HustleKnockin'

TAXIN’ THE POOR...

Quick bit of time travel. Past summer, Labor Day weekend to be precise, I was at the African Festival of the Arts on the south side of Chi. Blogged on it for a minute in late August, even. Anyway one of the biggest corporate booths I saw there came courtesy of the Illinois State Lottery. They had a huge set-up—flashing lights, real carnival-style barker stuff. They gave away free quick-pick tix, drawings, told people they had the chance to “win this and win that…”

I was half-expecting WC Fields or PT Barnum to come out there for a minute. (step right up--go away kid, ya botherin' me.)

It was actually pretty funny when you think about it: I mean here we are, in this whole, conscious, outdoor, pan-african, grassy grassroots, rootsy vibe that is the African Fest… And smack dab in the thick of it is THE LOTTERY.

welcome to the big show!

I think this one’s important enough for it’s own entry. It’s also the last one of the month, too. Enjoy. (Happy Saturday, by the way...)

12. Lose the “Minor-Leagues” Mindset.

Too many folks, particularly successful/privileged blacks treat the black community like it’s the minor leagues of American society. We don’t live around blacks any longer than we have to. We don’t want our money in black-owned banks. We won’t support black retailers. Most won’t use black vendors or black contractors. Most black executives only see Black Enterprise as a stepping-stone to Forbes. We still measure our success by the degree to which white institutions and consumers accept and support us.

cuz i gotta keep going whether anyone cares or not.

Month’s closing down… September flew by didn’t it? Just a couple more joints from this KTH chapter to hit you with, then I’ve got some goodies to share for you. Yippee! Here’s a weird one. For you:

9. Where You Go, the Whole Race Still Goes.

Don’t sleep on this one because it’s still true. Whether it’s said to your face or behind your back, a lot of folks and companies still measure whole groups by the actions of a few. You do indeed represent your community when you’re outside of it. You can view that as a burden or as a healthy responsibility.

It doesn't mean you oh every cat you meet a job or even an interview, but it's a heart-set, a mindset... a change in thinking and being.

And again, it’s not as hectic as it was back in the day, but it’s still very real, so recognize and represent.

U–N–I–T–Y!
—Queen Latifah (8)

me and u... yo' momma and yo' cousin, too...

rollin' down the strip on... come on, don't tell me I'm the only one with an ATLiens disc on me. oh well, oh hell colder than a polar bear's toe nails... At anyrate.

Today’s advice, courtesy of KTH. And as always: If it don’t apply, let it fly.

(I'm guessing that this is sure to score points with... oh, any one of the 9 or 10 readers I have left at this point. so here goes:)

7. You Are Not the “Chosen Minority.”

Some black Americans still believe that because of our history and struggle we’re the only minorities in America that deserve to be respected. Well I got news for you: Pain is pain and everybody’s got their something.

where u fit in... wherever that is.

Workin' angles... Opportunism knocking. Hustler's blues. call it what you will. Sometimes the best thing to do is just suck it up and look for a way in and a way up. you'll find one. you'd be surprised by how stupid some people can be to allow their biases to get in the way of business. but you'd be surprised by the opportunities it can create as well...

keep that in mind as you take in the follow KTH snippet:

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6. Get In Where You Fit In.

For every door slammed in your face there’s an opportunity to succeed somewhere else. The opportunity may be small, far away, or require harder work, but it’s there. You just have to be diligent and find it. Why? Because business loves money. It lives for cream. Show ’em you can put money in their pockets and you’ll find work.

A couple more...

Some would call me a whiner... I've been called worse. Never to my face. Usually a sign that you're probably fighting the good fight. anyway, here's a couple more from KNOCK THE HUSTLE.

5. NO WHINING.

The only thing worse than the angry minority is the whiny minority. You know the ones...they’re always complaining and looking for sympathy. One who sticks out in my head is a colleague I knew named “Kate.”

Kate was a white female exec, extremely talented and hardworking and always got the job done. But she swore she was oppressed 24/7. “When a man is aggressive at work he’s praised, when a woman is aggressive she’s a ‘bitch’...” She’d go on and on like April rain in Seattle. I can’t say that it ever cost her a promotion, but this much I know: people truly hated working with her. Her constant complaining drove people nuts.

Pick your battles

Today’s thought, aka more from KNOCK THE HUSTLE.

This was a hard one to learn, too. Especially with the drama from this month. You fight the good fight. You turn the other cheek. I don't beleive in grabbing ankles though. With that said, here's my tip. I still stand by this. As frustrating as it can be, i still stand by it.

4. Pick Your Battles.

I’ve learned that you can’t snap every time someone offends you. You can’t sue over every off-color remark or joke, even those that are clearly rooted in bigotry. (The previous chapter could’ve easily been 100 pages long, but instead of complaining and holding grudges, I chose very specific incidents that served a greater purpose and just let the rest of it go.)

Lose the ABM/AM Chip...

Sure, this one applies to me, too. but it's helpful advice to others. And Lawd knows plenty give us right to be annoyed/angry but....(Taken from KNOCK THE HUSTLE)
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3. Lose the ABM/AM Chip.

Ah, the Angry Black Man/Angry Minority chip...folks are still bringing those things to work. Well in case you haven’t noticed lately: It doesn’t work. You might scare a couple of TRLers and soccermoms, but you won’t scare many businessfolks—they just don’t care enough to be afraid anymore.

get your weight up...

i-like-it advice....
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Today’s advice:

2. Get Your Weight Up.

Skills. Regardless of industry, city, or company, you better bring skills to the party. Don’t complain about prejudice if you don’t have the skills to do the job in the first place. Companies are laying off MBAs, BAs, whites, their cousins, paraplegics, their mommas, hard-luck stories, cancer patients, AIDS patients, you name it. The business world cares about one thing: Can you help me get paid? If not, you’re outta there.

get in where u fit in....

Well, I figured since I was looking at what the establishment needs to work on, I thought I’d come up with a list of things, tips, etc that folks on the outside trying to get in and in trying to get up should work on. So here’s a few from “GET IN WHERE YOU FIT IN” courtesy of KNOCK THE HUSTLE.

Enjoy. Get at me at hadji @ k n oc k t h e hu s t le . co m.

(By the Way...We Know)

(By the Way...We Know)

No matter how well people hide it, gays know homophobia when they see it. Women know sexism when they see it. People of color know racism when they see it. No matter how well people think they’re hiding or masking their bias and prejudice, they’re seldom if ever fooling anyone. People know when they’re not accepted or respected or seen as equal.

People know when double standards and inequality exist. And what’s worse, hoping or assuming that they’re too stupid to realize what’s going on only makes things worse.

We have to stop this.

Look In the Mirror

13. Look In the Mirror.

In 15 years of corporate life, 4 years of college, and years of travel, I realized that I have never met a single person with any prejudice whatsoever. Nope; not one. No matter whom I met, some of their best friends were always black. They slept with black people. (And we all know you can’t be racist and horny at the same time.) They love black music and they can quote black celebrities. Nope, not one white person I ever worked with or went to school with harbored even the slightest bit of prejudice.

To them, America’s race problem is at best, just some misunderstandings on the part of overly sensitive minorities. At worst, prejudice is a crop circle reserved for rednecks, southerners, and republicans.

Look folks: Relegating prejudice to extremists or generations past may be cute and comforting, but it’s also a lie. It’s time to look in the mirror and question our own hearts and actions.

Talk to Your Kids

15. Talk to Your Kids

I’d have to say that 90% of the bias, prejudice that I’ve witnessed and/or continue to hear about in Corporate America has come at the hands of 18–45 year-olds, most of whom are college-educated, city-dwelling, self-proclaimed “liberals”. So where are they learning this pathology?

My guess? Home.

I’d say 80% of white professionals I met over the years told me they never seriously discussed race at home or with any adult growing up. I think it was because for the most part, their lives and livelihoods never depended on understanding or relating to anyone who wasn’t white. Anyway, they had a lot of misconceptions about minorities and it affected their choice of friends, neighborhoods, and of course, coworkers and employees.

White Women...

Happy monday kids... i'm back for more.... if you're reading this, so are you. so here goes. more:

7. White Women, Anglo-Europeans, and Gay Whites are not "Black"

Over the years, several execs and HR folks let me in on a little secret, which I’ve confirmed thru research:

Many businesses and colleges (public and private) have and continue to use white women and white-skinned ethnic groups as “diversity smokescreens” to continue discriminating against blacks and Hispanics.

Overall, white women are the biggest winners of affirmative action programs, claiming more than 40% of all managerial or professional jobs in the late 1990s, this according to Catalyst, a NY-based research firm that promotes the interests of women in business.

Hadji's Got a Big Mouth!!!

A podcast from yours truly... me screaming. sorta. being interviewed by the infamous Danny G from Talentzoo.com, a high quality writer down in ATL where we chopped it up on business culture and all sorts...

there's a really funny story behind this interview. i'll tell you about it in a minute.

Check the interview.

By the way, thanks to Sally Hogshead for blowing me off on 4 different occassions and being completely unprofessional about the whole thing when you were scheduled to do this a while back. Danny was much cooler and came through.

Hire Them!

6. Hire Them!

In early 2003, Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame University’s first black head football coach, was asked what could be done to get more blacks in the NCAA’s still near lily-white Div. 1 coaching ranks.

His response: “Hire them. There’s plenty of qualified black candidates out there. Just hire them, it’s that simple.”

Even in 2006, there remains an oft-repeated notion that there simply aren’t enough qualified black business candidates out there, especially in the marketing, PR and adverting industries..

And guess what?

It's still a big pile of crap. I’ve seen ’em pounding the pavement in every industry and every city looking for a fair shot at every level.

Don't Talk about it....

3. “Don’t Talk About It, Be About It” Goes For You, Too

Any business can brag about how pro-diversity it is. Anyone can rip David Duke or George W. Bush’s status as a legacy baby or spit Chris Rock punchlines. God knows it makes us sound cool at the business conferences and around our friends. But talk is cheap.

We must decide once and for all whether we’re part of a continuing problem or part of the solution. Either we will recruit minorities or we won’t.

Either we will partner with minority businesses or we won’t. Either we will respect minority consumers or we won’t. We’ll either work for change or we’ll work against change. There is no middle ground.

Still need a tip drill...

No, THIS is gangsta!

I'm not sure how well this is actually gonna work, but don't say thats sistas ain't tryin'. Personally this sounds like a stand-up comic's routine gone haywire, but anybody whose been to Bogota knows that it's no joke down there. I got a couple friends from there. Westside of CHi is rough, but it's Palm Springs compared to the crap they goin' on down there.

They got Death Squads. (Are you for real?!) Government backed Death  Squads.

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The ‘crossed legs’ strike Wives of Colombia gang members call sex strike against crime.

They are calling it the “crossed legs” strike.

Fretting over crime and violence, girlfriends and wives of gang members in the Colombian city of Pereira have called a ban on sex to persuade their menfolk to give up the gun. After meeting with the mayor’s office to discuss a disarmament program, a group of women decided to deny their partners their conjugal rights and recorded a song for local radio to urge others to follow their example.

No More Colorblindness!!!

This one is soooo deserving of its own post, it's not even funny. (Thank God it's friday! what a week!)