Time is against you. Anything can happen. A war can erupt. Anything can go wrong. Are you sure of something that is very big, very successful? Don't drag it, you know. Just go and do it very fast.
Are you that kind of person that's binary that you either love someone or you hate someone or you love a project or you don't?
Yes. I don't settle for anything in the in between. It's either everything or nothing.
Are you the same in business?
Very black or white? Like either you do a project or not? And either you work with someone or not.
Yes. Unfortunately my character is a bit emotional. So if I don't like the person in front of me, even if I'm going to make a billion dollars of profits, I won't work with him. I consider that God has been gracious to me. So why should I work with someone I don't like? It's a luxury of being rich. You can choose who you work with. The one issue in life that is diminishing is time, is your life. You have a timeline where you will die. Thank God we don't know when we are going to die, but it's not like you're going to live forever. So why waste your time on something that has negative energy? When I do a business, I always put the fact that you have to do it very fast in order to be successful. If it drags, if it takes too long, because if it's a good transaction, it's a good business, time is against you. Anything can happen. A war can erupt in the country you're working, the partner you have dies, anything can go wrong. When you run on something, you're sure of something that is very big, very successful, don't drag it. Just go and do it very fast because then you are avoiding the unknown.
Do you think that sometimes when people do things fast, they might not do them well? They tend to make mistakes because you didn't take the necessary amount of time.
My philosophy is always, I do 100 things and maybe two or three are wrong because I was not patient. I'm not a patient person. So the ratio is 97% better than being very thorough and only doing two things in your life.
That's not true. The idea of the power of taking a human and their name or their personality and associating it with their brand. So I wanted to ask you about this. What do you think of this strategy?
In my specific case, first of all, I did not confine myself in business. I'm not just looked at as a business figure. I'm looked at as a party animal at night. Any clubs or any bars in Cairo, they will surely find me there if I'm not at home. I classify myself also as a political figure, someone that cares about his country or the Arab world in general. I've been out there to people and I'm very approachable. And then of course I'm successful in my business. So it's a combination. It's different than in America. Well, it's not different anymore because Elon Musk is now a politician too. But I'm from the beginning considered a people's man. I walk in the street, I get stopped by anyone and I answer and I take a picture with anybody who wants. Anybody who asks me for anything, if they look very poor or are sitting on the floor, they stand up and ask me for something and I can do it, I will do it. I'm approachable. I don't have any bodyguards. I sit next to my driver. Being approachable in my case, I think I created a brand that is a human brand. It's a humanistic brand. That helped me in my business. Then my success in business gives people the feeling that this guy is not going to deliver short. He's not going to make something that is not great, that is not the best. In my head I'm still a little boy. I will not settle for second. The best example: I was the second in my polytechnic in Zurich. I graduated from the ETH, it's the equivalent of MIT in Europe. But because I was the second, I never told anybody because I was not the first. I always want to be either the first or I don't want to be. So in whatever I do, if I'm a DJ or I'm putting music, my music has to be the best. If I dress, I dress to look as one of the best dressed men. I'm a bit egocentric in that.
I love how at peace you are with yourself. I think it's refreshing. When you bring the human brand, as long as you're displaying humanity, which means you said I like to be childlike, I like music, I like to party, I'm a businessman, I'm good at it. I think this is what the world sometimes finds hard to accept. If they see you as an engineer, you're just supposed to be doing engineering things. If they see you as a chef, you should just be cooking. If you start to play football and you're a chef, they're like why are you playing football? You're supposed to be cooking. The beauty of being human is that you're multifaceted and you can do 16 things.
I'll give you an example. I was at a concert lately in Egypt. For two hours I was cheering in the concert and the video went viral. Stupid me, I'm asking why did it go viral? Then I remember, yes, you're nearing 70 years old. You're not supposed to be sitting there and cheering like that. I forget my age. I still sometimes jump from the bed in the morning and you're not 30 anymore.
But that's the beautiful thing. You use the word you're not supposed to. The question is, what are we supposed to do?
No, I mean in general. There is nothing I'm not supposed to do. I have a t-shirt that says I do what I want.
One of the most sad things we see, I always talk about how babies are extremely curious. They'll put sand in their mouth and realize I don't like it. They'll open drawers. They're so curious for life as children. Then while you grow up, society tells you don't do this, this is haram, this is that. Suddenly you're a very confined personality that's not curious anymore. I think the ones that become great fight for that childlike curiosity to stay. I see it in you.
