Proof of Life with Preston Rakovsky
Jun 17, 2026 · 8 min · 7 segments
A man raised on the kind of unconditional love most people never get, from a mother who survived losing her own mom at five and a father imprisoned in Soviet Russia, explains why money, fame, and…
Gary VaynerchukGuest
Preston RakovskyHost
Talk to me about it for a second, because I, what I think is really interesting is when I'll talk to business leaders, oftentimes they'll cite the absence of love leading them to create these crazy extravagant things in life.
Pure confidence, right? Like, of the purest form, which is not, which is grounded in humility as well.
You just don't need outside validation, 'cause it was all formed inside of you.
I believe those two things are literally the fuel of what gets people to the top.
The problem is, when you get to the top and you were fueled by lack of love and insecurity, you have a problem.
And so when you get there and you thought that that would create it, that you would force the world or others to love you because of what you did, it gets double lonely, and sometimes becomes even a bigger vulnerability than even what got you there.
Talk to me about it for a second, because I, what I think is really interesting is when I'll talk to business leaders, oftentimes they'll cite the absence of love leading them to create these crazy extravagant things in life.
Pure confidence, right? Like, of the purest form, which is not, which is grounded in humility as well.
You just don't need outside validation, 'cause it was all formed inside of you.
I believe those two things are literally the fuel of what gets people to the top.
The problem is, when you get to the top and you were fueled by lack of love and insecurity, you have a problem.
And so when you get there and you thought that that would create it, that you would force the world or others to love you because of what you did, it gets double lonely, and sometimes becomes even a bigger vulnerability than even what got you there.
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