𝗡𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲! I rarely laugh out loud while reading a biography. Roll the Calls by Ari Emanuel got me at least five times. This book is hysterical at times, but it also offers many lessons for business leaders. He gave me a new definition of persistence. There are so many examples, but here's a great one. He's 26 and wants a job in the CAA mailroom, the best talent agency in Hollywood. The man who hires for it tells him he's too old. Ari calls him four or five times a day. Then he leaves recorded messages late at night. He figures that if you find eleven messages from the same person every morning, you either call back or call the police. The man calls back and says he already answered. Ari says, I do not accept your answer. Ten more days of ten or eleven calls a day. Finally: If you can get yourself to LA in one week... The job paid almost nothing. He was thrilled. I need a little more of that level of persistence in my work! Jimmy Iovine says Ari still does this today. If Ari wants something, he calls fifteen times until he gets it. A no from Ari's side of the phone is a maybe. The book is full of this. Ovitz did 200 to 300 calls a day, and Ari does the same. He calls it rolling the calls, hence the book's name. He also treats the phone as his school, tracking down an expert, calling until they pick up, then meeting them. His name for it is the Rolling School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Then there's the rage. He's dyslexic, was told as a kid he must be stupid, and the anger became fuel. It built Endeavor and bought him the UFC. It also cost him a marriage and put him in bed for days, more than once. A meditation teacher in India finally tells him rage has run its course. He starts to mellow. Then he skips the victory lunch at Augusta to fly back for a signing meeting with a writer-director he's chased for years. He might not be an agent much longer, he says, but while he is, he'll do it with everything he has. Funny, raw, and honest about what it costs. Highly recommend it.