Beyond The Page

Ever wondered if your sharp wit on the streets could outshine the knowledge from your book collection? Get ready to explore the fascinating world of book smarts versus street smarts in our latest podcast episode. We dive into the crux of academic acumen and juxtapose it with the cunning agility required to navigate life's curveballs. Through colorful examples, such as the craft of map-reading and the trials of starting a business, we peel back the layers on critical thinking and problem-solving, essential skills often missed in school halls.

Our conversations take a turn through personal stories, where real-life applications of these smarts come alive. Whether it's a tale of a car breakdown or building a fence, we reflect on how hands-on experiences can sharpen your intellect in ways textbooks might not. We also chat with Nolan, a Princeton graduate, who brings his own blend of book learning and street wisdom to the discussion. This episode is a treasure trove of insights into how a balance of knowledge types is vital in any endeavor, be it corporate or entrepreneurial.

To wrap it all up, we zoom out to look at the bigger picture – how both street and book smarts are necessary for navigating the complexities of life. We share heartfelt examples from friends who climbed academic ladders through sheer perseverance and invite you to weigh in with your perspectives. This episode isn't just a thinker's paradise; it's an interactive platform for all of us to share and grow from each other's experiences. So, let's embark on this journey of discovery together and redefine what it means to be truly 'smart'.

Episode Transcript

Ryan Selimos (00:07):
All right, boys.
I need some help Because, asthe space cadet of the group
right, we're talking aboutsmarts.
We're talking about book smarts, street smarts.
Can someone help me out?
Just what's the difference?

James LaGamma (00:24):
Which one do you want to take?

Ryan Selimos (00:25):
I can take book smarts do you want to take both
of them all right, um all right,we'll start off with book
smarts sure, I don't read much,but when you think book, you
think studying.

James LaGamma (00:35):
You think academia, right, that's kind of
it right.
There it's academic knowledge,learning from books studying.
Where it differs is it's you.
You, when you have book smarts,you don't necessarily know much
about people and how to live inthe real world.
Kind of think of sheldon frombig bang theory.
Ah, okay, yeah have you everwatched that?

Ryan Selimos (00:52):
I haven't watched it, but I know you know of it.
You can, you can correlate,yeah all right.

James LaGamma (00:56):
So now street smarts is different.
It's the ability to survive orsucceed in difficult situations,
especially in big cities.
That's where they get thestreet from street smarts Makes
sense.
Okay, it's kind of having theability to adapt.
I can give you some examples.
So like knowing how to read amap.
Right, that's street smarts,right, apple Okay.

Kenny Massa (01:21):
Well, I can give you this is good.

James LaGamma (01:23):
Navigating unfamiliar areas, but like
knowing how to navigate themproperly.
So that way you don't like youyou put yourself in a better
situation than just walkingblissfully into a dark alley.
Is not street smarts okay?

Ryan Selimos (01:37):
oh, I could cut right through here.

James LaGamma (01:38):
It's gonna it's shorter, it's gonna get me home.
That's not street smarts,that's using academia.
Oh yes, logically that was usshortest point between two dots
is a straight line.

Ryan Selimos (01:48):
You know like that was us walking back from new
york, kenny.
Wasn't there a situation likethat where it wasn't a dark
alley but it was coming backfrom from the club when people
were walking home?

Kenny Massa (01:58):
oh, I feel like you were there for it.

Ryan Selimos (02:00):
Yes, I was there for that okay, that's but I
thought was more to the story,but that's fine.

James LaGamma (02:06):
I feel like you can sum up street smarts as no,
it was basically exactly how itwas.

Kenny Massa (02:11):
It's fine.
Don't walk down a dark alley.
Yeah thank you.

James LaGamma (02:14):
Go ahead.
I think you sum up streetsmarts with just like quick wit,
like being able to think onyour feet is kind of like street
smarts Right.
Would Kind of like streetsmarts right.

Ryan Selimos (02:24):
Would you disagree ?

James LaGamma (02:25):
I mean, I feel like there's probably different
areas of street smarts that youcan think about, based on where
you grow up and your environment.
There's different types ofstreet smarts that you could
pick up.
I think that's how you pick upstreet smarts actually is
probably a better way to put ittoo.
Is environment, yourenvironment?
Okay, I appreciate it.

Kenny Massa (02:42):
Is that it?

Ryan Selimos (02:46):
I've given you more definition, insights.
Right now we can talk about ita little bit.

Kenny Massa (02:48):
We we can try yeah, there was a couple of different
categories which I help, whichI think that helps break down,
um, basically life.
No, not street smarts, but buthow, where?
I guess a better use case isstreet smarts against book
smarts.
So you looked at practicalapplication.
Right, like practicalapplication is, let's just say

(03:09):
it's something with work rightUsing logic.
Using logic, using process,using a system or theory to
apply it to gather a solution.
So anything that you learn thatyou can then reapply Social
competence.
I think that's a really greatone, right?
I don't think reading, you know, having book knowledge, is

(03:30):
going to help enhance socialcompetence, critical thinking,
creativity and innovation,practical problem solving,
versatility and adaptability.
And then there's just generalcareer success and there's
general life success.
So I think that there's a thoseare different areas in which

(03:51):
you could look at life whereeither one or maybe both of
those book smart or street smartapplications can be applied,
that can be leveraged in a moresuccessful manner.

James LaGamma (04:04):
so yeah, I mean we can get into the differences
and where I'd like to call outspecifically critical thinking
because, um, from twoperspectives one critical
thinking although I think streetsmarts may be the better have

(04:30):
the better ability to havebetter critical thinking but
bookmarks you can also think ina different manner.
So that way maybe criticalthinking still is happening
there.
It's just probably from likemore of a specific niche, like
of thought process.
But where I want to kind ofbring up critical thinking is
johnny and I.
Actually we talked about this,uh, when we were building your

(04:51):
fence, if you remember, wementioned how, like people that
don't really work with theirhands like to figure out a
problem, like us building afence and having to learn and
adapt.
We kind of agreed that by notdoing that, it makes it harder
for you to have the ability tocritical think.
Well, thank you.
There's like prop, like thatproblem solving aspect that came

(05:12):
.
Like we were, we were digginghis fence, we were close to his
house, there's a foundationunder there and stuff, and so we
had to figure out okay, how arewe going to make this work?
So the fence is still securing,there's gaps, the dog can't
escape, but still get the postto be down far enough to be
structurally sound, not pullover from a hurricane.

(05:32):
Although those six by sixfucking posts that Brea got, I
don't think those things aregoing fucking anywhere.
So, anyways, we had to adapt anduse critical thinking skills to
figure out, ok, what's the bestway.
And use critical thinkingskills to figure out, okay,
what's the best way.
And there was a couple of timeswhere debate happened between
you, me, bray's dad and we triedto figure out okay, what's the
best thing here, and so I don'tknow if I would say street

(05:52):
smarts kind of drove thatprocess of thinking.

Kenny Massa (05:58):
To go off that real quick.
I think that what initiatesyour initial thoughts is the
analytical thinking for booksmarts.
But then once you come up withlike, okay, here's the way it
should be done, but now we'refacing the fact that there's a
foundation under it Curveball,and that curveball is.
Then it kind of conflicts thebook smart knowledge there,

(06:20):
which then leads you to streetsmarts, because then you have to
create some type of solution toa problem, which then street
smarts, I think, leads you to afurther point of success, which
is why there becomes debate,because off of an experience or
off of an event that one of youmay have, which may be different
, that leads you to solving theproblem differently, which is

(06:42):
based off of most likely streetsmarts and events or historical
events.
So I think that you need bothBook smarts maybe helps with the
analytical part, but thesolution and the changes right,
because not everything is verysmooth, like just straight to
the point, and I think, unlessit's straight to the point, you

(07:04):
need to have some application ofstreet smarts.

James LaGamma (07:07):
I kind of come up with two concepts there based
off of what you said, and Ireally like how you articulated
it Situational awareness andthen analytics is kind of the
other thing that I took awayfrom that.

Kenny Massa (07:17):
Yeah, exactly.

James LaGamma (07:18):
Because two things came at play.
Like, situational awareness wasjust us having ever done any
house projects right, wherewe've done things in the past or
done other things.
But then the analytics side washow we analyze distance from
the house and, okay, how long isthe next post going to have to
be away from it?

(07:38):
Where should we place the nextpost?
If we do it from this angle, sothat's kind of where the
analytics side came from.
That's an interesting take.
If we do it from this angle, sothat's kind of where the
analytics side came from, that'san interesting take.
But I do think the situationalawareness is big on your street
smarts, because it's just adifferent way of thinking.

Kenny Massa (07:54):
I'll give you for instance for me personally, like
from my experience.
Maybe you guys from the otherhalf of the table can fucking
weigh in on this.

Ryan Selimos (08:03):
I'm just enjoying the james and kenny podcast, but
from my personal experience.

Kenny Massa (08:10):
Um, we all went to, you know, university and had a
four-year education that allowedus to have in or enhance our
our book smarts along the way.
But for me, starting a company,I couldn't leverage that really
at all Because the situationaspect of it was not able to be

(08:36):
acquired through knowledge ofbook knowledge.
It wasn't something that youcould acquire in a course.
Building a company is very muchsituationally driven and I
think that there's a couple ofthings that come into mind where
Street Smarts outperforms BookSmarts, which is interpersonal

(08:57):
communication and emotionalintelligence.
I think both of those thingscome specifically from Street
Smarts, not really Book Smarts,because you need to have that
interaction and as you have thatinteraction you become, you get
in the reps right, and by justlearning in a course, that
interaction is generally notthere.
Strong, I would say, applicablebook knowledge in certain case,

(09:30):
scenarios that didn't allow meto really build a company
because all it was wasapplication.
If I have nothing to apply itto and I don't leverage the
street smarts to create theapplication, meaning a client,
then I'm fucked.
So you have to create some typeof way to then leverage both of
them fucked.
So you have to create some typeof way to then you leverage
both of them.
So going door to door for mewas from business to businesses
was probably one of the mostpowerful events in my life.

(09:56):
To build street smarts fastbecause you have to be very
quick.
You'd have minimal amount oftime.
You're super uncomfortable,emotions are through the roof
and like, if you're not quick,it's going to show you a lack of
book knowledge too.
Right, so you have to like leanon both, because your emotional
intelligence is going to bereally important based off of
response from the person.

(10:17):
But you have to then lean onthe book knowledge that you have
because they're going to askyou a question that's in depth.
Hey, I have this certaincircumstance that's happening in
my business.
You know how would you?
How would you go about it?
Well, that might be a littlebit of leverage.
At the forefront of it isstreet smarts, but really you're
leaning on some book smarts too, and in most cases, because
it's applicable knowledge.
So I think that's uh, that'ssomething that I think about

(10:41):
going door to door withsomething that was like really
impactful for me.

James LaGamma (10:46):
You guys, just keep you guys just keep looking
at each other, you just you guysrubbing each other's, looking
at me I'm like what I wasn'tlooking at you just now.

Jonny Strahl (10:55):
I was um, so I like where you guys are going
with this.
I rather question, and maybethis can kind of open up for
discussion.
Right and discussion for rightand you answer the question so
you guys have both kind ofbroken down, which did a
fabulous job, by the way.
Yes, you know, yeah, no, no,seriously, like there's, there's
other ways.

James LaGamma (11:12):
I think you can put street smarts?

Jonny Strahl (11:13):
yeah, but no, I think the you even said it, like
the way you both were able toarticulate what the
quote-unquote definition butalso bring practical relation to
it Right.
So I think for for me, onething as far as like a question.
It's like could you or can yougive a time you kind of did

(11:38):
where you had to leverage both?
And it was like an eyeopeningexperience where it was like,
hey, if I could go back and lookat this, did I leverage more
book or did I leverage morestreet smarts specifically to
accomplish whatever?
Because a lot of the things Ifeel like street smarts is comes
down to just hustle, grit andbeing just willing to freaking,
try and go for it.

(11:58):
And that comes with a lot ofthings where maybe some people
who have book smarts, quoteunquote don't always want to do
Because you just want to pick upsomething, look at it, research
it, read it and that's it.
So for you, like, how do youtie both of those in and some of
your decision makings you'regonna go to accomplish?
yeah, first yeah, man, we'vebeen taught, we've been
listening.
Right, we have.
I think there's a perfectexample that you have, that I

(12:21):
have.
Yeah, I don't know um, I do.

Ryan Selimos (12:25):
I just say I'll probably pivot away.
I'm gonna pivot away from yourquestion I think one reason that
I struggle with we do well onpodcasts.
We do that I struggle with thisis because you know kenny
mentioned he put yourself inthat position right, going door
to door, where you wereuncomfortable and you had to
kind of apply both skill sets.
If I'm not comfortable with thesituation, normally I move my,

(12:47):
I move myself out of it, I finda way around it or someone steps
in and I think in my life Ihaven't had the best training in
situations.
It's more, people have justdone it and then I didn't gain
from the experience of goingthrough it myself or kind of
having that mentorship.
Which is why now and I've saidthis at work and one of the

(13:08):
things I've wanted, I want towork on, is, you know, when I'm
in those situations, how toattack it head-on versus hey,
finding a way to solve thatsituation but doing it my way
instead of maybe a way thatwould benefit me more in the
future.
I know that did not answer yourquestion.

James LaGamma (13:22):
No, you're good, but um I like, like where you
went with it, though I actuallybecause, again, when we were
talking about articulatingstreet smarts, I think you kind
of hit the nail on the head.
It's acquired through lifeexperiences.

Kenny Massa (13:31):
Yeah, 100%.

James LaGamma (13:31):
And so when you say, like you had someone else
kind of do it for you, I thinkthat's a lot of the biggest
problems that we see in society,where people don't have street
smarts because they've beencoddled and things have been
done for them now it's aseparate topic.
We can get into that later.
Um, did you?
Did you want someone to answer?

Jonny Strahl (13:48):
no, it's fine, but I had, I haven't then go for it
if you have an answer, then youhave an answer too um I

James LaGamma (13:53):
might have an answer I think times when I use
both almost every time withoutfail is whenever we travel,
because there's just commonsense that comes with traveling.
But then there's some booksmarts that go into play there
too, like cost analysis andtrying to figure out and
understanding how to get frompoint A to point B, thinking

(14:14):
about logistics and all thatstuff.
But then there's just streetsmarts of just having that
awareness of where am I.
I am in a different place.
Now I need to understand that Ineed to act a certain way and
other people who have thismindset of like I'm invisible or
my world is the same everywhere, act differently in those

(14:34):
situations and do not usedifferent types of street smarts
to make it so they can survivebetter off than if they were
acting out like as if they werestill in the US.
They can survive better offthan if they were acting out
like as if they were still inthe US, because not, and even
when it comes to cities, in theUS too, not every city is going
to be the same, but waydifferent when you go out of

(14:55):
country, right, and so I thinkthat's when you can have both
being leveraged is book smartson, like the planning process,
but then street smarts is whenyou're actually there, using
common sense, understanding yoursurroundings, blending in so
that way you're not just youknow.
It's the simple one of okay,when you go to a big city, you
don't put your wallet in yourback pocket, you're going to get
pickpocketed.
Yeah, that's the kind of stuffsomeone that's not exposed to

(15:18):
this will do it.
And then they'll be like, oh mygod, someone stole my wallet
and be like this insane.
I can't believe someone wouldsteal from me.
And it's that shock thathappens.
And you're like, well, yeah,you fucking idiot, yeah, like
you're in a city of millions,they're going to fucking take
your shit.
They have the ability to justwalk and take it.
They're not going to be likesome nice guy, like in your nice

(15:39):
upscale suburb that you fuckinglive in I like that.

Jonny Strahl (15:43):
That's a.
That's a very relatable andstraightforward way to look at
it and I, honestly, would havenever thought about that way.

Kenny Massa (15:50):
But you're exactly right, traveling the more we
discuss this, the more I thinkthe ability to have the
combination of skills, of thesetwo skills street smarts and
book smarts is the differencebetween an amateur and a
professional in any role.

(16:10):
For instance, if you're a goodsalesperson, I think you can be
a tremendous salesperson byhaving street smarts.
But I think the differencebetween a grimy salesperson and
an amateur salesperson is thesalesperson who says everything
and anything to a person to getthe job done but has no ability
to actually apply that or leanon it in a respectful or

(16:34):
professional manner.
Right, and I think that theperson who has book smarts and
street smarts is the person whois an honest salesperson that
understands the facts but alsohas the ability and the
interpersonal communication andemotional intelligence to
understand the person's needsand then, with education, back
it with thorough facts and applybook knowledge behind that.

(16:56):
So that's a salesperson role.
Entrepreneurship I think thatthere's a level of
entrepreneurship that can bringyou to an extent with street
smarts or book smarts, but Ithink and I have seen both I
have seen the person who isreally good at application and
book smarts, but they get to acertain level and they can't
pass that because they lack theinterpersonal communication
ability or the sales ability.

James LaGamma (17:17):
That's why you don't put a developer on a sales
call right.

Kenny Massa (17:19):
But they're good at getting something done.
To an extent they can talkabout the product?

Jonny Strahl (17:22):
Yeah, but if they're able to have the sales
aspect.
I have been you want thosepeople, but they're not.

Kenny Massa (17:30):
But that's the person who's the difference
between?

Jonny Strahl (17:32):
an amateur.

Kenny Massa (17:35):
And maybe amateur and professional is different,
but I would say there is a split, whatever you want to call that
.
There is a split with someonewho has one of those skills and
the person who has both of thoseskills.
And you have that in anythingLike I've been in sales calls
with just a salesperson who I'mlike dude, why are you saying

(17:55):
that?
You know, like that's almostimpossible to actually apply or
get done.
Like you're saying that becauseyou just want to say the
fucking right thing to make thesale.
That's not actually going tohappen.
And I think the differencebetween then, the opposite of
that, the developer is like well, maybe they're just too factual
and straightforward, where it'slike listen, you could create a
situation where there is a ifyou use street smarts, there is

(18:18):
a way to actually get aroundthat.
It's not a very straight line.
You might have to bridge thegap somewhere else and create
some other connection to get thejob done.
But we can get the job done andI think that's the person who
lacks the street smarts.
So in every case scenario, inevery role, in every facet of
life, I think that there is thepoint where there's the person

(18:39):
with one or both and I thinkthat with more experience and
more time in a role, I think youacquire the other skill.
I think the key to this all isbeing open to learn, being open
to change and staying withsomething consistently for long
enough.

(18:59):
The more you change, the less,the more likelihood you have in
acquiring the events to buildthe street smart element.
And you just have tocontinuously learn, continuously
learn and continuously apply.

James LaGamma (19:14):
I have two quick comments but I want to hear the
room.
A second comment.
My first comment is to think oflike someone, like to picture
it like someone that has a booksmarts.
Not that this person does nothave street smarts, and I know
you viewers probably don't evenknow who this person is, but
Nolan he's kind of has thattheoretical mind that, like the,
the academia comes with itright.
It's just how his mind's wired.

(19:34):
I'm not saying he does not ownany street smarts, because he
definitely does, but I think hismind is wired for the book
smarts and that's just adifferent type of person.
Like I talk philosophy withNolan I do not talk philosophy
with most of you.
I'll talk.
I could talk philosophy, Ithink, with Johnny a little bit
and Kenny some Ryan.

Ryan Selimos (19:52):
Come on, big dog, we can talk some philosophy.
Huh what you think.
Ring the bell right, ring thebell.
Hey, nolan though let's call itNolan went to Princeton, so
it's no surprise that he's gotthe book smarts, so it's no
surprise that he's got the booksmarts right.

James LaGamma (20:04):
So, like the book smarts is something there.
So where I'm kind of going withnow.
My second comment that I wantto hear what you guys think is
do you think it's harder toobtain street smarts or book
smarts?
Because I think there's a levelof academia that you just you
can't reach if your brain justcan't get, I think it's harder
to acquire that right.
I think you're going with right.
That's kind of what I'mthinking.

Kenny Massa (20:26):
Unless you literally live events and then
just literally don't start fromscratch every time and don't
learn from something.
If you're going through theseevents and they're consistent
events you have to be able tothen take what you learned and
apply it to make the event atleast better and more successful
from time to time.
I don't know.

(20:47):
I think I think book smarts I.

James LaGamma (20:49):
I would almost argue too, you think book smarts
is harder to obtain.
Harder to obtain, I thinkyou're gonna.
I think the general populationprobably has some level of logic
built into their um the generalpopulation has okay well I'm
gonna, I'm gonna, you're gonna.
You might agree with me when Istart saying this.
So the book that we're reading,you have to be believed to be

(21:10):
heard.
They talk about the first brain,natural impulses, but then you
also have the new brain.
I think new brain is yourlogical but also book smart side
of it.
First brain is literallytalking about being able to
react to the right situationwith the right application.
So if, like, the fight orflight comes from this now, uh,
quick point, I do think,although book smarts, in my

(21:33):
opinion, was probably harder toobtain if you don't have natural
intellect, um, but I would alsoargue that if you do have
natural intellect, books forlike you have the book smarts
it's harder to obtain streetsmarts because of having book
smarts I have one caveat realquick.

Kenny Massa (21:48):
I think that the only reason that book smarts is
harder to obtain is because ittakes longer to obtain.
You go through school andeducation for literally, like
you know, 12 to drop someone offin a situation 12 to 12 to 16
or more years.
Right, like to become a doctor.
You're going through all ofyour grade school, you're going
through undergraduate, you'regoing through medical school,

(22:10):
like that's you know.
You're looking at 20 years ofeducation.
You could literally learn astreet smart event in in an hour
.
So I think it just takes longerto learn and acquire the book
smart knowledge in a way orshape dealing with certain
circumstances.
That's why I think it's harderto obtain, because consistency

(22:32):
is less frequent uponindividuals in society and with
lack of consistency you see alack of book smarts but you
can't control that situationwhere it might take an hour to
learn, but it could take you 30years to come across that
situation to learn street smarts.

Ryan Selimos (22:45):
That's a point.
You can't control thatsituation where it might take an
hour to learn, but it couldtake you 30 years to come across
that situation to learn streetsmarts.
That's a point you can't control.
That's the only thing where thebook knowledge is there,
available to you.
Especially now We've talkedabout a couple times YouTube is
your best tool.
If you want to go learnsomething, it's free, go on
YouTube.
So I push back on that in asense because I agree with you.
It would on that in a sensebecause I agree with you, it
would be quicker to learn.
But you just can't.
It's very hard to recreate orjust create in general that

(23:08):
specific situation to learn thestreets for street smarts from.
It's just gonna, as it comes up, you either pass or fail, but
and if you fail, you learn fromit yeah, I don't.

Kenny Massa (23:18):
I don't know.
Consistency is definitely afactor.
Yeah, I think 100 time time isa factor in some way.
Shape or form Right.

Jonny Strahl (23:26):
I also think, when you talk about book smarts,
though, and being able to reallyunderstand what it is that
you're learning or trying tolearn, when is it and what point
in your life is that takingplace?
Because if you are, let's justsay what the average IQ is
anywhere from 85 to 110, likeover 70%, roughly 70%, I think

(23:49):
that's the stat.
Could be wrong Fact check itbut pretty fair IQ for a genuine
consensus, right.
But if you look at like thebook smart he said it you can,
and we have more access to lookup something quicker than ever,
but is that technology and theability to do that actually

(24:09):
hindering the way we canactually grow and really
understand and interpret thingsand use it real world?
yes, because I think it'sleaning on more street smart,
because all you're doing isapplying a resource because
you're getting informationquicker and as long as you know
how to do that, at the end ofthe day it's going to be helpful
.
So I think it's it's.
It's really circumstantial howyou look at it, because I think

(24:30):
right now to learn something.
To be very truthful, there's noexcuse.
Like you should be able to finda way to try to learn something
and explore every single avenue.
And if you've explored everysingle avenue and maybe you just
weren't able to accomplish orgrasp whatever concept or
whatever it is, that's fair.
But I don't know.
I think we could spend anentire episode just on this

(24:52):
topic, just because it's veryunique how you look at things
parenting, how does society, howdo your surroundings, how do
universities foster thedevelopment of both book smart
and street smart?
And is there a happy mediumthere and is there a way?

Ryan Selimos (25:14):
That's a tough question to ask right now in
today's world.
Tough question.

James LaGamma (25:19):
It's a valid question, though, because it's
like when you come break it downto parenting, you've got to
think about what's valuable toteach your kid right.
Some things that you don'tlearn in school is just how to
do laundry, right like thattechnically.
In some way shape and form youcan call it a fucking street
smart.
Changing a tire on a car, thatone kills me, right like like

(25:42):
those are fine because what itis is.
You're in a situation and youhave to now adapt and overcome
this roadblock.

Kenny Massa (25:48):
You need to know how to handle a tire.

James LaGamma (25:49):
There's no level of book smarts Now.
Granted, I think someone withbook smarts can probably figure
it out, right, for sure youunderstand that there's a
fucking, you know a wrench.
You take the fucking tire, takethe tire off, put a fucking
whatchamacallit, or you do thesimple thing and you fucking
call the guy Wait wait, can westop, can we?

Ryan Selimos (26:07):
No?
No, I got you.
I'm going to set you up, I'mgoing to tee you up.
I'm going to piss off Kenny.
Real, real good right now withthat.
I don't know how to change atire, my God, and probably going
to happen on the way home.
I've never been put in thatsituation.
I know that when that situationcomes up I will figure it out

(26:30):
on my own, but I have not goneout of my way in the middle of
my driveway to take off my tireto learn how to change it myself
.

Kenny Massa (26:36):
Let's just go through this right now.
Who are you calling first?
Wait, wait, wait, no, no, no.
Who are you calling first?

Ryan Selimos (26:41):
I am doing this myself.

Kenny Massa (26:42):
I've already made that agreement with myself.
You get to your car fromleaving here, you realize you
have a flat tire.
What do you do next?

Ryan Selimos (26:50):
I have to go to the back of my trunk and get the
fucking wrench out, to pop offthe tire and then crank it up.

Kenny Massa (26:55):
Okay, but what are you going to do If you have to
change your tire right now?
I'm not asking what's theprocess of changing the tire?
What are you going to do to getthe job?
Let me go to youtube, okay, butyou're see, that's the
difference, right there, right,like I have been in case
scenarios.
This happened a couple monthsago.
I literally was walking my dogand someone had a flat tire.
They were just sitting in thecar.

Ryan Selimos (27:15):
Well, that's stupid, that's fucking by that
person.
That's just fucking youtube,it's stupid.

James LaGamma (27:19):
Yeah, that's why I have triple now here wait they
didn't have to play it.

Kenny Massa (27:22):
Here comes common sense.

Ryan Selimos (27:23):
But I'm just saying that I haven't been in
that situation, which is why Ihave it Now.
I could go out and do it myself, for sure, and learn it, but
I'm waiting for that opportunity.

James LaGamma (27:31):
I need to put this in your perspective for you
because I don't think callingsomeone's a bad idea and it
doesn't make you less of a manor a person.
However, you want to break that, to call someone and get help.
Ty Banks to differ, but becausehere's why you might look it up
on YouTube.
You might think you know whatyou're doing because of the

(27:52):
YouTube video.
But if you have a flat on afucking hill and you do not put
that car on e-brake, you'refucked.

Ryan Selimos (27:58):
Good thing we live in Florida with no hills.
There's a level of risk toeverything.

Kenny Massa (28:01):
That's the same thing as saying, yeah, if I
break my fucking arm, I'm notgoing to go cast myself.
What I'm trying to explain isI'm going to go to the hospital.

James LaGamma (28:08):
What I would say is if Ryan called me and said
hey, james, I got a flat.
I looked up the YouTube video.
This is what I'm doing.
Is there anything I'mforgetting car?
if you have fucking carsbarreling forward, right.
Those are the types of thingsand street this would be street
smarts.
That's that's what true streetsmarts is and what I think you
guys are saying.
The youtube stuff yeah, it's astreet smart to be able to find

(28:32):
and use leverage resources, butwhere book smarts really is is
true academia.
We're talking about philosophy.
We're talking about the abilityto think about what's the
purpose in life, not knowledge.

Kenny Massa (28:42):
I debate that book smart is not a, is not
philosophical.
I think it's applicable.

James LaGamma (28:47):
I said academia, like knowledge of the human body
that you have from biology,that's book smarts, that's
something like yeah, we havegeneral knowledge, but I, I
don't know much more aboutthings than the.
Mitochondria is the powerhousecell of the fucking human body.

Ryan Selimos (29:01):
Good job have you ever heard james say academia?
Why can't he just say academics?
What's he?

Jonny Strahl (29:06):
because we're on a podcast dude.

James LaGamma (29:07):
Yeah, we're trying to sound smart man.

Kenny Massa (29:09):
I'm trying to sound like I got some andrew a lot
dude I to go off of what johnnysaid I do think that there's
like there's just so manyresources today.
The excuse portion of this isminimal.
Again, if you're broken downand you're in the middle of a
three-lane road, do you sit inthe middle of the road in your

(29:32):
car?
Let's just think about that.
I mean, you're not going to beable to YouTube that, right,
you're not going to YouTube itif I'm broken.
But let's just think about that.
That's street smarts.

Ryan Selimos (29:41):
That's common sense.
Common sense is street smarts.
Common, that's street smarts,that's common sense.

James LaGamma (29:46):
Common sense is common sense, the street smarts
that's actually part of thedefinition.

Ryan Selimos (29:48):
You say that, but I see it frequently you have to
have seen that before.

Kenny Massa (29:52):
People just sit in their car like broken down yeah,
of course I get out and I pushthe fucking car to the side
while they're sitting in it,like that's, that's me, that's
what I do well, here's the thingI bet you people don't know.

James LaGamma (30:02):
Okay, I gotta get this car out of the middle of
the fucking street.
How do I do that?
They don't know to put the carin neutral.
Yeah that's true.

Kenny Massa (30:09):
Like that but that's the street smart.

James LaGamma (30:12):
That's the street smart of it, though, because
they have to understand how toget themselves out of the
situation using criticalthinking, kind of knowing the
vehicle to some degree.
I mean, you can YouTube stuff.
Granted, look, you guys knowI'm the fucking YouTube king out
here when it comes to figuringout how to do something with
your hands.

(30:32):
Specifically, I know you guysYouTube by crazy too to figure
out things.
You're not learning how to dofucking brakes on your car.
That's something I'm doing Now.
Granted, my dad's also amechanic and I've been exposed
to this area of my life, so Iunderstand the vehicle, I can
make my way around the vehicle,I'm, I know enough to be
dangerous, but I still call himwhen I have hey, I'm just

(30:54):
struggling here, I need somehelp, and so like.
For instance, a great examplewas I was doing Lydia's front
brakes.
They're different than the backbrakes, different process
involved.
On the front brakes, there'sthis bolt that moves when you're
trying to remove.
Sorry nut that moves whenyou're trying to remove the bolt
, and I needed a vice grip inorder to hold it steady.
I couldn't just use a regularwrench even though a wrench fits

(31:16):
on regular bolts hex bolts andI had to call him and he's like
you're just not going to be ableto do this.
But there's this other way.
It's just gonna take you longer.
You have to do all this stuff.
We're gonna remove the entirebrake caliper.
I'm like I do not want to gothrough that.
So I went to Home Depot, got avice grip and I was able to
complete the task.
Now took longer because I hadto do all this shit.
But that was all YouTube.
But that's not street smarts.

(31:37):
What the street smarts aspectof what I did?
Cause when I called my dad, Iwas like hey, yeah, I'm doing
the tires, doing the brakes,blah, blah, blah.
He's like oh shit, isn't yourdriveway sloped?
I was like oh yeah, don't worry, the tires are chucked.

Kenny Massa (32:00):
I put pieces of wood and I also have an and roll
away, so I have chucks.

James LaGamma (32:01):
Yeah, that's street smarts at what point does
something have turned fromstreet smarts to book smarts?
I don't know.
I I mean, I think there's justnot, it's just natural, like
using logic, and I think thatcomes into, like the first brain
, new brain thing that I wastelling you guys about, concept
from our book um, where you justhave the ability, the human,
just human beings have theability to think logically,
where, where the first brain isthe most primitive portion of

(32:21):
the brain, I believe it's in thefront of the actual brain too,
and this is, I think, atrademark name encloacher for
the most primitive part of yourbrain, the frontal cortex, yeah
something like that, from themore scientific aspect of it.
This is like the book wastalking about.
Anyways, irregardless, it'sjust the more natural.
Like primitive part of yourmind react, fight or flight.

(32:45):
I mentioned that earlier.
Like it's, it's reactive stuff,it's your emotion, your um
ability to connect with a human.
Making eye contact comes fromfirst brain.
I can make an emotional contactwith johnny right now.
He's listening to me now.
Granted, the more I stare athis eyes, the more I realize
that his eyes are fuckingdrifting away because he can't
keep the eye contact.
It gets a little uncomfortableafter a while Now, granted, then
he's past that part, but thatwas the first brain reacting.

(33:08):
His new brain is the one thatsaid this is fine, I'm safe,
this isn't a problem, notuncomfortable here.
But that's where I think thelogical part of your mind comes
into play, and I don't thinkthat that is book smarts or
street smarts.
But again, it is all aboutsituational rareness and being
able to adapt, and you'relearning through those things

(33:29):
that happen to you.
So maybe street smarts is allof it.
All that we're talking aboutare street smarts.
I don't know, they're supposedto be completely opposite of
each other.
Street smarts and book smartsare supposed to be opposites.
So I think we're we're stuck onin the middle, where I guess
both are being used so I knowthe the fully loaded question I

(33:49):
asked before we've.

Jonny Strahl (33:50):
We kind of all have the same mindset around,
just like there's a lot thatsociety, those around us,
educators, whoever can help.
But I think one of thequestions I now have is like
what are some of the things oureducation system could be doing

(34:11):
in order to make sure thatchildren, kids, teenagers, young
adults bring?

Kenny Massa (34:16):
back woodshop, okay , which I think that they've
removed.
I think they've removed a lotof the application of like
street smarts home mac.

James LaGamma (34:27):
Home mac is another like these things
personal finances these thingsare all budgeting yeah, but the
problem is like dude, even whenwe don't know how to budget
until you're in a situationwhere you don't have a budget.
Yeah, exactly.
If you always came up aroundhaving a lot of money and you're
just like swiping fucking cardsleft and right and then you
realize what do you mean?
I don't have money in my bank.

Ryan Selimos (34:47):
Yeah, or you ask.
That's the only other situation.
Like you, inquire ahead of timein preparation for it.

James LaGamma (35:00):
Those are the two situations, you have to be
humble and vulnerable and, likeyou just need to say I don't
know this.
That's when you ask it'sprobably a different take.

Jonny Strahl (35:06):
I just feel like, in an area and a generation
we're in where technology ischanging and rapidly growing
every single day, I think it'sjust hindering book smarts, or,
excuse me street smarts.

James LaGamma (35:20):
Yeah, so I would agree with you.
I think everyone goes through alevel of education where the
education that's put on them,too, mind you, could influence
their way of thinking.
And now I think I'm gettinginto the political space here.

Ryan Selimos (35:36):
But hear me out.
Well, you're going after thecolleges and universities.
Come on, cook them.

James LaGamma (35:39):
Cook them, James but hear me out, I think there's
also a level of that way ofthinking which, to answer your
question, something they shouldadd in that people should be
required to take, and that'sdebate.
And the reason why I say thatand we do this on our hot takes
all the time is you have to beable to fight another opinion.
If you could imagine peoplehaving to fight the other side

(36:02):
that they don't believe in in adebate, forcing them to have to
think that way would be verydifficult, but it might actually
teach you a different way ofthinking, and I think different
ways of thinking is definitely acorrelated attribute to street
smarts, because you have tothink on your feet.
You have to think differently.
What should I do in thissituation?

Kenny Massa (36:20):
but that's emotional intelligence yeah,
yeah, I think I, I do think it'sall in line, because I think
that the reason you're I, whichI really like an emotional
intelligence, is like a hugemaybe it's a triangle.

James LaGamma (36:32):
It's not a circle .

Ryan Selimos (36:33):
It's the last 10 years emotional intelligence and
the the value of it has justskyrocketed.

Kenny Massa (36:38):
Quick question, which I don't want to go around
the room what do you think ismore at risk at this point in
society?

James LaGamma (36:45):
book smarts or street smarts.
I think Johnny just said it.
Street smarts is more at risk.
Yeah, book smarts is definitelybeing taught, like academia in
any way, and I keep saying thatword.
Just education, generaleducation, reading books, stuff
like that that leads to booksmarts.
Period Knowledge Knowledge ispower.
Can.
I offer a third answer Streetsmarts is also different types
of knowledge.

Ryan Selimos (37:05):
I think it's communication, I think just
people, street smarts.
Like with the reliance ontechnology, people don't know
how to have a conversationanymore, which limits those
opportunities for being exposedto those situations of street
smarts like people just don'ttalk anymore.
Everyone's down on their phone,right, they don't know how to
have a conversation, they don'tknow how to make connections,

(37:27):
it's just well.

Kenny Massa (37:29):
So, yes, it ties into street smarts just
something based off of what youjust said.
Well, based off of what you'vesaid multiple times today, I
think that well, question, I'llrephrase this as a question Do
you think that the need or thethe ability to not have to face

(37:49):
and experience yourselfpersonally, because you can
access experiences through theinternet and social media today,
to basically live through amoment do you think that
inhibits your actual ability toenhance street smarts?
Meaning, let's say, you breakdown or whatever.

(38:12):
You blow out on your tire,right, you have to change your
tire.
You then go through YouTube toacquire that knowledge.
That's a pretty straightforwardcase scenario, but do you think
that?
And then you, in that fact, youactually did live through the
experience, but in certaincircumstances, do you think that
going through that experienceand not having the applicable

(38:34):
knowledge yourself, but thenliving it through someone else,
inhibits your ability?

Jonny Strahl (38:41):
I just want to make sure I'm understanding your
question correctly.
You're saying that youessentially you're going to do
something like we'll use do ityourself with your hands.
Right, we'll use the tireexample.
If you don't go through that,you never actually have had to
face a challenge of replacing atire that is going to inhibit
you from having street smartslater down the road in a certain

(39:04):
area yeah I 100 think so.
Yes, because perfect examplejames already brought up the
fence thing.
But like just going throughthat process and actually
physically doing it, puttingyourself through labor,
understanding certain things,things that you never really
even did before and you had athought process, you kind of
understood it.
But actually doing it, actuallybreaking it down step by step,

(39:27):
and like going through like hey,this is the process and there's
so many other things andvariables and factors that could
go wrong that you don't verynecessary anticipate, like that
was an eye opening experienceand now future state.
I'm already thinking aboutthings differently when I'm
looking at putting stuff in thebackyard yeah like digging a, a,

(39:47):
a pit for the, for an area likewhere our flowers and stuff are
going like oh shit, is theregonna be a pipe?
Is there gonna be this?
Is there gonna be that?
We only dug what we ran into afucking pipe.

James LaGamma (39:57):
yeah, we couldn't remember which.
I think it ended up beingelectrical.
I think Ray's dad was right,but we saw a great pipe.
We were like, oh fuck, couldyou imagine if we just went
fucking hellblazing which we didthat at my house when we put in
the fence and we cut ourinternet line.
Thank you, AT&T, for fixing itfor free.
I agree with you, johnny.
I think there's a lot ofperspective that comes from
situational awareness.

(40:17):
Um, to kenny's point, though,on I think I understand your
question to the, to phrase it asif you're using youtube and
stuff, does it inhibit yourstreet smarts?
And I think this isn't likefull proof answer here.
But I've been listening to ourfriend here, andrew huberman,

(40:39):
and I think the thing thathappens is it becomes short-term
knowledge by using YouTube, andso one of the podcasts I was
listening to from him wasWorking Memory.
So your working memory.
It comes in.
It allows you to be able to sitdown, talk on the phone and tie
your shoes all at the same time.
You don't have to remember thisstuff, it just happens at a

(40:59):
blink of an eye and then youkind of like forget about it.
It's not something that'smemorable throughout your day.
It's it's not um, it doesn'tcommit to short-term or even
long-term memory because it'sworking.
There's three types of memories, what he's trying to explain,
and so, um, I I think what endsup happening is when you youtube
something, depending on thesituation, it might just not

(41:21):
actually commit to memory andlike actually aid to growth in
in street smarts, or even ifit's a book smarts application,
doing a course online.

Kenny Massa (41:30):
If you don't apply that consistently, it will just
fade away so just to go off whatyou just said from a very more
driven like….
Hip hop, hip hop anonymous Froma very driven like
physiological perspective.
Where you store a short-termmemory is your prefrontal cortex
.
Where you store an experienceis your hippocampus Hip.

James LaGamma (41:57):
Hippocampus, not hypercampus.
Hippocampus, it's a hip hop,hip hop anonymous the.

Kenny Massa (42:03):
The point is yeah, I love that movie.
The point is it's literallystored in a different segment of
your brain.

James LaGamma (42:14):
So I and I think that that is yeah, you're the
same thing with the workingmemory.
He was explaining theneurological side of it.
He mentioned hippocampus.

Kenny Massa (42:23):
He mentioned the prefrontal cortex From a
neuroscience perspectiveobviously listen to what he's
saying in that perspectivebecause he's far more educated
on the neuroscience behind that.
But it is definitely differentfrom a physiological perspective
.

Jonny Strahl (42:40):
Yeah, it's funny you mention that, though not to
use these big terms and bignames of Andrew Huberman and
where you're going, because it'stoo scientific for me.
I'll give a prime example ofwhat you just said.
So in my occupation, when I'mlearning technology trends, core
application modernization,cloud initiatives, like a lot of

(43:00):
complex stuff not coming from atechnical background, I'd like
to consider myself a lot moretechnical nowadays in the
industry.
But watching videos I justcouldn't grasp it.
Like we have a great trainingteam, like all these great
modules, videos, but actuallyreading, sitting down, down,
writing things down yes, the waymy mind can actually remember

(43:23):
and almost in a way likephotographically, remember
things that way is astronomicalin the difference of if I just
watch a freaking video now.
Obviously, again, youtube andstuff are great, but like it's
short term, you're not going toremember, at least for me and it
sounds like for you guys that'sthe case.

James LaGamma (43:41):
Um, so that kind of hit home when you brought
that up yeah, I, I think there'sum, a level of what we're
talking about here right now is,yes, we're mentioning
differences between sweet smartsor sweet street smarts, sorry
and book smarts, um, but we'realso talking about the learning
capability of a human being, um,because I, I think we kind of

(44:01):
all agree here you can learnboth attributes, um, where they
stand is there's, there's a.
The definitions are like thisis what street smarts is, this
is what book smarts is.
Again, we seem to be more inthe middle and where we can
leverage both, cause that's just, I think that's how we think is
strategically, it's all aboutleveraging and being better, and
so it takes book smarts, ittakes street smarts, and I think

(44:23):
there's just things that youlearn that end up converting to
more of a book smart situation.
But then there's also thestreet smart stuff, that they
are very complementary to eachother in real life, real world
stuff.
But the point of them being soseparate is that street smarts
are for real world application,where book smarts is actually

(44:49):
for just very complex conceptsand trying to figure out life's
hardest questions that are outthere, whether it be scientific,
whether it be theoreticalphilosophy, all those kind of
things.
That's like the very, the very,um wide spectrum, right, and
then we just naturally live herebecause that's that's who we
are.
We're, we're normal fuckingpeople, right?
We don't have this outlier ofbeing a book smart person versus

(45:11):
being strictly street smarts.
Um, we've, we've been able togain both things because of our
upbringing that we're veryfortunate to have, um, and so I
think it's it's a little bit toput in perspective, I guess, on
like how we're talking about thetopic, because a lot of it
we're talking about how you canlearn shit right, writing things
down, visual learning before atthe foundation of it.

Ryan Selimos (45:33):
Right book smarts, street smarts.
Is there one you think is moreimportant to have?

James LaGamma (45:36):
more valuable.

Ryan Selimos (45:37):
Have as your base, starting point, foundation.

Kenny Massa (45:40):
Depends on your role, like if you're literally
coding for Apple.
I mean, you're in a room likeBooksmart is definitely probably
more important there.

Ryan Selimos (45:50):
I don't want to go to those siloed roles like
doctor or coding like general, Idon't know.
I think it depends on what youdo.

Jonny Strahl (45:57):
Here's my point.

James LaGamma (45:58):
I don't know if there's a value.
I think you're just a productof your environment.

Kenny Massa (46:02):
Yeah.

James LaGamma (46:06):
And so, depending on what you like or dislike,
where you want to go in life iswhere the value is going to come
from.
I could be someone that wasraised up very, very poor and
and did not have manyopportunities, and I'm going to
have street smarts Because,generally speaking, that's what
we correlate street smarts to isthe ability to learn things
that not many people get exposedto, and it's because these

(46:26):
harsher environments is whatactually really brings about
street smarts.
Being able to blend in, beingable to not get shot on a daily
fucking basis is kind of wherestreet smarts come into play.
Again, streets coming from thestreets right way.
Again, streets coming from thestreets right.
Yeah, so I might value booksmarts because I can see that as
a uh, a means of getting out ofthe streets, but when I have, I

(46:47):
don't know, I I come frommiddle class, so then, like I, I
see value in both um to where Ithink I I respect people that
are very, very smart.
I don't think of myself asbeing a very smart person, but I
do think of myself, of havingstreet smarts, but I value both
because I see both of them.
Now, if I came from a very,very academic-driven household,

(47:11):
I think my outlook's going to bedifferent.
I have a funny feeling whenyou're in that specific
environment, you still valuebook smarts more, but then again
, at the same time, when youcome back to the other spectrum,
street smarts are going to keepyou fucking alive.

Ryan Selimos (47:24):
So then there's value there too I'm not, and I
think you're looking at it totalend of the spectrum here comes
the extreme, staying alive andlike book smarts academia, I'm
breaking it for me to under withunderstanding this.
I'm going back to when I startedat my job and I'm breaking down
to that standpoint and I thinkfor a lot of us, when you start
a new role, you get the quoteunquote book smarts, book smarts
.
In the beginning, throughtraining you get the black and

(47:46):
white situations, you build aknowledge foundation and then,
when you get let out of training, you go to street smarts and
you start to hear how otherpeople are handing that
situation Like.
You can't create that situationfrom jump.
So for me, if you just threwsomeone into that role without
any training to the streetsmarts, hard for them to adapt,
versus you give them six weeksof hey, here's the baseline

(48:06):
foundation, here's you know,here's how it all breaks, breaks
out, and then you kind of letthem out of training.
Now they're in the quoteunquote streets.
They have that base foundationto fall back on.
That to apply to thosedifferent situations.
I don't think it applies foryou and your entrepreneur going
door to door, but I think itapplies more to corporate
America.

Kenny Massa (48:24):
I think it goes back to everything that I said
earlier, which is, I think oneof those things will lead you to
a particular point in time, andif you want to be a
professional and if you want toenhance your ability in and
become an expert in a, in atrade or in a position, I think
you are forced to acquire thatother side of the skill matter

(48:45):
here.
I think that you have to haveboth, yeah, in order to achieve
expert level.
So I think one will lead you toa particular point, either one
but I think you need both and Iagree with you.

Ryan Selimos (48:57):
You need both.
I'm just wondering if it's asmoother transition going book
to street or going street tobook.
I can argue differently.

James LaGamma (49:05):
If you start with street right, you probably have
an innate ability to figuresomething out, and I think we've
all heard of the term fake ittill you make it in the
corporate America.
So there's that side of it.
Now I think there's also thesaying which I said earlier, is
knowledge is power.
So there's also a respect thatgets added to someone who's just
intelligent.
But if you were to look at itfrom the other perspective, just

(49:29):
because you have trainingdoesn't mean someone's going to
get it.
Johnny's case in point.
He just said we've got allthese great designers and
learning and development teamsthat build.
These trainings are all video,but he doesn't get it unless he
writes it down.
He had to learn that himself.
He had to figure out how helearns to gain book smarts.
I think David Goggins is theexact extreme of that situation.

(49:52):
He's got the street smarts.
Have you ever talked to himabout how he?
Or listened to how he?
talks about how he has listenedto how he talks about um, how he
has to learn yeah, he has toread a single page a hundred
times just to commit it tomemory.
He can't read it once or twice,it has to be like a hundred
times he it, but he has to workextremely hard at it.

(50:13):
And then it comes into kenny'sideology where it's only going
to take you so far, so streetsmarts can only take him so far.
Now he's actually got to applyand learn, but his, his um
learning curve is going to bedrastically different than
someone that has just naturalintelligence.

Kenny Massa (50:28):
But the same thing goes for the person who has
natural intelligence, that has alearning curve to acquire a
street smart skill A hundredpercent.
But I think if um, somethingthat a lot of people would
probably be familiar with, Ithink if you look at like the
show Shark Tank, I think if youlook at Cuban and how he
acquired his money, you know hedeveloped a program and you know
, basically sold it withpartners and he was really smart

(50:50):
.
He had, like he developedsomething before its time.
I believe Yahoo bought it.
I believe Yahoo Someone of thestore.
Yeah, yeah, someone of thethrowback, yeah, yeah someone of
you got mail but they literallybuilt something that didn't
exist and then they leveraged it.
But if you look at like dameand john from fubu, I think that
there was a lot of streetsmarts at the beginning with

(51:11):
that where he leveraged streetsmarts to get into a target
market into different marketsand like push a product into
just the society I love how wealways go to business on any,
any, any topic.
But I think both.
Both are super successfulpeople, achieved amazing things,
but I think that their entrypoints were leveraging different

(51:34):
skills.
Now, today, both of them haveboth attributes right, like Like
.
They've acquired so muchknowledge.
They've acquired so many eventsand skills, and they have both
drastically.
But at the beginning I thinkwhat led them was probably
different.
Now might be opinionated there,but I think from knowing their
stories a little bit, just fromeverything that they do, could

(51:57):
be a good example of like,seeing both spectrums and how
they lead up to expert level.

Jonny Strahl (52:02):
You got me thinking, and this is kind of a
two-part question, but it'sbased off of how two different
entrepreneurs explore differentavenues to be successful and
essentially create an area ofopportunity to go after a
different target market.
But do you guys thinkcreativity as a strength?
Right?

(52:22):
So you guys probably done aharrison strength finders, you
guys remember all that stuff.
Do you think the word or thestrength of creativity is a form
of intelligence and if so, doyou think that falls necessarily
within street smarts or booksmarts?

Ryan Selimos (52:43):
necessarily within street smarts or book smarts.
I'm going to answer itbackwards.
I think it falls under streetsmarts.
Okay, because I view it asthinking outside the box with
creativity good point.

Kenny Massa (52:51):
I can argue both sides so can I, so can I.
That's a really tough becausecreativity.

James LaGamma (52:57):
there is, from a intelligence standpoint,
creative.
Creative thinking in the worldof art, and then you also have
creative thinking in the worldof philosophy.
I think there's two differentways that those things become
book smart versus street smartIn just those two applications.

(53:18):
That's a tough one um, in justthose two applications.
That's a tough one, but I thinkwhen you apply it from your
perspective, ryan, of thinkingoutside the box, critical
thinking skills, then you'relooking more on the street smart
side.
Um, so I think there's anargument for again, I think it
all comes down to a product ofyour environment.
Right, we're all learned.
People like it throughexperience are all learned.

(53:44):
People like it throughexperience.
If you never come up reading afucking book, you're never going
to get your streets or yourbook smarts.
But you could have an iq that'sfucking through the roof and so
you could be like goodwillhunting, right, where he just
never really applied himself,but he's just naturally fucking
smart.
But the dude also has streetsmarts.
He's like that weird fuckingperson that it's an outlier
because he's got both that aregreat, because he but he's a

(54:04):
product of his environment.
He grew up in a in a harderenvironment, and he never went
to university and then, fucking,that's all they did.
The whole movie was talk abouthow you need to fucking take
this gift and use it.
Because we don't have it andlike we would use it if we could
.
Because you're a product ofyour environment.
Your environment told you, youhave to use this fucking gift.
He's like nah, I'm good withchilling with my boys.

(54:24):
I've got 18 brothers andsisters, donnie Marco Robbie and
he's fucking.
His brain is fucking insane, soI don't know how about them
apples?
What was your solution?
What was your solution?
What?

Kenny Massa (54:37):
was your answer.
I said I can argue both.

James LaGamma (54:39):
Yeah, that was my answer.
I don't think it's book smart.

Kenny Massa (54:43):
I think that it's a level of book smarts and here's
why I'm just.
I think I can argue both.
But the reason why I think it'sbook smarts is because from
science I have seen that thosewho are creative are using
different we'll call themcompartments of their brain,

(55:05):
different areas of the brainthat have, uh, strength and
activity, more than a personthat is not creative.
And I think, if you take twopeople, I have a cousin who's
excessively amazing at drawingand art.
He's amazing.
He has a sister.
She is not like that.

(55:26):
He is like that.
They came from the samenurturing environment, cut from
the same crop or the nurturingenvironment.
Right, they came from the sameplace, the same household, but
his ability excessively exceedsmany others.
So I think that book smarts,there is a level of genetic

(55:50):
disposition that comes alongwith that and because of that I
would have to say that it's notacquired through events or like
street smarts.
He was born with that and whenhe was born with that, that's
what led to stronger activitywithin a compartment of the
brain, which would lead me tobelieve it's a book smart
characteristic, opposed to astreet smart characteristic.

James LaGamma (56:11):
That's far more like physiological than probably
thought out and again I woulddebate that someone you can
argue like that, like yeah,gaining a street smart thinking
about oh, this is how you needto act in a certain situation,
takes creativity sometimes.
Yeah, exactly, but it's adifferent type of creative I'm
talking like, I'm referring likelegitimate artists yes, like

(56:33):
drawing painting like.

Kenny Massa (56:35):
That's his ability and I think I think the what
you're saying from like the, the, the genetic side is.

James LaGamma (56:41):
That's where I think the intellect and IQ comes
in yes, it's genetic, there'sjust a natural gravitation
towards book smart when you havethat ability.
Yeah, it's.
I really don't know if you canargue against that point.

Kenny Massa (56:53):
But if you look at that person taking a test, do I
think that their IQ is to adifferent level?
No test, do I think that theirIQ is to a different level?
No, but that's a book smartapplication.
That's in a different sense ofsaying like, oh, he's going to
get 100 on every test he takes.
That book smart is differenttoo.

James LaGamma (57:08):
Yeah, you could be book smart by working really
hard on the books.
I remember a friend of minethat I grew up with and I just
remember how much he studied.
Now he got straight fucking A's, had a crazy GPA, went to a
great college, but I know heworked for it.
He wasn't unnaturally giftedbut I still think he had the
book smarts because he appliedhimself.
So there's so many differentways you can look at it.

Kenny Massa (57:29):
Yeah, I agree.

Ryan Selimos (57:31):
Knowledge is key.

Kenny Massa (57:32):
Awesome.
Well, I think that we covered alot of well.

Jonny Strahl (57:36):
Yeah, good point there, high five, high five,
high five lot.

Kenny Massa (57:41):
Well, yeah, good good point there, but again, we
touched on a lot of really goodtopics.
I think that we would love toknow your your thoughts on the
differences between bookknowledge or book smarts and
street smarts, and how you thinkyou can benefit from having one
or the other, or both as acombination.

(58:01):
So throw it in the comments,let us know your thoughts.
There's so many different waysto go about it and probably
hours more of conversation onthis outside of just what we
talked about today.
So thanks for watching andwe're interested to hear what
you say about it.
But until then, the bendercontinues.