YouTube CEO's No. 1 success tip: It's 'the secret sauce'—I wish I got 'that advice early in my career'
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has four words of advice for anyone looking to succeed: Be true to yourself.

The sentiment "sounds clichéd," but Mohan wishes he took it to heart when he was younger, he said at a recent Stanford Graduate School of Business event.

"[It's] the most salient thing, and this is actually advice I give to people [asking], 'What is the secret sauce of being a successful creator on the platform?' It really is just being true to yourself," he said.

"I wish somebody had given me that advice early in my career, because nothing rings more true."

Mohan was hired to lead Google's display advertising business in 2008, then moved to YouTube seven years later as chief product officer. He took the reins as CEO last year.

The experience at YouTube, Mohan said, taught him about the value of authenticity. By his estimation, the most successful creators on YouTube are transparent about their real lives and show their personalities in videos.

"Whether they're sports creators, whether they're musicians or artists … of course, they're incredibly talented and know how to tell stories, but they're true to themselves," Mohan said. "[Viewers] can tell instantaneously whether that is actually, truly your authentic self."