A-Rod admits that his life and career have been anything but perfect.
Despite signing with the Major League Baseball at 17 and having contracts worth more than $ 450 million over his career, former New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez says he made a “very long list” healthy of errors “along the way.
“I mean so many,” Rodriguez told CNBC Make It.
In 2009, Rodriguez admitted to using drugs to improve performance from 2001 to 2003, which later suspended him for the 2014 season. He was also criticized for his lack of sportsmanship.
Rodriguez says he almost always made a lot of mistakes when he surrounded himself with “the wrong people”.
“I firmly believe that you are an average of the five people you most surround yourself with,” he says.
But today, Rodriguez, 45, is thriving and his A-Rod Corp’s investment portfolio is valued at more than $ 1 billion, according to the company’s website.
So, what is Rodriguez’s best advice on how to reinvent yourself?
“I think so many people spend a lot of time doing it, and I think taking a step back and really trying to architect the next one, three or five years of your life” is important, he says.
“First of all, make sure that you have a passion for everything you are going to do. There is nothing that can replace that, ”he says.
Second, he says, you should look for a mentor and a boss that you really admire. “Someone who will help you and someone who protects you and who teaches you how to win,” he says.
Rodriguez credits his success and transformation to his mentors, who include billionaire Warren Buffett and, before he passed away in 2010, to the owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner.
“I spent thousands of hours collectively just choosing their brains and talking about best practices and really being in the boardroom, winning, losing and learning,” he says. “If it weren’t for my amazing mentors, I wouldn’t be here today.”
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Alex Rodriguez about his life and career: ‘It’s an imperfect story’