Ask Adam Savage: Dealing With People Who Underestimate You

Evan cops Says have you ever had anyone underestimate you just a great question just in general They say one of my co-workers was of the opinion that I didn't have anything between my ears because I'm quote a young blonde kiddo Even though I'm 31 She reminded she revised her opinion though and one of my friends showed her some of the videos. I do how okay That's a really really great question The answer is yeah people underestimate me all the time all the time And I'd always have and not for any not because people are shitty or anything like that. It's just I Mean people would come to Mythbusters set and they would ask Jamie and I where's all the people building all the stuff for you And then we'd say there isn't anybody and you know later on there was dumb bass and Tori Fink but you know in the beginning nobody and That's underestimating I Wouldn't take it too seriously Let people underestimate you one of my Okay, let me just right at the front. Let's say I'm a man In this world, so I don't know what it's like to be underestimated as a woman I don't write this is a whole sets of experiences I cannot speak to and you should not extrapolate what I say to anybody else's experience But one of my favorite moments is when I see somebody take me seriously when I see the penny drop in their head I I love that moment and it's happened a lot I would show up on a on a set like we'd go down to the zircon factory on Mythbusters And they were fans of the show but when I started talking to the engineering team and they understood that I Understood more than they expected and I see that that light come on That light is like I I want to eat it. I love it. I love that moment when someone Realizes what you actually can do and It's a tricky balance, you know, you don't want to go around saying well, I talk a lot I have I like to say that it is a good idea to tell people what you do and what you're interested in But you don't want to be overbearing about it You don't want to be the guy that I mean We all know these kinds of people who when you're like, hey, do you want sugar in your coffee? And they go, you know, what kind of person I am and it's like I don't care. I'd stop talking right now Please I don't I don't need This isn't an NPR interview. I'm just asking you about sugar in your coffee. That's not what I'm talking about recognizing that someone's underestimating you and Bringing them around to understand or watching them take in something you did and be like you did that So from my vantage point, I have learned at this point in my life. I do not worry when people underestimate me it still happens all the freaking time and Watching the penny drop for people and realizing that they can take me seriously in the capacity that I'm in is a deep pleasure for me Again and it's my personal experience There are all sorts of other There are all sorts of other genders and colors I could be and my experience would be radically radically different But that is my my experience Let me see if somebody else has asked a question from the oh, here we go Andy Butler if you could collaborate with any creator from any point in time Who would that creator be and why? Well, don't get me wrong. I'd love to be a an intern in Leonardo da Vinci's shop, but We know so little about his actual working process that I can't really wish for that because who knows what kind of like Heaven or hell that could be I will say What's his name hold on hold on there's a specific guy Yes Carl Akeley Effectively the inventor of modern taxidermy Carl Akeley is one of the recent heroes that I'm totally obsessed with When Carl Akeley started learning taxidermy They would skin an animal sew up the skin and shove a bunch of sawdust in it and display it That was it. That was that was taxidermy Akeley is the first guy to start using paper mache and look at the musculature of the animal and make sketches and make displays and he made Some of the displays that are I think still on view at the Museum of Natural History in New York The guy also fought a tiger he fought a tiger and lived Holy cow, Carl Akeley is the like up there with Shackleton as a badass and I'd love to work with Shackleton, too I mean if you read and I'm gonna bounce all over the place here If you read endurance or any of the accounts of Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole that famously failed and his men got stranded for 18 months while he went back to Elephant Island and then Prince George st. George Island and went and rescued his men everything about that trip is about management every man survived because Shackleton is one of the great managers in history and we have everyone's diaries So we have everyone's individual points of view including Shackleton's where he's like this guy's a bit of a ---- Disturber and he's kind of winding up the men. So I'm gonna make sure he stays in my tent so he can do less damage That's that's management, baby but Carl Akeley is like I've been reading about him and I've been reading some of his writings Carl Akeley's Africa and They're just really flooring me. I would love to work with him. And then the third one is Richard Feynman. I Imagined I've two good friends who were very close with him And I've applied that well one is James Randi and he's passed but I applied them for stories about About Feynman. He just sounds like a really wonderful mind That's the thing It's like it doesn't matter what your skills are if if you're that Curious like all things can be figured out with that kind of galaxy brain that he had I just imagined doing any kind of collaboration. I mean would have been a super delight Wonderful question. Thank you Thank you so much for watching If you'd like to support us even further you can by becoming a tested member details are of course below But it includes all sorts of perks and we're building them all the time You get advanced word and behind-the-scenes photos of some of our projects Questions you get to ask direct questions during my live streams and we have some members only videos including the Adam real-time series of Unbroken unedited shots of me working here in the shop. They are Weirdly meditative. Thank you guys so much. I'll see you on the next one