Close Ad

Ibram Kendi | How to be the Smartest in the Room
Ibram Kendi Speech
Inspiring Speeches and Interviews

Ibram Kendi | How to be the Smartest in the Room

Ibram Kendi - Grow Your Intellect

Are you an intellectual? Ibram Kendi breaks down what it really means to be the smartest person in the room. His message will make you reconsider everything you knew about intelligence and productivity.

Transcript:


I want to talk to you about what is next for your mind. The point of my address is to ask you a very simple question. Are you an intellectual? I'm asking this question because you need to know that having a doctorate does not make you an intellectual. Becoming a professor does not make you an intellectual. Working in a research lab does not make you an intellectual just like there are MDs who are not healers, just like there are reverends who are not about God. Do not become that person.

Hot Stories

No doctorate degree is required to join the intellectual academy. This is an inclusive academy with all types of people coming from all types of backgrounds. There are people with only a GED. There are incarcerated people. There are homeless people in this intellectual academy. There are poor people in this intellectual academy. So when I say "intellectual," I'm not referring to someone who knows a wealth of information. All of you I'm sure know a lot. I do not measure a person's intellect based on how much a person knows. How much you know has no bearing on how much you are an intellectual. I define and many others define an intellectual as someone with a tremendous desire to know. Intellectuals have a tremendous capacity to change their minds on matters, to self-reflect, to self-critique. Intellectuals are only governed by one special interest and that special interest is rarely self-serving and that special interest is finding and revealing the truth.

How many of you have a tremendous desire to know? How many of your minds are wide open to new ideas? How many of you are searching for ideas that challenge how you see the world? How many of you are willing to look differently at the world with the blink of new evidence? How many are you critiquing your own ideas as intensely as you critique the ideas of others?

Intellectuals are a nomadic people, constantly changing their conceptual location, constantly in search of a better conceptual space. We have workout warriors of the body, those who pump iron to break down old muscles to allow newer and bigger and better muscles to grow in their place. Well, intellectuals are workout warriors of the mind regularly breaking down old ideas to allow new ideas and bigger ideas and better ideas to grow in their place. Are you an intellectual?

Why Jennifer Hudson Forgave Her Mother's Killer -- Life Stories By Goalcast

At the peak of her career, Jennifer Hudson faced a horrific family tragedy. Hudson's mother and brother were brutally attacked in their family home, and her seven-year-old nephew was kidnapped. What followed was a heart-wrenching manhunt to rescue her nephew and seek justice against the man who took her family. Hudson speaks from the heart in this video on what happened to her family and how she was able to move forward.

Celebrities
People smiling in unison united
Racism Quotes

Racism is considered the marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges another race. The term is applied in many areas of a society that perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race or strengthen racial inequalities in education, health care, income, and civil rights.

Ever since the 20th century, the concept of biological race is considered a cultural invention that has no scientific basis. The progress over the past half-century has been impressive, but the nation still has a long way to go to reach true racial equality.

Keep ReadingShow less
Everyday Heroes
hands are put together as part of community volunteer efforts
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

A community is so much more than people sharing a space. It's a living, breathing network of connections and shared experiences. While it's usually defined as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common,” true community runs much deeper than that.

Diversity

Keep ReadingShow less
Quotes