Grant Cardone – Author Biography
Early Life
Grant Cardone was born on 21 March 1958 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. After a troubled youth following his father’s death, he graduated from McNeese State University and began a career in car sales, where he discovered a talent for selling and built his first fortune in the automobile business.
Career
Cardone became a sales trainer and speaker, founding Cardone Training Technologies and later building a large real estate investment empire through Cardone Capital. His books — Sell or Be Sold (2011), The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure (2011), and Be Obsessed or Be Average (2016) — preach massive action as the cure for mediocrity. He hosts the 10X Growth Conference and has built one of the largest personal brands in the sales-training world through books, events, and social media.
Major Works
His core books are Sell or Be Sold (2011), The 10X Rule (2011), and Be Obsessed or Be Average (2016).
Writing Style and Themes
Cardone writes in a loud, confrontational, motivational style — part pep talk, part drill sergeant. His recurring themes are taking “10X” massive action instead of setting average goals, treating selling as a life skill everyone needs, obsession as a virtue, and rejecting excuses. His tone is deliberately polarising: you are either all in or you are the problem.
Legacy
Cardone is one of the most recognisable — and debated — figures in modern sales culture, with millions of followers and a vast training business. The “10X” concept entered entrepreneurial slang, and his events draw tens of thousands of attendees.
