Ziad Abdelnour Quotes

Nobody wants a sales pitch. So instead of trying a hard sell, focus on telling a story that captivates your audience by painting a vivid picture of your vision. When you get good at storytelling, people want to be part of that story, and they’ll want to help others become part of that story too.

Don't judge someone's attitude until you've felt their pain.

Make your money on the buy, not the sell; this is true in any investment whether it's real estate, business, or the stock market.

When life gives you lemons, order the lobster tail.

After analyzing our current crisis and studying well-established
historical precedents, I must conclude that the global bankers have
only three possible cards left to play.

The first is admitting culpability and working to restore the
American economic engine to its free-market potential. History has
taught us that the ruling class rarely admits error and never concedes
power.

The second is to foment so much civil unrest and fear that the
general population will be clamoring for a global dictator who will
provide them food, shelter, and security in exchange for their individual
freedom and sovereignty. I see the emerging militancy of the
labor union movement playing right into this scenario.

The final play is global conflict where they can try and control
the outcome by means of funding both sides.

The difference between the Haves and Have-nots? The will to sacrifice and to do what others won't.... Very simple.

Why spend your life trying to fit in, when you are born to stand out?

Be a reflection of what you'd like to see in others. You get in return what you give.

Too many people today on Wall Street go for the quick
buck at the expense of their reputation and client satisfaction, the
rationale being “let’s make the money while we can and retire early
in the sun.” For me, this is not a sprint but a marathon, besides the
fact that, in my definition, overnight success is 15 years. Anyone who
does not understand the basic tenets of this philosophy is not someone
I can or will do business with.

There's a huge misconception that innovation is mostly about inventing or coming up with cool new things. More often than not, innovation is about figuring out what people really need or want but can't have or afford.

Once you find your dream, risk everything to make it come true.

I personally believe mavericks are people who write their own rulebook.

They are the ones who act first and talk later. They are fiercely independent thinkers who know how to fight the lizard brain (to use Seth Godin’s term).
I don’t believe many are born, rather they are products of an environment, or their experiences.

They are usually the people that find the accepted norm does not meet their requirements and have the self-confidence, appetite, independence, degree of self reliance and sufficient desire to carve out their own niche in life.

I believe a maverick thinker can take a new idea, champion it, and push it beyond the ability of a normal person to do so. I also believe the best mavericks can build a team, can motivate with their vision, their passion, and can pull together others to accomplish great things. A wise maverick knows that they need others to give full form to their views and can gather these necessary contributors around them.

Mavericks, in my experience, fall into various categories – a/ the totally off-the-wall, uncontrollable genius who won’t listen to anyone; b/ the person who thinks that they have the ONLY solution to a challenge but prepared to consider others’ views on how to conquer the world &, finally, the person who thinks laterally to overcome problems considered to be irresolvable. I like in particular the third category.

The upside is that mavericks, because of their different outlook on life, often sees opportunities and solutions that others cannot. But the downside is that often, because in life there is always some degree of luck in success (i.e. being in the right place at the right time), mavericks that fail are often ridiculed for their unorthodox approach. However when they succeed they are acclaimed for their inspiration. It is indeed a fine line they walk in life.

I really cannot tolerate people who always find excuses or reasons why certain things won't work. Find reasons and solutions to make it work.

Bankruptcy cleans out the system. What’s wrong with that? South
Korea went through this in the late 1990s. They didn’t have anyone
to bail them out, and they had to go through the pain. Sweden did
it in the early 1990s. Mexico did it. Russia did it. The list goes on
and on. Competent people take over the assets from incompetent
people and rebuild from a solid base. Business has always been survival
of the fittest and Darwinism at its best. After all, this is what capitalism
is all about.

I strongly believe in the fact
that there’s still plenty of money and plenty of private equity capital
available around the globe. What are in short supply are great entrepreneurs
and great teams. A trading opportunity or a company’s biggest
challenge is and has always been the team behind it. There’s enormous
change under way in every facet of the world. Some is technology
driven, some is market driven. All that change creates unprecedented
opportunity, but to take full advantage of such opportunities I mostly
focus on the team. The right teams and right people behind those
opportunities always win. There is no secret sauce. Trading and investing
has, in my experience, boiled down to building relationships and
exchanging value. It consists of striking the right balance between
backing and interacting with the right teams with the right business
model at the right time and with the right amount of money.