January 06, 2020

Lessons from a Billionaire Entrepreneur

15 minutes

I had the pleasure of co-charing a Q&A session with David, at PPN Knightsbridge, our networking event (2nd Tuesday of every month, come along!).

From this, I listened carefully and intently, I learnt a few things. I also paused for reflection about some of the insights he shared with us, sometimes we miss the simplest of things. He had us all fired up and ready to go, feeling inspired to think bigger, and to REthink our life strategy.

For more info about the man I speak about in this podcast, please read below:

David McCourt is the founder and Chairman of Granahan McCourt Capital and has been one of the most prominent investors and entrepreneurs in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) industries for the past 30 years. He has founded or bought over 20 companies in nine countries and is widely recognised as a transformational force. The Economist describes him as possessing "impeccable credentials as a telecom revolutionary".

McCourt’s debut book ‘Total Rethink: Why Entrepreneurs Should Act Like Revolutionaries’ launched in the Summer of 2019 and quickly became a best-seller with the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon, striking a chord with young entrepreneurs looking to disrupt the status quo. He is an Emmy award-winning producer who has collaborated with A-list talent including Angelina Jolie, Michael Douglas, Meg Ryan and Spike Lee.

In addition to receiving the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award from Ernst and Young LLP and the Harvard Business School Club of New York, he received the 2014 Award for Outstanding Alumni Entrepreneur from Georgetown University. McCourt was the first Resident Economist appointed by the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and became the inaugural Executive in Residence for Entrepreneurial Economics and Innovation at Georgetown University.

McCourt has been recognised by the White House for extraordinary accomplishments from a private sector business. The American-Irish Historical Society presented him with its Gold Medal, an award previously bestowed on Ronald Reagan, Mary Higgins Clark and Bono. In 2018, McCourt was awarded The Science Foundation Ireland medal for ‘outstanding contribution to technology and innovation’.

About Total Rethink

In business, and in life, everything is changing fast, apart from how we behave. Our ways of thinking and making decisions have changed little since we lived in agricultural and industrial societies, but the problems we now need to solve are entirely different. It requires a revolution in thinking and behaviour to meet the challenges that now face us and avoid disaster we need to totally rethink the model.

Part business biography, part business blueprint, Total Rethink explains how this can be done. Successful telecoms entrepreneur David McCourt lays out the reality of the dangerous situation we find ourselves in and suggests solutions which will empower everyone, including business people, politicians, diplomats, and teachers, to repair the damage we have already done, and prepare for the dramatic changes to come.

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