Frank Giustra's Guiding Principles

Iconic Canadian businessman Frank Giustra, co-founder of Lionsgate Films and countless mining companies, discusses the qualities and traits that made him such a (F)G.

"Frank Giustra is a genius." Doug Casey told me twice. . .

There are few men in the world I admire more.

Watch the interview:

I think my favorite part is when Giustra recalls his biggest successes starting out as humble ideas.

"My life experience with almost every major deal I've started is that it starts out with a vision which is much smaller than where it eventually evolves. This happened with Yorkton, it happened with Lionsgate, it happened with Wheaton River and Goldcorp, Pacific Rubiales my oil company, and my relationship with Bill Clinton. All of these things started with some smallish idea that somehow developed a life of it's own and became something very large."

To me that's very inspiring.

On following your dreams (with some credit to the late Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement speech):

"Simple, just do it. Whatever it is you're going to do, just do it, don't be afraid to make mistakes... Find something you love to do and you will do great work, and if you don't find it, keep looking... We're all going to go. What have you got to lose? Go for it. Make mistakes. I've made tonnes of mistakes. Just be smart enough to learn from your mistakes and fix them. But you have to follow your heart. Whatever you do you have to be passionate about it. I've found in life unless you're truly passionate about something you can't sell it to other people. Your conviction has to come from your passion... Also, and this might sound a little bit strange, but it almost is easier to do something when you don't have too much information. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you have to be completely clueless when you enter something new, but if you go into it knowing that your gut is telling you it's the right thing to do, if you have too much information, you might talk yourself out of it."

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