Book Review - Will by Will Smith

Where to start with this one. Well, when Oprah who is synonymous with books calls this one the 'best memoir I've ever read', you know you're in for a treat. This book certainly delivers, Will Smith alongside co-author Mark Manson (author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, selling 13,000,000 copies) recounts memories from his past and is very introspective and often extremely critical of his own actions. You genuinely get the sense reading the book that Will is literally sitting next to you narrating his life and departing the knowledge and countless lessons he has learnt (I am sure the audiobook version is brilliant given Will actually recorded it himself). This article is quite long, simply because there is so much gold to uncover and yet there is a great deal that I have not included which is why I highly recommend you give it a go.

The book opens with a critical lesson Will learnt as a young 11 year old boy growing up in Philadelphia. His father (who Will refers to as Daddio), tasked Will and his brother to build a wall outside of his store. It is safe to say that Will nor his brother had a clue how to go about this. They learnt how to build and spent an entire year in all weather conditions, in term time and school holidays, without fail laying each brick.

One day, Will and his brother all but gave up deeming the task of building the wall simply insurmountable and threw the proverbial towel in. Daddio's response was typical as his disciplinarian parenting style (learnt through his time in the military), that of learning through doing:

"Stop thinking about the damn wall! There is no wall, there are only bricks...Don't worry about no wall. Your only concern is one brick."

Finally one day a year or so after commencing the project, the wall was complete and so was this vital lesson that Will would utilise throughout his highly successful career. Daddio came to survey the newly constructed wall:

"Now don't y'all ever tell me there's something you can't do."

In Will's own words, all through his career (this is demonstrated later on in the book) he has been absolutely relentless, committing to a work ethic of 'uncompromising intensity'. He just kept showing up and laying another brick towards fulfilling his goals.

In keeping with the introspective nature of the book, each chapter (minus the first one, aptly called 'The Wall', perhaps due to this lesson being so central to Will's character and future success) is titled by a single noun for example: fear, hope and desire - this really helps prime you for the type of lesson Will is trying to convey and then you're reading (or listening) with a framework by which to absorb more of the teachings.

Will describes a time where his father was physically abusive towards his mother which had a profound effect on his life, as he felt he should've intervened, which led him to believe he was a coward. He created a fantasy world and would discover that entertaining, initially at his local church, was a way to escape his innermost fears and make people happy. From that point on Will became an entertainer and a pleaser, whether to appease his father and hopefully prevent his militant side from surfacing or using humour to break down racial barriers to help him make friends and court girls.

Enter cousin Paul. Paul moved in with Will when has was an impressionable teenager, Paul was the first person that Will had seen stand up to Daddio which perhaps explains why Will looked up to him so much. Paul was from the outskirts of New York, the origins of the burgeoning Hip-Hop scene, which meant he had access to the elusive tapes (yes actual cassette tapes). Hip-Hop originally was simply DJs playing beats with an MC (Master of Ceremonies) introducing them and hyping the audience, until the most creative MCs started to rhyme (now referred to as rap) over the beats and thus modern Hip-Hop was born.

"At the age of one, I had just begun, on my journey to the T-O-P.

And at the age of two, everybody knew, that I was a hellafied MC.

At age three, any sure shot could see, I was bona fide lover at heart.

I got an IQ of 142 and, like my name, I'm a work of art."

-Will's First Rhyme

When you consider that Will had a vivid imagination and loved to perform, the emergence of Hip-Hop and his coming of age would be what you could call perfect timing. As with all crafts, they are honed with constant practise, something Will would do all the time. Whether in the mirror, writing down rhymes or actually 'battling' with other kids at school and around his neighbourhood.

A piece of Will well-known trivia is that he never curses in any of his songs, the lesser-known reason... his grandmother Gigi, who first introduced him to performance at the church. She found a notepad of some lyrics he was practising with some profanities in it, and wrote him a note to replace the words with more intelligent vocabulary to 'uplift others'.

Call it fate or fluke, one evening Will attended a party and met DJ Jazzy Jeff (who at the time was a rising star). Will was supposed to be battling against Jeff, however Will's DJ never showed and Jeff's MC never showed, you can fill in the blanks... necessity being the mother of all invention and all, Will and DJ Jazzy Jeff performed together. They were a perfect blend, Jeff had been born into a musical family and started DJing at age 10 and Will as we've already learnt, had boundless creativity and was a natural entertainer.

Timing is a crucial ingredient to success, as is practise and seizing opportunities. As the old saying goes 'luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity'. At the end of the day, you have to step up to the plate as Will did at that party (and would do all through his career) and trust your talents for the magic to happen.

Will talks about a 'creative river raging' and 'ideas pouring out like a fire hose', if you have never experienced this state, perhaps you require a change of focus as when you're truly passionate about your endeavours you'll find your mind working in a similar way.

Another piece of Will Smith trivia, is the origin of the name The Fresh Prince (this was Will's rapper name long before the eponymous TV show was created). The word 'fresh' was particularly popular during his school days and due to his humour and being somewhat of a class clown, his teacher referred to him as Prince Charming. Will demanded to be named The Fresh Prince and well, it just stuck.

In 1986, Jeff won World Supreme DJ, which really put them on the map. They then recorded some songs, with one 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble' eventually dropping on local radio and spreading like wildfire, leading to a tour and debut album 'Rock the House'. One thing led to another, like the trajectory of musicians we all know and love, they started performing alongside the greats of the time, secured a deal with the highly influential impresario Russell Simmons and bagged the first Grammy ever given to a rap song with 'Parents Just Don't Understand' in 1988.

Will seemingly had everything, when his high school sweetheart cheated on him. Will felt he had 'failed another woman', having considered his cowardliness against his father abusing his mother as his first failure (this theme of failing women would come to dominate all Will's future dealings with the opposite sex). He attempted to mend his broken heart by spending money, going on a sexual rampage and hanging around the wrong crowd. He bought a fleet of cars, which he proudly presented to his father one day, who turned around and said:

"Boy, why do you need three cars. You only got one ass."

I find it interesting that Will talks about the fact that he had all the success and riches that fame can provide and yet still felt miserable. Retrospectively leading him to the conclusion that these things cannot make you happy if inside you fundamentally are not. Of course, this is with the benefit of hindsight, what he actually went and did was rather different to the soul searching he required.

Around this time, Will started going to Los Angeles. He makes a point of saying that he and the city seemed to 'click' and one of the most important teachings of the entire book:

"Choosing the city you live in is as important as choosing your life partner."

The book then goes on to talk about the many ups and downs of Will's early career.

He fell into a rough patch, crucially those around him helped him snap out of his funk. Charlie Mack one of his friends, forced Will to hang around The Arsenio Hall Show where all the celebrities of the day would be present being interviewed for TV etc. Charlie was a cheerleader of sorts for Will, he was the one who would introduce everyone shamelessly to Will, including Benny Medina. The key lesson here being, surround yourself with people who have your bests interests at heart and will stand by you through thick and thin. Having a cheerleader or two like Will's Charlie Mack, to promote you to other people, is also really important. Rather than trying to find people in your network to be your Charlie, it is far easier and more rewarding to be someone else's Charlie. In practical terms this might be sharing a friends post about their new business or recommending a product/service that you enjoy.

Benny Medina was a key person in the entertainment business and ask Will if he can act, to which he replies that he can. Will muses a point that is repeated time and time again with the most successful people in society:

"As a general rule, if someone asks if I can do something, answer is always yes."

This confidence leads Will to Quincy Jones (a legend in the entertainment industry who worked with Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra to name but a few). Quincy invites Will to his birthday party, where unbeknownst to Will he is made to audition in front of A-list guests for the lead role in what would become The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The sheer audacity of the ask from Quincy and the confidence from Will is truly amazing. Quincy made sure all the key players to make the sitcom happen were present in the room and preceded to make them hash out the initial agreement there and then, in Quincy's words:

"NO PARALYSIS THROUGH ANALYSIS"

This is something we would all be wise to embrace, there is a time for thinking and planning, however you really at some point need to just put yourself out there and take action. That's the only way you'll really learn, grow and achieve.

I don't need to tell you that The Fresh Prince was a roaring success, at which point Will's manager asks him what his goal is. Will gives a vague yet somewhat obvious answer of having fun etc. JL (Will's manager) unsatisfied, presses for a better response. Will searches deep inside himself for the answer that is buried and possibly afraid to say aloud:

"I want to be the biggest movie star in the world"

I urge you to do some soul searching, taking Will's lead and figure out the big goal that scares you, the one you've always thought about, the one that's always in the background, often hidden under the humdrum of day to day life. As Will put it, 'clarity of mission is a powerful cornerstone of success' and equally of paramount importance 'when you know what you want, it clarifies what you don't want'. You can then start to make daily decisions based on whether they fit with the goal(s) you want to achieve.

From this point on Will and his manager start to really analyse the movie industry, trying to figure out which films are the most successful and more importantly why. The deemed recipe for success was 1) special effects 2) creatures 3) romance.

In this way, look at your current industry or the one you want to work in. Dissect it, just as Will and his manager did. Who are the key players? Why are they the key players? How do you become a key player etc. The answers can often be painfully simple, yet most people get so caught up in the grind, they don't look up at the bigger picture.

Back to Will, he gets offered a movie called '8 Heads in a Duffel Bag'... and $10,000,000 for the role. (Yes, I had never heard of it either. I looked it up, 'film was a box office disappointment, earning a total of $4 million worldwide against a production budget of $3 million.') Who knows, had Will taken this role which his manager advised against, I might not be writing this article. That clarity of vision saved Will from a poor start in the movie business. He would go on to take a role in 'Six Degrees of Separation' instead (which was widely critically acclaimed), for a paltry $300,000. The lesson here, don't let the $$$$ derail you, it can often be a false indicator (or carrot if you will) and throw you off course.

Next came Bad Boys, Independence Day and Men in Black (which Will wanted to turn down as he thought is would typecast him, thankfully Steven Spielberg convinced him otherwise). In life, you have to be willing to make u-turns when you get advice from experts, having said that Will adds the caveat 'advice is someone's limited view based on experience of an infinite amount of possibilities in front of you'. Knowing who's advice to seek, take and indeed when to ask for it, is one of life's greatest art forms.

At the time the most famous actors on the planet were Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. Will had the chutzpah to proclaim to them that he wanted to be the biggest movie star in the world and what advice could they give to him. The response was that you must travel the world on the media tours, meeting fans, doing interviews and the like.

So Will once again scanned the field to dissect who was the best in class, that was Tom Cruise. Will figured he couldn't outwork Tom but he had a secret weapon, he was a rapper. So he started putting on free shows before premieres, this made international headlines, perpetuating his stardom. His work ethic was incredible at this time, bouncing from one thing to the next. We all know that this plays a large determining factor in any sustained success.

Added to the knowing who to ask for advice, you must have the courage as Will did to put yourself out there, state your intentions and act upon it. I find it fascinating that Will figured out that he couldn't outwork Tom Cruise, so looked in his arsenal of abilities to find his USP. We all need to use our USPs to supercharge the rate of trajectory towards our goals. What can you do that the competition cannot, will not or simply are ignoring?

Will cites the filming of 'Ali', the biopic of the famous boxer as being a pivotal period in his life. He talks of a higher purpose in delivering the best picture possible, doing justice to the boxer's legendary life. I like the way Will contrasts desire and purpose, the former being a 'personal...short term gain' with the latter being 'a long term vision encompassing the benefit of others'. Purpose for me is fundamental for fulfilment, my advice would be to seek out your purpose (often finding a way to serve others) and weave this into your goals to create a powerful potion. Will would go on to receive high praise for his portrayal of Ali including being nominated for best actor in a leading role at the 2002 Oscars.

The remaining chapters deal with a side of success, fame and riches that is very often ignored and/or overlooked entirely. Once you become obsessed with attaining your goals and reaching the peak of the mountain, you discover that it isn't as fulfilling as you once thought and so you chase an ever increasing higher peak. Leaving little time for friends, family and feelings (which as in Will's case can have disastrous consequences). The chase effectively numbs you to everything else going on around you, don't get me wrong there is a time and a place for this laser focussed approach.

This reminds me of a quote that I love:

Honestly, I cannot claim to have been a massive Will Smith fan, I certainly enjoyed The Fresh Prince of Bel Air growing up and some of his movies (you forget how many smash hits he has been involved with)... that all changed after reading this piece.

I encourage you to give this book a try, whether you like Will Smith or otherwise, it is truly a masterpiece, then again what would you expect from one of our generation's most talented superstars.