Name: Become a Boss
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Michael shares some insight into the inner workings of the mob and the exchanges that take place between crime families. One notable example from Michael's life is a tense negotiation Michael had with John Gotti. Gotti was notorious for having a large ego. Michael was well aware of Gotti's reputation and uses it to his advantage. Reading from 1 Samuel in the Bible, Michael draws a parallel from his experience to David's story of fighting Goliath. The confrontation between David and Goliath might be one of the most well-known stories in the Bible but Michael argues how it might be one of the most misunderstood. From Michael's story and the scripture highlighted in 1 Samuel, we see a clear difference between ambition and ego. You're meant to have confidence --not ego.

How to Have Ambition 

Think Like a Boss

1Michael goes toe-to-toe with John Gotti and leverages Gotti's own ego against him to win a negotiation. People confuse ambition with ego. There’s a difference and you have to choose which one you want to have, but you can’t have both.

Michael explains how development proceeds leadership. In order to step into more responsibility, practical skills and growth are required to function in that responsibility. For Michael, that development came from time spent observing his father who demonstrated mafia leadership for Michael. Reading from 1 Samuel, Michael reveals this concept in the Bible when David faithfully served as Saul playing the harp before he stepped into being king. From faithfully serving in this role, David was promoted to armor bearer and because Saul's most trusted man. It was in this role that God prepared David to be king --all from taking a job playing the harp and serving faithfully. In our lives, we can be anxious for the promotion, for authority, or for more influence. If we are faithful with what God has given us now, we don't have to worry about those things. God will prepare us for what comes next.

How to Develop the Skills Needed to Be Boss

Michael shares how he first learned how to run the mob by observing his father. God will prepare you with everything you need for what's next if you're faithful with what he's given you right now.

Michael describes his experience as he grew in his knowledge of authority while in the mafia. Our ability to serve authority can be a direct reflection of our ability to step into authority. Michael shows us how David in 1 Samuel had the strongest respect for Saul's authority --even when Saul sought to kill David. When an opportunity came for David to take Saul's life and end the constant threat David lived under, David chose to release Saul and honor him for the authority on his life. Having a less than perfect manager or a bad boss is something many of us can relate with. As Michael teaches us and as we see in 1 Samuel, God can still develop us when we are faithful to our authority --especially in circumstances that are far from ideal.

To Become the Boss, You Need a Boss

Michael describes the unshakable sense of authority he gained from his time in the mafia. In that life, one step out of line could mean your death. This understanding of authority is actually something that can serve us our lives as well.

In 1986, Michael was earning up to $8m per week for the mob. He had houses around the country, a jet, boats, and a he was doing well for himself. A high profile magazine published an article listing him as number 18 most powerful and wealthy of all mob bosses in the country. Unfortunately, this caused some scrutiny within the mafia. Some within Michael's organization began to question his loyalty. This led to Michael being walked into a basement which he wasn't meant to walk out of. In the scriptures of 1 Samuel, David had grown notoriety as a mighty warrior. His accomplishments were perceived to have eclipsed that of King Saul. In anger, Saul turned on David and attempted to take his life and David fled. In our lives, success so often comes hand-in-hand with opposition. Our response to this opposition is critical.

 How to Stand Your Ground

By the mid-1980s, Michael was thriving and gaining a lot of attention for his success in the Mafia. Some of that attention almost cost him is life. Success and promotion are very often associated with formidable challenges.

Section 1 - Think Like a Boss - Recap

Recap key take-aways from chapters 1-4 of "How to Become a Boss"

Michael had to make a decision to walk away from the Mafia. And that decision Michael made to walk away could have cost him much more than changing a career or moving to a new city. After being arrested for violating a parole, Michael had an experience which disrupted everything he’s ever known. 29 months and 7 days of Michael’s prison sentence were spent in the hole (solitary confinement). In the lowest moment of Michael’s life, a prison guard tossed a Bible into Michael’s cell. Initially resistant, Michael eventually opened this book and he immediately saw a passage… Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. The word “enemies” jumped off the page at Michael. At this point in his life, he had nothing but enemies. Even in prison, Michael was surrounded by enemies who wanted him dead. Michael would go one to read the rest of the chapters in this Bible and commit his life to God. But it was that moment of stumbling across Proverbs 16:7 when Michael knew he was going to have to take an important step and walk away from everything he’s ever known.

How to Know When to Walk Away

Act Like a Boss

Michael was the first ever high ranking member of a major crime family to walk away without protection ...and live. In our lives, we'll have moments when we're called to walk away and it may not be easy.

Michael describes the contrast between the mob's racketeers and the mob's gangsters. While the racketeers often lived within a set of rules and restraints, the gangsters often lived by force and lack of restraint. It's those gangsters who never lasted long in that life. Ultimately, lack of restraint was self destructive. This contrast is depicted well in 1 Samuel when Saul lashed out at David throwing a spear at him out of jealously. David showed restraint in not throwing it back. Saul's actions were indicative of his fate. As we increase in responsibility and authority, we also have to increase in restraint. To become the boss, our behavior has to rise to a higher standard.

How to Behave Like a Boss

In the Mafia, rules are everything. Michael describes the contrast between the mob's racketeers and the mob's gangsters. In our lives, authority is never a license to act without restraint.

You avoid fights if you can but that’s not always how it goes. One powerful example from Michael’s life was the time when Carmine Persico, Boss over the Colombo Crime family, called a meeting where he demoted Michael’s father and treated Michael and his father as adversaries as a result of the increased attention and success they received. Michael’s father had an unexpected reaction. “Don't fight. We need to make a tactical retreat and fight another day.” This advice would prove to be some of the most productive advice Michael ever received. If Michael and his father chose to combat Carmine Persico at that moment, there’s a high likelihood they wouldn’t have lived past that meeting. In 1 Samuel, David had countless moments when he could have chosen to fight and he chose a different path. One circumstance in particular is really profound. David sneaks into Saul’s camp, a man who is actively out searching for David to hunt and kill him because of jealousy. While in Saul’s camp, rather than choosing to strike and kill Saul in his sleep, David chooses to steal Saul’s spear and escape.

 When to Fight Battles

Perhaps more important than learning how to fight we should learn when to fight. This was especially true for Michael When Carmine Persico, Boss over the Colombo Crime Family, became an adversary against Michael and his father.

Section 2 - Act Like a Boss - Recap

Recap key take-aways from chapters 6-9 of "How to Become a Boss"

As Michael Franzese garnered more authority and influence within the Colombo Crime Family, more and more of his attention was directed toward supporting his men. Ensuring that his guys could provide for their families, arranging their work so that they could succeed, and, sometimes, even negotiating for their lives. In one striking example, one of Michael’s most trusted associates deeply offended a made man from another family. In this life, you can’t do that. As a result, the made man wanted Michael’s guy dead. No other result would have been acceptable. This triggered a 3-hour sit down where Michael put himself on the line and fiercely negotiated for this man’s life. After hours of dispute, yelling and refutation between Michael and this made man, Michael’s associate narrowly survived the ordeal.

How to Treat Your Subordinates

Become a Boss

Becoming a great leader really means first becoming a great servant. This principle ring especially true within the hierarchy of the Mafia.

Incarceration in prison can be seen as nothing else but failure. But for Michael, even this massive price he paid was seen in his eyes as a learning experience. His experience in prison and his relationship with God created a dramatic transformation in his life. If you’re willing to grow, to learn, to be transformed, you’ll start to have less failures in your life and more learning experiences. You cannot get down on yourself for making mistakes because they will happen. The greatest men and women have all made mistakes. What set these people apart was their ability to learn from their mistakes. In book of 1 Samuel, David, who was king over Israel, made a tremendous mistake that cost him dearly. If you want to step up and take on the responsibility of becoming a boss, you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to let people down, you’re going to let yourself down. But you have to be willing to learn and change from these mistakes and see them as experience.

How to Endure Failure

The only time you really fail is when you don’t learn from the experience that caused you to fail. Part of what has allowed Michael to experience so much success is his ability to view failure as a learning experience.

"You are who you hang with." This message has become a passion point for Michael as he’s spoken all over the country. Speaking to young people in prisons or from troubled backgrounds, Michael has shared this principle every chance he gets because it’s critical. Most every case of young people in prison lacked guidance and surrounded themselves with the wrong people. This truth applies directly to our life and our trajectory as well. You eventually become like those who you associate with. The great news is that this can also be used for your benefit. In the Bible, David surrounded himself with men who made him better. Toward the end of David’s time as king, he went to battle when he was too old to have any business fighting in wars.

How to Build Your Inner Circle

You are the product of the people directly around you.

Michael Franzese was a phenomenon and a massive success story within the life of Cosa Nostra. But Michael also carried a challenge with him his entire life. Michael Franzese actually grew up until the age of 18 with the name Michael Grillo. The iconic made man, Sonny Franzese, was Michael’s adoptive father –not his real father. This caused Michael to work nearly his entire life to strive to please his adoptive father, Sonny. Sports, school, career, he shaped everything around his father’s hopes for his life. When Michael’s adoptive father, Sonny, was incarcerated with a 50 year prison sentence, Michael left school and pursued a life in the mafia to build enough wealth to help battle in court to have his father released. Decades of observing and honoring this man, Sonny Franzese, caused Michael Franzese to garner more success than most people would hope to achieve in 5 lifetimes. What seemed like a disqualification became Michael’s superpower. Some of the most successful leaders in history had tremendous shortcomings. Those people figured out how to leverage the single thing that disqualified them to become a superpower to help them succeed.

You're Not Qualified to Be the Boss

Michael has received his fair share of criticism over the amount of opportunity he had in the Mafia. As you step into authority, you'll experience people who say it's undeserved. You know what? They're right.

Section 3 - Become a Boss - Recap

Recap key take-aways from chapters 11-14 of "How to Become a Boss"

Learn the Bible&#39;s Secrets That Will Destroy Your View of Leadership.

The most successful Mafia Caporegime in history is going to show you the secrets hidden within the story of David, which will forever change the way you see yourself as a leader.

Learn to channel your inner mob boss and unlock your leadership potential by having one of history’s most successful Mafia bosses, Michael Franzese, guide you through mastering negotiation, confidence, strategy, and perseverance - all through the lens of the Bible.

Michael Franzese

One of the Most Notorious Mob Bosses of the 80s

If You Want to Know What God Wants in a Leader, You&#39;ll Learn More from a Mob Boss than You Will a Preacher

Your guide, Michael Franzese