#847: Steve Young, from Super Bowl MVP to Managing Billions – Hall of Fame 49ers Quarterback on High Performance, Reinvention, Faith, and How to Blend Dreams and Plans

**Tim Ferriss** (0:00)
Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferris, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferris Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers, to try to break down how they have done, what they've done, what you can copy and paste, and test in your own lives. And it can take many different forms. This interview has been probably two years in the making. I was so happy to finally have it happen. Steve Young, also very timely, right about now at the time of recording. Steve Young is a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback who played more than 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He was Super Bowl 29 MVP, earning Sports Illustrated and Sporting News player of the year honors from 1992 to 94, and won the NFL MVP award in both 92 and 94 When he retired, he held the all-time record for highest quarterback rating and remains the only quarterback to win four consecutive NFL passing titles. What makes him also very interesting to me is that he's a multi-hyphenate. So the story did not end there. He didn't fade into obscurity. After football, Young became an ESPN analyst and a private equity executive. He co-founded HGGC, which manages roughly $9 billion in capital commitments. And there have been some amazing, amazing profiles of him, which initially piqued my interest, because he seems to have been so good at reinvention and also high performance, not only over decades, but in different disciplines entirely. He's also the founder and current chair of the Forever Young Foundation, which supports children's charities globally. He is the author of QB, My Life Behind the Spiral and The Law of Love. You can find him on Instagram at Steve Young. And without further ado, please enjoy a very wide ranging, very in-depth conversation with Steve. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention one thing he requested that I include in the intro, which is that he and I seem to be journeying on parallel paths. And certainly both during the interview but after recording, that seems to be the case. Not at all comparing myself to Steve. He is so many levels above me in so many ways. But nonetheless, he asked me to include that. So I am doing that here. Please enjoy. Optimal, minimal. At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.
Steve, thank you so much for making the time.

**Steve Young** (2:36)
You bet, Tim.

**Tim Ferriss** (2:36)
It is so nice to see you.

**Steve Young** (2:37)
It is an honor, man. Hopefully, I can add something to the amazing stuff that you have done for a long time. Oh. We will see. It is yet to be determined.

**Tim Ferriss** (2:45)
I am sure that will be the case. We will first point out the pink outfit in the room.
Welcome to my temple of Tim.

**Steve Young** (2:50)
I love it. I love it. I bow to the greatness.

**Tim Ferriss** (2:55)
And also, this has been for me two or three years in the making, sort of a slow build, because a friend of mine sent me a Bloomberg article about you that talked about the many chapters of Steve Young. And at that time, as is true now, I have been incredibly interested in people who successfully navigate these phase shifts. And I do not follow football. I have a lot of respect for football. God knows, every time I see one of the car crashes, aka collisions, I think that one hit and I would be done. Right? I don't know how you guys do it.

**Steve Young** (3:31)
It's insane. Even now, as I watch now, I'm like, did I actually do that?

**Tim Ferriss** (3:35)
It's just remarkable how durable players are. I have no idea how you guys do it. But what I've been hoping to dig into is psycho-emotional, spiritual, mental side of things. Right.

**Steve Young** (3:48)
That's football, weirdly. Yeah, it's crazy.
We'll go on for that for a little bit, too.

**Tim Ferriss** (3:54)
We'll definitely get into that.
I thought we would start. Actually, I'll start with a wave hello. I don't think you guys know each other. We might have had a connection decades ago. A friend of mine who's a bit of a reckless named Josh Waitzkin. He was the basis. He would hate me to introduce him this way, but he was the basis for Searching for Bobby Fischer, the book and then the movie.

**Steve Young** (4:14)
No way.

**Tim Ferriss** (4:14)
Chess Prodigy. Yes.

**Steve Young** (4:16)
Yes.

**Tim Ferriss** (4:17)
Yeah. And he was in most recently. He got kind of doxxed. He didn't really want to be public about it for working with the Celtics in the last few years with their coach. And he is a huge fan. I mentioned, he was like, hey, you have five minutes on the phone. He texted me this morning and I said, I can't do it. I'm preparing for a podcast with this legend. And I sent him a link and he goes, oh, I studied his game. I used to study and study and study. He's not a football guy.