Moving Beyond Hustle
“I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in Hell, I am a hustler, baby, I’ll sell water to a well.” — Jay-Z
Successful people always have some combination of determination, grit, and hustle in order to achieve incredible feats. Even starting from different positions in terms of funding, experience, and connectedness a person has to be driven to succeed. Hustle is a key component to getting things done and exceeding expectations, both personally and professionally. ‘Hustle,’ once a word with a negative connotation (‘fraud’; ‘swindle’; ‘obtain illicitly’), is now commonly used to express something mostly positive (‘a state of great activity’) in a professional context. It implies hard work, physical engagement, and ingenuity.
At a certain point in a person’s career, there are other characteristics and attributes to describe their success and high level of competency. Pure hustle gets replaced by other positive descriptors, including, among many others: intentional, methodical, having operational expertise, intellectual curiosity, strong intuition, polished, and possessing superior qualitative and quantitative balance. Even today, after running a top Enterprise Team for a Fortune 500 company, working at one of the most successful IPO’s this decade, and working with over 400 startups in my career (angels in 15 of them) I get labeled time and time again with ‘hustler.’ I cannot even count the number of times I have heard, “Wow, what a background, you’re such a hustler!” Typically the speaker comes from a prescribed background, investment banking, consulting, top MBA — and more importantly this comment is race agnostic — Black, white, males and females use this term. Calling an ambitious male or female a ‘hustler’ without considering other more accurate and appropriate terms is lazy on the part of the speaker, and disrespectful to the person they are referring to. Do I really need to be associated with this term into perpetuity because of the limited vocabulary of others?
There are even direct synonyms for ‘hustle’ including ‘persistence’, ‘drive’, and ‘tenacity.’ The point being, there is no lack of descriptive characteristics beyond hustle.
Over the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to speak to a few HBCUs. I encourage all of the students to value their brand and persona intentionally. To value being analytical, methodical, and authentic; to never get comfortable with someone calling you a hustler because of a job interview, a successful milestone or path you walked in life. Where I am from ‘hustler’ means something different, but we can talk about that another time.
Why am I finding it difficult to shake the term ‘hustler’?
I have a few theories. Firstly, I am a lifelong competitive athlete. Athletes are often labeled with words that have physical connotations. Their career is all about physicality. But, I’m not a career athlete. And even for athletes, there are plenty of other characteristics to associate with successful, dedicated, and entrepreneurial players of any sport and of any gender.
Secondly, I have observed the settings in which I hear ‘hustle’ used most often. This word seems naturally applicable to any successful minority, non-traditional candidate in any space — especially in professional settings. The reality is that institutions in our society create adverse conditions for inclusion based upon race, gender, sexuality, disability, and socioeconomic status. For those who have had to face barriers — both social and economic — continually being defined by this language — in reference to societal obstacles — is limiting. It fails to recognize the fullness of their humanity — and in fact, the part it does recognize is based upon predetermined societal conditions of injustice and inequity. The requirement of hustling to overcome the inequity created by society as a whole speaks to what our world is like — it is not a defining characteristic of a person. That said, you don’t think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and anyone else we may idolize because of their success doesn’t have a little hustle and serendipity to their career? People from all backgrounds and circumstances have ‘hustle,’ but that’s not the only thing they should be defined by.
The need to overcome adversity caused by institutional inequity is a factor in the stories of many, but the act of overcoming that adversity is not the pinnacle of a career. From there we keep climbing, and appropriate acknowledgement of the capacity not only to surpass the hurdle, but to succeed beyond it, is critical for truly inclusive practices in our professional communities.
The truth is that ‘hustle’ — and other words like it — are not always contextually appropriate. I used to take ‘hustle’ as a compliment without question ten to twelve years ago. But, as people evolve in their careers it is important to acknowledge their current position, not just reinforce the conditions under which they got where they are today.
This is part of the reason I am so passionate about creating inclusive spaces for the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. I want to empower people to be defined by their skillsets, their knowledge-base, their competencies — and to acknowledge the completeness of what they have to offer. I have seen firsthand the immense strength of globally diverse teams. In my experience, agile thinking, innovation, and creativity occur at the highest rate and with the greatest speed in situations where a highly diverse and skilled team is in alignment, working toward a common goal. I know the powerful results that truly inclusive spaces create.
In professional contexts especially, we need to bring awareness to the way in which language may limit and devalue the totality of who a person is and what they are capable of. Over the last 10 months I’ve been offered multiple opportunities in senior investment roles and the word ‘hustle’ has always been included, as an uncreative and underhanded compliment, from your favorite venture firms. I take the opportunity to speak with each individual who uses the word on why I think there are better options. My hope is that in giving feedback and sharing this perspective, when we meet anyone who is ambitious, intentional, accomplished, and exceptional…let’s choose a different word.
Exceptional Capital starts now….
