Robert F. Smith's Closing Q&A | Presidents Summit Masterclass

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, Robert, just being cautious of time here, I actually think we need to go back and visit our old friend Jonas, who asked a great question early on, because he still has the most upvoted question. And I think it would be a shame to not address this one, as it has been the most upvoted, which is, Robert, what are your thoughts on the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech? Because we're talking about the future of investment, and we knew this would come. We always need to address this sort of stuff. So what is your point of view on this? So, you know, that's a great question, Jonas. And Jonas, you should absolutely, if you're looking for work, send me a resume. You've got some great questions. So we might have some good roles for you to participate in. But in all seriousness, you know, there are some fundamental, I'm going to call them seismic shifts that are going to occur in some specific markets, and it'll be a lot of markets over time. And I'm going to use, you know, the lexicon that I use, which may be a little different than what a lot of people talk about. And those seismic shifts are going to come in the form of how, you know, I use words, blockchain fabric gets established in specific industries. We can talk about the currency of, you know, what is moving across those blockchains. And, you know, there's multiple currencies out there today, and you know, some will probably last longer than others. And there's some new entrants in those currencies that will probably come in the form of, you know, sovereign governments, right? Because my sense is, at some point in time, they're not going to let this go unregulated, unnoticed, unchecked, unmanaged, or not participate. But I think that the seismic shift is really going to become in, you know, the verification that comes with blockchain. You know, if you take an industry, and you, you know, establish a, you know, you think about these are ledgers of accountability and transparency, reliability, and credibility. And once that starts to form into shape, it will shape the industry participants in that industry and define them. Now, how, what currency they use in that industry will, it might be up to them, or it might be a regulator that tells them what they're going to use or, or whatever it might be. But what that's going to do is going to actually create further barriers for new entrants into that industry, right? So, you know, as an investor, you have to think about, well, what happens to the existing participants? Is it going to be the new participants who own that ecosystem? Is it going to be a shared ecosystem? Is it going to be in, you know, a one that has some permeability? Or is it going to be fixed? Right? I think we're going to see this continue to play out slowly and then really, really fast. Okay. Because as those ecosystems establish themselves, people are going to see the advantages of being able to trade in those ecosystems with certainty and with speed that they otherwise couldn't in the way that we do things today. And then there's going to be all the, you know, derivative solutions on top of them, which might be, you know, how credit, how, you know, is extended, you know, how all the, you know, financial instruments in and around, you know, how transactions are managed today will then start to permeate those fabrics as well, and those ecosystems as well. So I look at those as, you know, those are the cataclysmic shifts. Of course, you know, we're seeing all the speculation around the currency around it ultimately. And look, that's going to happen. But I think there's some big entrants coming into that currency game that people aren't thinking about that, you know, if you're, if you are managing a country as a government, you may not like the fact that you may not have control of the currency or it's in someone else's hands. So my guess is you're going to respond accordingly, right? So that's my sense. It's, I think there's a lot of valuable points in that. And I would quite frankly, love to delve into them if we had more time, Robert. But I think you've both been shouted out as a goat. I think we've accumulated a lot of insights. Jonas has gotten a direct, I guess, sort of request almost to send his resume. And I think that I'm sure that counts for a lot of the people, if any more people are interested in investment, to reach out to Robert, because that loops back to the point earlier on, which is it's all about the people and the skilled people about them and developing. So a very, very, very just phenomenal session, I think on that, Robert, and to all the people who have asked the questions in the Q&A section, to all the people who have participated here in the chat sections with your viewpoints, thank you so much to all the people who showed interest about the President's Summit. Someone from my team will reach out to you afterwards and speak to you about that. But I think just without further ado, before we run out completely of time here, Robert, I want to ask you if you would be up for a brief little lightning round here. Sure, why not? Fantastic, fantastic. So I think with three minutes left, we'll get it up on the screen here. The first question is, what is the best piece of advice that you have ever received? There's two, I would say. And one is, I mentioned it earlier, was in the mornings, you know, fill yourself with the inspiration that moves, you know, who you are as a human being. And for me, that is, you know, reading the scripture and meditation. And the second, I guess, piece of advice is, you know, be true to yourself. And, you know, make decisions based on what you think, you know, works for you in your, not in a selfish way, but for you in terms of how you frame yourself in your community. And I think that's an important, those are two important pieces of advice. I've got my kids coming up the stairs, so we have to be careful about the lightning round. That is fair enough. I actually want to say, Robert, that I can't tell the number of fantastic people such as yourself I've welcomed on this masterclass who have mentioned meditation as part of their routines. And I'm still not, you know, a big user of meditation. But I, and I'm thinking to myself every time, how many times do you need to hear fantastic people recommend this stuff before you actually do this, Frederick? Don't be hard on yourself. Just do it a little bit every day and see what works. Yeah, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep if it's in the morning, Robert. Maybe you need to sleep. Maybe, maybe. I'll speak to my chairman about that. Second question comes here, Robert. What is the greatest purchase that you've made below $200? I will tell you, a good pair of warm socks. I'm in Colorado quite a bit and man, it gets cold and it's kind of nice. I like the pace when I talk on the phone. If you walk out, you don't have, you know, if your feet are cold, man, it takes your mind off what you're thinking. So a good pair of warm socks. That's a good question. I love it. So practical. Fantastic. Third question comes here, Robert. What is the most inspiring person for you at the moment? So not necessarily all time, but just currently. I got to tell you, you know, Amanda Gorman was just beautiful in her words, her expression, her intent, her tone, and what she expressed as the hope and future of America in her inaugural speech. I thought it was just the right for the time. And it's still inspiring and I resonate still when I think about her words. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a great one. That is a great one. And especially in terms of the timing, like you mentioned, it was everything. Everything. Fourth and last question here, Robert, your best routine or hobby during COVID-19. Oh, man, I was going to say working out, but, you know, the last couple of months, my wife has gotten me into the routine of eating dessert. No, in all frankness, the best thing has been the meals with my family. You know, I traveled, you know, prior to COVID-19. I mean, you can imagine just a ton. And if I had three meals a week with my family, I was counting myself lucky. And now, you know, I get 15 meals a week with my family. And that has been spectacular. That has literally been spectacular, you know, realignment of priorities and thought and where I should spend my time. That is so amazing. I'm happy to hear that. I'm so happy to hear that. And I actually just want to say as the last note here that because of all the amazing insights that we've gathered here, and I was so inspired by what Robert said about sharing knowledges, you know, across, I guess, all over the world, frankly, I briefly sent a message there to my social media team and said, why don't we make a post where everyone can share their best insights from this masterclass in one post so that we can all have it and you can share it. Then if you missed out on some notes and anything, just post it in the comment section. We can share points of views. We can share knowledge with each other. And we can do what Robert encouraged us all to do, which was inspire and share that knowledge to help better everyone. So I love it. That's the spirit. With that last note there, I just want to say thank you so, so much for everyone who took the time out of their busy Wednesday to sit here with Robert and myself. I hope it was useful. I hope, Robert, that your time was useful. I just want to say thank you so, so much for tuning in and taking some of your precious time out. I can't express how deeply grateful I am for that. And my absolute pleasure and delight and just want to wish all the people from around the world on here safety. Let's all get on the other side of this COVID pandemic together as quickly as possible. Let's be responsible in the way that we engage and interact with each other. And frankly, let's then greet a new time where we can get together as human beings on this planet in person. So let's all do our part to get through this as quickly as possible. Absolutely. And invest in some warm socks. That's great, Robert. Well, Robert, I'll catch you later at some point. I'm going to round off here with the rest of the folks, but I know you're busy. So thank you so much for tuning in, Robert. I'll give you a call when you have a moment. OK, my pleasure. Thank you, Frederik. All the best to you all. Be safe.