This month our “Influencers from Around the World” post comes from Marco Germani. Marco is a native of Italy, originally hailing from Rome. He’s been a fan of influence for decades and wrote a book on the subject in Italian. The father of two youngsters, he now gets to apply his influence skills outside of his business pursuits. I’m sure you’ll enjoy his post on lessons he’s learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Three Lessons from Arnold
I have recently given a second go at the spectacular Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biography, Total Recall – The Truly Unbelievable Story of My Life, which didn’t fail to impress and inspire me, as it already did last year when I first read it. You may or may not like the man, but it is undeniable that what Arnold has accomplished in his life thus far is nothing short of incredible. Arnold was a legendary bodybuilding champion, a record-breaking Hollywood action movie actor, and an accomplished real-estate investor who made his first million from this business. If all that wasn’t enough, he was also the “Governator” of California.I thought Arnold’s story would fit well in this blog because in order to accomplish all that he has, Arnold had to develop the capacity to influence millions of people.I’ll try to extrapolate a short, actionable lesson from each phase of his career, which enabled him to accomplish such extraordinary things and maybe each of us will become a better influencer because of it.Lesson 1: Focus on your strengthSince he was a teen, Arnold had a clear vision in his mind: Go to the USA and become famous. He had no idea how to accomplish this, not even the field of endeavor. He then started his quest, his search for his unique talent, which would bring him fame and fortune. As he realized that nature had gifted him with a body built to grow and become incredibly muscular, he put all of his heart and soul into a single project; becoming the most muscular man on earth and winning all the existing body building competitions around the world. It didn’t matter if it meant endless hours in the gym lifting huge weights, it didn’t even matter if sometimes it meant fainting or vomiting in the gym out of exhaustion. All that counted was getting to the top. And he made it! Not only that; he set new standards for his sport and made bodybuilding famous to around the world, becoming the international ambassador for the sport. He worked on the mental aspect of competition (the “Pumping Iron” documentary is a great testimonial of this), he even went to ballet classes to perfect his posing; in other words, he did whatever it took to become outstanding and make his dream come true. Thanks to bodybuilding, Arnold finally got to the USA. He was penniless, with no other skills under his belt, but ready to pursue his second lifetime goal: to make it big in Hollywood.Lesson 2: Persistence in spite of obstaclesWhen Arnold, already a celebrity in the bodybuilding circuit and on his way to financial independence thanks to real estate investments in Santa Monica, started to pursue his acting career he had all the odds against him. He spoke English with a thick Austrian accent, he had below average acting skills, no particular artistic talent and he was even told his name was too long to fit on movie posters! Thanks to his body, he managed to get a part in a B-movie called “Hercules” in New York where he first had to be dubbed due to poor English pronunciation. The movie itself was never released due to production financial issues but is now a cult movie because of Arnold’s fame. In spite of this, he did not get discouraged, he kept the vision clear, he simply ignored everybody else around him advising him to open a gym and to let go this impossible dream to become a world-famous actor. He patiently waited several years, turning down dozens of parts, even as a leading actor, in movies which would have not benefited his career in the long run. His big movie break was “Conan the Barbarian.” Arnold knew this movie would be a game-changer and, once again, he put his heart and soul in preparation for this part, taking care of every single detail. In the first scene of the movie, he was actually bitten by a real wolf and had to have a dozen stiches on his leg, but this didn’t discourage him a bit to give his best and make this movie into a cult classic, which he did. The rest is history. Conan brought Arnold into the firmament and just a few years later, with movies like “The Terminator,” “Total Recall” and “True Lies,” he was paid as much as $25 million per movie, becoming the highest paid action movie star in Hollywood…as he originally planned.Lesson 3: Expand your expertiseAfter becoming a Hollywood superstar Arnold was ready for a new challenge and decide to enter politics. Though married to a Kennedy family member, Maria Shriver, he was never afraid to express his liking for the Republican Party. He got close to the Bush family and openly supported them. When he saw the opportunity to run for governor of California, he understood he had to massively expand his knowledge and expertise in order to become credible and have a serious chance to win. Almost anyone who spent his life in body building and acting probably would have be intimidated by the massive amount of information, in many different subjects an aspirant governor must assimilate. That was not the case for Arnold. He established the “Arnold University” instead. He gathered notable experts in each of the fields he needed to learn such as economic, public health, the environment, etc. He worked long hours taking notes and learning everything he needed to learn. When it was time to debate on national television with seasoned and shrewd politicians, ready to attack his weak points with no mercy, he used humor as his best defense, having a set of punch lines written by professional comedy authors and memorized in endless preparation sessions. His motto was, “It is just reps, reps, reps,” in bodybuilding and in life. That is what made a farm boy from a small village in Austria the Governor of the richest state of America.Of course Arnold had his lows as well – like his divorce from Maria due to a secret child he had with an housekeeper 20 years ago or admitting using steroids in his competition days – but he was not afraid to expose these in either of his books. However, his life remains a shining example of what a human being is capable of, when ready to pay the price. Arnold was able to touch many lives and influence many people along the way, for which he deserves, in my opinion, the highest recognition as a master influencer! And who knows what he will accomplish more in the next 20 years…
Marco