October 31, 2017 | People
This month, hundreds of artists, entrepreneurs, activists, and more stepped into the spotlight at various Chicago Ideas Week events throughout the city. During talks, labs, and conversations, these speakers (some local Chicagoans, some visitors) shared their stories and experiences, what they’ve learned, and what’s next. Need an inspiration boost? Read ahead for some of the most unforgettable things we heard all week.
On mastering your craft...
“Be great at one thing first and then [build up]. [...] I always tell people, you don’t have to be everything. [...] Pick a thing. Conquer a thing first. If you can conquer one of those things, it’ll feed into the other stuff you want to do later. But trying to chase five dreams at once—it [won’t] happen. Don’t chase five things. Chase one, tackle it, then chase the others."
On being hopeful for the next generation of kids...
“I feel hopeful when I sit here, and I see all of you guys, and we’re actually talking about it. We weren't invited to talk about this stuff 10 years ago. Nobody was [saying], ‘Hey, come talk about early education in poor America.’ This is exciting for us; this is thrilling. [...] It’s not the beginning of a movement—it’s been around—but it’s a building of momentum around something that so deserves our time and effort. And there’s nothing more optimistic than catching a baby and helping them up. There’s nothing more optimistic than catching a young mom when she is still feeling hopeful and energized about helping her kid get out of poverty; and catching her and saying, ‘You can do it, you can do it, you can do it.’ And it’s thrilling to see, it really is.”
On being an entrepreneur and the creative process...
“We just have to be open, and we have to be able to throw a ton of bad ideas up against the wall and just see what sticks.”
On success...
“I feel like the way I measure success is not through reviews or money or any of that stuff. It’s through if I like it and I feel good about it, and my collaborators like it and they feel good about it—that’s the whole game.”
On cultivating creativity...
“Let your children play. That’s what is most important. Let them play, let them experiment, and let them be tactile.”
On collaborating with others…
“No business, no collection in fashion, no book is a one-person show. It is about the art of collaboration.”
On celebrating our differences...
“Food, and fashion, and all design forms [have] the ability to teach about different cultures. And I think we’re at a time when we really need to be generous and celebrate each other more than ever.”
On recognizing that young women are multidimensional...
“For too long women—especially young women—have been asked to choose between being either stylish, or informed and smart.”
On being authentic on social media...
“I think anyone who’s sitting there curating their public profile and thinking about every Instagram post is doing it wrong. I think that the audience responds to what’s real and what’s authentic. I am just being myself at work, I’m trying to just be myself on social media, and I don’t overthink it. And I think, naturally, young people are looking for people they can relate to.”
On inspiration...
“You can get inspiration from anybody you meet, if you just are open to that experience and you don't come in with a preconception of who that person is. Sometimes I get the greatest inspiration from people I never expected to get any inspiration from. If you have that authentic moment [and] you’re just talking to somebody you just met, you [can] have this connection and encounter [that’s] totally unexpected because you just showed up in an authentic, vulnerable way—that happens to me all the time.
On being there for others by listening...
“A lot of times the listener is somebody who is actually taking the time to hear voices that don’t necessarily get to speak, to hear voices that they don’t necessarily get access to. A lot of us live in our bubbles. We hang out with who we hang out with, and that’s all we really care about. But then, if we’re not experiencing what other people are experiencing, the only way to hear about it is to listen to them.”
On failure...
“My favorite lesson of all is make failure your fuel. I’m hear to tell you that failure is awesome. It’s really fun.”
On being fired from Virgin Megastores and lessons in humility...
“It’s a personal [story] of epically humiliating failure. [...] But living through that kind of humiliation actually gives you a giant dose of humility. And the lesson in all of it for us as individuals—but I also believe as companies—is to be stubbornly humble. And that means recognizing even if you’ve happened to have had a great year, and you knocked it out of the park, and everyone says you’re amazing. You’re actually only as good as what you did today, and you can always be better.”
On combining business and social impact...
“It was important for us when we launched the company—we actually had lots of capital available to us; we walked away from the wrong capital, and that’s something I would encourage. To any entrepreneurs...you need to make sure if you’re [going to] bring someone into your family, make sure there’s mission alignment. We were very fortunate…[that] there was 100% mission alignment [with our investors…] These are smart people [who] understand high returns, but they also understand social impact at the same time. You can do good with investments, investing in smart entrepreneurs that are looking to make the world better; and in addition to that, you can also make tremendous profits.”
On how her upbringing influenced her philanthropic nature...
“Any household you grow up in, you’re being shaped. And for me, my father came from a very low caste in India; and that idea that I could have grown up that exact same way shaped and informed every decision I made as a child, as a teenager, through college, and now in my 40s. And what I mean by that is giving back is just like breathing for me. I feel like I must do it.”
On not giving up…
“When you have it in you to want to work on a business, on your passion, on your product; you don’t take ‘no’ for an answer—whether it’s from your parents, or from partners, or from your buyers. You just find a way around. For me, I don’t really accept ‘no’ until I know why ‘no’ is ‘no.’ And in some cases, it is and I move around; and in some cases, it’s actually not. But for me, it’s not even in my vocabulary that ‘no’ is ‘no’ until I can understand why.”
On starting a business...
“Stop talking about it and just do it. If it’s a thing, put it in a Ziploc bag [and] write something on it. Open an Instagram [account]. [...] You just need to go forward.”
On taking the steps to start something good...
“Get in the corridor and the doors will show themselves. [...] If you want to do good in the world, all you need to do is get going. If you can change one person, you did your job. You don’t have to have a master plan.”
On making the most of life after surviving the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane crash
“Somehow in our evolution, we developed something that doesn't allow us to really face the fact that this all will end for all of us. And somehow we tend to know it, but not really live it. An experience like [the plane crash] is a real [reminder] that [life] can change in an instant. And this is finite. And we are running out of time. If you have somebody that you owe an apology to, don’t wait. If you have somebody that you haven't said you love enough, don't wait. If you have something you must do, visit, try, taste, don’t wait. Because when it’s too late, it’s too late. I say all the time that I collect bad wines—it’s one of my favorite sayings. And people [say], ‘That’s really weird.’ The point is: I drink all my good ones.”
On learning the importance of embracing her style and being herself...
“I was so busy trying to fit into this costume that didn't fit that made me feel uncomfortable that I couldn't actually put energy into what I was really good at. I couldn't really contribute because I was so busy trying to fit into this box that I felt so uncomfortable [in]. And when i finally took some of those things off...I found that I was freer and I was more open and I was able to really express myself. [...] I felt that unless I could really show up, that I would never be appreciated. For me, it has [also] constantly been this test of the environment. Which is that I don't believe that I just need to fit into a place; I need to be appreciated by that place; and the only way I can do that is to show up as myself.”
On seeking happiness outside of technology...
“Consider for just one moment that the best tools at our disposal at reaching our bigger goal—that part where we actually enjoy ourselves and become happier and healthier—maybe those were not designed by an engineer or promoted on Kickstarter.”
On interacting with others outside of our devices...
“Conversation is uncharted. It can go bad; it can be messy; it can be surprising; it can be risky—but that’s the good part.”
—Emma Sarran Webster
On creating meaningful art...
“At a certain point in time, we start saying the same thing…I don’t want to say the same thing. I want to say something [so] that someone can walk away with something. Otherwise, why am I talking?”
On the creative process...
“In our music, when we’re in the studio on Pro Tools, and I’m pointing at this, or [JuJu Exchange member] Nico [Segal]'s chopping that, we’re trying to figure out the secret of a song that’s getting a life of its own, like a mother who’s giving birth to a child. At some point, a child has a life of its own; I’ll never understand that in a way that a mother would, but honestly, I can feel that in a way—producing music that, at some point, takes on a life of its own.”
On maintaining authenticity...
“It’s about being honest in the studio. As a producer, it’s our job to be honest, both to the artist and to ourselves; everybody in the room that has something valid to say about the song, or about a sound, specifically, or whatever it is...Always trying to maintain your honesty and integrity at the same time.”
—Stephen Ostrowski
PHOTOS COURTESY CHICAGO IDEAS WEEK
