Day 6 of Kwanzaa bring us Kuumba, or creativity. Full disclosure: I have tens of cousins and extended family members named Kumba so first I want to send a shout out to all my second born girl cousins who all seem to be creative souls.
For me I wanted to speak on Creativity in a slightly different matter. When I think of creativity I think of resilience. I'll start with people I find creative:
Stevie Wonder - One of the youngest musical prodigies, Stevie overcame his disabilities to make music that touches the soul and creatively matches the activist mood of the country every step of the way.
LeBron James - As a 20 something, he was a super resilient athlete who knew his legacy would be tied to competing at the highest level and winning championships. Despite an owner and city bad-mouthing him (for leaving Cleveland) and fans burning his jersey he maneuvered the National Basketball Association (which primary is managed and coached by white males) to win championships with the Miami Heat. He returned to Cleveland and "delivered" a championship, and returned the luster and shine to my beloved LA Lakers franchise by winning a 4th title. He creatively did this when no other players did these types of things. He recruited players, now negotiates short-term deals so he can maximize his value (sound familiar), and uses his brand and platform for a school in Akron, his management team are people of color, his agent Rich Paul is black, and he is active politically... when most players previously didn't want to impact their business dealings and brand. Remember: "Shut Up and Dribble"
Streaming Content / Cord Cutters - A whole industry has been built off a simple premise I've written about here of the years. Why do I pay for channels I don't use?? When we cut the cord this year out of frustration with Comcast jacking their prices up (even though we could afford it), my technology boundaries led me to install an HD antennae. This was perfect for the kids as we get PBS, not much of a drop of there. It wasn't bad for the wife as most of her shows are actually non-cable TV shows. But boy, I took a hit, which the industry knew, because I follow sports and a few cable TV shows. Our family has saved easily over $150 a month by cutting the cord and just going to high speed internet and we showed resilience by not crawling back but creativity by treating ourselves to a ROKU streambar. A small investment got me a soundbar (not the best but decent) and introduced us to the creative world of streaming content. I can stream news channels and stock broadcasts and the kids can stream PBS and a few different cartoon options. My wife tapped her social network and now flips through Apple, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and who knows what else. The most ironic thing is I recommended this stock and didn't fully understand the flexibility its technology was providing for this new generation of streaming and cutting traditional cord options. I now understand why Hulu wants to sell Live Sports and why Fubotv, a sports only streaming channel, skyrocketed 330% this year.
State's Get Creative - Maybe the most creative thing I do, because of my job as a consultant/auditor is I am forced to listen to both sides. So I am one of the rare people that you will meet that wants to hear all angles before I begin my own investigation. I roll over in laughter as state and federal politicians preach those good ole puritan values. But the data tells me and it should tell you...they are doubling down in vices or supposed sin to fill their budget coffers. I won't go Boardwalk Empire on you...but you don't find it odd that your state:
- Offer Lottery Tickets
- Expanded Casinos and now is offering or looking into the growing world of sports gambling
- Offers Medicinal marijuana and many now make bank off of recreational marijuana (after years jailing minorities for something that magically becomes legal with the stroke of a pen?)
- Many cities are discussing reducing or removing drug tests because with the saturation of Meth throughout poor and middle-class America, Corporate America now can't find lower income white talent who can pass rigorously screening that often kept minorities out of their ivory towers. In my state, we've even discussed remediation centers, so these persons don't fill the jails and get a different path. Where was this creativity during the crack epidemic? Where were the work release programs for minority dealers selling weed, which we can't seem to control because the people have spoken: they were buying all that weed being sold and don't see the harm?
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