THURSDAY THOUGHTS - What Kanye West Can Teach Us About Persistence and Self Belief

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Let's take a moment to connect the dots.

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Every Thursday in under 10 minutes, I'm going to share with you real

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life, everyday situations to help you as an entrepreneur, a leader,

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an innovator, or just a person who's venturing out to try something new.

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These stories will help you make sense of situations you may find yourself in

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and also provide encouragement to keep you moving forward in your journey.

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One thing that I know for sure is that when somebody is determined

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to do something, they are going to do it no matter what.

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These are special people that many overlook in the beginning, but when

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they break out and create all of this success, everyone wants to take credit

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for discovering them or believing in them.

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I bring this up because this past weekend I watched the Kanye West documentary on

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Netflix, where it shows how so many people in industry didn't take him seriously.

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He would go to various record labels and play his music for them and they would

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listen for a little bit and start talking to people that were in the room, or they

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would leave the room, or just gradually go back to working on their computers.

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Entirely ignoring him while he's standing there playing his music for them, and they

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would just act like he wasn't in the room.

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The weirdest part about that is this was all being recorded by one of his friends

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who just happened to have a camcorder and decided to document Kanye's journey.

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So these are people who now, 20 years later, can see this while Kanye is one

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of the most famous people in the world.

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Sure Kanye can be a polarizing figure, especially since experiencing so many

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things within his life and on his journey.

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No one can say after watching that documentary, that this man

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did not have that fire in him and he was going to win no matter

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what anybody had to say about it.

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He wasn't going to stop.

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He went years being laughed at and ignored, and actually being used for his

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known talent, which is producing music and producing beats, not being a rapper.

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Everyone in the industry wanted him to stay in that box and continue to

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make their beats and they would make records and rap and leave the rapping

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to them, stay out of this Kanye.

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So people will place labels on you and put you in boxes but that doesn't mean

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that's where you belong or where you stay.

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So I saw a fire in young Kanye in those old videos.

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And it's one that I see in certain startup founders that I work with

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where I'm thinking to myself, whether it's this business idea or another

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one, this person is going to make it big in whatever way they want.

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Big is subjective, it's whatever way they want in whatever industry,

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in whatever type of situation that they want, they're going to make it.

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Somehow it just pans out for people who won't quit.

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But there are huge hits to the ego and embarrassment and hurt feelings

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as they go through the process.

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Behind closed doors, there's self doubt.

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One thing is for sure, those people come back out of their house, recharge,

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and enter into rooms with an energy that wouldn't give you any indication

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of those insecurities and hurt feelings that they've experienced.

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In this documentary, I could see it in Kanye's eyes, even though he never really

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voiced much about his disappointment, he would be playing his music, as I said,

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for record execs and they would just get up and walk out and he would literally

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stand there and let the song finish.

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It would be blasting loud enough with people in the hallway and in

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nearby offices to hear it and come in and see what it was all about.

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They would just kind of come in and look around and walk out.

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With the executives taking calls and meetings with him standing there, and even

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sometimes not just him playing the music, he's talking to them and they will just

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go off and start talking to somebody else.

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Just really rude kind of stuff.

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This even happened from people that liked him and hired him for producing

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other beats and things for their artists.

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These are people who liked him and who already knew him for his production

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capabilities, but his desire to rap and create his own albums, that was too

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far out there for them, and for any of them to be comfortable with back then.

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I'm saying back then like it was a long time ago but it really wasn't.

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Well, back then, you didn't have people straddle.

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You were either a rapper or a producer, but not both.

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I mean, they were thinking, who does he think he is?

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He's a great producer and all, but who does he think he is?

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He would be like, "I'm Kanye West, I'm a rapper and a Producer."

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You see, he defined who he was, regardless of what people thought he should be or

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them thinking he should stay in his lane.

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When I meet with clients that are new startup founders with seemingly out there

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ideas or innovations, that are probably not in industries that they come from

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and different things of that nature.

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That don't seem to align with what other people would see as, "you need this, this

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and this, you need to check these boxes in order to even consider this journey."

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When I meet those startup founders and they'll pitch me their idea,

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they'll ask me, what do I think?

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I'll always say, because it's the truth that I believe, I'll

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always say, I don't judge ideas.

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I'll let the market judge with their money.

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You see that's the truth.

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If the market loves it and buys it, really, my opinion means nothing.

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In fact, most of the time, I'm not your ideal customer anyways.

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You wouldn't be selling to me, so what I think doesn't matter.

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What I think about your product does not matter.

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What I help you do is find out what the market thinks about your product.

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One thing I can see quite clearly is when a startup founder has that Kanye

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drive, like they're willing to walk in rooms, be ridiculed, accept criticism

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and feedback, still be respectful in their communication and responses.

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Reenter those rooms where they've been ridiculed before and re-pitch.

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They keep going back to the people that initially told them, no,

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they'll stay in touch with them.

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They won't act funny when they see those people again, they'll

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engage in conversation with them.

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They'll share updates on their progress.

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They've remained dignified and approachable all the while,

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they keep grinding away piece by piece, refining their approach.

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What seemingly looks like an overnight success to everyone

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else is created with time.

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Now don't get me wrong.

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I've ran across some folks that are just really petty.

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Let's be honest, because many of them will wear their feelings on their sleeves.

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It takes a significant amount of emotional intelligence and self discipline to

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not take everything so personally.

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If you ask someone their opinion and they give it to you, it may not be

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what you want to hear, but it's their opinion, it's what you asked and it

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comes from a foundation of something.

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Otherwise you wouldn't have asked.

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It is to be expected that when it's your business idea or your

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innovation, you feel as if it's an extension of you as a person.

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So it can feel like a personal attack, but it doesn't make it

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so, it's just feedback or silence.

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Sometimes silence is really the feedback, which in Kanye's case, he

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received more silence than criticism or any other type of feedback.

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What I saw in that Kanye documentary is that he felt those feelings ,of

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course, of rejection but he handled it behind closed doors and then went back

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out there the next day and tried again.

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You see, people like him, they want to win more than they want to lash out.

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They aren't willing to give into those temporary feelings and

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risk damaging relationships.

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Winning is more important to them.

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You not believing in them right now doesn't change their

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confidence and their focus.

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They're focused on the ultimate goal.

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They feel compelled to something greater than themselves and what

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most people around them couldn't even imagine they can accomplish.

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Now, if this describes you, and if you're feeling a certain way about rejection

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right now or not being taken seriously, I will suggest you go and take a look at

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that documentary and see the old Kanye.

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The one that we all remember before all of this controversy.

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He had that fire in his eyes because he was already successful at something

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that he had done first, producing.

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Then when he wanted to charter into new territory, everybody was playing him.

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Not everyone, there were a few that did believe in him.

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What I want you to do is find out who those few are for

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you, and keep moving forward.

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