Hip Hop Entrepreneurship teaches you how to hack your business idea or concept within the context of the bootstrapping philosophy of the Ghetto Genius Paradigm (GGP). The GGP consists of various product development, promotion, and marketing strategies within Hip Hop Culture that authenticates products and services by uncovering or establishing the “cool factor” for scalable revenue generating opportunities (Patterson, 2014).
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Please provide me with your interpretation of the word, Genius. Please use any form of media to help illustrate your interpretation.
My interpretation of the word genius is somewhat broad. To me, a genius is someone who can utilize their resourcefulness, their intellect, or their creativity to accomplish/make something that is recognized as groundbreaking. You don't necessarily need to be a educated to be considered a genius, nor do you have to be particularly talented in a single field. Steve Jobs was a college dropout and mediocre programmer/engineer but he was a marketing and strategic genius. The way Michael Jordan played basketball and changed the face of professional athleticism was genius. The ability of Dr. Dre to turn a startup headphone company into a multibillion dollar brand was also genius. Genius comes in all forms and skill sets but the underlying factor behind them, a relentless work ethic and boundary breaking, is universal.
Helom, yes, you too are keying into the combination of natural ability with hard work and sheer determination. I appreciate that you've allowed genius to not be equivalent to being an expert at a single thing. This is important as an entrepreneur because success will depend not on your personal expertise but your ability to surround yourself with the experts you need to realize your vision. Those who do that well, may demonstrate genius as well. well done.
Everyone has genius. I think it takes a couple things: 1) creativity and 2) persistence to solve a problem. In the east-coast boroughs, the DJs, promoters, and landlords were always trying to figure out solutions for their immediate problems, whether it be focused on how to get young people into their clubs or how they’d leverage the latest DJ technique or popular sound (in a way that’s different from their competitors). At a much later point, some people thought that Jay-Z was genius for retaining ownership of his masters recordings / publishing. Yet, it was his need for a label that pushed him to create Roc-a-fella Records, which placed him in a different position than his contemporaries. His sheer creative will and persistence to figure out ways to promote his record made him a genius (to some respect). Naturally, everyone has “genius”, but very few are willing to make the health, personal, and short term financial sacrifices needed to make it.
Will, you're on to something with your description of creativity and persistence as it relates to our use of the term "genius." in your and Zack's comments I hear similar themes of the notion of natural ability, indigenous knowledge that is further refined through extra-ordinary actions fueled by desire and determination to achieve or succeed where others may have failed. It is this genius that when tapped into allows bootstrapped businesses startups to outgrow more substantially capitalized enterprises. well done.
Looking at the etymology of the word “genius”, I see a general trend regarding the word’s meaning throughout history. From the Online Etymology Dictionary, we see that “genius” referred to a spirit guiding one through life in the late 14th century. Towards the end of the 1500s, “genius” referred to a sense of characteristic disposition. And in the 1640s, the word “genius” arrived at its modern definition: “a person of natural intelligence or talent”, or “exalted natural mental ability” (etymonline.com). The trend across all of these definitions is that one’s “genius”, whether a spirit, disposition, intelligence, or talent, is innate. According to these interpretations, genius begins at birth. This may be true, but as anyone who has studied psychology knows, declaring an ability to be imbued within someone at birth falls under the “nature” category of the classic nature versus nurture debate. In this debate, the spectrum in question has nature on one side (innate qualities), and nurture on the other (qualities related to personal experiences). With nature versus nurture debates, the truth almost always lies somewhere between the two extremes.
As a 4th grader, I had the good fortune to begin my journey as a trumpet player. My father played trumpet as a boy, and passed his trumpet down to me when I was 9 years old. I had a knack for it, and elected to join the band during 4th grade. For a long time, I was the best player in the band. After all, I had a bit of head start since I had been messing around with my dad’s trumpet before band officially began. However, I was swiftly surpassed by my friend Avery in high school. He started to travel over the summer to band camps and he practiced several times a week during the school year. Me? I had baseball practice and school work on top of band. Besides, I was content with my ability level. Perhaps I started off with more of a natural ability, but Avery’s dedication to music allowed him to become the better trumpet player. Thomas Edison is famous for saying, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”. I might have started off with the greater inspiration, but it was Avery’s perspiration which set him apart from me. Inspiration versus perspiration, nature versus nurture. Considering Avery and I began life with comparable levels of innate ability, I think it tells a very incomplete story to consider genius an innate human quality.
When we as a class discuss the concept of discovering “ghetto genius”, I think it speaks to this debate between nature and nurture. Perhaps it is true that some are endowed with greater levels of genius than others at birth, but it is certainly true that one’s personal experiences, their upbringing, their neighborhood, their education, and their social interactions influences how that genius develops. Developing genius: now we’re getting away from innate abilities and talking about the reality of what “genius” means. There should be no doubt as to the existence of genius in the ghetto. There is a plethora of people in the ghetto with the potential for genius-level achievements. The problem lies in the fact that genius thrives on incubation and collaboration. In Steven Johnson’s “Where Good Ideas Come From”, he talks about how most good ideas are not realized at a moment’s notice. They require time to develop, in what he calls a “slow hunch” phase. Moreover, many great ideas require the collision of multiple “slow hunches”. Historical spaces, such as English coffee houses or Parisian salons, have led to high rates of creative thinking because they brought great minds together in spaces which allowed for a high rate of collisions between hunches. That is what today’s start-up incubation spaces are all about. It is unfortunate that, due to lack of opportunity, many geniuses never make it out of the ghetto because they do not get the chance to enter one of these spaces. The Ghetto Genius Fab Lab will serve as a step in the right direction towards getting those less fortunate the opportunity to meet with other great minds and begin the process of unleashing the genius which lies dormant in the ghetto. “Chance favors the connected mind” (Steven Johnson).
Where Good Ideas Come From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU Online Etymology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=genius
Well said Zack, and good connection to the Ghetto Genius FabLab. Our aim to demonstrate to the youth in the Lab that the perspiration and the rubbing of strong minds together is a worthwhile endeavor to achieve goals. We hope you and other get out of it a level of insight into youth culture and that informs your current and future enterprises.
To me, genius does not necessarily have to involve exceptional intelligence like a high IQ score. Rather, it involves any individual who achieves exceptional success in any area through more than just luck. To do this, I agree with Will that it requires creativity and persistence. Almost all "new" ideas are simply combinations of old ideas. That is the essence of creativity. A genius understands how to make these connections in their brain and then to make it real. To make it real, genius requires persistence. A new idea that comes from creativity is not easy to implement. It's not that it requires high intelligence to do; you have to put in the time if you want the result. That is persistence. A person of low IQ can create a "mastermind" group of experts to make the new idea real. As an example, Richard Branson dropped out of high school to create one of the largest corporate empires and made billions in the process. He made the unlikely connections between the music, airlines, mobile phones, and so many other industries under the Virgin brand. That was his creative genius. And building that brand did not happen overnight; he spent over 40 years to build the Virgin brand. That was his persistent genius. Along the way, he hired executives and experts from each industry to take control of the operations of each. He did not pretend that he was an expert at everything. He maintained control of the overall direction of Virgin, while leaving the individualized subsidiaries to the experts.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of the word genius is somewhat broad. To me, a genius is someone who can utilize their resourcefulness, their intellect, or their creativity to accomplish/make something that is recognized as groundbreaking. You don't necessarily need to be a educated to be considered a genius, nor do you have to be particularly talented in a single field. Steve Jobs was a college dropout and mediocre programmer/engineer but he was a marketing and strategic genius. The way Michael Jordan played basketball and changed the face of professional athleticism was genius. The ability of Dr. Dre to turn a startup headphone company into a multibillion dollar brand was also genius. Genius comes in all forms and skill sets but the underlying factor behind them, a relentless work ethic and boundary breaking, is universal.
ReplyDeleteHelom, yes, you too are keying into the combination of natural ability with hard work and sheer determination. I appreciate that you've allowed genius to not be equivalent to being an expert at a single thing. This is important as an entrepreneur because success will depend not on your personal expertise but your ability to surround yourself with the experts you need to realize your vision. Those who do that well, may demonstrate genius as well. well done.
DeleteEveryone has genius. I think it takes a couple things: 1) creativity and 2) persistence to solve a problem. In the east-coast boroughs, the DJs, promoters, and landlords were always trying to figure out solutions for their immediate problems, whether it be focused on how to get young people into their clubs or how they’d leverage the latest DJ technique or popular sound (in a way that’s different from their competitors). At a much later point, some people thought that Jay-Z was genius for retaining ownership of his masters recordings / publishing. Yet, it was his need for a label that pushed him to create Roc-a-fella Records, which placed him in a different position than his contemporaries. His sheer creative will and persistence to figure out ways to promote his record made him a genius (to some respect). Naturally, everyone has “genius”, but very few are willing to make the health, personal, and short term financial sacrifices needed to make it.
ReplyDeleteWill, you're on to something with your description of creativity and persistence as it relates to our use of the term "genius." in your and Zack's comments I hear similar themes of the notion of natural ability, indigenous knowledge that is further refined through extra-ordinary actions fueled by desire and determination to achieve or succeed where others may have failed. It is this genius that when tapped into allows bootstrapped businesses startups to outgrow more substantially capitalized enterprises. well done.
DeleteLooking at the etymology of the word “genius”, I see a general trend regarding the word’s meaning throughout history. From the Online Etymology Dictionary, we see that “genius” referred to a spirit guiding one through life in the late 14th century. Towards the end of the 1500s, “genius” referred to a sense of characteristic disposition. And in the 1640s, the word “genius” arrived at its modern definition: “a person of natural intelligence or talent”, or “exalted natural mental ability” (etymonline.com). The trend across all of these definitions is that one’s “genius”, whether a spirit, disposition, intelligence, or talent, is innate. According to these interpretations, genius begins at birth. This may be true, but as anyone who has studied psychology knows, declaring an ability to be imbued within someone at birth falls under the “nature” category of the classic nature versus nurture debate. In this debate, the spectrum in question has nature on one side (innate qualities), and nurture on the other (qualities related to personal experiences). With nature versus nurture debates, the truth almost always lies somewhere between the two extremes.
ReplyDeleteAs a 4th grader, I had the good fortune to begin my journey as a trumpet player. My father played trumpet as a boy, and passed his trumpet down to me when I was 9 years old. I had a knack for it, and elected to join the band during 4th grade. For a long time, I was the best player in the band. After all, I had a bit of head start since I had been messing around with my dad’s trumpet before band officially began. However, I was swiftly surpassed by my friend Avery in high school. He started to travel over the summer to band camps and he practiced several times a week during the school year. Me? I had baseball practice and school work on top of band. Besides, I was content with my ability level. Perhaps I started off with more of a natural ability, but Avery’s dedication to music allowed him to become the better trumpet player. Thomas Edison is famous for saying, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”. I might have started off with the greater inspiration, but it was Avery’s perspiration which set him apart from me. Inspiration versus perspiration, nature versus nurture. Considering Avery and I began life with comparable levels of innate ability, I think it tells a very incomplete story to consider genius an innate human quality.
When we as a class discuss the concept of discovering “ghetto genius”, I think it speaks to this debate between nature and nurture. Perhaps it is true that some are endowed with greater levels of genius than others at birth, but it is certainly true that one’s personal experiences, their upbringing, their neighborhood, their education, and their social interactions influences how that genius develops. Developing genius: now we’re getting away from innate abilities and talking about the reality of what “genius” means. There should be no doubt as to the existence of genius in the ghetto. There is a plethora of people in the ghetto with the potential for genius-level achievements. The problem lies in the fact that genius thrives on incubation and collaboration. In Steven Johnson’s “Where Good Ideas Come From”, he talks about how most good ideas are not realized at a moment’s notice. They require time to develop, in what he calls a “slow hunch” phase. Moreover, many great ideas require the collision of multiple “slow hunches”. Historical spaces, such as English coffee houses or Parisian salons, have led to high rates of creative thinking because they brought great minds together in spaces which allowed for a high rate of collisions between hunches. That is what today’s start-up incubation spaces are all about. It is unfortunate that, due to lack of opportunity, many geniuses never make it out of the ghetto because they do not get the chance to enter one of these spaces. The Ghetto Genius Fab Lab will serve as a step in the right direction towards getting those less fortunate the opportunity to meet with other great minds and begin the process of unleashing the genius which lies dormant in the ghetto. “Chance favors the connected mind” (Steven Johnson).
ReplyDeleteWhere Good Ideas Come From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU
Online Etymology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=genius
Well said Zack, and good connection to the Ghetto Genius FabLab.
DeleteOur aim to demonstrate to the youth in the Lab that the perspiration and the rubbing of strong minds together is a worthwhile endeavor to achieve goals. We hope you and other get out of it a level of insight into youth culture and that informs your current and future enterprises.
To me, genius does not necessarily have to involve exceptional intelligence like a high IQ score. Rather, it involves any individual who achieves exceptional success in any area through more than just luck. To do this, I agree with Will that it requires creativity and persistence. Almost all "new" ideas are simply combinations of old ideas. That is the essence of creativity. A genius understands how to make these connections in their brain and then to make it real. To make it real, genius requires persistence. A new idea that comes from creativity is not easy to implement. It's not that it requires high intelligence to do; you have to put in the time if you want the result. That is persistence. A person of low IQ can create a "mastermind" group of experts to make the new idea real. As an example, Richard Branson dropped out of high school to create one of the largest corporate empires and made billions in the process. He made the unlikely connections between the music, airlines, mobile phones, and so many other industries under the Virgin brand. That was his creative genius. And building that brand did not happen overnight; he spent over 40 years to build the Virgin brand. That was his persistent genius. Along the way, he hired executives and experts from each industry to take control of the operations of each. He did not pretend that he was an expert at everything. He maintained control of the overall direction of Virgin, while leaving the individualized subsidiaries to the experts.
ReplyDelete