#46 Leila Janah on The Keys to Building Character

Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory

Impact Theory

Education, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Technology, Society & Culture, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2017

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Leila Janah didn’t have the money to start her company, but she didn’t let that hold her back. She paid her way through Harvard by cleaning toilets, serving cocktails, and tutoring wealthy students while pitching her sustainable business model to anyone who would listen. Since the inception of her company, Samasource--named as one of Fast Company's most innovative companies in 2016--Leila has employed nearly 10,000 people and helped nearly 35,000 people permanently move above the poverty line. Her customers are some of the world’s biggest companies such as Google, Microsoft, Walmart, eBay and she’s been profiled in The New York Times, WIRED, Forbes, and Inc. Leila also founded LXMI (pronounced luxe-me) which is the first social impact beauty brand to be sold at Sephora. Meet the founder, author, and social entrepreneur who believes in reversing poverty one job at a time in this episode of Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. PULLED QUOTES 1. “As an entrepreneur, probably the most important attribute is not quitting.” [3:59] 2.“The only real power we have in the world is choosing our response.” [10:45] 3.“The choice to take that painful experience and mold it into something positive for the world is I think the deepest kind of healing we can have as humans.” [11:40] 4.“The only real thing that matters is love.Loving people and being loved yourself.” [17:55] 5.“It’s important that we don’t absolve ourselves of a moral duty to act. We all have that duty to act. You don’t have to be flawless.” [26:25] 6.“I think the most worthwhile, worthy things in life are just the result of a lot of painful, enduring failure.” [30:12] 7.“I think there’s a certain vulnerability that comes from not having a lot of stuff.” [44:13] 8.“Talent is equally distributed and opportunity is not.” [48:02] SHOW NOTES Leila walks through how grit was baked into her upbringing. [3:27] Leila talks about post-traumatic growth and how you can build resilience. [6:30] Tom and Leila dive into her personal narrative and how she found refuge in social impact.[8:38] Leila opens up about her struggle with depression and finding nourishment for her soul. [12:55] Leila takes you through the 4-step process that you can use to keep yourself grounded. [17:00] Leila explains the benefits of “the pause.” [19:11] Tom and Leila discuss how she helps people in the gig economy. [22:46] Leila debunks the myth that people who work in service of humanity are flawless. [25:28] Leila shines the light on profit versus non-profit and why she chose to launch a benefit corporation.[27:02] Leila shares valuable about what she looks for in team members. [30:03] Tom and Leila go deep on the first steps that she took to start her business. [34:42] Leila recalls living in Ghana and the reverse culture shock she experienced coming home. [40:36] Leila talks about the reality of scarcity and the power of unleashing untapped potential.[48:00] Leila defines the impact that she wants to have on the world. [50:23] MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE BOOKS Give Work: Reversing Poverty One Job at a Time -http://amzn.to/2yAkU2R [2:27] Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy-http://amzn.to/2yb9KgG [6:53] Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives -http://amzn.to/2ybathU [48:29] ORGANIZATIONS Samasource-http://bit.ly/2tukCrw [1:01] LXMI-http://bit.ly/2iIR3OJ [2:22] Sama Hope -http://bit.ly/2ycYwfY [12:23] Sama School -http://bit.ly/2ieFpXS [22:41] PEOPLE Sheryl Sandberg -http://bit.ly/2dT0nJ3 [6:51] Ben Horowitz -http://bit.ly/2afpSlU [30:05] Muhammad Yunus- http://bit.ly/2yVYIPX [36:23] TERMINOLOGY B-Corporation -http://bit.ly/2yVUdoI [29:03] BONUS Leila’s Booklist on Medium -http://bit.ly/2yWeqee FOLLOW LEILA INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2yUJOJT TWITTER: http://bit.ly/1ypYSaC FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2c1yQDw LINKEDIN: http://bit.ly/2lrlolO WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/2kNbeWW GIVE WORK WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/2zQiQ39

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Impact Theory Podcast, your source of empowering ideas and actionable techniques from the world's highest achievers.
0:08.0	Join host Tom Billio, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of the billion dollar brand Quest Nutrition, on a journey to unlock your potential and realize your vision of success.
0:19.0	Welcome to Impact Theory.
0:22.0	Everybody, welcome to Impact Theory.
0:26.0	You are here, my friends, because you believe that human potential is nearly limitless, but you know that having potential is not the same as actually doing something with it.
0:35.0	So our goal with this show and company is to introduce you to the people and ideas that will help you actually execute on your dreams.
0:43.0	Alright, today's guest is a Harvard educated social entrepreneur who is up-ending the traditional economic aid model by creating best-in-class companies that help people pull themselves out of poverty.
0:56.0	She's been so successful at that she was named one of Condé Nasts, Daring 25, and L's 2016 Top Women in Tech.
1:04.0	Since founding her first company, Samasaurus in 2008, she has employed nearly 10,000 people and helped nearly 35,000 people permanently move above the poverty line.
1:15.0	The raw effectiveness of her business model is proving that creating opportunities is far more sustainable and empowering than offering people handouts.
1:24.0	She can name some of the world's biggest companies as her customers, including Google, Microsoft, Walmart, eBay, and Countless others, and her amazing mission and incredible success have seen her profile everywhere from the New York Times and Wired Magazine to Forbes and Inc.
1:39.0	Her company, Samasaurus, was named as one of fast companies, most innovative companies in 2016, and all of this from a woman who initially lacked the capital to even start a company and had to pay her way through college by cleaning toilets, serving cocktails, and tutoring wealthy students.
1:55.0	But she refused to give in, pitched her a dream to anyone who would listen, and entered Business Plan Contest, DM'd anyone she thought was like-minded, and the world is now literally a better place for it as she ultimately scrapped enough together to make her dream a reality.
2:09.0	Now, nearly 10 years in, she has faced and overcome every obstacle imaginable to see her social impact company turn into a profitable company and become truly self-sustaining.
2:20.0	So please, help me in welcoming the founder and CEO of Samasaurus and LuxMe, the Chanel of Social Impact, and the first Impact Beauty brand to be sold at Sephora, the author of Give Work, Reversing Poverty, One Job at a Time, Lila Janna.
2:38.0	Thank you.
2:40.0	Thank you for being here.
2:43.0	It's awesome to be a guest on this show. Thank you so much for having me.
2:46.0	Oh, man, absolutely my pleasure. Man, going into your world, you're really a vanguard for something really new that's happening in entrepreneurship, which I've felt.
2:57.0	I've been sort of that transitional generation where I wasn't as clicked into things as you were right from the jump.
3:04.0	I went through the chasing money phase and all of that to find how sort of desperate and horrific that ended up being emotionally before I found something that was more about what's the ultimate impact.
3:16.0	But walk us through, so I know that things didn't start out necessarily easy for you. Walk us through the dark times that you had in your 20s and how you ended up creating a social movement that's also financially powerful.
	...

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