The School of Greatness - 723 Give to Receive with Russell Simmons

Episode Date: November 23, 2018

“You have a right to your actions, but never to your actions’ fruits.” - Bhagavad Gita It’s a time of year where we focus on giving. We give gifts, we give back to our communities, and we give to charities. So what does it mean to give? And why is it important? Giving is not just a nice thing to do, it’s critical to your wellbeing. We are all connected- the more you give to others, the more you help yourself. For this Five Minute Friday, I revisited an amazing conversation I had with Russell Simons where he shared how the practice of giving has made him incredibly prosperous. Russell Simmons is an American entrepreneur, record producer, yogi, and author. He co-founded Def Jam Recordings and created the fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He is also the founder of Rush Communications. Russell is one of the richest men in Hip Hop, but he didn’t get there by hoarding all of his wealth. He’s learned that the more he makes the world better, the more his own world is improved. He makes the point that good givers are great getters, but you have to give fully without the expectation that it will benefit you. Learn more about Russell Simmons background and why his practice of philanthropy is key to his success in Episode 723. In This Episode You Will Learn: How black entrepreneurs are inspired by their street experiences (1:30) How integration destroyed the fabric of black communities (3:00) Why Russell loves to empower new artists (4:00) Why Russell chooses to give back (5:00) How giving will help you receive (5:30)

This is 5-Minute Friday! Welcome everyone to this podcast. Very excited about this one. It's with the American business magnate Russell Simmons. He's the chairman and CEO of Rush Communications and co-founded the hip-hop music label Def Jam and created the clothing, fashion lines, Fat Farm, and Tantris. Simmons most recently launched All Def Digital, an original content channel on YouTube with over a million subscribers.

He's also been described as the third richest figure in hip-hop. What did you learn from that whole phase of selling drugs and how to translate it into selling music? I understand your question, but you never know how bad your life is or what risk you're taking when you're surrounded by people who

seem to be taking greater risks. I'm not killing anybody. They're killing people. You always feel safer than the neighbor who's doing something maybe a little bit more risky. What I learned was you take something for a dollar, you sell it for two. As I used to have pounds of weed,

you make so many nickel bags out of a pound of weed, it's ridiculous. You could make some money. That was something in the black community. A low middle class place like Hollis, Queens, like your only job was maybe if you can get out of school and be a teacher or something.

Like that was an education. It was not a culture that promoted entrepreneurialism. Right, right. So if you notice some of the great entrepreneurs for the black community, especially ones at least my age, they were inspired by their street experiences because that's where they had to learn

to fend for themselves and create $1 that turned into $2 as opposed to working for someone else. So that's the only cultural thing that really reminded you. Like the guys who owned the store, it's like Johnny was a number man and he owned the store, but he was his own man. And whoever owned the store,

it seemed like they used to be drug dealers or something, but now they own the deli or now they own the, you know, so that's a kind of interesting experience. Sure. A lot of what came out of our community, you know, where people moved in, integration destroyed the fabric of the community, economic fabric, because you don't have the black doctor, the black pharmacist, the black whatever. You just got now, or not at that moment, but you have Rite Aid, for instance. You have whatever it is that moved in. So then that integration thing was always troublesome to a lot of people because it destroyed the fabric of the community, economic fabric,

and took the money out the community. Right, okay. So anyway, as an entrepreneur, I learned from having some experiences selling drugs. Yeah. It's true. But music was a totally different thing. I was selling parties. I was promoting parties where great artists performed.

And we booked the ballroom for $1,000. And as a bond guarantee, we get the money back because they drink $1,000 and we keep the door. It was a very lucrative business for me as a sophomore in City College. So it was a way to really fall in love with rap, but there were no rap records. In 1979, I made a record, and that record was Christmas Rappin'. And it became a big hit.

It plays every Christmas. And since then, I've been really inspired to give artists opportunities. I mean, that's what I've done my whole life. Even now here at All Def Digital, we have all these young writers, directors, producers, who I get to say, yes, go shoot it every day, at least once a day. I say, go make it. And I couldn't do that.

I mean, that is a very, very great thing to let people express themselves and be part of that process. very great thing to let people express themselves and be part of that process now i heard that adair told me that you are really passionate about a number of giving back causes and you give back a lot i'm curious what are the top one or two things that you're most passionate about giving back and why do you choose to give back so much because he can't take the shit with you and as long as you can make it to the finish line and my kids are so rich anyway i mean you know i mean why would i not try to do good things for good people i mean i'm involved in four or five philanthropic social organizations and other political movements that help underserved communities because we are all connected ultimately and what we do for other people is what we do for ourselves. So we should lift other people as part of our process.

What we give the world, the world gives us. It's true. Good givers also are great getters. You know, Jesus taught two sermons, one to the masses. Give and you'll get. And when you get, you can pay the Romans their taxes. People went out, masses, and they did that. They told his disciples disciples give without expectation

be focused on the giving itself and the more focused and present you are in your gift then the more the more effective you are in your giving you're a great great giver and they keep giving and you're more like lakshmi the indian goddess so you just give and they everybody's got to pile shit up at your feet because they want you to keep giving. Right, right. So that's what the good givers do. The great givers give without expectation. Right. So that's...

Were you always a big giver or is this like something that you learned over time? Over the last 20 years or so, it's been more prevalent in my life. But if you want money, you got to give money. You got to make money for somebody else to get money. And to really be a moneymaker, you got to make money for someone. To really be a good or do something of the equal. To make real happiness, you have to promote

happiness for someone else. Anything you want, you have to give. You have to give what you want to receive. I learned that. I believe in that. I believe in the cycle of giving and getting that is continuous and that you believe in the cycle of giving and getting that is continuous and that you should participate in it without fear yeah and that then you if you do that then

you will be a much more prosperous person even in terms of junk in the world and stuff and return on your investments but you will be more prosperous if you are focused entirely on the gift and the honest service because if the man in front of you don't pay you the man next to him will so you just got to do it just do your job and forget

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita you have control over the work alone but never its fruit and he says go out and give.