It's an MBA that they pay you for.

The average employee at Vanguard, they say they spend $100,000 on training per employee.

So I was given this free MBA at Vanguard.

You're now a finance person, but you weren't a finance person.

How did you go down the process of learning something that you did not previously know at all?

What I've been amazed by in life is that most people don't ask questions, they pretend like they know things.

They think that if they ask questions, they look dumb.

What I found is I was trained as a journalist to do one thing, ask questions.

So when I want to start learning something, I just go where the game is played.

I just get in.

And so what that would mean in the beginning was I didn't understand finance.

I was like, where are smart finance people?

I guess this company called Vanguard that's located here.

Could I get a job there?

The funny thing about humans are they love to hear themselves talk.

And so one of the secrets to getting a job places is you just ask a lot of questions.

So at the time I sat next to this lady, Tara, and I was like, so what do you do?

She's like, securities.

And I'm like, oh, that's a lot of work because I thought she was talking about security.

Like, you know, she had a gun.

And again, why was I at the conference about finance?

Because I wanted to get into finance, but I didn't know anything about it.

So I just said, well, let's go to a place where they're talking about finance.

So I go to a conference.

Then I sit next to this lady.

I get curious about her.

I ask her all about her.

I ask all about Vanguard.

I get really curious about her job.

What does she care about?

What does she do?

What's their mission?

And when I get all those questions, I write down the answers.

And so I'm actually getting the cheat code to what a hiring manager cares about at Vanguard because I'm asking her questions.

And then she gets intrigued by the fact that unlike most humans, I'm not talking at her.

I'm asking her information and I'm very tuned in.

I'm like focused on her intently.

I follow up, which most people also don't do.

I send an email afterwards.

It was so amazing to talk to you.

Here are three things I learned.

Super interesting.

Love to have coffee with you a second time.

We have coffee again.

I just ask a bunch more questions.

And then she asks me to apply for this rotational development program.

So tons of people, all these fancy degrees everywhere and little Cody who didn't know what a security or a mutual fund was.

But I think the difference was I was really curious.

And that is an abnormal thing in a world of humans who pretend that they know what they mean.

And then, so if I was trying to do this again, I would do the same thing.

When I wanted to get into content, what did I do?

I just went and tried to talk to humans who knew something about content that I wanted to know.

So if I wanted to understand media today, I would probably get really curious and I would learn on somebody else's dime.

I think a job today is like a free MBA.

In fact, it's an MBA that they pay you for.

The average employee at Vanguard, they say they spend $100,000 on training per employee when I was making $30,000 a year.

So I was given this free MBA at Vanguard, not to mention three licenses that I've carried for the rest of my life that have to be registered at a company.

I couldn't get them any other way.

And so I think people should just go get a job working for somebody, learning from them and go where the game's played.

There is scientific research that shows that being surrounded by top performers increases your performance by 15% and being around underperformers decreases your performance by 30%.

You're gonna earn 45% more money if you're around top performers than if you're around underperformers.

And so if you're in a company with a bunch of underperformers, get in one where it is hard.

I think most people don't think about that.

People talk shit about Goldman.

I'm like, that place is amazing for a young, hungry person.

It's awful at a certain point, but for a young, hungry person, it's like top performers that are gonna make me earn more, that are gonna put pressure on me.

That's the only way diamonds are made.

It's the same thing at work.