Bo: I mean we laugh a lot because our kids are, you know, …. (shakes his head)
Dawn: Especially our youngest, Lyla.
Bo: Yeah, they’re nuts.
Dawn: She’s crazy.
Bo: They’re crazy. And they’re funnier than heck. And they’ve got these wild crazy personalities that just come out. And they’re bold.
Dawn: Everyone’s always like, “Your kids are so expressive and so free and so confident.” You were shy growing up and you still are. A lot of people don’t realize that Bo is a total introvert. So when we go to parties, he never wants to go to the parties and he doesn’t talk to anybody at the parties. It’s so funny because they’ll go “Oh, what do you do for a living?” And Bo goes, “Oh, yeah, I’m a speaker.” And they’re like, “We’ve never even heard you say a word. What do you mean you’re a speaker?” And I’m the one chatting with everyone and I want to stay late and he always want to leave early. So with our kids, you were more shy and reserved growing up. But with them, just at a really young age, I always made them do things. If we were at a coffee shop and they wanted another hot chocolate or something, I made them ask for it and would say, “No, I’m not ordering for you. You do it. Here’s money, go to the counter and order.”
Bo: I remember pulling up to the curb somewhere in Beverly Hills and Eloise had to be like …
Dawn: Six or, maybe five, …
Bo: I don’t know. She was young. We’re pulling up to the curb and telling her to run into a coffee shop, wait in line and order whatever. And she comes out with money and everything. Now, today, she can talk to adults—she can survive.
Dawn: She can be on stage and introduce you. All three of our kids have been on stage a ton. They keep asking, “When can I go on your stage again? When can I introduce you?” And I mean really it’s what Bo keeps talking about—the one skill that you really have to master is performance. So it doesn’t matter if Axel is performing on the basketball court or Eloise is performing as a CEO, it’s all performance. Whatever they’re going to become when they grow up, it is performance. And if you can master that now and you’re able to express yourself and understand where you’ve been and where you’re going and tie those two worlds together, that’s a really powerful thing. And I don’t think people know how to do that or understand or have been given the permission to do that. The art of performance is everywhere you go.
Bo: The word “performance” brings up “oh, performer.” You know what I mean?
Dawn: Right—definitely not that kind of performance.
Bo: That’s not what we’re talking about. What we’re talking about is that all of us are measured. All of us are graded. And all of us are paid based on those measurements and those grades. That’s how our world works. So the best performer is going to be paid the highest, that’s just kind of how it goes for the most part. So you want to teach your kids and you want to be able to perform and come through for yourself. To do that, you’ve got to prepare. You’ve got to practice. You’ve got to rehearse more than everybody else—that’s really the key.
Great performers get to perform about 10 percent of their life. About 10 percent of their time is spent on stage or in front of the board or on a court. That’s it. Ten percent of their life they get to perform. The other 90 percent is preparing for that performance. So we’re constantly harping to our kids, say Eloise has a dance recital coming up, we’re not talking about the recital, we’re talking about rehearsal, we’re talking about practice, we’re talking about working your butt off because you know that day is on the books. Then practice and rehearsal become 90 percent of your life. The people who can do that can really perform because they’re constantly ready. You never know when your name is going to be called and they say, “Hey, you’re at bat.” And you’re going to be prepared to perform. We’re sticklers on that for our kids. We are going to be ready when the lights come on.
