702: Blake Mycoskie (Founder of TOMS) - Hitting Every Goal & Still Feeling Worthless... Gratitude, Mantras, and Hiring Like a Champion

**Ryan Hawk** (0:02)
Welcome to The Learning Leader Show, presented by Insight Global. I am your host, Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here. Go to learningleader.com for show notes of this and all podcast episodes. Go to learningleader.com. Now, on to the night's featured leader, Blake Mycoskie is the founder of TOMS Shoes. He built a company around giving away a pair for every pair sold. TOMS went on to donate more than 100 million pairs of shoes and became one of the most copied business models in the world. Blake eventually sold TOMS to Bain Capital for hundreds of millions of dollars.
That unfortunately led him to a deep depression. He went dark for almost four years. He hit every marker of success and he still felt empty and worthless. During our conversation, Blake describes exactly what happened, why and how he made it to the other side. We also discussed what he specifically looks for when hiring a leader, his morning mantra and how it helps him, what he learned about himself after going on the amazing race with his sister, why you should never wait for permission, and what you should do if you want to get a great spouse. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my conversation with Blake Mycoskie.
You have this beautiful background. It's not fake. It's real. What were you doing 90 seconds before we connected here?

**Blake Mycoskie** (1:45)
I mean, literally, I'm still dripping with saltwater because the waves are so good in Costa Rica right now.
I'm not even at my house. I luckily brought my computer to my friend's little beach shack and left it here while I served. Then I got out, dried off, put a hat and t-shirt on, and here we are. I got this beautiful cat who I don't know right here hanging out with me and waves crashing and you found me on a little vacation. My kids are at camp this month, so I'm getting some time for myself and it's really nice.

**Ryan Hawk** (2:15)
What is it about surfing that you love?

**Blake Mycoskie** (2:18)
I love just being in the water. I usually surf at sunrise, so it's also an excuse to see the sunrise every morning.
I think there's something magical about, and I've read some stuff about the ions and the waves and how it connects with our energy and charges us up. Also the thing that a lot of people don't realize that they're not surfers is that most of what you do when you're surfing is just sit on your board.
It's almost a meditation because you're actually only surfing. I just surfed for three hours, and I probably caught maybe 10 waves total. I was probably on the board standing less than five minutes. Most of it is paddling, which is great exercise, and sitting there, which for me, gives me a chance to really do things like my gratitude meditation, or to sit there and really think through something that I might rush through in normal life. So I always come out of the water with a really good mindset. And actually something that for people who are like me, and probably like you, have lots of ideas, especially business ideas. My new hack is I got an Apple Watch, and I programmed it to where if I hit the button on the side, it turns on the voice memo. And so I used to sit in the water and surf, and have all these ideas, and then I forget them because I don't have a pad and pen. So now I sit there, and every time I have an idea or, oh shit, I need to call my mom back, I just go, talk, and then I get back, they're all there. So it's cool. Love it.

**Ryan Hawk** (3:41)
You mentioned gratitude meditation. Tactically, what is that? Are there specific words you say? Are they the same ones or is it, hey, I'm grateful for this? Like, what does that sound like?

**Blake Mycoskie** (3:51)
So it's kind of sounds like a prayer. So depending on what your religious or spiritual beliefs, it's a thank you God, thank you universe for, and I think the most important thing is being very specific. So like this morning, I was like, thank you God, thank you universe for the pictures that I saw last night of my daughter at camp, looking like she was having a time of her life in the lake. Because the camp posts pictures for the parents to see, you know, and it's great, because this is their first time to ever go to camp. And I was, you know, I want to make sure that she's happy there. And she looks like she is, I mean, I know my daughter, she does not have that smile unless she's ecstatic. She's kind of a stoic girl. And so seeing those photos just made me feel so grateful for her experience and then also it's great because now I can really relax down here myself. And so that was one of the things that I rattled off. And I just kind of say them to myself, but I try to do it every day. And oftentimes I'll write it down if I'm journal.