Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody Welcome to impact Theory
you are here my friends because you
believe that human potential is nearly
Limitless but you know that having
potential is not the same as actually
doing something with it so our goal with
this show and Company is to introduce
you to the people and ideas that will
help you actually execute on your dreams
all right today's guest grew up on the
south side of Chicago amid unimaginable
violence and dreamed of one day working
at Nike designing shoes for hero Michael
Jordan virtually everyone told him that
this dream was ridiculous for somebody
like him but he refused to listen making
his mom take him to shoe stores not so
he could buy something but so he could
sketch the shoes and see if he can
improve on them nothing came easily for
him but Jus as Jordan put up a thousand
shots a day to improve he began doing a
thousand sketches a day he persisted and
after several rejections he got a design
internship with Nike becoming the first
African-American to do so insanely
hungry to make a name for himself he
took all of the projects nobody else
wanted his assignment to reinvent laces
the most boring job in shoes was
actually meant to Haze him but he
crushed it so hard that it resulted in
him being awarded multiple patents and
attracting the attention of Nike founder
Phil Knight he also poured himself
completely into another maligned and
orphan project known as the barbecue
shoe for dads and turned it into the
Monarch the highest grossing shoe in
Nike history while it normally takes
roughly 15 years to become a senior
designer at Nike he did it in five he
went on to design shoes for Carmelo
Anthony Chris Paul Russell Westbrook
Eminem and of course the king himself
Michael Jordan not satisfied with being
a great designer however he went back to
school and received his master's degree
in Business from Stanford and when he
returned to Nike he worked his way all
the way to senior Global design director
for the Jordan brand having fulfilled
his dream and wanting to help his son
son overcomes some health issues he
departed Nike after 14 years and is now
embarked on his entrepreneurial Journey
co-founding superh heroic Inc a company
focused on creating quality play
products for kids so please help me in
welcoming the real life Lucius Fox the
media designer at Stanford's D school
and CEO of superh heroic Jason
Maiden welcome to the
show dude your story is is an insane
tale of what happens when you are
willing to work yourself nearly to death
yep how did you get the mentality man
like that's crazy yeah I think you know
there's several things that I
fundamentally believe are true in terms
of difficulty and what it gives you um
so for me being born on the south side
of Chicago in a blue collar environment
you don't make excuses for yourself
there's no such thing as anyone starts
life you know behind the start line I
look at myself as equal to everyone that
I'm in a room with and the separation
between where I want to go and where I
am is my work ethic so my mindset is
always that anybody can be great I want
to be the greatest ever what I do so
everything I touch everything I pour my
time and talent into I don't think about
being great I think about how can I be
the greatest and that takes a huge
amount of introspection it takes a huge
amount of self-reflection and honesty um
and it also takes humility because you
have to ask for help in order to be the
greatest so that's I've never heard
anybody say that before that's really it
takes humility to be the greatest
it does so how much so you and I must
have grown up roughly at the same time
so I had I'm not a fan of Sports at all
but I had Michael Jordan hanging above
my bed was that shot of him dunking the
moon remember that yeah oh there's
something about like that era where you
could see somebody becoming the greatest
of all time in real time right it was
like he just transcended this sport
captured everybody's imagination how
much of like your mentality was being
literally in Chicago at that time while
he's I mean a living legend at the
height of his prime uh I would say 100%
100% I mean he didn't make excuses you
never saw Michael get on television and
post game interviews and complain about
you know the defense you know grabbing
him too much or the referees not giv him
a call he understood that there's a
difference between a response and a
reaction a reaction is very emotionally
driven it's not calculated it's not
thoughtful a response is strategic it's
intentional and it's meant to have a
person understand your TR true you know
disposition or reaction to whatever
moment that you're in Michael was a very
calculated analytical person and I saw
him com to my city create a name from
himself but also contribute off the
court by giving us a tangible example of
what it means to overcome every single
obstacle possible um so once again you
know growing up in that era seeing great
athletes like Michael seeing great
athletes like Bo Jackson Deion Sanders
like these were multi-dimensional people
for the first time we saw the emergence
of the athlete as a brand a human that
was now a walking brand and I figured
okay if he can do that for basketball
then why can't I do that for sport and
design why can't I be that person in my
industry so his work ethic his ideals
his principles I learned from him and I
just applied it to my craft and my my
sport which is design how did you learn
to deal with suffering which is
something you've talked about like being
necessary to get across the Finish Line
um you know I I I encountered suffering
at a very early age at the age of seven
when I was in the hospital with
septicemia which is a severe blood
infection and it was at that time in the
hospital where I had to play with
children who were terminally ill
children who were in intensive care
children who weren't going home and I
realized like you know what there's
always someone who is going through more
than you there's always someone that has
you know real significant problems while
you may have an inconvenience and so
while I looked at myself as as having a
challenge a Health Challenge and
suffering I still felt that that was
just an inconvenience it wasn't terminal
leukemia it wasn't you know a brain
tumor it wasn't a heart transplant it
was it was something that I can overcome
so I look at suff in as a way to keep me
humble cuz you know when you think about
the archetype of a superhero they always
have an obstacle to overcome there's
always the height of climax and I don't
believe that I'm so great that I don't
you know um have the ability to go
through difficult circumstances I think
it's necessary in order to realize your
greatness CU When You're tested you are
given the ability to have a testimony so
you can't have a testimony without a
test and just you know in my life I've
been tested significantly and each time
um you know I've I've developed a new
skill set or a new muscle to help me run
this race do you like hip-hop I love it
do you write I used to because you have
a way with language like there's so many
I I'm actually not sure if I've ever
taken more notes on anyone anyone I've
ever interviewed than you because you
have like all these phrases like oh God
I would rather um try and fail than fail
to try I mean there were so many things
where there was like a rhythm a Cadence
like is that a way for you to remember
things do you just have a natural love
for language like where does that no you
know what where it came from is I was an
insanely shy child um and I read a lot
of comic books and comic books are very
short Punchy statements and I realized
that the escapism that came from reading
a narrative that was written with the
intention of helping you understand you
know the hero's journey um was different
than reading a traditional book A book
is to teach you something a comic book
is to make you feel a certain way it's a
reflection of society so when I speak
now I think about about how do I want
people to understand how I reflect back
the ideals and principles of a young
black male growing up in the world today
how do I do it in a way that's succinct
articulate you know uh Vivid and
colorful but at the same time respected
and intelligent and so
hip-hop at its core became you know I
would say my petri dish of experimenting
with my own tone of voice and and I try
to model myself after Nas who's my
favorite MC like his album Illmatic was
L like listening to Langston Hughes over
over beats I mean a big fan of jazz big
fan of the written word but something
about the way he writes man it's so
illustrious it's so rich it's so
detailed and I always tell myself if I
can design something that makes people
feel how I felt the first time I heard
Illmatic then that's my I've done my job
that's something I I find interesting
about really talented artists in general
and it's really apparent with you is
this concept of being um
interdisciplinary like you've even
talked about like through data analytics
you've looked at like what the future
Michael Jordan's going to be and he's
going to be black and Cuban I mean it
was like this fascinating sense of
intersection like explain to people and
I don't think they have to be an artist
CU I think a lot about that in my own
life like where how do you pull from all
these different areas why is that
powerful how can you do it
systematically what does that look like
yeah I think a lot of that natural
ability to be a polymath has been
labeled as having add if you look at
historically people that have been
Masters in various disciplines they all
had one thing in common C curiosity and
curiosity is something that starts a
childhood but it's stripped from you as
you grow older cuz they tell you pick a
lane focus on this become that and we
subscribe to labels people place on us
and that limits our potential so I just
fundamentally believe that I don't let
someone else Place their limits on me my
limit is the limit I set and I believe
I'm Limitless I believe that if you have
a life and you don't you know um utilize
it and you settle for just being average
and that's a waste of the gift of life
like every day I wake up when people ask
me how you doing I say man I'm thankful
I woke up today cuz that's the first
gift given is another chance to be great
so you know I think like you mentioned
people who are multidisiplinary people
who are curious and inquisitive the
reason why they become great is because
they don't believe that they truly have
mastered their craft they don't feel
settled in what they've developed they
don't feel as if they're the best and
for me my mindset is that it's it's you
know right now it's daytime where we are
okay which means I have the advantage
over my competition because they may be
sleep but when it becomes night time
it's their day so I refuse for them to
get ahead of me so I stay up when they
get up cuz like they may be more
talented they may be smarter but they
won't outwork me because that's where
Excellence comes from it's the small
things done well consistently over time
and it's never the smartest is the
person who who runs the hardest and who
doesn't quit that wins and I'm just
willing to push myself and you know
break down my own insecurities to build
up my confidence in my skill set do you
know did you ever meet Tim Grover I did
yeah one time so Tim in his book
Relentless and I've had the very good
fortune of meeting him and interviewing
him and he he was the first person that
really talked about the darkness like
when I so I've seen so much footage on
you you can't imagine and you are so
upbeat and positive and bright and sunny
and when you're with your family oh my
God like it just literally it pours out
of you but there's like you're so driven
do you have like a foot in like the
darkness do you know like how to balance
like how does that work for you yeah I
mean you know um it actually you have to
have both so if there's extreme Darkness
there has to be extreme light is Duality
to every everything so I just tend to
bias towards what I want to see in the
world more you know what I want to see
more in the world which is joyfulness
which is being present which is being
you know um thankful and so that's what
drives me it's the things people told me
I couldn't become it's the the negative
circumstances that I come from I don't
let that limit me limit me at all that's
my Catalyst because I I look at it like
okay why not me I've already overcome
this why can't I go and start a company
why can't I build something that's
meaningful why can't I create this new
paradigm shift in the way we look at the
world as big giant super training
facility because if I looked at it the
other way and started to take you know
um the count of okay well I can't do
this because of where I come from I
can't do this because of how I look I
can't do this I wouldn't start anything
everybody would wake up each day doing
subtraction I look at my life as
addition you know I wake up and say what
can I do today to add to my skill set
what can I do today to add to someone
else's Joy what can I do today to serve
someone else so when you keep a mindset
of service your problems in that
Darkness become smaller cuz you're not
going to focus on your own insecurities
your own problems you're going to figure
out a way to amplify someone else's
experience so I go through life looking
you know looking at people as as an
opportunity for me to serve cuz while
I'm waiting on my blessing I can be a
blessing and that's how I counterbalance
that when you focus solely on your
Darkness everything becomes about you
you become selfish and you could be
driven to a point where it becomes toxic
and that's why you see some people
implode once they get to where they're
going because they look up and no one
around them really wants them there for
me I I have this mentality that if
everyone around me is fed then no one is
starving then I don't have to worry
about people being being um villainous
or hungry and trying to take from me so
the way I feed is through time through
joyfulness through good energy because
sometimes all you need to do is tell a
person that they matter and show up
that's the greatest gift is to
acknowledge people in the world that's
so busy and so hurried to slow down and
be present and to acknowledge a person's
existence is to me how you balance out
the darkness with the light when you're
driven I love that I think that's
amazing and there somebody that ascended
so rapidly through Nike like a to move
through a traditional um culture like
that in a way that's positive is is
pretty spectacular do you think that was
part of why you were able to move so
quickly cuz people wanted you to win um
no quite the opposite quite the opposite
no you know no no honest yeah no I you
know I I never assume people want me to
win you know just like anybody man I've
had my setbacks in corporate setbacks in
life you know my strategy is very simple
I'm very honest with myself so I figure
out the ways people can tell me no and
then I take that no off the table so the
last thing they can say to me is a yes
and what I mean by eliminating the way
people can tell you no is taking an
inventory of your weaknesses taking an
inventory of your gaps in your offense
or your defense your skill set your
mindset finding someone to learn from or
going and put yourself through a class
to learn it so I knew when I got to Nike
that I was very good at drawing drawing
and designing are two different things I
can draw anything but designing
something is very different it's a
process it's it's it's strategic it's
intentional it's driven through research
and empathy and I didn't that skill set
so I went and I found people that did
and I learned from them but then when I
learned from them I added my layer to it
which was narrative that was my core
differentiator I said everybody else can
do that well I tell stories really
really well so I'm going to double down
on being known for this one thing but
I'm going to go and ask for help from
other people the second thing I did is I
didn't Focus heavily on building deeper
relationships in my discipline I went to
parts of the company where they normally
didn't see designers so I spent time in
supply chain and finance and inventory
management and compliance illegal and I
asked them how did their job impact my
job so I humbled myself cuz I knew even
though I draw this picture somebody had
to have the budget somebody had to get
this thing produced someone was making
sure it shipped and got through customs
how did my job impact theirs and vice
versa and doing that my name was now in
rooms of really big decision makers that
had never would have interfaced with me
had I only focused on being cool with
the cool kids right and so um you know
my strategy is very it's methodical it's
almost like I look at life like chess
I'm thinking five steps out and in order
to do that I have to be honest what what
I'm not good at and I learned that from
Michael he always would say turn your
weakness into your strength and you know
they said he didn't have a jump shot he
developed a jump shot he didn't have
defense he went the defensive player of
the year so every year I do a tear down
and I do an inventory of what I did well
what I wished I could have done better
and what I liked about you know the
experience in between so it's like I
like I wish I wonder you actually write
these things down that's my new year I
don't do New Year's resolutions I do
like New Year's inventory and say okay I
like I wish I wonder like I wish I
wonder I like that I did this I wish I
would have done that I wonder if I tried
that what would have happened um that
constant inpection is almost like in a
lot of ways it's um driven through my
love for stoic philosophy I'm a big fan
of Marcus aurelus in the book you know
um the um the emperor's handbook he did
a very great job of you know jotting
down his thoughts in an introspective
manner about his troops and his country
and what he wanted to be as a leader and
I try to do that with myself you know so
at hard I'm part Lu Fox part still a
philosopher one thing I Lov that I heard
you talk about um was how Marcus aelius
like even though parts of his army
wanted to assassinate him and they were
coming for him like he didn't respond
emotionally he didn't freak out like he
there was an acceptance of okay this is
human nature this is like the game that
we're playing is that like a a
non-emotional mindset that you try to
use as well yeah yeah I mean your
greatest enemy is your enemy it's the
conversation you have in your mind so so
all my heroes are people who have
mastered themselves not a discipline not
a industry but themselves Bruce Lee he
mastered himself you Marcus a real is he
mastered himself you know um Batman
mastered himself you know these are
people real or not who figured out that
the battle that's within is greater than
the battle that's in the world so once
you able to fight that consistently and
calm yourself and control yourself and
be methodical and specific about how you
respond nothing will surprise you you're
you're immovable at that point you won't
you won't wait you won't you won't break
and I always tell my kids like yo you
you can bend that's okay but you'll
never break breaking is when you feel
like you can't come back from something
bending is when you you get punched but
you get back up you know it's a palm
tree versus a dry twig palm trees are
bend over but they don't snap when the
wind blows um and so you know people
like Marcus aurelus are important in my
life because you don't see that anymore
you don't see people who who have stuff
thrown at them and they respond with
logic you know critical discourse is no
longer an art form you know rhetoric and
and and learning how to have a healthy
debate is no longer practice it's just I
go out I say what I want I don't think
about the repercussions words are things
and they leave a residue of of
positivity and negativity on the person
and on the place where you where you say
those things so I really focus on making
sure that the words that come out of my
mouth you know they they they they they
bring life they don't they don't destroy
um and in order to do that I have to
check myself which is a constant battle
cuz sometimes I just want to have my I
want to have my stream of consciousness
cons and just rent but other times I
know that that's not it's not healthy
you
know I really wish you were a rapper
like Jesus dude like you really have an
amazing way with not just words you have
an amazing way with Concepts and I'm
going to assume that it's because you
read so much I know you're a big fan of
History um how do you pick like what to
read like you were clearly very well
read how do you decide um you know I
always ask people what they're reading
so when I meet an interesting person you
know whether it's on a plane or it's in
a meeting or if it's conversations like
this I'm like yo what books are you
reading cuz you know that's the quickest
way to learn from others um but also I
try to get outside of my comfort zone I
break my own patterns like I I I'll go
to usually I want to go to fashion and
Art and Design sections uh in bookstores
or online or you know browsing when I'm
shopping but I'll switch it up and I'll
say you know what let me go into a
gardening book let me just read
gardening I don't know why let me try
this out today um cuz I feel like
there's a there's a red thread that
connects every single thing on this
planet you know we talk about the golden
section and we talk about Divine
mathematics how everything is you know
has a ratio and a proportion to it that
makes us unified I believe the same
thing is true with information it's when
you search for consistency across
multiple you know um buckets of
knowledge then you realize that the
Human Experience is a shared experience
whether you love gardening whether you
love physics and finance you know
whether you love art and fashion is
something about those things that exist
um in a way that's consistent so I'm
just a big fan of searching for that and
you know I don't I don't reject
knowledge I'm open to other people's
opinions and so you know right now I'm
reading a book called How children
succeed um very compellent argument
about our education system and and
having the framework of do you focus on
Mastery of a skill set or do you focus
on determination and grit which one is
more important for children to have um
at the same time I'm reading a book
about um quantitative easing and why
they why that became a thing so I try to
find right brain and left brain Concepts
and read them at the same time um I joke
and say that you know add is a
superpower you know cuz cuz I have ADD
um um but it's the way that gives me
that balance you know something creative
and inspirational and something highly
analytical and Technical I kind of have
to do both at the same time so where do
you come down on the argument about kids
do you think it's mastering a skill or
do you think it's grit and determination
I think it starts with grit and
determination which leads to Mastery
because without grit you don't stick at
a task it's like if you want to perfect
your jump shot you get in the gym and
you keep shooting right that's grit and
after a while you master your jump shot
so I think you need both it just depends
on which one is encouraged and
celebrated I think we've over indexed on
celebrating Mastery and we've under
indexed on celebrating Discovery and
what you get through play and failure
cuz failure is a gift because you learn
what you don't know at that point and so
in our in our household we say either we
win or we learn there's no such thing as
losing you only lose when you stop
trying so as long as you keep trying you
won't lose you be further than way you
started so I can't tell people how to
raise their children but I purposefully
give my kids a safe environment
controlled environment to fail in so
that they they they you know you realize
what you're made of when you get hit in
the face for the first time it's like oh
I'm still alive yeah I got my tooth
knocked out but I'm still standing so I
try to I try to do that for them in a
controlled way so when they get into the
world and they start to have that you
know that interpersonal dialogue over oh
should I quit oh man I'm so scared the
voice that's in their head is a positive
one and they know like I did it before I
can do it again so I think you need both
it just depends on what how you reward
and praise those you know the grit
versus the Mastery conversation you said
that introspection is a huge part of
your success did you learn that is it
something that people can improve on
that's yeah something I learned
something I learned one cuz I'm a middle
child so I had no choice but to that was
my way of navigating like man how do I
figure out how to get out of trouble and
how do I get out of not being blamed for
Stuff um
but you know I think it's people can
improve on introspection and how I do it
in my life is I ask myself whether it's
a circumstance where a person doesn't
like me or it's a difficult situation I
always stop and say well what did I do
what did I do to cause this cuz I
contributed to it even when people you
know people talk about the concept of
haters and how you should be happy when
you're when you have haters because it
means you're succeeding I look at it
like okay there's a reason that person
hates me there's a reason now I may not
have to agree with it it's none of my
business to even know why but I have to
acknowledge it I don't have to accept it
but I do have to acknowledge it and if
if there's a little bit of Truth in
everything and that person hates me then
I have to say okay am I showing up is
arrogant and cocky and Mak and
triggering the insecurity in that person
am I acting selfish or ungrateful and
that person's like Jason should be more
thankful for what he has like what is it
about me that makes that person feel
that way and then that forces me to take
an inventory once again like you know
what yeah that tweet or that image yeah
that was kind of cocky or that thing I
did that that I could see how that
person could not like me you know that
okay I need to take take that into
account cuz it's none of our business
what people think of us but we do have
to acknowledge that if there's something
out there and it's a chance for me to
get better I'm all for it so if a person
has something to say about me positive
or negative I look at it as a learning
opportunity and I force myself to listen
even if I don't agree because it gives
me a chance to improve and if you want
to be the greatest to something you have
to be open to improving there's no way
around it you can't say I'm good I'm
done that's it I'm the best ever and I
don't have to develop a new skill set n
man every day I'm searching for ways to
add to my to my game you know I use a
lot of sports analogies so you know one
day I have you know practice on my jump
shot then it's my post moves then it's
my defense but that's how I look at
design it's like one day is you know
design research the next day is business
modeling the next day is sketching
however I can get better that's where I
want to go that's what I want to do were
there other things that Jordan taught
you specifically about becoming the
greatest or just getting ahead
um uh the people you surround yourself
with you know um everybody that you put
in your inner circle should have one
thing that they do better than you um
that way you're always a student so if
you look at Michael's Inner Circle it's
people that have significant skill sets
they're the Michael Jordans of their
industry um and he learns from them
which is fun and weird to say like oh
Michael Jordan but I've surrounded
myself with Michael Jordan's of the
industry and he talks in that way I try
to find people that I I wish um I had
their skill set and I befriend them and
I hang out with them and I learn from
them and it keeps you it keeps you sharp
it gives you a different of inspiration
points to pull from um and so his
philosophy and I agree with it is the
greatest I would say leaders on the
planet are also the greatest curators
they don't create a lot but they curate
thoughts and they put it together and
they put their perspective on it I try
to do the same thing I'm like man this
person's amazing at this this person's
amazing at that how can I learn from
them and then put my spin on it um
that's helped me so much by being a
curator um because it gives you an
embarrassment and riches in terms of
information and information is the
greatest medium to use to create and if
you have a single focus and your
information is limited then your outcome
the products that you produce are always
the same just different versions of the
same thing so by hanging out with people
who have knowledge in areas where I
don't I feel like I get to pull unique
inspiration you know like most designers
don't even know who Marcus aurelus is I
learned about him from hanging out with
the person who was a retired General and
he was telling me about leadership from
a military perspective did you end up
with a retired General man so Random I
was in the airport in Santa Barbara
and I asked this Old Gentleman like what
are you reading he was reading that book
um and I was asking him why did he read
it he was like well son this is how
leaders are born through War I was like
what do you mean I started asking him
like well why and after about five wi he
just was like listen here's the deal I'm
going to give you this book it's going
to change life it's going to show you
exactly why leadership is critical to do
anything great like you have to learn
what it means to be a leader leadership
is not a position it's a behavior and
you can improve that Behavior it's not
like you get a title and now you're a
leader like no if you you my dad always
says if you're a leader and no one's
following you you're just a dude taking
a
walk and so he gave me the book and then
coincidentally a young man that I was
mentoring the book was Emperor Emperor's
handbook then a young man I was mentor
and sent me a copy of the book so I was
like okay this is the universe is
telling me to read it um I'm a big fan
of just talking to people randomly all
the time I hate seeing people sit by
themselves and no one acknowledges them
so I'm the person that's like hey how
you doing morning strike up a
conversation and just put good energy
into their world and walk away and
normally you know um I walk away with
unique context or unique experience or
in this case new knowledge so I don't
know man I'm just excited about life
like I'm just a giant kid you know I was
going to ask you how you stay open like
one of the things that I think is most
critical because a lot of people have
encountered the same people and ideas
that you have but they they haven't been
changed by it yeah um and that to me is
like when people ask me how do you get
ahead how do you be successful it's like
you have to open yourself up to actually
being changed like when you read a book
yeah stop and like really think like how
can I use this how do I put it to work
is that something that's just always
come naturally to you or was that an
Insight someone gave you um you know I
think it came naturally because I was
like I said as a kid you know I joke
about being a middle child I joke about
being quiet but when you're quiet and
you're smaller than everyone and you're
an introvert you can hear more than
everyone else cuz you don't talk that
often so you pull in information and you
can get better at it so I learned how to
speak publicly from watching very
confident popular people cuz that wasn't
me as a kid like my older brother was
the man like everybody every girl dudes
everybody loved him I wasn't that kid I
was the weird Little Nerd who I was like
the black goon um it was great I mean it
worked out for me um but just by being
quiet and still and and being invisible
you know that became my super super
power like I was able to see everything
and learn and I got better and added to
skill set so when it was my time to have
something to say um I felt more
confident and so I think it's not about
being open to change it's about
acknowledging that you have to change in
order to grow because no one is
comfortable with ambiguity that's a lie
and people say oh man are you that's a
lie you just you know I talk about it
often you have to be willing to amb to
go into ambiguous situations but also
acknowledge that change is part of life
you grow up you leave home you change
addresses you change jobs change is a
constant theme in our in our existence
the sooner you become comfortable with
that concept you're free at that point
because you're you're open as you as you
say to letting the universe letting
whatever it is you pray to believe in
you know um divinely inspire you and
guide you in a way that forces you to
remember that it's not about you it's
not about you you know this moment isn't
happening by you it's happening through
you um and so that's what I do I always
tell myself this isn't mine this is
something that was given to me this
little moment what do I want to do with
it do I want to covet it or do I want to
create something that I can share and I
just I want to create something that I
can share so that helps me evolve helps
me stay in constant motion um because I
don't want to be stagnant I don't want
to be a designosaur so I have to evolve
you know a designosaur yeah I like that
do you meditate or do you just like
think while you drive like the these
words are the result of a lot of hours
of thinking yeah when do you do said
thinking uh all the time I'd never stop
thinking um you carve out like quiet
time or anything no no I mean you know I
I would say my quiet time is when I'm
serving other people that's my
meditation is doing something for
someone else um cuz when I'm quiet the
way my mind works is I need to create if
I'm in a room and I'm trying to breathe
and close my eyes I'm thinking like I'm
man I should draw that I should make
that I wake up and I start making it so
in order for me to to turn off my brain
I have to do something that I won't
benefit from which is literally helping
someone else you know whether it's a
service project in my community jumping
on the phone with someone who needs
advice you know showing up at a friend's
house who is feeling a little bit down
and depressed that's my form of
meditation is service um and in doing
that it frees me from the burden of
having to be perfect you're having to be
you know have the answer so when I come
back to the thinking mode putting on my
thinking cap I'm more Lucid in my
thoughts because I've had that that
breather to focus on someone else um and
it's helpful it's a helpful exercise to
to give your you know some people do it
through mindfulness you know that they
have the coloring books for adults uh my
version of that is is like I said
showing up and serving people so your
new company is about facilitating play
it has a heavy shoe involvement if I'm
not mistaken um what do you do to stay
FR cuz you've said like I really want to
be childlike I want the mind of a child
like what do you do to cultivate that
yeah um hang out with kids lit literally
yeah hang out with my kids I I mean and
my favorite people on the planet um I
volunteer a lot I read a lot of comic
books you know um um I look at the world
in childlike way you know adults walk
through cities and they look straight
kids walk through cities and they look
up so I walk through cities and I look
up I try to see the world how kids see
the world I try to look at everything
with fresh eyes I never just get fixated
on my destination I keep my head on a
swivel and I I look for those moments of
um of delight and joy that exist what I
find really interesting about you is if
I were to take sort of any like 3 to
five minute segment of this interview
you're going to sound like different
people from the moment where you were
talking about like I'm going to be the
best in the world to like I just want
the you know Mind of a child and I walk
around and experience things uh that's
really
interesting but what makes it the more
fascinating is you're not an empty
dreamer you're not somebody who just
pontificates when your brother I think
you were high schoolish your brother
worked at Foot Locker and you would go
and quiz him about the shoes the boxes
the everything so that you could get a
better sense of how you could design
shoes yep and then when you go to Nike
you've already talked about like going
to the different departments finding out
how it all puts together but like
traveling around to China and finding
out how to use different textiles and
materials and you've talked about spider
silk and finding way like how do you
take all the ideas like you sketch
something out how do you go from this is
just an idea and most people stop here
at the drawing to weaving spider silk
into it made from a very specific place
in China that you know the manufacturer
you've been on the floor like how do you
bring it all together yeah so I think
you know um ideas remain ideas until you
give them a deadline so I give myself
forcing functions so I have a forcing
functions forcing functions what's that
so A forcing function is whether it's a
an intentional behavior that you do
consistently and I so one example is um
on my social media feed I have this
thing I started called 77 days of Joy so
now that I'm ramping up to La my company
it was 77 days from when I started this
first post I gave myself a forcing
function where one time a day day I have
to think about something that I have in
my life that brings me joy so as an
entrepreneur it's very difficult you
know you get hard days days you just
want to throw the towel in so I gave
myself this thing that I publicly said
I'm every every day I'm going post one
thing that makes me happy for 77 days
straight having that as a forcing
function makes me stop think about what
I'm thankful for post and then I'm I
realize okay it's all good the day is
okay so I do it's the same thing with
the design process I have an idea and
I'll be like all right I want to you
know how might we you know make people
feel like they can fly then I'll say
Okay flight what's the principles of
flight it takes lift takes drag okay the
underlying principle is propulsion okay
propotion what does that mean for human
beings is it the quickest first step is
it leaping ability is it getting back on
defense is it Heel To Toe transition
okay you know what that could be it
could be quick first step how would we
do quick first step we got to reduce the
weight we got to reduce so it starts in
this this big massive hairy audacious go
to beag and then it goes into the idea
and then I decipher the idea in very
tactical and tangible steps and as I'm
continuing this dialogue I start to see
okay there's an example of a product
here that does it that becomes
inspiration then I find the material you
know vendor who made that product and I
call them so all all I really do is I
don't I don't settle for the idea the
idea is not the reward it's it's taking
the idea and seeing someone react to it
and in order to get from A to B you need
force and functions you need deadlines
you need a process and it's so crazy cuz
creative people say oh I don't believe
in the word process and but you need it
you need you need guard rails cuz if you
don't know how to say no to stuff then
everything becomes an opportunity so my
design process like I said I start with
the idea then I dissect it dissect it
dissect it till it's very simple and I
can say it in one sentence and then I
try to bring it to life um cuz if you
can't say it to 8-year-old and the 88
year old it's too complicated so that's
my barometer I explain it to my grandma
and if she says baby I don't know what
you're talking about I'm like okay I
explain it to my daughter and when she
gives me the Tim Duncan face like
I don't get it you know that's that's my
parameters like my grandmother and my
daughter cuz they're very honest with me
so if I can get both of them to
understanding and say oh that's cool
then I did my job um so that's another
thing you know forcing functions in
trusted editors so those two things help
me get from my idea to to um to
execution um because they hold so the
trusted editors hold you accountable and
the forcing functions push you to make a
decision um without those two then it's
just you're just spinning your own will
do you have a certain process for um the
so we've got our guard rails we have a
deadline so it's not just a dream it's
now a goal but it involves like actually
going out and figuring out textiles it
goes from how do I actually translate
this and I I'm actually maybe more
fascinated about what led you into your
brother's store because you had no
resources than when you're with Nike and
there's like sort of enough energy where
you go around the corner and just say
hey where do we Source spider silk but
like how did you break down down that
process before you got to Nike of just
like I I mean even like so maybe forget
the shoes but like you convinced um your
college not only to let you into a
degree that they didn't think you were
ready for but you convinced them to let
you do your own major that didn't
actually exist like how do you who do I
talk to like what do I say like how do
you go through that process of breaking
these things down into executable steps
yep um great question uh you know it it
starts
with the willingness to put yourself out
there ask a question that's
uncomfortable um and so when I you know
at CCS when I started my own major
everybody had that went to that school
wanted to do cars and I was like well I
can't afford a car my car is Footwear
that's my mode of transportation so I
want to take those principles and apply
to this discipline but there was no way
to do it uh and I figured i' never seen
someone create their own major why not
me why not I just try right that's it I
mean that's my Pro it's no secret sauce
I just I know what I want to try and I
go and ask the person that I think can
help me and if they can't help me I say
well could you tell me who can could you
refer me to someone else normally people
will if they don't want to help you
they'll push you off on someone you know
um which may be the biggest blessing
ever or they'll connect you to someone
that can help so it's just about putting
yourself out there and going to the
person you have access to it doesn't you
don't have to have access to the right
person you just have to have access to a
person that you feel comfortable sharing
your your your your idea with that
person may know someone and if they
don't now you have a person who at least
is going to help you think through how
do you move forward so I search for the
experts I have access to so my brother
was an expert at Footwear he was what I
had access to he worked at Foot Locker
you know which was to me the closest
thing to the Footwear industry right so
I went to him he's my expert can I see
the product can I learn about it then I
learned about the concept of a sales rep
oh the sales rep works for the company
they actually oh okay cool let me talk
to the sales rep and the sales rep said
yeah you know we have this department
called HR you can get an internship
what's an internship oh we give college
kids jobs during the summer so I have to
go to college okay well which colleges I
don't know then I you know so you just
you can see how it just it builds on
itself it compounds on itself but I tell
people start where you at you know use
the people you have access to and keep
asking them questions and ask them to
connect you to one person that they know
and then you see this this hockey stick
effect where you get exponential you
know um contacts exponential
opportunities exponential networking all
through start with what's in front of
you so many times people get discouraged
because they feel like they need to jump
to the most visible person the famous
person the powerful person but the
person at the front desk the admin of
that executive is more important than
the executive the admin controls the
calendar talk to them get to know them
you know ask them how should you
approach it and then he or she will put
you in touch with the right person to
grow you and groom you all right super
random right turn here um you've talked
about your friend who got shot M uh as
being the starting gun to your life but
I could never quite figure out why why
do you see that as the starting gun for
your life well I mean you know where I
grew up and and where kids are still
growing up they're they don't believe
that being 21 is a real thing you you're
basically living to make it to the age
of 16 and anything after that is kind of
like I don't know what happens next so
at the age of 14 when I saw that it made
me realize several things one I didn't
want that to be my outcome two
that no matter where I am in life no
matter what's going on no matter what
disagreement I have with a person
violence is not the answer um and so I
wanted to be a person of Peace a person
of great compassion and love and I knew
I needed to I needed to figure out a way
to get myself out of an environment that
would turn my heart cold so if I stayed
there and I started to accept that as my
reality and I normalized this extreme
violence I normalized how people were
systematically put in socioeconomic
situations where they started to have
these Savage behaviors and I accepted
that as my reality I gave up on my life
and going back to the age of seven where
I was already spared once you know I
felt like it would be a waste of this
gift I was given if I sat here and I
settled for this is my reality and I
told myself one of us has to make it out
why not me and if I make it out I'm not
going to pretend like I'm not from there
I'm going to celebrate it to let people
know that yes things go wrong in this
community yes there's violence yes
there's poverty but there's also Beauty
there's also creativity entrepreneurship
possibilities we just have to look at it
a different way the children in this
neighborhood the people I grew up with
they're not bad people they just don't
have hope they don't have resources so
when you don't have any hope you don't
have any resources and you're angry
because the world walks right by you and
blames you for your circumstances even
though you didn't create them you're
born into them you lash out in a way
that's self-destructive and that's what
Chicago was for me it still is like that
very limited jobs very limited
opportunities um and it results in a lot
of you know activity that that is
negative but I just use it as motivation
cuz if I can make it through that if I
can see that and I still see the world
for what it could become and I still
have a growth mindset instead of a fixed
mindset then I make it possible for
someone else in that neighborhood to
succeed cuz everything I do is not for
my own benefit I just believe that I
have to live a life where I find a
person who's going to replace me in my
job and whether that kid is from Chicago
or from Colombia you know my wife is
from or from Bangladesh or from Japan I
don't care but my life story should be
an example of what's possible when you
just fully believe in yourself without
any fear cuz I didn't look at it as me
running from Chicago I was running
towards what I believed I can be in my
life which is the exact person I am
today and I didn't want to waste you
know my life um because I knew that it
would be disrespectful to my two friends
who would never have the opportunities
that I had um and you know there was
moments where one of them who was
involved in that that situation right
when I moved and went away to college
she pulled me to the side and he said
listen I'mma die in Chicago but you
you're not like you're different than us
you need to go you need to do something
with your life because none of us will
that that for some people that's a heavy
burden but for me I took that as like
that's my mission to not waste my life
to not waste my gift to not waste my
blessings because they didn't have the
same opportunity so my mission is not to
fix broken adults it's to build stronger
children cuz those stronger children
grow up to be broken adults and they
grow up to do the things that my friends
did so I'm all I'm doing with every
project I work on is trying to save my
friends before they turn into those two
people wow wow you've said that
minorities and people that grow up hard
have some of the same skills or develop
some of the same skills that the most
successful entrepreneurs have to develop
what are those skills and why do you
think that becomes um such a great
Proving Ground yeah I think you know
when we talk about startup culture we
talk about being lean and efficient and
you know uh being being Scrappy I call
that being
broke I call it being you know it's and
when you grow up and you know I always
joke cuz I have some really really
really successful friends that are
entrepreneurs and they say yeah man it
was so hard man it was for a long time
when we eating ramen noodles and I'm
like bro I grew up eating ramen noodles
that was what I ate so you we've we've
we've we've almost turned struggle in
entrepreneurship world into like this
badge of honor like unless you eat ramen
noodles and you're not Scrappy right
like so while we while we celebrate that
as an entrepreneurial trait we also
demonize it for people who don't have a
lot of things we say ah why don't you
just pull yourself up by your bootstraps
oh why don't you go out and fight for it
get a good education get a good job it's
like yeah but what if I have to choose
between reading a book and learning or
getting a job picking fruit becaus