TITLE: Donald Glover: The Opposite Man Who Beats Algorithms, Committees, AND Gatekeepers
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnCZWNq0QBk

The whole world is turning into LinkedIn. Who cares about algorithms gatekeepers? Who cares? Now look at Adam Sandler. Look at how he's dressed. Everyone else is dressed appropriately or at least what the gatekeepers consider appropriately. That is what it looks like when you don't follow the crowd. When you don't have the herd mentality, it's real easy to pay attention to Adam Sandler because he's not dressed like everyone else. Creatives have to be more like Adam Sandler. Whatever you're doing, if it stops working, try doing the opposite for at least 48 hours. When you look at the art from Theonius, [music] Theonius calls himself a performance athlete. [laughter] He's also a painter, musician. It's not about whether you like his art or not. His art makes you stop and pay attention. His art is disruptive. His art goes against social norms. These creatives, they're what I call opposite man. Nothing makes you stand out faster than doing the opposite of what everyone else does. Studio notes, admission boards, these are all groups of people that will implement a system in order to control things. So, a lot of us just listen to them and we just stand in line and we do what we're told. It's funny because the people who don't do what they're told and do the exact opposite are the ones that get the light shined on them. >> The people whose approval you're desperately seeking are usually the ones least qualified to give it. You're asking emotionally starving people to feed you. Seeking validation from individuals who can't even validate themselves. Begging for love from people who are terrified of their own hearts. You've made random strangers, confused colleagues, and often deeply unhappy family members the judges of your worth when most of them can't even figure out their own lives. >> Opposite man is not a contrarian, but more like a pattern reader. And once he sees the pattern, he decides to do the opposite. People like Frank Ocean, Andy Warhol, Tyler the Creator, Christopher Nolan, Kanye, Quinton Tarantino, John Col Train, Wim Phoenix. These are people that go against social norms. They go against these systems and they're rewarded for going against these systems. >> I think people always say like, "Oh, you go from job to job or like you do a bunch of stuff." But I was I'm just following the fun. Whatever feels good and feels like an interesting thing at the time, I'm going to go with that cuz that's the only thing we have at the end. Like our aesthetics, like everything else is being shutled off like the internet, you can buy an aesthetic if you want. So the more personal something is, the more specific it is, it becomes realer. It'll feel more real and more honest and it's more interesting, I think, to people. Now, the real reason opposite works is because attention only exists in contrast. You see the moon in the sky full of stars and you're amazed by it. But if there were thousands of moons, the moon wouldn't matter as much. Everyone has a choice. You can either wait on acceptance or you can force acknowledgement. >> Sism is is everyone's personal belief. Everyone has that. And yet they're not able to exercise that because of the survival of collective knowledge because basically education is taught you in a uniform way and you are graded that way. Who cares about the Grammys? Somebody has to get to a point where they reach their greatness and deny the Grammys so that they can understand that we're not trying to fit in the box. >> I am appreciated for the work that I did and for people who appreciate it and I notice that other physicists use my work. I don't need anything else. I don't think there's any sense to anything else. I don't see that it makes any point that someone in the Swedish Academy decides that this work is noble enough to receive a prize. I've already got the prize. The prize is the pleasure of finding a thing out. The kick in the discovery, the observation other people use it. Those are the real things. The honors are unreal to me. I don't believe in honors. Time magazine approached me and they they said could I come to the ceremony of the 100 uh most influential people on the planet and I said I do not want to be in this list >> and uh and they were completely stunned because nobody would refuse it and I said can I refuse? I said no it's our choice uh whether whether you like it or not. A lot of these systems is to create predictability to keep the hamster wheel going and going and going. You create a system. You make people operate within the system. But what you find out is that the people reward the people who fight against the system. >> But it just seems that uh the music has just been directed by u businessmen. I suppose who know how to arrange uh the making of a dollar to dollar. Nature is the best system. If you take a cheetah and you take the speed away from a cheetah, then all a cheetah can do is hide in the grass. And I feel like being on a platform like LinkedIn, it's a bunch of creatives hiding in the grass. So, we don't get to see the best part of you. What if you did the opposite? How quickly would people notice? You'll hear this a lot. >> Humble. Not much like you. >> You're not humble. >> Be humble. Be humble. >> This person is not humble. Pay attention to that word. They're going to call you selfish. They're going to say you're messing it up for everyone else. There's a possibility of being punished either way it goes, whether you follow the crowd or go against the grain. But the thing about going against the grain is the willingness to be wrong to one day be right. And it just feels different when you're the one that was right the whole time. The chaos on this planet is due to the music that musicians are playing that they're forced to play by some who just think of money and don't realize that music is a spiritual language. >> This artist, her name is Brooke. She's a photographer. She also does art that makes you stop. It challenges social norm. It makes you wonder how she did it or what she's [music] trying to say. I can make you look, but I can't make you see. Seeing's a choice. >> [music] >> Don't die with your music still in you. >> Never mess with a major again because Indian [music] like I don't even feel like I'm in the music industry. Oh god. Like I don't do any of the stuff. We used to do the radio promo [music] press this. I sell vinyl. I got a direct to customer situation. I sell my merch, my physical. I don't waste no money cut no corners. [music] We deal straight to the artist. We tour. I'm It's It's great. And then I'm like this the best time ever.