TED@New York
Jeff Smith: Lessons in business ... from prison
Jeff Smith: Lektioner i forretning … fra fængslet
Filmed:
Readability: 4.1
1,324,960 views
Jeff Smith tilbragte et år i fængslet. Men det han opdagede indenfor, var ikke det han forventede -- han så uendelig opfindsomhed og forretningstalent i sine medfanger. Han spørger: Hvorfor udnytter vi ikke denne potentielle foretagsomhed til at hjælpe eksfanger med at bidrage til samfundet, når de er tilbage uden for murene? (Fra TED Talent Search eventet TED@NewYork.)
Jeff Smith - Recovering politician
Once an up-and-coming star in the Missouri State Senate, Jeff Smith went to prison for covering up an election law violation. Since his release, he's created a new space for himself as a professor, writer, political commentator and advocate for those he was locked up with. Full bio
Once an up-and-coming star in the Missouri State Senate, Jeff Smith went to prison for covering up an election law violation. Since his release, he's created a new space for himself as a professor, writer, political commentator and advocate for those he was locked up with. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
B.J. was one of many fellow inmates
0
253
2870
B.J. var en af de mange medfanger
00:19
who had big plans for the future.
1
3123
2285
der havde store planer for fremtiden.
00:21
He had a vision. When he got out,
2
5408
2231
Han havde en vision. Når han kom ud,
00:23
he was going to leave the dope game for good and fly straight,
3
7639
2855
ville han forlade stofferne for bestandig og han ville leve stoffri,
00:26
and he was actually working on merging his two passions into one vision.
4
10494
5127
og han arbejdede faktisk med at sammenlægge sine to visioner til et.
00:31
He'd spent 10,000 dollars
5
15621
1514
Han havde brugt 10.000 dollars
00:33
to buy a website that exclusively featured women
6
17135
3284
til at købe en hjemmeside der udelukkende viste kvinder
00:36
having sex on top of or inside of luxury sports cars. (Laughter)
7
20419
5889
der havde sex oven på eller inden i en luksus sportsvogn. (Latter)
00:42
It was my first week in federal prison,
8
26308
2986
Det var min første uge i statsfængslet,
00:45
and I was learning quickly that it wasn't what you see on TV.
9
29294
3817
og jeg lærte hurtigt at det ikke var det man så på TV.
00:49
In fact, it was teeming with smart, ambitious men
10
33111
3903
Faktisk, myldrede det med smarte, ambitiøse mænd
00:52
whose business instincts were in many cases
11
37014
2741
hvis sans for forretning i mange tilfælde
00:55
as sharp as those of the CEOs
12
39755
2402
var lige så skarpe som dem hos de administrerende direktører
00:58
who had wined and dined me six months earlier
13
42157
1829
der havde haft mig med ude og spise og drikke seks måneder tidligere,
00:59
when I was a rising star in the Missouri Senate.
14
43986
4552
da jeg var en stigende stjerne i senatet i Missouri.
01:04
Now, 95 percent of the guys that I was locked up with
15
48538
2841
Nu havde 95 procent af fyrene jeg var låst inde med
01:07
had been drug dealers on the outside,
16
51379
2740
været narkohandlere uden for murene,
01:10
but when they talked about what they did,
17
54119
3408
men da de talte om hvad de gjorde,
01:13
they talked about it in a different jargon,
18
57527
2703
talte de om det i en anden jargon,
01:16
but the business concepts that they talked about
19
60230
1784
men virksomhedskoncepterne som de talte om
01:17
weren't unlike those that you'd learn in a first year MBA class at Wharton:
20
62014
3680
var ikke ulig dem man lærte om i det første års undervisning af en MBA ved Wharton:
01:21
promotional incentives, you never charge a first-time user,
21
65694
4504
slagsfremmende incitamenter, man afkræver aldrig betaling fra en førstegangs kunde,
01:26
focus-grouping new product launches,
22
70198
3571
fokusgrupper til lanceringen af nye produkter,
01:29
territorial expansion.
23
73769
2237
territorial udvidelse.
01:31
But they didn't spend a lot of time reliving the glory days.
24
76006
3271
Men de brugte ikke meget tid på at genopleve hæder dagene.
01:35
For the most part, everyone was just trying to survive.
25
79277
2849
For det meste, prøvede alle bare at overleve.
01:38
It's a lot harder than you might think.
26
82126
2197
Det er meget sværere end man skulle tro.
01:40
Contrary to what most people think,
27
84323
2787
I modsætning til hvad de fleste folk tror,
01:43
people don't pay, taxpayers don't pay, for your life
28
87110
3378
betaler folk ikke, skatteborgere betaler ikke for ens liv
01:46
when you're in prison. You've got to pay for your own life.
29
90488
1790
når man er i fængsel. Man skal betale for sit eget liv.
01:48
You've got to pay for your soap, your deodorant,
30
92278
2752
Man skal betale for sæbe, ens deodorant,
01:50
toothbrush, toothpaste, all of it.
31
95030
2298
tandbørste, tandpasta, det hele.
01:53
And it's hard for a couple of reasons.
32
97328
1352
Og det er svært af flere årsager.
01:54
First, everything's marked up 30 to 50 percent
33
98680
2395
For det første, er prisen sat 30 til 50 procent op
01:56
from what you'd pay on the street,
34
101075
1367
i forhold til det man betaler udenfor,
01:58
and second, you don't make a lot of money.
35
102442
2582
og for det andet, tjener man ikke mange penge.
02:00
I unloaded trucks. That was my full-time job,
36
105024
2269
Jeg lossede lastbiler. Det var mit fuldtids job,
02:03
unloading trucks at a food warehouse,
37
107293
2289
at losse lastbiler ved et lager,
02:05
for $5.25, not an hour, but per month.
38
109582
4353
for 5,25 dollars, ikke i timen, men om måneden.
02:09
So how do you survive?
39
113935
2158
Så hvordan overlever man?
02:11
Well, you learn to hustle, all kinds of hustles.
40
116093
3519
Jamen, man lærer at svindle, alle mulige slags svindel.
02:15
There's legal hustles.
41
119612
1599
Der er lovlig svindel.
02:17
You pay everything in stamps. Those are the currency.
42
121211
2168
Man betaler alt i frimærker. Det er den gangbare møntenhed.
02:19
You charge another inmate to clean his cell.
43
123379
2416
Man afkræver en anden indsat for at rengøre hans celle.
02:21
There's sort of illegal hustles, like you run a barbershop out of your cell.
44
125795
4903
Der er ulovlig svindel, som at man har en frisørsalon i ens celle.
02:26
There's pretty illegal hustles: You run a tattoo parlor out of your own cell.
45
130698
4222
Der er rigelig med ulovlig svindel: Man har en tatoveringsforretning i ens celle.
02:30
And there's very illegal hustles, which you smuggle in,
46
134920
3283
Og der er meget ulovlig svindel, hvor man smugler,
02:34
you get smuggled in, drugs, pornography,
47
138203
4103
man får smuglet ind, narko, porno,
02:38
cell phones, and just as in the outer world,
48
142306
3467
mobiltelefoner, og ligesom i verden udenfor,
02:41
there's a risk-reward tradeoff, so the riskier the enterprise,
49
145773
3503
er der en risiko-præmie afvejning, så jo mere risikabel et foretagende er,
02:45
the more profitable it can potentially be.
50
149276
1864
jo mere profitabel er det potentielt.
02:47
You want a cigarette in prison? Three to five dollars.
51
151140
4936
Vil man have en cigaret i fængslet? Tre til fem dollars.
02:51
You want an old-fashioned cell phone that you flip open
52
156076
3305
Vil man have en gammeldags mobiltelefon man kan klappe op
02:55
and is about as big as your head? Three hundred bucks.
53
159381
3646
og er på størrelse med ens hoved? Tre hundrede dask.
02:58
You want a dirty magazine?
54
163027
2336
Vil man have frække blade?
03:01
Well, it can be as much as 1,000 dollars.
55
165363
3384
Jamen, det kan være så meget som 1.000 dollars.
03:04
So as you can probably tell, one of the defining aspects
56
168747
3106
Så I kan nok se, at en af de afgørende sider
03:07
of prison life is ingenuity.
57
171853
3550
ved livet i fængslet er opfindsomhed.
03:11
Whether it was concocting delicious meals
58
175403
2404
Om det var at udpønse lækre måltider
03:13
from stolen scraps from the warehouse,
59
177807
4199
fra stjålne madrester fra varehuset,
03:17
sculpting people's hair with toenail clippers,
60
182006
3150
at forme folks hår med neglesakse,
03:21
or constructing weights from boulders in laundry bags
61
185156
5624
eller konstruere vægte fra sten i vasketøjsposer
03:26
tied on to tree limbs, prisoners learn how to make do with less,
62
190780
4769
bundet til tre lemmer, fanger lærer hvordan man klarer sig med mindre,
03:31
and many of them want to take this ingenuity
63
195549
2671
og mange af dem vil tage denne opfindsomhed
03:34
that they've learned to the outside
64
198220
2186
som de har lært til verden udenfor
03:36
and start restaurants, barber shops,
65
200406
2246
og starte restauranter, frisører,
03:38
personal training businesses.
66
202652
2345
personlig træning virksomheder.
03:40
But there's no training, nothing to prepare them for that,
67
204997
3495
Men der er ingen træning, intet der forbereder dem på det,
03:44
no rehabilitation at all in prison,
68
208492
2295
ingen rehabilitation overhovedet i fængslet,
03:46
no one to help them write a business plan,
69
210787
2201
intet til at hjælpe dem med at skrive en forretningsplan,
03:48
figure out a way to translate the business concepts
70
212988
3258
finde på en måde til at oversætte forretningskoncepterne
03:52
they intuitively grasp into legal enterprises,
71
216246
3023
de intuitivt forstår til legale foretagender,
03:55
no access to the Internet, even.
72
219269
2575
selv ingen adgang til internettet.
03:57
And then, when they come out, most states
73
221844
2584
Og så, når de kommer ud, har de fleste stater
04:00
don't even have a law prohibiting employers
74
224428
2352
ikke engang en lov der forbyder arbejdsgivere
04:02
from discriminating against people with a background.
75
226780
3720
fra at diskriminere mod folk der har en baggrund.
04:06
So none of us should be surprised
76
230500
2304
Så ingen af os bør være overraskede
04:08
that two out of three ex-offenders re-offend
77
232804
2844
over at to ud af tre tidligere lovovertrædere begår en forseelse igen
04:11
within five years.
78
235648
2588
inden for fem år.
04:14
Look, I lied to the Feds. I lost a year of my life from it.
79
238236
5312
Hør engang, jeg løj for banksystemet. Jeg tabte et år af mit liv på grund af det.
04:19
But when I came out, I vowed that I was going to do
80
243548
3659
Men da jeg kom ud, sværgede jeg at jeg ville gøre
04:23
whatever I could to make sure
81
247207
1826
hvad jeg kunne for at sørge for
04:24
that guys like the ones I was locked up with
82
249033
2433
at fyre som dem jeg var låst inde med
04:27
didn't have to waste any more of their life than they already had.
83
251466
4047
ikke skulle spilde mere af deres liv end de allerede havde gjort.
04:31
So I hope that you'll think about helping in some way.
84
255513
3648
Så jeg håber at I vil tænke på at hjælpe dem på en eller anden måde.
04:35
The best thing we can do is figure out ways
85
259161
2568
Det bedste vi kan gøre er at finde på måder
04:37
to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit
86
261729
2688
til at pleje den foretagsomme ånd
04:40
and the tremendous untapped potential in our prisons,
87
264417
3244
og det enorme uudnyttede potentiale i vores fængsler,
04:43
because if we don't, they're not going to learn any new skills
88
267661
3075
fordi hvis vi ikke gør det, kommer de ikke til at lære nogen nye færdigheder
04:46
that's going to help them, and they'll be right back.
89
270736
2549
der kommer til at hjælpe dem, og så kommer de lige tilbage.
04:49
All they'll learn on the inside is new hustles.
90
273285
2876
Det eneste de lærer indenfor er nye svindelnumre.
04:52
Thank you. (Applause)
91
276161
4000
Tak. (Bifald)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jeff Smith - Recovering politicianOnce an up-and-coming star in the Missouri State Senate, Jeff Smith went to prison for covering up an election law violation. Since his release, he's created a new space for himself as a professor, writer, political commentator and advocate for those he was locked up with.
Why you should listen
In 2004, Jeff Smith ran for the U.S. Congressional seat vacated by Dick Gephardt, and came this close to defeating Republican Russ Carnahan. His inspiring, but ultimately unsuccessful, campaign was documented in the award-winning documentary, Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?.
A year later, Smith ran for the Missouri State Senate and won in a hotly contested election. He quickly became a rising star in the legislative body, focusing on education reform and tax credits among other things. However, in 2009, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into whether Smith had lied about a violation in his 2004 campaign. He ultimately plead guilty and spent a year in jail. It’s a story he has told on This American Life.
Since being released from prison, Smith accepted a position as an assistant professor at The New School's Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy in New York City. His research focuses on political campaigns, the role of race in urban politics and the legislative process. At the same time, he writes for The Recovering Politician, City & State NY and Politico's The Arena, and is working on an memoir.
Jeff Smith | Speaker | TED.com