Robert Herjavec is one of the most successful businessmen on television, but he admitted that jealousy of Shark Tank costar Mark Cuban nearly got the best of him.
“So, a number of years ago, we went to a high school, and a kid turns around to me and says, ‘Why do you still work so hard?’ and I say, ‘Well, so I can afford a jet bigger than Mark’s.’ I had a great jet but it wasn’t as big as Mark’s. And if I’m being honest, it probably bothered me on some level, so I just kind of said it,” Robert said in a video posted on his Instagram account on Wednesday, November 6. “And Mark, without thinking, turns around and says, ‘Which one?’ It hit me like a ton of bricks.”
“Here I am competing to have a single jet bigger than my friend Mark’s, and what I realized is Mark actually has three and it really humbled me,” Robert recalled. “You know when I started my company, my entire goal in life, if you can believe this, was to make $1,000 for my age to buy an old Corvette and to pay off my mortgage one day. That was it. I would have been the happiest guy in the world and here I am competing with my friend because he has a bigger jet. It really affected me. I got to tell you.”
After having the interaction at the high school, Robert went away for a couple of days to reflect on his outlook on life.
“I thought about it and I said I’ve lost my purpose. I’ve lost my compass. I’ve become honestly a bit of a jerk,” the Dancing With the Stars alum admitted. “Life is not about competing with someone else. Life is about finding your own purpose. That one statement alone from Mark, which one made me retool, made me repivot and went back to the core of why I’m in business, and why I want to do great things.”
In the caption of the post, Robert wrote, “I can’t believe that I was jealous of Mark’s (@mcuban) jets. I immediately realised that I had lost my direction. So many places in life that I was humbled and this was a key moment that I’ll always remember.”
Robert’s life has changed a lot since then. The investor married DWTS pro dancer Kym Johnson in 2016 and they welcomed twins Hudson and Haven in 2018. He is also a dad to kids Caprice, Skye and Brendan, from his first marriage to Diane Plese.
The Instagram video received a comment from Shark Tank costar Daymond John. “Wow! I remember that day. And I remember thinking I HATE YOU BOTH!” he wrote. “All joking aside. This is such a powerful message that many won’t understand. You left out that your company had massive growth in the years to come after that. Hopefully it was your new found focus on what matters most.”
