Russell Simmons in his MUST have Do You has a great deal to say about JUDGING others. I will just share with you some more priceless quotes.

“Practicing nonjudgment is actually very good for your Karma. That’s because when you STOP judging other people, you’ll be able to START focusing on what you need to do to correct your own issues. ”

“…we all struggle to hear our high notes. In fact, our struggle to realize the divine in ourselves is why we often have such a struggle seeing it in others.”

“We need to stop worrying about who’s bad and who’s good and start worrying about ourselves.”

Judging others especially limits DIVERSITY which according to Russell is not good only for our personal lives but also our business lives.

“Don’t get caught up on someone’s pants, his accent, his skin color, or his experiences. Instead, look for his willingness to work and willingness to give.”

“Even if you’re not consciously being racist, you ARE costing your company money. That person you overlooked might have brought your company the perspective it needed to find ‘the next big thing.'”

WOW, did that last quote hit home after I read how much I could miss if I just continued to diss Hip-Hop. Are you aware that Hip-Hop accounted for over 12 BILLION dollars ANNUALLY in 2007 when he wrote the book? Are you also aware that Hip-Hop is LOVED by over 45,000,000 people worldwide. Here is the REAL show stopping statistic: the industry leading RIIA found that EIGHTY (80) percent of all Hip-Hop recordings were bought by NON-African Americans! Also today Hip-Hop is not just in New York City but around the world!

AND it is not just the recordings that earned the bucks but the clothes like PhatFarm and PhatBaby; the jewelry like Russell Simmons Jewelry; Def Poetry Jam; Def Comedy Jam; etc.

So what if the NEXT Hip-Hop came from the Native Americans? Are you ready to be AHEAD of the curve? I am because I ALREADY know one of the Godfathers of Native American Hip-Hop!

One last quote from Russell: “When you don’t embrace diversity, you are going to cost yourself money.”

I GET it Russell!