those who don't get into the invisible world. Many of the worlds greatest orators were very good at this because they are great at spotting patterns and effectively communicating that."

"If you do not have purity of intention, you cannot give and serve others genuinely."

7. What do the next 6 months look like for you?

“Progressing my work from inspiration to transformation. I want to provide more educational content that helps people not only find their passion, but live it. More application based content to come which I'm excited about. Stay tuned!"

Thanks again Jay for taking the time! It's been great getting to know you better.

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