Haegwan Kim
So, tell me about your thoughts on success.
Erez Eshel
The biggest secret of success, in my opinion, is that you are surrounded with much more successful and powerful people than you are. It’s like stars. Stars, in their heaven, in the sky, in the universe, in the galaxy, they have something that is forever, eternity, in their being. One of the main things is that each star is not jealous with the stars that surround him. Okay? Many times we relate success to competing, beating people, and doing better than others. But real success, real greatness, can be measured only by happiness and joy.
You achieve things with your reason, why do you do, why you are here in this world. Because that’s leadership. Leadership is not to be in charge of people; it’s to create your own personality, your self personality. It can be as doctor of medicine, it can be as a carpenter, it can be as an engineer or architect, a lawyer or politician or businessman. But the moment that it relates to you, you are on the way, you lead yourself. Many times we confuse success with rich people, wealthy people. People that are in high position, but I relate success to happiness, to the ability of you to feel I am here in this world and I have a meaning. And with all of the problems, with all of these troubles, with all of the difficulties in life, I enjoy life. I love life. If I will die today, the moment I will close my eyes, the second before, I would say it was good to be in this world. I can see so many people that are in very high positions, very strong, very wealthy, but they are not happy at all. How do you know that you succeed?
You are surrounded with real friends. Real deep friendships, friendships that are partnerships for life. It’s not partnership of business. It’s partnerships of idea, okay? Michael Eisenberg is one of the ones that I have. I can’t do what he does in business and I don’t want to do what he does in business. I want to do other things in my life. He does it the best. He manages so many people, so many strategic decisions in his call, and he’s good at it. And he’s good at his family and he’s good with himself. That easily interests me in life.
And if you are surrounded, a real leader in life is surrounded by other leaders, real leaders in life, it’s not that people obey his decisions but people cooperate with him. People are with him. They have an endless relationship, again, like in galaxy, the relationship between stars, every one is completed. Every one has a different size, a different color, a different energy. Everyone is interned forever. So, whenever I suggest to anyone you want to get a success, it means take life seriously. Count the 168 hours a week, put aside two days of rest, Friday, Saturday, you have 120 hours. Put aside six hours of sleep a night, you have 90 hours. Take your 90 hours seriously. First of all, develop your own character, your body, your mind, and your soul. Your body by physics, by self-confidence. Your mind, your skills by learning, reading books, listening to other people teaching yourself.
Why to develop your soul? Because we have endless people that are successful in their bodies, successful in their minds, but they are not good people. Then, to develop your soul is to develop the level of goodness, happiness, loving, futures, nature, human beings, having a very, very solid soul and then all of your energies in order to create real good in this world. That’s the first of it, then develop your own family. The family is the measure for everything. The third, develop your personality. What you are going to be good in, not what people consider as a success for all important things, because in 1998 I was the head of the student union in Israel. And I’ve done research on the five most popular subjects students go into university; medicine, law, psychology, engineering and computers. I wanted to find out if the students that are struggling, are fighting to be accepted to these studies in university, really wanted; that will be the dream in their life to do. 50%, no. They wanted to be in this, to have these studies and these degrees in order to be successful. But I told them you are so stupid because what’s your job in life? One third of your life you are asleep, the other third of your life you are a child or you senior, and the other third of your life you work. And if the work you go and it’s not the most empowering, the most enthusiastic, pushes you, pulls you, part of your dream, part of your personality, so you waste your life even though you will have the best car and you will go on great vacations, you will go with worries.
So, personality, family, profession. And then forth, your community. I don’t lock my door at home, never. I have neighbours, they are my friends. If I lock the door it means I don’t rely on them, not if they need something and have asked, so they can go inside, I’ll take. To be related to community, a community that has demands because we’ve seen so many good and successful people but suddenly they lost the course of their life. They became corrupted or spoilt, or even bad people. I think it happens because you are lonely, but if you have real buddies, real friends, they remind you what were your dreams, what were you thinking about, what was your aim in life? The last thing, the fifth, is your nationality. Know how to respect your nation, be related to your nation. Learn about greatness in the whole nation. I believe the moment every nation won’t be struggling with other nations but only thinking about the inside greatness because you want to be a flood of great people. They say you want to be a flood of great nations. Real friendship with great people if there’s no jealousy. Real friendships with great nation is with no jealousy and wars. But it demands you to continue developing your greatness.
HK
Ok, I have some questions. The first thing is about education. As you mentioned, finding purpose of life is one of the most important things for human lives and I definitely agree with it. But today it seems many young people are losing their purpose of life, struggling to find out meaning of life. Do you have some advice for them?
EE
First of all, everyone is looking for a meaningful life, okay? Everyone is looking all of the time. Youngsters still have the dream that they can get a meaningful life. Others, sometimes are already struggling on surviving and living and paying for the living, they forgot their ability to get a meaningful life. There’s nothing in life besides a meaningful life, otherwise you are like an animal. In this generation, 20% of population can get a meaningful life, only 20%, only people that live in democracies, okay? Only people that live in free countries, that is free education, free ability to build your economic; 20% you will say it’s only a few but it’s a lot. It’s the biggest amount ever in human history, of people that have the opportunity. Most of the people are wasting their life. Even though we are so rich, look, a young guy like you, 21 years old, you can travel all around the world. If it's 300 years ago, only people with a certificate from a queen or a king, with a box of gold, could travel around the world. Now a 21 year old boy, anyone!
HK
(Laughter) I was born in right time then.
EE
We have endless opportunities but then we have to learn about the basic of human nature and in the basic of human nature we are lazy. On one hand we want to get dignity and pride and on the other hand we are lazy. We don’t wake up early in the morning. We waste a lot of time in front of television. We go around the internet wasting, doing nothing. We kill our time and we kill our ability. We ruin this generous creature that is a human being and it’s us. When I work with my students, I have more than 1,000 students, study every day from seven o’clock in the morning until 11 o’clock at night, we speak about greatness. We work about developing your body, your soul and your mind. We create them as a community that will go for a long time together and the demands won’t stop because they will create them themselves.
It affects not only my students, it affects their families. I can see it happening over the last 40 years. The demand, not going aside, going direct, speaking about what’s going to be, what’s this one-time opportunity to be in this world. There isn’t another world. This is the only world.
HK
I want to ask about the relationship between nationality and success, which you mentioned as one of the secrets of success more deeply. We are now living in the age of globalization and it's quite difficult to grasp the scent of nationality today - does it mean that it's getting difficult to be successful in that aspect?
EE
First of all, this globalisation, the way it’s described and was developing in the 60s from United States to Europe is collapsing. It’s collapsing in the crash of civilisation. There’s no globe, there’s no one world. There is a world with nations, with communities, with families, with individuals and so everyone needs his identity. We can see what happens to Europe. Europe is going to vanish if it’s not going to change their attitude of an endless culture country in the year 2050 and it’s very close. In 2050 you are going to be only 60 years old and this time it’s not a very old person. Europe is going to vanish, no Europe, unless they change their attitude.
The moment you forget your identity, the moment you are confused with your sexual identity, I’m a man, I’m a female, whatever I am; the moment you are confused with your family identity. What is family and what are the obligations and what the demands? The moment you forget your national relationship and what’s the unique thing about your nation, and every nation has a unique thing, the same that every individual has the potential of a unique thing. The moment you leave it, then people come back to be slaves and machines in the hands of a very few people, and we go back to old times and we go back into real wars. Globalisation, that’s one of the biggest lies, that very rich people wanted in order that they can cross one side to another and buy their own world and to become the masters of the world.
HK
Does that mean making community should be with the nationality? I mean, like I do, I believe we can break the border and create own communities based on value regardless of nationalities.
EE
If you have one community, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have relationship, a good relationship, a friendly relationship, with other communities. The moment you are solid with yourself, you can relate to another community and woman. The moment your family is sold you can relate to another community, which means neighbours. The moment you are solid with your neighbours, or one community, one village, the nation relates. The moment your nation relates you can relate to other nations and then families can meet with families but then there is respect. When I see you as someone else, and I don’t want you to be me, and I have no struggle. You are interesting, I would be happy to know you. I can invite you to know me. That’s life.
HK
So every individual should be independent to "invite" others and to find their meaning of life.
EE
Yes, it will take 1,000 years.
HK
A thousand years?
EE
1,000 years until the whole world will be independent and free, it will take at least 1,000 years, not less.
HK
How do you measure that?
EE
I simply look along history and I see things because again only 1.5 billion people are really free. Most of the women in the world are not treated as equally as men. Most of the countries in the world, even if they call themselves democracies, they are not democracies at all. The world is not free yet but it takes time because you have to educate people to free them. You have to fight against the forces that are against freedom and that’s a long-term process.
HK
Wow, 1,000 years…
EE
One thousand years is not a lot from the perspective of all the history of human beings. If you would work out on the next 100 years so on the next 100 years maybe half a billion more people will become free. And then another 100 years, another half. And then in 1,000 years, if you divide it, 1,000 years is not a long time.
HK
I will think about how to free the people, thank you so much for your time.
Erez Eshel is a mentor at the Israeli Academy for Leadership.
