Man Among Boys

This post has 487 words. It will take approximately 4 minutes, 52 secondes for reading it.

There is an old adage in football that “speed kills.”  If you have a fast team you can do other things that other teams simply can’t.

However, I think greed kills even more.

We’ve all seen where a running back or wide receiver breaks away and a defensive back is left alone with him, coming full steam ahead.  Now the defensive back has two choices:

1. Tackle the player, wrap him up, make sure you put him down, and get your defense off the field.
2. Keep coming full steam ahead and lay a hit on him that will knock him out.

All too often I’ve seen the defensive back go for the “greed” play and try to lay the player out. That’s what would look better and make the highlights….and all too often, the offensive player just bounces off the hit and keeps on going to the end zone.

Greed kills a lot of things.  Greed can kill your “hustle” too.

I read a lot of blogs that encourage you to “go for self” and to do what works best for you.  That’s a good path to success…to a point.  Once you involve other people in your hustle (customers, partners, suppliers)  it’s not just your hustle anymore, no matter how much you may think so.  You may have control and be responsible for the decision making, but you have to take other people into consideration.  If you get too greedy and people think you aren’t looking out for them, they begin to look our for themselves.  Things begin to break down when others think they aren’t getting their fair share or you aren’t acting in their best interest.

The key is to reinvent the process so everyone looks towards the end goal.  Everyone has to believe that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  That recipe works in life as well.

If you’ve ever seen the 2005 film “A Beautiful Mind”, you’ll know what I’m   talking about.  There is a scene where Nash (played by Russell Crowe) and his friends are in a bar trying to get at the prettiest girl in the place.  They almost get to be like crabs in a barrel, each man downing the next in front of her.  As you can guess, none of them get her attention.  Nash realized that by being greedy and looking out only for ones self would lead only to short term gain.  For lasting success, you have to get buy-in from others, and you only do that by putting others’ interest on par with your own.

(There has to be something to it.  It got Nash a share of the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.)

The moral is don’t get greedy.  As soon as you thinking only about yourself, you’ll find yourself by yourself.

Feel free to comment.

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This post has 677 words. It will take approximately 6 minutes, 46 secondes for reading it.

A man should be able to admit when someone outworks him and be motivated to do more.  I got outworked.  I got outhustled. You did too.  I don’t care who you are.

I was watching CNN while I was doing my morning cardio and they showcased a story on Steve Ortiz of Glendora, California. Pretty much your normal 17 year old high school kid…except that he gets it.  He knows how to hustle.  He found an angle and made it work for him.

He started with an old cell phone and turned that into a 2000 Porsche Boxster.  That some return on investment for your ass right there.

Basically he looked at the market, found what the demand was and kept it moving.  It’s something we can all learn from.  He started with an old cell phone and used the bartering section on Craigslist to get a better cell phone.  Then he traded that cell phone for an IPad.  An Ipad for a dirtbike.  Dirtbike for a Mac Book Pro, and on and on.  After two years and 14 trades, he finally got a Porsche.

Wow.  I have to admit that’s an angle I hadn’t thought of, using Craigslist that way.  The way he did it is like buying penny stocks until you get enough to buy on the Exchange.  Hats off to him.  He admits it wasn’t easy but he talked about a few things that you need to have to make this, or any hustle work:

(Note: He didn’t say some of these things directly, but you could pull them from the teenage language; after all, he’s still 17. He may not even know what he did, but he had the gumption to do it)

• Vision – he knew he didn’t want an old cell phone. It was a starting point, and he knew that if he worked hard enough he could do better. He had the vision to see that there was potential and there could me more.
• Perseverance – Ortiz openly admits that it wasn’t easy.  It took 2 hours a day of scouring Craigslist for potential trade partners.  It took 14 trades and two years to get to the Porsche.  He probably heard “you’re crazy” a lot and got rejected.  That didn’t seem to deter him.  The young man kept going.
• Managing Up – This is a key one that we can use in any business transaction.  “Managing Up” means to control a situation even though you may not be in a dominant position (ex – trying to get something from your boss).  You won’t always be in a position of strength but you have to always appear that you are.  Present your product as the best option, whatever it is, and try to make it seem like it was their idea.  Don’t automatically concede to the other party just because they have something you want.  When Ortiz traded that old cell phone for a newer model, he wasn’t in a position of strength.  Who wants an old cell phone?  But he got the deal done.
• Your Word Is Your Bond – Don’t say something that you’re not willing to do.  You’ll get a bad reputation and people will see through you.  If you say that this is your final offer, don’t make another one after it.  If you say that they have to increase their offer or you’ll walk away, and they don’t increase the offer, walk away.  Otherwise, people will take what you say as empty words and will never take you seriously.

I know I’ve learned a few things.  If a 17 year old could do this with an old cell phone, just think of what someone with some experience and motivation could do.

I think I’m going to start hitting Craigslist myself.  I have a some old business suits and an old surround stereo that I’m not using anymore. I’ll be living in a mansion in the hills in no time.

Feel free to comment.

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This post has 530 words. It will take approximately 5 minutes, 18 secondes for reading it.

You may not have heard or even care, but Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died this week.  He was 80 years old.  Whether you like him or not, or even you don’t even like baseball, he’s had an impact on your life…

Ever hear of the Yankees?

Steinbrenner took a club that was struggling in 1973 and turned it into a powerhouse .  Nicknamed “The Boss”, he pushed and shoved until he got his team to the forefront of the sport, making it to the World Series 10 times and winning three championships from 1998 – 2000.  He also created a business model that we can follow today, not only in our professional lives, but our personal lives as well.  There are some pretty effective, yet simple, rules…

• Winning Trumps All – Steinbrenner wanted to win at all costs, and he didn’t care who knew it.  He was often quoted as saying, “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing.  Breathing first, winning next.”  Second place wasn’t good enough.  He wiped his ass with pennants (regular season division championships) that other teams would kill for.  Only World Championships mattered.  Steinbrenner wanted to win more than anything, and if you worked for him, you’d better too, or else he would…
• Change People – Steinbrenner seemed to live by a quote that I once read from Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric: “Change people…or change people.”  (If you haven’t read Welsh’s book, “Winning”, you’re missing the point).  Work with those you can change, but if you can’t change them, get rid of them.  Steinbrenner  changed managers nearly 24 times and gave the ax to more than a dozen general managers.  Managers names should have been written on their door in pencil.  If you didn’t produce, you knew you were gone.
• Pay For The Best – I’ve blogged before about the Yankees “buy-not-build” philosophy before.  Hey it works.  Steinbrenner was notorious from prying the best players from their teams by opening his checkbook.  Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and countless others.  If you see the best and know it will make you successful, you’re going to have to pay for it.  Don’t be afraid to.
• Stay Ahead Of The Curve – At a time when most clubs were thinking how to sell more hot dogs and baseball caps, Stenibrenner negotiated a huge cable television contract, 12 years, $486 million…in 1988.   When others moved onto TV contracts, he started the Yankees own YES network.  The Yankees are now worth more than 100 times what he paid, in large part because he saw what others couldn’t see and stayed ahead of the curve.
• Transcend The Game – Steinbrenner knew that to be successful at the game, he had to stand above it.  Like Ali in his boxing career, he became bigger than the sport of baseball, building his brand along the way.  Even if you didn’t like baseball, you knew who the Yankees were.  Love him or hate him, you knew his personal brand.

Follow the rules and you’ll be successful and navigate your own ship…but you’ll never be “The Boss”

R.I.P George Steinbrenner.   Feel free to comment.

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This post has 302 words. It will take approximately 3 minutes, 1 seconde for reading it.

I’m not broke enough.  I can’t be.

I was reading an article today on MSN.com that talked about 10 self made billionaires that went from rags to riches.

The meat of the article focused on Guy Laiberte, the creator and founder of Cirque du Solei.  He’s paid out the rectum now since his product was bought by Steve Wynn in 1991, but before that, he was a street performer in Europe and Canada.  In 1987, he took his act on the road, relocating from Quebec to Los Angeles in search of his fortune. Win or lose, he was going for it.  If he lost, he wouldn’t have gas money to get home.

But he took a chance.

I say that because I haven’t taken many chances lately.  I’m still adjusting to my new life and position here, but I still could be doing more.  Maybe I’m getting comfortable.  Maybe I’m not broke enough.

Being broke will keep your eye on the ball.  When you’re broke, you calculate every move and count every dollar because you don’t have a lot of room for error.  No one likes to be broke.  Being broke limits your options.  You have to work; you have to budget.

Being broke is also a great motivator.  Being broke can be a positive when you need a good kick in the ass.    Being broke can make you look at an old situation in a whole new light.  Being broke makes you create and execute.  You have to think, plan, and deduce.  You have to grind and hustle.  You have no where to go but up because you’re already at the bottom.

Being broke can be a great thing…as long as you don’t want to be.

Feel free to comment.

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This post has 109 words. It will take approximately 1 minute, 5 secondes for reading it.

Afternoon, Man Among Boys readers.  Instead of giving you a blog today, I want to tell you about a new collaboration called Block Standard (www.blockstandard.com).

Block Standard is a collective of like-minded and like mission men who decided to pool their individual insights into one blog for the immediate dissemination of information that enables you to improve your money-making capabilities. You’re going to get a lot of different views from different people from a lot of different angles, each building on the other.

The goal is to empower you with knowledge.  What you do with it is completely up to you.

Block Standard…“Redefine Your Corner”

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This post has 497 words. It will take approximately 4 minutes, 58 secondes for reading it.

Nobody likes to lose.  Thanks just how we were brought up.  To win.  To do our best…and if we do our best, we can call ourselves the victor and hoist the trophy high above our heads.

That isn’t always a good thing.

I remember reading an article in the December 14 edition of ESPN The Magazine by Jay Bilas (not usually a fan of his, but it make for good reading while in the sauna).  He was talking about the value of playing in early tournaments in college basketball, and made some very good points.  In those early tournaments, teams usually play out very good, out-of-conference teams instead of their usual in-conference cupcakes. A lot of times they’re in a tough matchup or even lose, but there can be some value in that.

In the article, Bilas quotes Michigan State coach Tom Izzo as saying “You’re fooling yourself if you think you can be ready without playing the best teams early.  But you can’t be fooled when you’re getting your butt kicked in a fistfight. You need that fistfight to get better, to evaluate your team and yourself.”

That got me to thinking about how we can apply that in life. A man shouldn’t be afraid to test himself against a tough challenge, whether that be interviewing for a new position or trying to step out on your own.  Whether you fail or succeed, you’ll learn a lot about yourself that you can build on.

Taking a loss will let you know what you have to work on.  It could expose the slightest detail that you’re lacking.  You might be good at initiating contact, but suck at “closing the deal.” You might be able to develop new ideas, but your ability to present them to the powers-that-be might be lacking.  Develop these and that will make you stronger.

However, if you take a greater challenge and succeed, that’s a great confidence boost and confirms that you’re ready to move on to bigger and better things.  Dunking on your 5 year old little brother says that you have a twisted view of family time.  Dunking on Lebron James says that you might be ready to don an NBA uniform yourself.

But the key to all of this is that…you can’t be scared to take an ass whuppin.  You can’t be scared to take a greater challenge because you might fail.  You can’t think about the fact that you might fail.  It you take the greater challenge, you just might surprise yourself.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest player of all time

I think that says it all.  Feel free to comment.

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This post has 512 words. It will take approximately 5 minutes, 7 secondes for reading it.

Evening, all.  By the time you read this, I’ll have made my annual trek to Atlanta to celebrate New Years Eve.  I love Atlanta.  I have some good friends there and the party scene is just what I need to end a very trying 2009.  I’m going to go out tonight and pop a few bottles with some friends, and maybe even make some new ones.  You know, cut loose a little bit and act a fool…within reason, of course.

This year was troubling, but I did get a few things accomplished.  I was able to move on and put the past behind me, as you’ve read in some of my posts.  I started this blog to reach out to people and tell what men are all about.  I was able to refocus and get back to doing ME.  I guess those are a few good things.

We all talk about making New Year’s resolutions as if they are going to be the gateway to some magical new lifestyle.  Some people believe in them, some people don’t.  I’m not going to debate with you about whether they work or not.  As Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

I’ve decided it’s time to make a change.  Not the type of hopeful, Obama change, but the type of real, soul-searching change what will decide my future and what I’ll do moving forward (Note:  Get it in gear, Mr. President.  We need to see more of the change you promised in 2010.)

That brings me to my New Year’s resolution that I’m going to make, my change.  I’m going to live by a quote I was taught by a supervisor I used to work under, Mr. Wingate.  When I was in college, I worked at the state’s central branch of the Post Office loading bulk containers onto trucks.  Whenever you told him you couldn’t be done, you got the same answer from him…

“I can’t accept can’t.”

Somehow, I’d forgotten that I.  I’d changed from the cocky, young SOB who wasn’t afraid to try anything to a guy who was more timid.  F*** that.  I can’t be that guy anymore.  I’m not that guy anymore.  So that’s my resolution for 2010, to live by ”I can’t accept can’t.”

(That and “That’s not puttin’ chips in my pocket, pat-naaaa!”  Shout out to Freeman.  If you haven’t checked out his site, take a look at Rise And Grind ( www.riseandgrind.com).  It’s a good read.)

I’d be interested to hear about your resolutions.  What changes are you making for the New Year?  And why aren’t you starting them now?

So go out tonight, party, dance, sip some champagne or grape juice for my 21 and under friends, and have a great time.  But get home safe.

Have a Happy New Year.  Feel free to comment.

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This post has 474 words. It will take approximately 4 minutes, 44 secondes for reading it.

Before we get into the meat of the post, I’m going to tell you that in order to understand it, you have to know something about hip-hop.  I don’t mean that garbage Lil’ Wayne puts out, society’s modern-day obsession with the auto tune (every artist that uses it should pay homage to Roger Troutman), or that commercialized stuff that has the BK King grabbin’ the mic.

I mean real, old school, hip-hop.  Beat Street.  Krush Groove.  Treacherous 3.  Cardboard boxes on the sidewalk.  Furry Kangols.  If you don’t know about this stuff, you can try to keep up, but you might not get it.

I was watching television today and I came across this Nike commercial.  It’s a good commercial, but as soon as I heard “the voice”, I was shocked:

Don’t get me wrong.  I like the commercial.  It’s catchy and will help sell sneakers.  But in case you don’t know, the black Santa is the “blastmaster” KRS-One.

The legendary KRS-One. The leader of the mighty BoogieDown Productions.  The same KRS-One that destroyed the careers of MC Shan and the Juice Crew. The same KRS-One that is arguably the greatest lyricist of all time (I’m more partial to Rakim, but I can understand the argument.)

KRS-One was always the conscious mirror of hip-hop.  He wasn’t in it for the money, but for the art.  He always prided himself on doing it for the love.  He bashed those artists who he thought crossed over to the commercialized side.  In fact, he once threw another group off stage during their own performance for not doing what he coined “real hip hop”.

One of the things I admired about him as a man was that he stood steadfast in his beliefs, whether or not they were popular or even the most lucrative.

And now he’s doing sound overs for puppets???

The only reasons I didn’t put this in the “Just Not Manly” category are:

1. It’s KRS-One.  He’s a legend.
2. I’ll never knock someone for trying to earn an honest buck.  That’s insane.

But I have to question this.  To paraphrase a Lauren Hill lyric, did he gain the whole world for the price of his soul?  Did he sell out the art that he helped create?

Or maybe I just hate seeing good old school hip hop wasted on dancing, shucking and jiving puppets.

To all my old school hip hop heads out there…did KRS-One sell out hip hop?  As a man, did he go against his core principles and turn his back on the house he helped build?  This is something lighter for the holiday season, but it’s getting to me…

Feel free to comment.

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This post has 443 words. It will take approximately 4 minutes, 25 secondes for reading it.

I have to face facts…I’m getting older.  But that’s all a part of growing up.  A part of becoming a man among boys.

That’s why it always irks me to hear people say they’re “young at heart” and “you’re only as old as you feel.”  It’s every easy to take those statements out of context.

People often use those as excuses not to grow up.

On his  “Kingdom Come” album” (not his best work, but ok), Jay-Z even made song called “30 Something” where he talks about 30 being the new 20.

Sorry, bro…30 is 30.

When people say things like “young at heart”, they fool themselves into thinking they have more time than they do.  They think that they have time plan for retirement, time to solidify their career, time to start a family.  That’s very dangerous.

Life is just a series of decisions you make that are strung together.  Once you go down a path it, helps to determine your future choices.  Time is something you can’t get back once you lose it. There is an old quote that goes “each day brings 86,400 seconds, whatever isn’t used is gone forever”.  You can’t get that back, no matter how many miles you run, how many vitamins you take, or how much plastic surgery you get.  You can’t turn back the clock, no matter how much you try to fool yourself into thinking you can.

Instead of looking back and trying to recapture youth, why don’t we look forward and try to build a future?  You’ll be older much longer than you’ll be younger, so isn’t that what you should prepare for?

I think a lot of what drives us to want to go back is fear and responsibility.  15 years ago, my only responsibilities were to make sure I got to class on time and that I wore protection so I didn’t have any kids.  Now, I have a son of my own, bills to pay, strategic responsibilities at the office, and taxes to pay to Uncle Sam’s bum ass (get yo hands out my pockets!).  There’s a lot more at stake now.

There’s also a lot more opportunity. Sure things can and will go wrong, but what if things go right.  With the experience and resources, you can accomplish a lot.  Fear is just an opportunity to prove yourself.

Stop always looking to go back.  As Billy Joel sang, “the good ol’ days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.”

Will you start acting your age?  Feel free to comment.

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