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1/24/14

02: Quddus Philippe – How Vulnerability Catalyzes Your Creativity

My boy Quddus has become one of the biggest inspirations in my life since I met him. We both come from similar upbringings that have shaped the way we see the world. He and I both have gone through an intense leadership training that have helped shape the way we now see the world in greater possibility. One of those things is the power of vulnerability in creating connections with people we encounter, and our every day relationships. He recently did his own training on that subject which was powerful.

“In sixty years, what is going to be on your tombstone? What are people at your funeral going to say about you?”

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/quddus-on-shop-talk-radio-with” title=”Quddus Philippe – How Vulnerability Catalyzes Your Creativity” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/02_Quddus_NIONradio_3.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]

In This Show We Discuss:

  • How Quddus found his place on MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL)
  • A few highlights of his career as the VJ for TRL
  • How to authentically connect with celebrities and world shakers
  • The value in being fully present at every moment
  • The content development practice for Quddus
  • How creativity and presence play together
  • Stepping out of the need for a paycheck
  • Why embracing failure is the key
  • Carving out identity when working your job
  • On becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable
  • Should I go to university/college
  • Addressing insecurities and the need for validation
  • The power of vulnerability for creative entrepreneurs
  • How Kanye West’s vulnerability makes him so powerful
  • How Quddus found his new, powerful, authentic voice
  • Blind-spots – The subconscious self talk that keeps us down
  • The power behind the emotional intelligence and how it played out in his performance in Duets
  • The results of focusing on being rather than other motivation
  • The importance of passion to the creative entrepreneur
  • Quddus opens up and tells the story of his big failures

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Quddus’ site & Blog: The Q Side
Connect with Quddus: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE

CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION

My boy Quddus has become one of the biggest inspirations in my life since I met him. We both come from similar upbringings that have shaped the way we see the world. He and I both have gone through an intense leadership training that have helped shape the way we now see the world in greater possibility. One of those things is the power of vulnerability in creating connections with people we encounter, and our every day relationships. He recently did his own training on that subject which was powerful.

“In sixty years, what is going to be on your tombstone? What are people at your funeral going to say about you?”

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/quddus-on-shop-talk-radio-with” title=”Quddus Philippe – How Vulnerability Catalyzes Your Creativity” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/02_Quddus_NIONradio_3.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]

In This Show We Discuss:

  • How Quddus found his place on MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL)
  • A few highlights of his career as the VJ for TRL
  • How to authentically connect with celebrities and world shakers
  • The value in being fully present at every moment
  • The content development practice for Quddus
  • How creativity and presence play together
  • Stepping out of the need for a paycheck
  • Why embracing failure is the key
  • Carving out identity when working your job
  • On becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable
  • Should I go to university/college
  • Addressing insecurities and the need for validation
  • The power of vulnerability for creative entrepreneurs
  • How Kanye West’s vulnerability makes him so powerful
  • How Quddus found his new, powerful, authentic voice
  • Blind-spots – The subconscious self talk that keeps us down
  • The power behind the emotional intelligence and how it played out in his performance in Duets
  • The results of focusing on being rather than other motivation
  • The importance of passion to the creative entrepreneur
  • Quddus opens up and tells the story of his big failures

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Quddus’ site & Blog: The Q Side
Connect with Quddus: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

1/24/14

02: Quddus Philippe – How Vulnerability Catalyzes Your Creativity

Personal & Spiritual Development

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BRAND INTELLIGENCE

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LIFE INTELLIGENCE

My boy Quddus has become one of the biggest inspirations in my life since I met him. We both come from similar upbringings that have shaped the way we see the world. He and I both have gone through an intense leadership training that have helped shape the way we now see the world in greater possibility. One of those things is the power of vulnerability in creating connections with people we encounter, and our every day relationships. He recently did his own training on that subject which was powerful.

“In sixty years, what is going to be on your tombstone? What are people at your funeral going to say about you?”

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/quddus-on-shop-talk-radio-with” title=”Quddus Philippe – How Vulnerability Catalyzes Your Creativity” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/02_Quddus_NIONradio_3.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]

In This Show We Discuss:

  • How Quddus found his place on MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL)
  • A few highlights of his career as the VJ for TRL
  • How to authentically connect with celebrities and world shakers
  • The value in being fully present at every moment
  • The content development practice for Quddus
  • How creativity and presence play together
  • Stepping out of the need for a paycheck
  • Why embracing failure is the key
  • Carving out identity when working your job
  • On becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable
  • Should I go to university/college
  • Addressing insecurities and the need for validation
  • The power of vulnerability for creative entrepreneurs
  • How Kanye West’s vulnerability makes him so powerful
  • How Quddus found his new, powerful, authentic voice
  • Blind-spots – The subconscious self talk that keeps us down
  • The power behind the emotional intelligence and how it played out in his performance in Duets
  • The results of focusing on being rather than other motivation
  • The importance of passion to the creative entrepreneur
  • Quddus opens up and tells the story of his big failures

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Quddus’ site & Blog: The Q Side
Connect with Quddus: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

1/24/14

02: Quddus Philippe – How Vulnerability Catalyzes Your Creativity

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It’s an ongoing creative partnership focused on bringing your personal brand identity to life.

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All shaped as a direct extension of who you are. The work also includes a bespoke process of identifying and aligning the right experts when needed, so nothing gets built out of sync with your core.

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A long view over changing terrain, the difference between a static rulebook and a living Brand Brain

Brand guidelines are static rules for the surface. A Brand Brain is a living codification of identity a team or an AI can generate from. The difference, defined.

Mountain terrain stretching in every direction, breadth before depth in choosing a practice

We trained six styles of kung fu in one month. Sampling that widely taught me how a creative actually finds the practice worth years: breadth first, the pull as data, then depth.

An unfamiliar landscape seen at full attention, travel waking up a creative eye

Travel makes you more creative because unfamiliar places wake up your perception. Why the effect works, and how to bring the sharpened eye home with you.

Elevated Realism portrait of Nick Cannon at ease in a light blue suit, brand photography that matches who the subject has become

Your brand photos lag behind you because you kept evolving and the images stayed frozen. Why the gap opens, how to spot it, and what closes it.

A mountain path with fixed edges, the chosen container that makes depth possible

The kung fu school had rules: locked-in weekdays, dawn starts, push-ups for lateness. A month inside taught me that constraints you choose are what make depth possible.

Out in the field making the day's work, a daily creative practice in motion

A daily creative practice is making one real thing every day, however small, to stay in a proactive state. A working definition, and how to build one that lasts.

A traveler standing clear of the crowd, one coherent identity the machines can read correctly

AI describes your brand by averaging your public record. How to codify one identity, repeat it everywhere, and get the machines to echo you back accurately.

A performer's world stripped to essentials, artistry carrying without production

I’ve photographed Justin Bieber several times and seen fame up close. His stripped-down Coachella set showed the thing I keep relearning about creative work: production amplifies, and only artistry carries.

Calm Jamaican coastline, a nervous system coming all the way down in creative burnout recovery

You recover from creative burnout by treating it as a nervous system state: build real down-cycles, read your own signals, and return to the work you love.

Mountain landscape in New Zealand, one clear thread running through a magnetic personal brand

A magnetic personal brand comes from coherence and one clear through-line. Here is how entrepreneurs build one, in order, and the trap that keeps most brands scattered.

Hiking a New Zealand mountain trail, learning at your own pace in midlife

I spent a month training kung fu in Wudang at 47, the oldest and slowest learner in the room. What being a beginner again in midlife taught me about pace, comparison, and starting anyway.

Photographer walking a snow-capped mountain ridge in New Zealand, the long practice of seeing that develops taste

You develop taste through thousands of reps of looking closely and deciding what works. A photographer’s honest answer on how taste gets built.

Silhouetted figure leaping from a sea cliff at sunset, committing to one coherent personal brand identity

You make a personal brand more coherent by naming the identity underneath it, distilling a one or two word through-line, and bringing the four layers into agreement. The full path, in order.

About the Blogger

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

NICK'S STORY