The Top Ten Most Influential Nerds!

Nerds!

I could be unbelievably corny and opine that we’ve “Come A Long Way, Baby…”  And regardless of how hackneyed a comment that would be, it’s the simple truth: Nerds and Geeks (use whatever term you like–the differences between them are a subject for another article) are at the vanguard of modern pop culture and entertainment: Scientists are celebrities, comic book heroes are movie stars, supermodels talk of their love for video games….This is the world Nerds built….

And this list celebrates some of it’s greatest architects.

Honored here are actors, comedians, filmmakers, physicists, TV personalities, and writers. All are card-carrying geeks, and all have contributed something unique to this wonderful Nerdiverse of ours. In the interest of communicating exactly what makes each of these personalities worthy of inclusion here, I have included a quotation from each of them (and links to their respective Facebook Pages in their names).

Anyhoo, let’s proceed with the list proper–starting at number ten with:

10. Chris Hardwick

I’d wager a number of you only know what the word “Podcast” means because of this stand-up comedian and former Singled Out co- host. His show The Nerdist is one of the most famous programs in the short history of online broadcasting, and was adapted into a televised talk show by the BBC.

Along with his awesome nerdity and ability to rock a Tenth Doctor costume, Hardwick is also known for hosting AMC’s The Talking Dead: A panel show for fans of The Walking Dead. Comedy Central has also built a late night talk show around him that should air this Fall, as well.

After finishing Singled Out, Hardwick fell into a quagmire of inactivity and alcoholism. In a sense, it was returning to his roots, and embracing the nerdiness that he sought to hide while on MTV that saved his life and his career:

Back when I was working at MTV (which oddly, at one time, aired short films set to popular music), people used to talk about an MTV curse-that you might not “hit it any bigger” after your time there. I always recoiled at the thought of this curse, and here I was taking active steps every fucking day to make it happen… I knew that I had two choices: I could continue living the way I was living and die pickled and unemployed, or make sweeping changes with the hope of salvaging my life.

9. George Takei

Decades of co-starring in Star Trek: TOS, and six Trek films as Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulushould be sufficient nerd cred for anyone. But just when most actors would be sitting on their laurels and enjoying their retirement, Takei (that’s “ta-KAY”, not “ta-KYE”) re-invented himself as a celebrity starting by coming out as a homosexual, and guest starring repeatedly on The Howard Stern Show. He stole the show at the Comedy Central Roast of former co-star William Shatner, and has become known for his pro-gay AND pro-nerd YouTube monologues, and his work promoting awareness of Asian-American history (Takei was raised in the WWII Japanese internment camps).

Takei is also king of social media, posting some of the geekiest, funniest, and smartest material  available on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

John D.F. Black who wrote “Star Trek: The Naked Time (#1.4)” (1966) came to me and said he was thinking of having Sulu use a Samurai sword. I told him, “It certainly is ethnically appropriate because I am of Japanese ancestry but what about a rapier? I was born in this country and when I was a kid I didn’t play Samurai. I played Robin Hood.” He asked me if I know how to fence to which I replied, “of course.” That night I grabbed the phonebook and was furiously trying to find fencing schools so I could learn at least the basics.

8. Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith’s heyday as a filmmaker may have been back in the 1990s, when he was directing groundbreaking comedies like Clerks, Dogma, and Chasing Amy, but he deserves to be recognized as one of the pioneers of the “Nerd Boom”:

I mean really–before Clerks, could any of us even imagined a mainstream film where the characters take ten minutes of screen time to talk about Star Wars?

Smith is still every bit as active in the nerd community–Executive Producing AMC reality series Comic Book Men, filmed in a comic store owned by Smith himself. Like Chris Hardwick, he also runs a successful, and very nerdy podcast with partner Scott Mosier: SModcast–which runs off both its own site, AND Sirius XM satellite radio. Smith has also become known for his live Q&A sessions with fans, the first of which was released on DVD as An Evening With Kevin Smith in 2002.

It wasn’t the first comic I ever actually READ, but the first comic I remember slapping down hard-earned money for was a ‘Superman Family’ Annual in which the first story featured a married Lois and Superman waking up on a cloud. I remember being oddly aroused by the whole thing. I mean, the implication was that these two were fucking.

7. Aisha Tyler

These days, actress/stand-up comedienne Aisha Tyler can most often be found on the CW network as the new and infinitely more charming host of improv series Whose Line Is It Anyway?

But long before that, she was one of the early founders of the unofficial “gamer girls” movement. Tyler could model for MAXIM magazine, and give n00bs pointers on Halo with equally superlative skill.

Besides gaming and TV hosting, Tyler is best known for her voice-acting work as Lana Kane in the animated series Archer (she also got a voice role in her beloved Halo game franchise).

People challenge my nerd cred all the time. I just show them the photo of me winning my middle-school science fair, wearing my Casio calculator watch and eyeglasses so big they look like they can see the future.

6  Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Even if you know nothing and care even less about astrophysics and astrophysicists, there’s a good chance you’ve at least heard of Dr. Tyson.

Why?

He’s the dude primarily responsible for making Pluto no longer a planet (It’s now the first of a new category of celestial objects known as “plutoids”)

Other than that, you might know him as the host of PBS science series NOVA. Dr. Tyson is professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University, and the first African American director of the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York City.

He’s also (I swear I’m not making this up) the prophet of a secular religion built around him onFacebook.

What are the lessons to be learned from this journey of the mind “through the universe”? That humans are emotionally fragile, perennially gullible, hopelessly ignorant masters of an insignificantly small speck in the cosmos. Have a nice day.

5. Stephen Colbert

Writer/Comedian/TV Personality Stephen Colbert is best known for his satirical performance as an over-the-top conservative pundit in the vein of Bill O’reilly or Glenn Beck on The Colbert Report…but fans of the show know him just as well for his unabashed nerdiness. His love for Star Wars andLord Of The Rings is particularly pronounced, and he can best the geekiest among us in esoteric knowledge of such subjects…

For the love of Crom! The man was called the “biggest Tolkien fan I’ve ever met” by Peter Jackson himself!

But here’s a little recollection of pre-fame geekiness:

I used to write things for friends. There was this girl I had a crush on, and she had a teacher she didn’t like at school. I had a real crush on her, so almost every day I would write her a little short story where she would kill him in a different way.

4. Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt has been able to parlay his experiences as a hard-core nerd into a successful stand-up comedy career, the way other comics have worked off being Jewish, Catholic, or Southern (for example). Oswalt has also appeared in movies like Blade: Trinity, tv shows like Parks and Recreation, done voice acting for the animated feature Ratatouille and the new Axe Cop series, and starred in the Adult Swim live action series The Heart, She Holler.

Like fellow honoree George Takei, Oswalt also participated in the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner. He got one of the biggest laughs of the night when he handed Shatner a paper bag and asked him to act his way out of it.

Based on my own experience, when you’re going through adolescence you don’t know how the world works. You can’t set a story in the world you live in because you don’t know what a utility bill is, or how to budget your paycheck. So you either set it in a zombie apocalypse, a wasteland or a spaceship. I think which one you choose decides the adult you become.

3. Felicia Day

It might be tired or cliched at this point to refer to Felicia Day as the “Queen of Geek Girls”–but it was not for nothing that she’s been referred to thusly. Few actors have more nerdy titles on their resumes: From Supernatural to Eureka to Dollhouse, to online projects like The Legend of Neil, Joss Whedon’s magnificent Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, and her own creation–The Guild. Day has kept herself at the forefront of Nerd Culture since her big break as Vi on Buffy The Vampire Slayerten years ago–and she shows no sign of slowing down or “selling out”.

Mainstream is nothing anymore. What is mainstream? Mainstream is whatever you’re interested in. Everybody can name five things they’re interested in. Being able to open doors for other creators to create projects that aren’t considered mainstream is really important to me.

2. Simon Pegg

The third installment of what’s been unofficially termed the “Cornetto Trilogy”  (due to the presence in all 3 films of a British ice cream novelty similar to what we’d call a “Drumstick” in the States) was just released last night: The World’s End. Like its predecessors, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, this film was directed by Edgar Wright and stars Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.

Few actors have worn their nerdiness on their sleeves the way Pegg has. Shaun of the Dead–the film he co-wrote with Wright that put him on the radar in the U.S. is a cult hit primarily because of the attention to detail and unabashed love for the genre it displayed.

Pegg also got the chance to live out a childhood dream when he got to cameo as a villain in the first season of Doctor Who.…and his later casting as a young Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot was nothing short of inspired (whatever you may think of the films).

Every person should have their escape route planned. I think everyone has an apocalypse fantasy, what would I do in the event of the end of the world, and we just basically – me and Nick (Frost)- said what would we do, where would we head?

1. Wil Wheaton

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, young Star Trek: The Next Generation fans like me just absolutely LOVED to hate Wil Wheaton in the role of miserably precocious 24th century wunderkind Wesley Crusher. Sure, it wasn’t Wheaton’s fault Wesley was written as such a smarmy little knowitall prick, but we blamed him regardless.

Then something interesting happened. ST:TNG ended, and Wheaton–who’d been acting in film and television since he was about six–left the entertainment industry entirely. He went to school, got a day job, and for several years lived quietly and unobtrusively as a normal civilian (Fun fact: During this period, he was fellow honoree Chris Hardwick’s roommate for a time)

He’s resurfaced in the past few years–older, more seasoned, and sporting a wicked-awesome beard (not quite a beard of “Rikerian” proportions, but close!)–and he’s re-invented himself as a budding filmmaker, occasional actor, and expert on all things Geek

I picked a doozy of a quote for my pick for #1 most influential nerd–and despite its length I SERIOUSLY advise you to read it. Wheaton was recorded saying this at this year’s CalgaryCon to a mother who asked him to explain what it means to be a nerd to her newborn daughter:

My name is Wil Wheaton. It’s 2013. And you’ve just recently joined us on planet Earth. So welcome. I’m an actor. I’m a writer. And I’m a Dad. Your mother asked me to tell you why it’s awesome to be a nerd. That’s an easy thing for me to do because I am a nerd.

I don’t know what the world is going to be like by the time you understand this. I don’t what it’s going to mean to be a nerd when you are a young women. For me, when I was growing up, being a nerd meant that I liked things that were a little weird. That took a lot of effort to appreciate and understand. It meant that I loved science, and that I loved playing board games, and reading books, and really understanding what went on in the world instead of just riding the planet through space.

When I was a little boy, people really teased us about that, and made us feel like there was something wrong with us for loving those things. Now that I’m an adult, I’m kind of a professional nerd, and the world has changed a lot. I think a lot of us have realized that being a nerd … it’s not about what you love. It’s about how you love it.

So, there’s going to be a thing in your life that you love. I don’t know what that’s going to be … and it doesn’t matter what it is. The way you love that, and the way that you find other people who love it the way you do is what makes you a nerd. The defining characteristic of [being a nerd] is that we love things. Some of us love Firefly and some of us love Game of Thrones, or Star Trek, or Star Wars, or anime, or games, or fantasy, or science fiction. Some of us love completely different things. But we all love those things SO much that we travel for thousands of miles … we come from all over the world, so that we can be around people who love the things the way that we love them.

That’s why being a nerd is awesome. And don’t let anyone tell you that that thing that you love is a thing that you can’t love. Don’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t love that, that’s for boys … you find the things that you love, and you love them the most that you can.

And listen: This is really important. I want you to be honest, honorable, kind. I want you to work hard. Because everything worth doing is hard. And I want you to be awesome, and I will do my very best to leave you a planet that you can still live on.

By James Daniels,  nerdbastards

The Power Of “No” !

You know that job interview question about “your biggest weakness” that everyone loves to lie about? (“My biggest weakness is I just work sooo much!”) For the longest time, my answer to that question was (and probably still is), “I don’t say ‘no’ enough.”

On the surface, this sounds like a non-answer or humble-brag. (“I’m just so nice and helpful and willing… it’s terrible!”) But actually, not saying “no” was ruining both my work and my life.

As a freelance designer and writer, I said “yes” to every opportunity that came my way. That was great for business, until I overcommitted myself and started producing hurried work. The more successful I became, the more referrals, offers, and invitations I got. And I kept accepting them. Even the crappy ones.

I wasn’t doing this because it was smart (financially or health-wise). I did it becausesomewhere deep down I felt guilty; I couldn’t bring myself to say “no” to anything in my professional life. I answered every email. I took every mysterious phone call. I pursued every hair-brained business idea that popped into my head, and I nodded and smiled at every acquaintance who came to me for feedback on a terrible business idea him- or herself. Every person who came to me for help got help, whether I was qualified to give it or not. I stopped sleeping. And I started hating it.

Then I started a company, a real company with employees and investors and high stakes. There was no way I could do the 100 things I was doing and run something like that. So I wound down the freelance stuff to just a few things I really cared about personally. I set an email autoresponder with an FAQ explaining that I was taking some time off life to focus on the business. I stopped answering my phone and listening to my voice messages.

Saying “no” was painful, but it was exhilarating.

In my attempt to root out the “yes”es that were killing me, I swung the pendulum perhaps a little too far, and nearly three years later I feel like I’ve finally found a decent balance. I still err on the side of being helpful, but I set aside meeting-free days, and I put giant headphones on at work when I need to be in the zone, with the promise to my teammates that I’ll get back to them. And rather than being at the mercy of squeaky wheels or cold emailers, I prioritize who gets my time: 1) Family; 2) Colleagues; 3) Me; and then 4) Everyone Else.

It’s still my greatest weakness, but I’ve become convinced of the power of a calculated “NO”.

And “no” is not just good for sanity. Here’s where else I think “no” makes a difference:

NO makes you more productive

Greg McKeown writes in a LinkedIn post about the biggest mistake capable people make: essentially, spreading themselves thin and diluting their personal brands. Saying “yes” too much prevents us from focusing on our “highest point of contribution.” Strategically saying “no” to things we’re less good at gives us time to sharpen the saw blades we want to be using.

I eluded to this earlier, but saying “no” to wanton meetings and appointments is the best thing that happened to me. And, paradoxically, by collating exploratory and advisory meetings into set blocks of time, I end up being able to help more people. Jeff Weiner writes about the importance of scheduling nothing, calling deliberate “no”s in your daily schedule for catchup and big picture thinking, “the best investment you can make in yourself.”

NO makes you more innovative

Saying “no” leads to better design. This is exactly what Apple did with iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac and more. It’s frustrating as a gadget nerd to not get the bells and whistles you know could be (Where’s my NFC, Tim Cook?!), but great design and delightful experiences are often about what’s not there. The “kitchen sink” isn’t innovative.

Mike Lazerow, founder of Buddy Media, writes in another LinkedIn post that the #1 mistake entrepreneurs make is focusing on the wrong things. “Without focus, young companies can FEEL like they are accomplishing a lot while in reality accomplishing nothing,” he writes. That’s exactly how you feel when you’re imprudent with your “yes”es: like you’re doing a ton but getting nothing done.

The most important “no” in the world, in my opinion, is saying “no” to convention. To the expectations, the norms, the old “ways it’s done” that prevent us from doing the nonobvious, incredible things we should be doing. This is what Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is: saying “no” to the artificial paradigms of the past. And this is what entrepreneurship is: saying “no” to the status quo of the present.

NO makes you a better writer and speaker

Want to instantly improve your writing? Say “no” to half the words. LinkedIn power-hitter Dave Kerpen has a great post on this here.

Want your speeches and presentations to sink in? Make them shorter. Say “no” to sentences on PowerPoint slides, so the audience focuses on you.

And that’s all I’ll write on this bullet, for fear of hypocrisy.:) 

NO helps you be more helpful

I recently had coffee with Adam Grant, author of Give and Take and perhaps the most helpful human on the planet. He’s a man with a busy schedule who’s made a name for himself by preaching the benefits of giving in the workplace.

One might worry that in buying into the power of “no,” one might miss out on opportunities to serve which a) make you a good person, and b) fuel future serendipity, as Grant shows in his studies and writing. I asked him how he stays sane while being asked to give so much, and he said, “Givers will say what they can and can’t help with.” They’re selective and prioritize. Essentially, they say “no.” And they have to, really, if they want to remain helpful to anyone for long.

The key is recognizing where your strengths lie and where others can be more helpful than you, and then connecting those that need your help to those who can best help them, rather than trying to be a hero yourself.

Take a page from superconnectors and say “no” to doing everything yourself by sending people to the best sources of help for a particular issue. Then spend more time helping where you really excel.

NO makes you healthier

A lot of stuff out there will kill you if left unmoderated. Sugar, alcohol, stress, whatever. We get in trouble with these things by saying “yes” too often. In fact, I can’t think of anything that isn’t better for you when it has constraints on it. Except maybe happiness.

Whether it’s sleep, mental health, diet, self-improvement, or exercise, healthy habits are about saying “no” to sacrificing your long-term for the short-term.

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Of course, it’s easy to take “no” to extremes and become a curmudgeon. There’s power in being adventurous, embracing serendipity, and taking risks. (Perhaps I’ll write my next post on the power of “yes.”) But when used skillfully, “no” can be the greatest word that ever happened to your work.

How has “no” helped you?

Shane Snow
Journalist, Geek, CCO of Contently

The Best Career Advice You Won’t Want To Hear!

As a fresh-faced university graduate I was eager to find a shortcut to fast track my way up the corporate ladder. Though being from a rural background, the only person around who had achieved distinction in a major organisation was my imposing great uncle Gus -a second world-war veteran who reached an executive level at one of Australia’s largest industrial companies.

So one Sunday lunch I decided to strike. Strategically picking my moment after the lamb roast had been devoured and the apple pie was safely in our bellies, I managed to corner Gus in the lounge room alone. After some idle chitchat about his illustrious yet now long-retired career, I plucked up the courage to ask, “So Uncle Gus what’s the secret to getting ahead in your career?”

The sparkle in his eye evidenced the compliment I had paid him. And you could see his still agile mind reminisce back to a time when he felt that same eagerness one has at the start of their career where options and opportunity abound. With little hesitation required for his almost ninety year-old brain to sift through the thousands of possible answers – he gave me this gem:

“It’s simple. Do the jobs no one else wants to do.”

At the time I was a little underwhelmed to be honest. I was hoping more for something like “go abroad and learn”, or “invest in continual education”. Even a simple “work harder than your boss” would have satisfied my hunger for an insider’s tip to miss a few rungs on that daunting ladder of promise. But seriously, was my youth about to be stolen from me, enduring year after year doing the jobs no one else wanted to do?

Yet twenty-something years later this simple career building principle has become part of my business DNA and has helped frame my career in four distinct ways:

1. DOING THE UNPOPULAR JOBS MYSELF: The few years where I did work for another organisation I always embraced doing the jobs no one else wanted to do and smiled inwardly, safe in the knowledge that the karma it built would one day be repaid. I recall landing in the UK as a 24 year-old and having to take a role as a filing clerk despite having been a manager back in Australia. To replace the monotony I set myself the challenge of becoming the UK’s fastest filing clerk, which saw me photocopier hopping to make up time and running up the stairs rather than waiting for elevators in my mission for speed. Soon the tasks that took my predecessor a week to complete were finished in less than a day, and yes, the ‘powers that be’ wanted to know why.’

2. LEADING BY EXAMPLE: As leaders we often delay doing the tasks no one else wants to do such as calling an irate customer, giving someone bad news or finishing that laborious proposal on the weekend. Leaders who are prepared to lead by example and complete these tasks themselves (at least initially) gain respect from their employees and create a can-do culture where a strong work ethic is the norm.

3. LAUNCHING BUSINESSES IN UNPOPULAR INDUSTRIES: When seeking avenues for a new business I tend to steer clear of the latest crazes as these areas have usually been oversubscribed. Rather, I have sought out the less glamorous opportunities given they invariably present the least competition, the highest margins and best possibilities to disrupt. During the Dot-com Bubble I was informed by a prominent venture capital firm they wouldn’t invest in our call centre business because it wasn’t ‘sexy’ enough. Two months later, every ‘sexy’ business they invested in had crumbled and our business took off -no longer requiring investor funds and growing to what would have resulted in a thirty-fold increase in their contribution.

4. PROMOTING EMPLOYEES WHO GIVE BEFORE THEY GET: I have always attempted to go out of my way to promote and recognize staff who have an inclination towards tackling tough or inglorious tasks without complaint or promise of reward. I have passed over many a self-promoter, over-resuméd, ‘suck-up to the boss’ type, in favour of those who are prepared to invest before they are given glory, titles or rewards. And it is in the backing of these types of employees that I attribute to the enormous growth our companies achieved against the odds.

Whether you are looking to get ahead in your corporate job or launch your own business, remember this sage piece of advice from Great Uncle Gus – “Do the jobs no one else wants to do”. If that means chasing up overdue debtors, making a dreaded phone call or delivering some bad news, do it today not tomorrow. And if you are already doing the jobs no one else wants to do then allow yourself a self-indulgent smile amid the drudgery, knowing you could be one mundane task away from a view higher up the ladder.

Creel Price
Serial Entrepreneur. Founder Entreprenaissance Movement.