The Way of the Wahlberg

To start the year 2020 right, take some lessons from the business world of Mark Wahlberg—who diligently, thoughtfully built himself into the most disciplined man in Hollywood.

- JASON FEIFER

Hollywood movie premieres tend to follow a script: Tons of press and industry VIPs pile into a theater for a private screening and then migrate somewhere nearby for a blowout party. I was part of this scene in 2010, when the Mark Wahlberg movie The Fighter debuted. We watched the film, then went to a hip hotel, where elevators were to take us to a club on the top floor… except the hotel lobby was not equipped to handle all of us at once. Hundreds of people soon overwhelmed the place. We were crushed together, shoulder to shoulder, while a few measly elevators took small bunches of us upward. It took a while. People were annoyed.

Then we heard a booming voice. “Make way!” the voice shouted. “Make way!”

The voice, it turned out, belonged to a very large security man. He was carving a path through the crowd, from the back of the lobby all the way to the elevator in the front. And when he reached the front, he turned to the back of the room and yelled, “Right this way, Mr. Wahlberg.”

With that, everyone in the lobby turned to find Mark Wahlberg standing in the back. Wahlberg was startled. He clearly did not ask for this. “What?” he said. “No, no, no. Please.” Then he gestured for us to continue toward the elevators ourselves. The pathway in the crowd closed. And Wahlberg, stuck behind the crowd, presumably made his way upstairs last.

Those are the details as I remember them. I was a junior editor at a different magazine at the time, and it left an impression on me: Mark Wahlberg, the star of the movie, the man of the hour, the VIP among the VIPs, did not want the royal treatment. Was he humble, or just image-conscious? I hadn’t met the guy, so I didn’t know. But it struck me as a model for managing success. When you’re confident in who you are, you don’t need to flaunt your status.