MESSAGE 14: ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI

Anthony Scaramucci

Founder and Co-Managing Partner, SkyBridge

Question:  As a leader, what is your message to Americans who are frightened about the future due to the Coronavirus?

Message: I started a series with Justin Higgins, ‘America Will Be Back!, Messages from leaders to Americans experiencing COVID-19 adversity.’

My message is to stay brave, put things in perspective, be resilient, and wake up everyday with a gratitude list. It will help you out a lot.

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Anthony Scaramucci is Founder and Co-Managing Partner of SkyBridge focusing on marketing and business development. Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Mr. Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co.

In 2016, Mr. Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year – New York” Award in the Financial Services category.

Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, a board member of both The Brain Tumor Foundation and Business Executives for National Security (BENS), and a Trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. He was a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2012.

He is the author of three books: The Little Book of Hedge Funds, Goodbye Gordon Gekko, and Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole, a 2016 Wall Street Journal best seller.

In November 2016, Mr. Scaramucci was named to President-Elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017.

Mr. Scaramucci received a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

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Video and Photo: Courtesy Anthony Scaramucci

MESSAGE 10: ROBERT HERJAVEC

Robert Herjavec

Founder & CEO, Herjavec Group; Leading ‘Shark’ on ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’

Question:  As a leader, what is your message to Americans who are frightened about the future due to the Coronavirus?

Message: My advice to all Americans right now is to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It may be long, and uncertain but there is light and we will get there.

While we are living in this time of uncertainty, I’m finding a lot of comfort in 3 key words – (1) honesty, (2) resilience and (3) trigger.

First - Be honest with your employees, your landlords, your bank and each other. People want bad news sooner than later and would rather you be transparent about the economic impacts of uncertainty or about your ability to pay certain things like rent. Communicate, be upfront and be honest.

Second - We are incredibility resilient as human beings. Any small business owner knows this time is about survival and you have to do what it takes right now to bounce back. It will take time but have confidence in your ability to rebound.

Lastly, recognize the trigger points in your business when it’s time to pull back, or when it’s time to invest further.

I truly feel a sense of optimism about our ability to rebound from this. Just focus on that light at the end of the tunnel.

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Robert Herjavec is one of North America’s most recognizable business leaders. A dynamic entrepreneur, Robert has built and sold several IT companies including his current enterprise cybersecurity firm – Herjavec Group. Robert’s motivational business advice has received millions of impressions through TV, print, radio and digital media. He shares his expertise with other entrepreneurs each week as a leading Shark on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning hit show, Shark Tank.

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Photo: Lesley Bryce

MESSAGE 6: JAY BLUMENFIELD

Jay Blumenfield

Co-Founder and CEO, The Jay & Tony Show

Question:  As a leader, what is your message to Americans who are frightened about the future due to the Coronavirus?

Message: Things are going to suck for a while. The sooner we accept that the better. But we are going to come out of this different, stronger and happier in the long run. The key right now is truth. The key right now is science. And facts.

The key right now is to try to look past differences and understand that we are all in this together.

Hopefully at the end of this we will have a new understanding of how we are all dependent on one another.

The past few years have been more divisive and confusing than any in our lifetime.

The fever from all of that and the virus is going to break at some point. What we do when we collectively wake up in a pool of sweat knowing that the worst is behind us, is up to us.

In the meantime, there are ideas to try out. New paradigms to explore. Many of today’s biggest new companies were started in the recession of 2008.

You can own your destiny, but first we have to be kind, smart, honest and bold.

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Jay Blumenfield has made a career out of taking bold ideas and making them fun, fresh and, most importantly, relatable.

His career really got started when he directed the award-winning documentary Small Town Ecstasy, for HBO films.

His production company THE JAY & TONY SHOW went on to create lots of groundbreaking content and a few duds...here are some of both…Chelsea Handler Show (E!)…Here Comes The Newlyweds (ABC)…The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliot (UPN)…Restaurant Stakeout (Food Network)…Music Behind Bars (VH1)…Dane Cook’s Tourgasm (HBO)…Gigolos (Showtime)...Life On A Wire with Nik Wallenda (Discovery)…RoosterTeeth presents Shark Week Immersion.

Blumenfield was one of the first producers to get short form on mainstream linear television with Surprise Instant Xmas Carol for TBS.

Recently Jay has been executive producing a new series with WWE for short form platform QUIBI. He also just finished the American Influencer Awards show live from the Dolby theater.

For the past 4 years, Jay & his partner Tony have recorded The Jay & Tony Show Show, a podcast which has become a television industry must listen.

It’s a podcast that trade publication Reality Blurred called “insightful, candid, and surprisingly honest for people who work in an industry that prides itself on feasting on its own bullshit while insisting it is chocolate-covered caviar.”

Jay is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

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Photo: Courtesy Lucy Blumenfield