What a Staggering 500 Interviews Taught Mark Lack About Success

If you are a movie buff like me, you might remember the “500 fights” bar scene with Vin Diesel from Knockaround Guys.

But instead of 500 street fights, the subject of my interview, entrepreneur and host of Business Rockstars Mark Lack, has been interviewed over 500 times and has conducted interviews with over 500 people. This, among other reasons, was why I was so excited to interview him for this article.

I think a lot of young entrepreneurs are very interested in interviewing and being interviewed for articles, podcasts, TV/Radio shows and various other mediums. But there’s a common fear about it.

Lack, who is also a best-selling author, captivating speaker (he most recently spoke at Thrive in San Diego) and a gifted personal coach, does a great job breaking down what to focus on and what has worked well for him in the interview process.

Here’s what I learned from interviewing Lack.

How to handle an interview like a Pro.

Lack was outside on his balcony in San Diego overlooking the Pacific Ocean when we were conducting our interview.

He was perhaps the best combination of relaxed and on point I’d ever heard anyone while interviewing them, and I’ve interviewed some other incredible rock stars.

I immediately adjusted the focus of the interview on the fly because of what I was feeling from him. I really wanted to find out how to get in this peak state where information and value was flowing so smoothly.

Lack pointed out the importance of your physiology and posture. Throughout the day, the number one influence over how you’re going to feel and behave will be your posture/physiology and the way you’re holding yourself. And make no mistake, this idea applies to everything, not just interviews.

But to be in that peak state, you can’t sit around on the couch all day. If you’re sitting around on the couch, as Lack pointed out, and saying, “Dude, I’m just not getting anything done. I’m depressed and sad,” well of course. You’re sitting on the couch and laying down and lying in bed all day. You haven’t once gotten up. You haven’t once gone outside. You haven’t done anything physical.

If this is the case, you have to make an immediate adjustment. You have to change your posture/physiology by getting up and moving, going for a walk in Mother Nature, going to the gym or doing something physical.

Interviews are entirely about the audience, not you personally.

A great interview should align and resonate with the context and the relevancy of what’s going on in that person’s life right now,” said Lack.

In addition to being relaxed and adjusting your posture, physiology and language—as Lack pointed out—understanding your audience is extremely important when you are being interviewed. You have to know who they are. Lack pointed out the importance of making sure the interviews are tailored to the audience, not to benefit the interviewer and the interviewee.

If you don’t know who your audience is, no matter how great of a speaker you are, how relaxed or peak state you are or how much incredible information you have to share, it may not be received well.

“If you’re interviewing somebody or you’re being interviewed, it’s not for those two people, the interviewer and the interviewee. It’s for an audience,” said Lack.

And this point is extremely important. I read a lot of interviews and hear a lot of podcasts and videos where everyone tries to push their own agenda. I don’t recall Lack stating once to me anything about an agenda of his own other than providing true value to the Influencive audience.

Finally, you have to make it relatable. Lack pointed out that depending on who you are, just discussing successes may not be relatable. For a young entrepreneur, selling a company for a million dollars may not be relatable. But what is relatable is finding out how they dealt with failures, and talking about the struggle.

You have to know who you are.

If you look at someone like Gary Vaynerchuk, one thing that is undeniable is that Gary knows who he is. Lack also knows exactly who he is. I even asked Lack who or what he wanted to be as a kid, and he had a very good answer.

For a portion of his life—and still today—Lack thought he would model off of Tony Robbins. And after a while people would even refer to him as the “young Tony Robbins”, but he didn’t necessarily need or want that.

“I don’t want to be Tony. I simply want to embody the best version of myself in the same way he has by learning to model similar qualities, patterns, principles, belief systems, behavior rituals, confidence patterns and different things,” said Lack.

It’s okay to admit your weaknesses. In fact, it makes you more relatable. Lack, like Robbins, is the first to admit his weaknesses, failures, and struggles with various things like we all do. It’s important to not try to paint yourself as some perfect superman-like character with no weaknesses, because as we all know even superman has his Kryptonite.

“Eighty percent of your success in anything, especially in your business, is based on your psychology and your mindset,” said Lack.

Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Author. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Author to disclose. Accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.

Tagged with: