5 questions about bravery with Jeff Lee // 5 questions à propos du courage avec Jeff Lee

Leading up to our talk with Jeff Lee on November 29th, we asked him a few questions to get a sense of what bravery and creativity mean to him.

En prévision de la conférence de Jeff Lee le 29 novembre, nous l’avons posé quelques questions pour voir ce qu’il pense du courage et de la créativité.

What is your first memory of bravery?

My first step into bravery was when I was 16 or 17. I wanted to produce a television show that would better represent my generation’s lifestyle. I wanted to produce a show for us, by us. So I simply picked up the phone and called my local TV station. They said “Sure come back in a month with a pilot”. I agreed. Then I hung up the phone a turned to my dad and said: “Dad, what’s a pilot?”. One month later I got the contract and ended up producing more than a 100 episodes for that network, until I got picked by a national station. 

How would you define the relationship between bravery and creativity? 

You have to find the courage to do the things that you believe in, even if sometimes you have to be different. Some people deal really badly with criticism. That’s why they prefer to play it safe and just be repetitive or basic. Bravery is about putting yourself out there and standing out.

An instance where you believe a brand acted more cowardly than brave?  

Recent events where Urban Outfitters copied an individual artist’s work and that of other makers is a shame. They could have at least licensed the design idea to the original artist and then produced a cheaper version with royalties going to the artist. This is the kind of power and responsibility that you have when you are a big brand.

What do you think is the number one roadblock to bravery?

The fear of being a failure. Most of people don’t seem to realize that nobody really cares about your projects. Nobody is keeping score. Of course we love to see people failing because in reassures us in our status quo. It’s the fear of swinging that stops you from hitting a home run. 

Do you have a favourite work of art that has inspired you by its bravery?

This famous quote from Martin Luther King Jr: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take that first step”. Of course he was not talking about business, he was talking about faith. But Bravery is really about finding genuine reasons to fight for something, or to build something or to start something. Every project I ever undertook was guided by a certain faith in my destiny and the sense of purpose it brought me. 

Photo: Jeff Lee on a recent trip to New York.