Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuk

Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success

Happy Friday!

Here are a few concepts from the book Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Big Idea

By cultivating key emotional skills such as empathy, patience, and accountability, you can significantly improve your interpersonal relationships, team dynamics, and overall effectiveness in the workplace.

Gary’s Emotional Ingredients

  1. Gratitude: Appreciate what you have and acknowledge the contributions of others to foster a positive team environment.

  2. Self-Awareness: Cultivate a better understanding of your emotions, strengths, and weaknesses to enhance your decision-making and leadership skills.

  3. Accountability: Take responsibility for your actions and their outcomes to build trust and credibility.

  4. Optimism: Expect the best possible outcome, which can inspire and motivate those around you.

  5. Empathy: Understand and share the feelings of others, which can improve your interpersonal relationships and team cohesion.

  6. Kindness: Be kind to yourself, and even those that put you in a difficult situation; you can be kind, candid, and still hold your ground.

  7. Tenacity: Show persistent determination in pursuing your goals, regardless of the obstacles.

  8. Curiosity: Constantly seek new knowledge and understanding, which can drive innovation and growth.

  9. Patience: Understand that results may take time, which can help maintain a calm and strategic approach to business challenges.

  10. Conviction: Follow your convictions as your north star to stay on track and maintain tenacity despite the inevitable difficulties.

  11. Humility: Maintain a modest view of your own importance and be willing to learn from others to enhance collaborative efforts.

  12. Ambition: Maintain a strong desire to achieve success, which can propel you and your team toward reaching your goals.

The “Half Ingredient”…

  • Kind Candor: Communicate openly and honestly while being considerate and empathetic towards others’ feelings.

  • It’s about being straightforward and clear in your feedback or opinions without being harsh or offensive.

Why a half ingredient?

In Gary’s words…

“I had a visceral reaction to confrontation, and so I was very bad at giving critical feedback for most of my career.

After twenty-four years as a business operator, I’m heartbroken that there are people out there who don’t feel great toward me because I wasn’t able to be candid with them.

I didn’t see the beauty of candor, the humanity in it.

I didn’t realize that candor actually is kindness.

All my unhappiness in life and business has resulted from my inability to deploy kind candor when necessary.

That’s why I’m calling it my half.

I say “half” because nobody’s a zero on anything.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Additional notes from Gary

No matter how bad you think you are, the fact that you’re even aware of a weakness or a gap has already started your process of becoming better at the underdeveloped skill.

As you go through this book, I don’t want you to be depressed when you find out what your halves are. I want you to be thrilled because, as you improve on those halves, more good things will happen for you.

Remember, the quality of your dish depends on the quality of your ingredients and the way you use them in combination.

Gary Vaynerchuk

We hope this gives you something to consider…

P.S. Have a great day 😃