Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eric Gee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Eric, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
I once declared that Kobe Bryant would turn into one of the best players in the NBA. You might question the significance of a sports hot take that, in hindsight, seems both obvious and insufficient (Kobe, of course, would eventually become one of the best players EVER). But for a basketball-obsessed high school kid and lifelong Angeleno who bled Laker purple and gold (anyone remember the Antonio Harvey days, cuz I do), there was danger in staking my basketball reputation on an eighteen-year-old two guard—back then, the only high school players who had ever successfully made the transition to the pros were big men). I. Was. Ridiculed.
“What you been smoking?”
“This guy don’t know basketball!”
And, of course… “He ain’t better than Eddie!”
Eddie Jones was athletic, a borderline all-star who seemed to glide through the air, and most importantly, the starting two guard for the Lakers. My friends and I would engage in furious debates before class, after class, and during class when the teacher wasn’t paying attention. Eddie vs. Kobe. Young veteran vs. eighteen-year-old rookie. Or, for the purpose of this answer, “the Known” vs. “the Unknown.”
I made my declaration based on Kobe Bryant’s performance in his first preseason game. He played like an old Michael Jordan; and by that, I mean, his moves were based on refined technique and skill and not totally reliant on freakish athleticism (though he had that too). Was it just one game? Yes. Was it the preseason? Yes. I didn’t care. I decided to trust my eyes, and my eyes saw a future All-NBA player.
Now, I’m not a basketball executive. I don’t have a job that even remotely involves sports. But I have started two businesses (one a successful education company that I ran for a decade) and have had one book published, and none of that would have been possible if I didn’t trust my eyes and follow my intuition. As kids we’re taught to follow the “safe” path: get good grades, get into a good college, get a good job, raise a family, etc. At the same time, we’re given the opportunity to read works that encourage taking the road “less traveled by” (Frost) so that we don’t “lead lives of quiet desperation.” (Thoreau). The fact that I chose the latter, some would say riskier, path isn’t what I’m most proud of—personally, I think making life decisions based on what other people tell you is safe is far riskier. It’s that I stayed the course, even when things didn’t go exactly as I wanted them to (making minimum wage for three years working at a golf course probably isn’t every UCLA grad’s idea of post-college career mobility).
Kobe Bryant averaged a measly 7.6 points his rookie year. That same year, in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals, when it mattered most, he airballed four shots in what would be the deciding game against the Utah Jazz. Do you know what a whole Summer of ”I told you so”’s sounds like? I do. Time doesn’t just stand still; it punches you in the face. Repeatedly. But I stuck to my guns—and my intuition.
I guess by choosing the 6’6 prodigy out of Lower Merion High School, I was actually choosing myself.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As an author, life/writing coach, and founder (in reverse order):
– I own Youtopia Creative, a shared workspace in Culver City, Los Angeles (think warmer than WeWork, more social than Starbucks, and more productive than those Meet Ups where a bunch of randos try to get you to read their script).
– I have administered personality-based life coaching and writing coaching for over twenty years.
– My book on personality types, The Power of Personality: Unlock the Secrets to Understanding Everyone In Your Life—Including Yourself! was published this year by Prometheus Books/Rowman & Littlefield.
A description of the book from my site (I’m not being lazy! I’m being efficient!):
All the fun of zodiac signs and all the empiricism of Joseph Campbell, The Power of Personality introduces readers to a step-by-step guide on how to personality type based on 16 easy-to-remember animal archetypes:
THE GATHERERS: the Stag, the Beaver, the Elephant, the Bear
THE HUNTERS: the Fox, the Shark, the Peacock, the Butterfly
THE SHAMANS: the Dolphin, the Giant Panda, the Baboon, the Humpback Whale
THE SMITHS: the Killer Whale, the Spider, the Chimpanzee, the Owl
This book is for romantics and pragmatists. It will take you on a journey that re-examines, clarifies, and sometimes debunks previously held assumptions on personality (birth order, cultural stereotypes, extroversion vs. introversion, type-A personalities).
Most books consist of a simplistic, often inaccurate test followed by descriptions and prescriptions. However, treatment can be damaging if the diagnosis is wrong. The Power of Personality is unique in that it trains you to be the test. No more arbitrary questions. No more mistyping. No more damage.
The Power of Personality…
DISMANTLES the widely accepted yet antiquated dichotomy of the MBTI family tree, introducing an intuitive typing method the author has developed over a decade of real-world experience working with actual people, not abstract theories.
POPULARIZES personality typing with fun, easy-to-remember animal archetypes that immediately evoke emotions in the reader, differing vastly from the cold, forgettable letter combinations and number designations featured in MBTI and the comparable Enneagram.
REJECTS the crude, cookie-cutter assessment that other personality systems center their prescriptions around——treatments are only as good as the diagnosis, and no one should be diagnosed by checklist. The Power of Personality teaches the reader to be the test.
ENTERTAINS with cultural allusions, ranging from Outkast’s Idlewild to Carl Sagan’s theory on interdimensional perception, and professional and personal anecdotes, told with an intellectually breezy, self-effacing voice.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Furious Five List (as in Grandmaster Flash—not Kung Fu Panda or some veiled reference to those Vin Diesel flicks)
Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger): So many philosophical lessons in this one, not least of which, that prayers and mantras are just empty words; it’s when they begin to imbue our actions that they become powerful.
Max Shulman’s short story, Love is a Fallacy: Teaching abstract concepts (logical fallacies) with humor, anecdotal examples, and delightful flippancy. Is it wrong to say I stole his style for my book?
Please Understand Me II (David Keirsey): The personality book that inspired me to write my own. Not perfect (some parts are redundant and sometimes the writing can be duller than an AI narrator), but better than everything else out there, excluding of course, The Power of Personality (available on Amazon and anywhere else you buy books!)
Dead Poets Society: A cinematic masterclass on how to teach, not only because of the flashy inspirational speeches, but because of how Mr. Keating treats each student differently based on what they need.
The Sword and the Stone: If only for the squirrel scene that made me unfathomably sad as a seven-year-old. Yes, love is more powerful than gravity, human inspiration is more powerful than science, and there are so many things in this world that exist beyond our understanding.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
When I used to interview traveling teacher candidates for my education company, testing their openness and ability to be inclusive was always a delicate subject. How do you ask someone whether they’d be willing to go into the Jordan Down Projects while protecting yourself from the assumption that the teacher in front of you is anything but an educated yet sheltered suburbanite who’s never taught in a neighborhood where everybody looks different than them?
We often think of resiliency as a response to outward pressure. But what if the greatest obstacles to happiness and success come from within? For me, there’s been no greater cause of adversity than my own shortcomings.
I remember in high school, I was sitting in Trigonometry class listening to a CD of Sarah McLachlan, when my friend Abraham motioned for me to take off my headphones.
Abraham: What you listening to?
Me: Oh, uh…nothing.
Abraham: Come on man. Let me listen.
Me: You wouldn’t like it.
He snatched the headphones out of my hand and proceeded to place them on his head.
Abraham: Dude! Sarah Mclachlan? I LOVE her.
Awkward pause.
Abraham: Wait, did you think I wasn’t going to like it because I’m Mexican? Like I only listen to gangster rap?
The worst thing about assumptions—yes, I’m skipping the tired “ass out of u and me” line—is that they often strip away another person’s identity and replace it with our own subconscious—or conscious—perceptions.
That’s why I ran two yearly professional development workshops for my education company:
1. A critical thinking workshop that focused on identifying, measuring, and (if found wanting) breaking our assumptions (they ran the gamut: race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, etc.).
2. A personality typing workshop that explained the different personality types, and how learning our own type helps us identify bias in our teaching style, especially when it comes to teaching students with a different personality than our own.
My teachers then passed on these lessons to their students. After all, if assumptions are the death of inclusivity, critical thinking and empathy are its lifeblood. And that goes for both fresh-faced teachers from Palos Verdes and sixteen-year-old Sarah McLachlan fans.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.projectyoutopia.com/university
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_power_of_personality
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eric.c.gee/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-gee-3565a79/
Image Credits
Madeline Stanley
Saad Ansari