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Speaker 1: What's it's way up with Angela. Ye, and this is exciting.

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Speaker 2: I have Derek Lewis here, Hi, Derek.

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Speaker 3: That's how you doing.

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Speaker 1: He's going to be a national best selling author with

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Speaker 1: this book, Survive and Advance lessons on living a life

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Speaker 1: without Compromise.

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Speaker 2: Now, I've known.

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Speaker 1: You for quite some time, just from working with you

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Speaker 1: through PEPSI and then I remember when you said you

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Speaker 1: were retiring from that, all right, and I want to

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Speaker 1: get into your whole story because I feel like you

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Speaker 1: can know somebody and done business with them, but not

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Speaker 1: know their true story. And when I read your book,

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Speaker 1: it definitely taught me a lot. So it's and I

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Speaker 1: think it's a critical time because a lot of things

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Speaker 1: that you talk about in here are things that were

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Speaker 1: going through right now with this new presidency, with these

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Speaker 1: conversations about de Ei. Yes, I think is really important.

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Speaker 1: You could not have time this better.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I just you. I'm ready to talk about it.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I'm read to talk about all the bo

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Speaker 3: I mean, this is definitely a time for self help

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Speaker 3: and motivational literature. And actually it was not my idea

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Speaker 3: when I was talking to right now book. It came

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Speaker 3: from colleagues came from students on campus, people who reached

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Speaker 3: out to me and said, hey, you've got three and

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Speaker 3: a half decades experiencing you know, one of the biggest

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Speaker 3: companies in the world. You were at the top of

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Speaker 3: the chain. You how did you do that? You can't

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Speaker 3: leave without sharing information? Are you going to go on

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Speaker 3: speaking circuits? Are you going to do podcasts? How about

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Speaker 3: a book? And the book things seemed to be pretty intriguing,

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Speaker 3: and I did some research on it, worked with hooked

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Speaker 3: up with Page two Publishing there out of Toronto, and

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Speaker 3: we started the process and I had a ghost writer. First.

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Speaker 3: The first position of it was going to be more

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Speaker 3: of a business book. They said, hey, read Bob Iger's book.

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Speaker 3: We want we want a position like Lessons in Businesses,

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Speaker 3: that and the other. And then I started spending time

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Speaker 3: my ghostwriter. Our first stop was DC, my hometown, and

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Speaker 3: spent a whole day with me and we did everything,

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Speaker 3: went to all the old stops man all the old

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Speaker 3: stomping grounds and schools and neighborhoods and just talked. And

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Speaker 3: then all of a sudden she said, time out. This

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Speaker 3: is no longer just a business book, this is a memoir.

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Speaker 3: This is going to be about your life, because you've

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Speaker 3: already given me two or three chapters with information, So

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Speaker 3: we then sort of pivoted to making it about the

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Speaker 3: entire life from the picture fitting the business side, and

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Speaker 3: it was a big part of my life, but wanted

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Speaker 3: to make sure it was more end to end and

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Speaker 3: especially can inspire those who were also in my circumstances

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Speaker 3: growing up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because you are from DC and you did grow

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Speaker 1: up pretty much in a single parent home with your

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Speaker 1: mom raising you, and you refer to your father by

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Speaker 1: his first name, never called him that, never called him dad,

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Speaker 1: and you know, seeing you as a successful entrepreneur, and

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Speaker 1: I have these conversations behind the scenes all the time

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Speaker 1: with people as an executive, as an.

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Speaker 2: Entrepreneur that you are. You know, a lot of times.

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Speaker 1: I've heard people talk about DEI recently and then talk

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Speaker 1: about the what do they call it, the meritocracy, right,

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Speaker 1: and people act like DEI means that you don't deserve

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Speaker 1: a position that you're in, You're just getting it because

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Speaker 1: of the color of your skin or because you're a woman,

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Speaker 1: And that's not the case at all, No, not at all.

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Speaker 3: I mean, first of all, I think your timing is

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Speaker 3: good on this because it obviously is getting a lot

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Speaker 3: of attention. I do think one I'm sort of, you know,

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Speaker 3: shocked by some of the pullouts that you're seeing some

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Speaker 3: of the corporations, the companies do, but at the same time.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, disappointing.

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Speaker 3: I look at it as an opportunity, you know. I

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Speaker 3: do look at D and I in all honesty, as

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Speaker 3: something that you know, was obviously really built and suited

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Speaker 3: early in the sixty seven civil rights era. You know,

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Speaker 3: when I was grow up in DC at that time,

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Speaker 3: we obviously know discrimination, racial bias saw that were very

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Speaker 3: extreme back then. A lot of laws are being broken

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Speaker 3: back then, and so you needed a platform like that

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Speaker 3: to just stabilize things because things were so chaotic for

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Speaker 3: us back then. I think as time has marched on,

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Speaker 3: the platform needed to evolve, and I think we're here

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Speaker 3: today with the same sort of ideology that it might

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Speaker 3: have had, at least the application of it or perception

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Speaker 3: of And I do think that not evolving it has

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Speaker 3: put us in the spot today where people now are

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Speaker 3: sort of deprioritizing it, releasing the funds. Now. What I

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Speaker 3: don't like when companies say they're going to de prioritize

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Speaker 3: something and you don't tell us what you're going to

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Speaker 3: do Differently, you know, it's one thing to say, hey,

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Speaker 3: this is outdated. I don't think it has the application

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Speaker 3: more to what are you doing now? What are you

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Speaker 3: doing next? And so I think it's this bandwagoning or

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Speaker 3: student body left, student body right, and these sort of

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Speaker 3: hirky jerky moves on I think is just wrong. I

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Speaker 3: think actually that is a big challenge of leadership on

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Speaker 3: what are you doing, like if you're gonna come out,

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Speaker 3: because you have to have compassion here. People are being

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Speaker 3: affected by this what's going on. They're sensitized of this,

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Speaker 3: and my mind, not having a response to what you're

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Speaker 3: going to do is wrong.

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Speaker 1: The way we look at it is like y'all couldn't

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Speaker 1: wait to be able to have the opportunity to be like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're not doing these programs anymore, we're not giving these

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Speaker 1: grants anymore, we're not providing opportunities anymore. And we have

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Speaker 1: and you talk about this in the book too. I

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Speaker 1: have my little book marks.

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Speaker 2: Just saying up.

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Speaker 1: But we also talk about how important it is to

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Speaker 1: have people who represent your consumer base also working at

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Speaker 1: a company.

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Speaker 2: Right you were at Pepsi.

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Speaker 1: How long did you work at Pepsi thirty five years

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Speaker 1: from the bottom to the top, all right, so you

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Speaker 1: knew how every single aspect. You even went over to

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Speaker 1: tackle bell I did for a period of time. I

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Speaker 1: didn't even know Pepsi owned.

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Speaker 3: They did back in the nineties early nineties.

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Speaker 2: I had no idea, but you went there and it

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Speaker 2: was to me.

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Speaker 1: Some people might feel like things are not like on

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Speaker 1: the level of you know, some people might look at

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Speaker 1: that it's like, oh, I'm not going to Taco bell

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Speaker 1: and learning how to do X, Y and Z and

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Speaker 1: getting behind the counter and doing this. But you had

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Speaker 1: no problem getting in there, rolling up your sleeves and

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Speaker 1: doing every single aspect of the business. And one thing

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Speaker 1: that you talk about is even when you were going

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Speaker 1: in and you started off at Pepsi, like kind of

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Speaker 1: going into the stores and stocking the shelves and making

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Speaker 1: sure that visually everything looked the way that it was

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Speaker 1: supposed to.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: But that's an important thing because when you first started,

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Speaker 1: it was kind of like, well, why is this product

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Speaker 1: not moving the way that it should? And to know

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Speaker 1: your market, they had you. I think in Maryland, I

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Speaker 1: was in Baltimore and Baltimore at first, So talk to

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Speaker 1: me about that and the importance of you knowing the

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Speaker 1: consumer base and why things weren't happening the way that

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Speaker 1: they should.

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Speaker 3: I think everything starts with a consumer, you know, and

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Speaker 3: that type of bliss for sure, and so learning the

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Speaker 3: aspects of how our products are sort of made, how

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Speaker 3: they're moved around, and how they're sold, right, you're getting

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Speaker 3: a very fundamental not gaining fundamental knowledge of that when

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Speaker 3: you're on the starting on a route. So I'm learning

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Speaker 3: really the full business comes together. It's a lot thrown

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Speaker 3: at you. But there's times where you know, you see

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Speaker 3: how promotions react in our business when products get priced

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Speaker 3: cheaper when they go and feature, and certainly in the

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Speaker 3: inner city route that I had, the end of the

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Speaker 3: month was very very soft, but beginning of the month

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Speaker 3: was very very strong, and so every time I had

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Speaker 3: promotions over money was on the street. The business really

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Speaker 3: really thrive when things were not on sale. I had

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Speaker 3: to be very deliberate about positioning our portfolio ways that

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Speaker 3: the value products that we had, you know, maybe the

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Speaker 3: two leaders or things are priced a little bit cheaper,

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Speaker 3: I could put those in the forefront to keep our

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Speaker 3: brands healthy in the store and traction with the consumer.

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Speaker 3: Those type of differences, those type of moves made a

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Speaker 3: difference in sales throughout the entire month. Because I didn't

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Speaker 3: want to sort of eat really really good for two

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Speaker 3: weeks and then not eat it all for two weeks.

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Speaker 3: I had to find ways to keep the business move

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Speaker 3: and also had to bring promotional things to the neighborhoods.

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Speaker 3: I had to bring community programs to been able to

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Speaker 3: show that we're investing while we're here as well. So

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Speaker 3: we want you to buy a product, but also what

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Speaker 3: are we doing to hold stand up the community on

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Speaker 3: the other end, right, And so I was very very

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Speaker 3: deliberate about bringing promotion, sponsorship dollars, community dollars to activate

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Speaker 3: things throughout the community landscape and that and that paid

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Speaker 3: it forward in a big, big way. The law to

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Speaker 3: you got from the consumers. The law to you got

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Speaker 3: from the customers. Store managers all saw that as a

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Speaker 3: real real value add for their business.

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Speaker 2: Even taking the store managers out to eat.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, doing things like that makes a big difference. I

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Speaker 1: always feel like in business, if people feel like they

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Speaker 1: know you more on a personal level and makes them

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Speaker 1: more willing to do little things that can be really

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Speaker 1: beneficial or give you tips or what you know, what's

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Speaker 1: going on here, how can I help with that?

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Speaker 2: Well, let me just you in this way.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely got a lot of favors from that, and it's

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Speaker 3: a look, it's a hyper competitive business, so the wins

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Speaker 3: and jump balls go to relationship, and so I was

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Speaker 3: always big on relationships with my three hours, results, relationships,

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Speaker 3: and repute. I believe all three of those. If you

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Speaker 3: function a very high level in those three areas, it

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Speaker 3: will drive the most successful you as an individual, your

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Speaker 3: professional life or your personal life. And that worked for me.

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Speaker 3: I stuck on that formula. I drove it hard while

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Speaker 3: also betting on myself, believing myself, and being myself. I

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Speaker 3: feel like those were the tenants of my you know,

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Speaker 3: sort of framework on how I was going to be

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Speaker 3: successful in my professional career.

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Speaker 1: How important is it, you think for executives to know

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Speaker 1: how to do all aspects of a business, because sometimes

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Speaker 1: people get brought in, you know, on the top line,

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Speaker 1: and they don't understand what employees that are you know,

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Speaker 1: working from the bottom up have to actually do on

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Speaker 1: a day to day basis.

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Speaker 3: I think it could go both ways. You can look

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Speaker 3: at both fans. One, you can look at somebody like

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Speaker 3: me who did every job as a bit of a

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Speaker 3: I could take that as being a know it all

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Speaker 3: and almost to a point where I didn't embrace and

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Speaker 3: listen or evolve the business in the way I need

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Speaker 3: to because I could be so headstrong on what I

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Speaker 3: used to do with how it used to be when

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Speaker 3: I was on the route. So it took a lot

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Speaker 3: of diss for me to evolve my thinking, and that

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Speaker 3: as a portfolio grew, achnology started to play more role

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Speaker 3: in our business that I had to kind of relearn it.

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Speaker 3: I had to get back out there and relearn. I

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Speaker 3: had to hire people who can teach me things I

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Speaker 3: would have known otherwise. Now, if you're coming from the outside,

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Speaker 3: it's a very very tough situation coming from the outside

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Speaker 3: and the business like that, not having all those fundamental skills.

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Speaker 3: But you know, as a leader, you have to challenge

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Speaker 3: show then to be really a great listener, to get

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Speaker 3: out and work with people, and so to leadership style,

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Speaker 3: it's all about that. You can adjust that style whether

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Speaker 3: you're the most experienced person or you're not the most

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Speaker 3: experienced person. I think both ways can work, but you

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Speaker 3: have to really apply yourself in the right way to

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Speaker 3: truly get the benefit out of it.

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Speaker 1: Now, one thing you talked about was you said, one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons I joined PEPSI was that the black

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Speaker 1: management experience was front and center on their agenda and Graves.

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Speaker 1: You talked about ear Grays, who had black enterprise. I

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Speaker 1: love him right, and you said he was a significant

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Speaker 1: part of that. A lot changed after that. Graves at

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Speaker 1: the stage for not only who I was to become,

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Speaker 1: but everyone at the company. Understanding diversity not only opened

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Speaker 1: up more equity and equality for PEPSI employees, but it

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Speaker 1: also had an immediate bottom line impact. And I think

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Speaker 1: people do need to understand that now as they're trying

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Speaker 1: to say, like I said, we had this conversation about

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Speaker 1: and we see what Elon Musk is saying, We see

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Speaker 1: what a lot of corporate executives are saying about DEI

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Speaker 1: and acting like DEI must die. I think that's like

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Speaker 1: their catchphrase you know that they're using right now.

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Speaker 2: But it does.

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Speaker 1: I think studies have shown statistically even that when companies

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Speaker 1: are more diverse, they actually impact the bottom line.

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Speaker 2: At a better way, better rate and have more of

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Speaker 2: an impact that.

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Speaker 3: Way, and no doubt about it. And look and perhaps

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Speaker 3: she was a company that going back to the forties

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Speaker 3: figured that out. They had the first corporate interms of

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Speaker 3: Corporate America, Alan mckella Jr. Who had a relationship with

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Speaker 3: until he passed away in twenty eighteen when he was

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Speaker 3: ninety eight. Jeannette Mount, she went to Hampton, he went

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Speaker 3: to South Carolina State. They were hard back in nineteen

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Speaker 3: forty two. The first black salesforces put in place a

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Speaker 3: couple of years behind that, and from there you can

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Speaker 3: see the company making the African Americans sum a priority

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Speaker 3: in the forties when that was a very difficult time America.

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Speaker 3: Segregation is still very much alive, very difficult vironment, but

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Speaker 3: morally and from a business case standpoint, the company said, hey,

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Speaker 3: and the brand said, we're going to invest in that consumer.

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Speaker 3: You fast forward to the sixties and seventies in the

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Speaker 3: Civil rights era, company got behind it started including African

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Speaker 3: Americans in a lot of the marketing materials. Again, it

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Speaker 3: wasn't necessarily always embraced in a nice manner. There was

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Speaker 3: a lot of criticisms behind that, but they made it

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Speaker 3: a priority that the consumer is going to be part

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Speaker 3: of our growth strategy going forward. We can lock in

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Speaker 3: this consumer because no one else was chasing that consumer.

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Speaker 3: We're going to chase that consumer. Really get behind it.

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Speaker 3: Then you fast forward to eighties and then I talked

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Speaker 3: about its earlier Michael Jackson, and you signed these big

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Speaker 3: megastars now that are coming into the space. And then

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden, entertainment pop culture, you know, became important,

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Speaker 3: signing big endorsement deals with celebrities, many of them who

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Speaker 3: were African American, you know. Then you get to the

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Speaker 3: nineties and it's hip hop and Source Awards and two

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Speaker 3: thousand and twenty ten, it became a core principal of

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Speaker 3: the company strategy. Up until twenty twenty, we had all

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Speaker 3: the racial quality stuff. I was a note of all that.

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Speaker 3: So there's a good example of an evolutionary journey. A

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Speaker 3: company can have to stay behind its cohorts that they

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Speaker 3: deemed to be important in the business for the business case,

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Speaker 3: but also continuously invest and involve the platform. And I

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Speaker 3: get fixated on what we did in the forties is

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Speaker 3: what we do in the twenty twenty. So a lot

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Speaker 3: of companies can learn from that model. I do talk

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Speaker 3: about you got to be more comprehensive. Now. You can't

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Speaker 3: just go in and lean in for a carve out.

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Speaker 3: These carve out and just talk of carve out, just

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Speaker 3: talk of mandate is over. That's over. That will not

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Speaker 3: work going forward. The people in the companies won't embrace it.

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Speaker 3: The younger people coming up won't. Don't embrace that. We

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Speaker 3: have to be a lot more comprehensive at our discussions

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Speaker 3: on uniqueness, celebrating uniqueness, leveraging you neatness to win because

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Speaker 3: you're true, You're right. The businesses and the companies and

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Speaker 3: organizations that have the most uniqueness represent the marketplace, do

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Speaker 3: the best job and winning, and so you can win

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Speaker 3: win in this business if you do it the right way.

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Speaker 1: And I know one thing that you love about your

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Speaker 1: job was that said you love sports so much. You

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Speaker 1: did have the opportunity to work with a lot of

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Speaker 1: great athletes.

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Speaker 2: Who are endorsing things.

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Speaker 1: And you also talk about sports as being a metaphor

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Speaker 1: to life right with your kids and everything and explaining

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Speaker 1: to them. Can you just break down how you compare

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Speaker 1: sports to how we should be living our lives and

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Speaker 1: chasing our goals and dreams.

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Speaker 3: We look at the issues that are happening outside of sports.

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Speaker 3: We just talked about this whole de and I situation.

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Speaker 3: You look in sports, and that's the ultimate where uniqueness

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Speaker 3: is all blend together for a common mission and a

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Speaker 3: common purpose, right to win. Teams win, they built to win,

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Speaker 3: They share their skills, they all bring different unique skills

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Speaker 3: to the table. They work in a way that is

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Speaker 3: team oriented as team first and going. There's a strategic plan,

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Speaker 3: a strategy about winning and competing each you and every day.

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Speaker 3: I love sports. As a kid, I didn't have the

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Speaker 3: resources to play club level, to play recreational ball like

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Speaker 3: I wanted to, so I was basically just a playground kid,

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Speaker 3: and I enjoyed that. I was my getaway. But I

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Speaker 3: vowed that one day, when I have a family, I'm

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Speaker 3: going to invest heavily in sports because I see what

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Speaker 3: it does to change lives. Right, see what it does

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Speaker 3: for teamwork. I see what does for discipline, I see

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Speaker 3: what does for focus. I love then element of competing.

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Speaker 3: I love the what you have to get in the

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Speaker 3: zone and you have to deliver. You have to your accountable.

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Speaker 3: Youre accountable to yourself, you accountable for your teammates. I

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Speaker 3: love the fact the different coaches that we had in

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Speaker 3: our lives can be extra parents, an extra set of odds.

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Speaker 3: Are our kids things that I may not be able

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Speaker 3: to do for them, they're doing for them. Right. So

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Speaker 3: it's this whole comprehensive look at the way sports can

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Speaker 3: impact lives. Positively, I'm all in and it translates to

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Speaker 3: the business world for me because I use a lot

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Speaker 3: of lessons, a lot of famous coaches to drive culture

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Speaker 3: and a winning culture right, and it really did level

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Speaker 3: up things. I can use great examples like I use

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Speaker 3: University Alabama Nick Saban, right, who is a better person

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Speaker 3: at leveling up a culture, going to a campus and

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Speaker 3: transforming not only the school, but the entire industry transform

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Speaker 3: based on his philosophy of leveling up, you know, and

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Speaker 3: bringing everybody together to find that common vision that is powerful.

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Speaker 3: And so what works in sports apps you can translate

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Speaker 3: working in business and can work for your families for

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Speaker 3: kids if done the right way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and coaches can be like for you in particular,

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Speaker 1: a great kind of a substitute for if your father

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Speaker 1: is not present in your life the way that you

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Speaker 1: would have wanted, and how difficult was that for you?

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Speaker 2: To even and write about that, or was it because.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to we know you as an executive,

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Speaker 1: I know you in that capacity and being like, well,

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Speaker 1: I had no idea. You know, this is how Derek

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Speaker 1: was brought up and the things that he had to overcome.

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Speaker 2: And did you even.

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Speaker 1: Realize how much that affected you when you were younger?

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Speaker 1: Or was it something that as you were writing this

368
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Speaker 1: book you were like, damn, I didn't have X, Y,

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Speaker 1: and Z because my father was you know, in and

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Speaker 1: out and the things that he was doing and how

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Speaker 1: it affected your mom and your household and even your

372
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Speaker 1: youngest brother.

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Speaker 3: It brought a lot of trauma back to me. When

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Speaker 3: I was going through those particular chapters with my ghostwriter

375
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Speaker 3: and telling those stories, it didn't bring back a lot

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Speaker 3: of you know, like wow, like how did I get

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Speaker 3: through it? I mean, it really allowed me to sort

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Speaker 3: of again, you know, really recommit to how strong my

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Speaker 3: faith was, because that's really what got me through it.

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Speaker 3: There's no way. As I played back some of the

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Speaker 3: stories and some of the incidents, and so many situations

382
00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,840
Speaker 3: were life and death. We certainly were breaking the law

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Speaker 3: a lot. I was around drugs, I was around abuse,

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Speaker 3: you know, It was very difficult, and I had to

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Speaker 3: be the dad basically to two younger brothers and be

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Speaker 3: their big brother at the same time. That was very hard.

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Speaker 3: There was times when I'm being a nurturing big brother

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Speaker 3: caring for them at ten, eleven, twelve years old, and

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Speaker 3: then I had to I had to spank them sometimes,

390
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Speaker 3: you know, when they got out of the line and right,

391
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Speaker 3: and that was a very hard thing to deal with emotionally.

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Speaker 3: I let my mom down one time. I'll never forget this.

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Speaker 3: This story came back up when I was writing a

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Speaker 3: book the rent money. My dad was always looking for

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Speaker 3: the rent money so he could fuel his his habit

396
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,680
Speaker 3: substitutes habit. And one day he came to the house

397
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Speaker 3: and asked me who the rent money was. I happened

398
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Speaker 3: to know where my mom used to hide the rent

399
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Speaker 3: much you hit it, like under the carpet, underneath the

400
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Speaker 3: bed in the bedroom. And one day somehow he came

401
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Speaker 3: on and cornered me and said, where's that rent money.

402
00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:47,400
Speaker 3: Where's that money? I know you know where it is.

403
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Speaker 3: And he started coming at me and coming at me

404
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:50,480
Speaker 3: and coming at me, coming at me. And again I

405
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,320
Speaker 3: don't want let my dad down. I also was scared

406
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Speaker 3: if I didn't give it to what happened, And I

407
00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:55,920
Speaker 3: told him where it was and he grabbed the money,

408
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Speaker 3: left the house. Didn't see him for another day or two.

409
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Speaker 3: My mom got home. The expression on her face when

410
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Speaker 3: she looked underneath that carpet, she knew he was home,

411
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:04,840
Speaker 3: asked me what he was doing home, and then she

412
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Speaker 3: went right to the car because she had an idea

413
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Speaker 3: money was gone. I couldn't believe how terroorged. She was

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Speaker 3: totally panicked and just really got to her knee, got

415
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Speaker 3: to her knees and just started screaming, crying because she

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Speaker 3: didn't know how she was gonna pay a rent. And

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Speaker 3: I feel like I let her down, you know. I

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Speaker 3: feel like I let her down because I was trying

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Speaker 3: to just follow the oars for my dad, and I'm

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Speaker 3: you know, and I'm like at that time, I think

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Speaker 3: I'm like nine years old, and so it was hard,

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Speaker 3: like it was. The stress was there. And I go

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Speaker 3: to school, I got kids that are trying to pick

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Speaker 3: on me. I gotta fight defend myself there. So I'm

425
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Speaker 3: constantly like living like an adult as a child, you know.

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Speaker 3: So I gained a lot of responsibility. I gained a

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Speaker 3: lot of maturity. I gained a lot of perspective. I

428
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Speaker 3: knew right from wrong for sure, and I had to

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Speaker 3: convince myself and commit to myself that I was going

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Speaker 3: to be doing the right things the rest of my

431
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Speaker 3: life so that I am not putting my family in

432
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Speaker 3: this situation or I may not even get out of

433
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Speaker 3: the situation. My brother didn't get out of the situation.

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Speaker 3: I feel guilty for that as well. You know, I

435
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Speaker 3: feel like I probably didn't do enough for him.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I you know, it's hard, and not think

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Speaker 1: anybody would put that on themselves, but from reading this book,

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Speaker 1: you know it's hard. Like you have your own family,

439
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:11,880
Speaker 1: you did everything that you could, and sometimes you can't

440
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,560
Speaker 1: help people that aren't going to accept that help, you know,

441
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,600
Speaker 1: And I mean fortunately for you, it could go either way.

442
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,800
Speaker 1: You know, when you think about growing up in certain circumstances,

443
00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:23,840
Speaker 1: you know, you go into school and having to wear

444
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,280
Speaker 1: the same clothes and get and teased that school. It

445
00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,679
Speaker 1: actually helped you come better at defending yourself, but it

446
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,840
Speaker 1: could have went a whole other way. You know, you

447
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,600
Speaker 1: just never know what can happen with people. And that's

448
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,800
Speaker 1: another thing that we have to also have the circumstances

449
00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 1: that people grow up in. Everybody doesn't have the luxury

450
00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,280
Speaker 1: of being able to say, Okay, we had it all

451
00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:46,680
Speaker 1: growing up and I was able to just they'll say,

452
00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:48,120
Speaker 1: just go to school, pull yourself up by.

453
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:49,320
Speaker 2: Your boostaps, do what you need to do.

454
00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,240
Speaker 1: And that's not always the case, and everybody can't survive

455
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:56,040
Speaker 1: those circumstances in the same way you know survive and advance.

456
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,680
Speaker 3: Right, there's real trauma there. And every person that was

457
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,120
Speaker 3: in my situation can hope for the best. They can

458
00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,000
Speaker 3: dream big. I want every young person, no matter what

459
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,320
Speaker 3: your circumstances are, you can find that light that says

460
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,480
Speaker 3: I can create a better life for myself. But you're

461
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,520
Speaker 3: going to have to lock in and make choices right

462
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:15,480
Speaker 3: now here and now. You can't wait till later on,

463
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,480
Speaker 3: because they don't may not be guaranteed. So take the

464
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:22,040
Speaker 3: moment now to lock in on betting on yourself, believing yourself,

465
00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,600
Speaker 3: and being yourself throughout your entire life, and you can

466
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,000
Speaker 3: dream as big as possible and likely going to be

467
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:27,960
Speaker 3: very very successful.

468
00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,119
Speaker 1: Now, another thing that helped be successful was having the

469
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:31,960
Speaker 1: right woman by your side, and we.

470
00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,440
Speaker 3: Can remember that and.

471
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,479
Speaker 1: We can never discount the power in that. And you

472
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,320
Speaker 1: almost do that a way too, you.

473
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,360
Speaker 3: Know, being I did, I did, I did.

474
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,639
Speaker 2: I was like this guy, but you were young, and

475
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:44,960
Speaker 2: I'll give you grace.

476
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:46,680
Speaker 3: Thank you for that. I'm looking for that. I haven't

477
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:48,600
Speaker 3: gotten a lot of that so far with people who

478
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:49,960
Speaker 3: read it, but thank you for your forgiving me some

479
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:50,439
Speaker 3: grace on that.

480
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think being in college and you know, being

481
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:55,840
Speaker 1: a little and you you did try to like overly

482
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,280
Speaker 1: justify well. I did tell her I was in a relationship,

483
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:01,040
Speaker 1: but then she had a chance to see you with

484
00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,840
Speaker 1: another woman, and she stuck to her guns and was

485
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,520
Speaker 1: not trying to mess with you for a little while.

486
00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 1: But it was the person that you kept on thinking

487
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,280
Speaker 1: about that your mind went back to that. You were

488
00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:13,320
Speaker 1: like she you kind of knew she was the one

489
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:14,040
Speaker 1: I did.

490
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,960
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't necessarily know it then, but I

491
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:18,480
Speaker 3: knew it after I left and after we were separated,

492
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,040
Speaker 3: after I messed up, I knew that she was and

493
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:22,520
Speaker 3: I had to figure out, well, how am I gonna

494
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:24,200
Speaker 3: go get her back? How am I going to work

495
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:25,840
Speaker 3: my way back in. I had a strategy, I mean,

496
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:26,520
Speaker 3: no doubt about it.

497
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 2: Strategy.

498
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,560
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I had a strategy. She doesn't know that,

499
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,160
Speaker 3: but I had a strategy, and.

500
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,200
Speaker 1: It's a strategy for people out there that may need

501
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:34,040
Speaker 1: some help too.

502
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,200
Speaker 3: Hey, look, you just gotta you gotta hunk her down,

503
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 3: get yourself right again, be the best rods of yourself.

504
00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,200
Speaker 3: You may get one more chance. I was just praying

505
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,200
Speaker 3: for one more chance to get some FaceTime to show

506
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:45,919
Speaker 3: that I was in a different place right. And I

507
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,280
Speaker 3: think everybody will, at least most people who'll get that moment.

508
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,760
Speaker 3: You've got to see that moment. Now, had I messed

509
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 3: up that moment, then this thing would have been a

510
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 3: rapid will never happened. But I did take advantage of

511
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,159
Speaker 3: that one little moment, that one bright light that I have.

512
00:20:57,440 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 3: I'm a guy that can see a little bit of

513
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:00,760
Speaker 3: light and I can tell advantage of it. I can

514
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,119
Speaker 3: see my way through that light. But you got to

515
00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 3: be prepared for that moment each and every time when

516
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 3: I was that moment and thing, God it worked out

517
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 3: because our vision has been completely aligned from that single

518
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,880
Speaker 3: from that day on, you know, maybe a couple days

519
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 3: after because it was that easy for us day.

520
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 1: But POSI shouldn't because privately, part of what helped you

521
00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 1: was the fact that it wasn't so easy right away,

522
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,760
Speaker 1: right because somebody has to know their value to know

523
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,119
Speaker 1: that I'm not just gonna let you do whatever and

524
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 1: then I'm right here right. You know, sometimes people take

525
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:27,959
Speaker 1: advantage of that, but it does feel like whatever it

526
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,160
Speaker 1: is that you want to do, you go really hard

527
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,399
Speaker 1: to make that happen. Do you feel like ever at

528
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:34,520
Speaker 1: a time because just reading this and reading about you

529
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:36,960
Speaker 1: taking flights, going to get your NBA, having babies in

530
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,199
Speaker 1: the house, like so many different things at once was

531
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: and being exhausted in all of that, do you ever

532
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 1: feel like your work life balance was off? Like when

533
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:47,720
Speaker 1: you look back at it. I know that seeing where

534
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 1: you are now amazing that you've been able to retire

535
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:52,600
Speaker 1: being entrepreneur, and we'll talk about that in a second,

536
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 1: but looking back where you're like, man, I was really

537
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,680
Speaker 1: so like overly focused on work or do you think

538
00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 1: that's necessary for people?

539
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,280
Speaker 3: I feel like the balance was there, I really do.

540
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:02,840
Speaker 3: I felt like I gave it. I still I gave

541
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,639
Speaker 3: it my best shot, you know, and there were times

542
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 3: when it may not have felt even and there's times

543
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,440
Speaker 3: it went went the other way, you know, because like sports,

544
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,680
Speaker 3: was the anchor of our household in terms of activities.

545
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 3: I felt like I made the majority of sports event.

546
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:17,960
Speaker 3: That was a big deal for me. But that required

547
00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 3: some very early morning flights, that required some getting in

548
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,919
Speaker 3: really late, and I were driving extensive hours to get somewhere.

549
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,440
Speaker 3: But to me, the calendar management of that and being

550
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 3: there for my kids and the sports, not just the

551
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 3: sports things, but also the academic things. I feel like

552
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 3: I made at least probably seventy five or eight percent

553
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,960
Speaker 3: of their key activities. Yeah. Yeah, I felt like that

554
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 3: was a real key thing. But I communicated well with

555
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 3: the company. I told them what was going on. They knew.

556
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,040
Speaker 3: They say, when you're sort of transparent about who you are,

557
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:45,879
Speaker 3: and people know who you are and you bring your

558
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,080
Speaker 3: whole self to work, they know that I was about

559
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 3: my kids and about the sports. They knew that was

560
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 3: something I didn't have my life, and therefore that was

561
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 3: something I was investing in. I want to be there

562
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 3: for those moments. I want to be there for some

563
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:56,040
Speaker 3: moments when that game is over, to put you on around.

564
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:57,360
Speaker 3: You can't tell me love them. They did great.

565
00:22:57,640 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 1: You know, It's interesting because I feel like work ethic

566
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,200
Speaker 1: is different now, like for me having businesses and dealing

567
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,159
Speaker 1: with employees. I definitely feel like people would be like

568
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 1: I need to you know, a lot more on self

569
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 1: care nowadays, a lot more on you know, taking days

570
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,560
Speaker 1: and time off. I feel like when I was coming up,

571
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,439
Speaker 1: I worked like NonStop and really hard. I literally was

572
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,160
Speaker 1: like sometimes and I still do this to this day,

573
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:21,680
Speaker 1: like seven days a week of work.

574
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 2: But I feel like now.

575
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 1: It's more like like I need a hybrid situation or

576
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 1: I need a personal day. I need this, I need that.

577
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,479
Speaker 1: We didn't used to have that, you know, coming up.

578
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 1: What do you think about the new culture when it

579
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: comes to work with the newer generation.

580
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 3: I think it works, and I think it's actually important

581
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,879
Speaker 3: because you know, in the book also it talks about

582
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 3: the health issue that I went through and had I

583
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 3: spent more time on self care. Self care not just

584
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 3: being getting a massage and getting man your petiture, but

585
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 3: also self care of my physical being. I might not

586
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 3: have ever had, you know, that disease come my way.

587
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,239
Speaker 3: So I think the time as long as people are

588
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 3: investing in their whole selves. Now, if you're using the

589
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 3: time and it you know, if it's playtime is playtime.

590
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:02,600
Speaker 3: I got no problems. I like playing a lot of golf,

591
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 3: so I put that as part of my lifestyle as well.

592
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,919
Speaker 3: But making sure that your health is good now that

593
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,120
Speaker 3: you have the time to get physicals and get check

594
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,840
Speaker 3: ups and stay on top of your maintenance, I think

595
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,359
Speaker 3: is so important, critically important in life now because I

596
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 3: can talk about it. I'm a hypocrite when I say

597
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,200
Speaker 3: I'm there for everybody else, but I'm not there for myself.

598
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 3: If I'm not the best version of myself, I can't

599
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 3: be the best version to you to others. And so

600
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 3: that health piece was a really wake up call for me,

601
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 3: and I do think what we went through in twenty

602
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 3: twenty is now allowed for the opportunity to people to

603
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,400
Speaker 3: better write the ship with things that matter most of them.

604
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 3: That could be relationships that can be with their family,

605
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 3: that could be with their kids, that could be with

606
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 3: their education, that could be with their health. And so

607
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 3: for me, if you're taking advantage of it to make

608
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 3: you a better person, I think the ri on that

609
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,760
Speaker 3: back to the company and your family is going to

610
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 3: be expansioning greater than the old days, where it is

611
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 3: you have to show up work, I have to be

612
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,840
Speaker 3: seen at work. For me, to get credit working hard.

613
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,120
Speaker 3: I think that model against data and I think there's

614
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 3: new ways of reinventing yourself to do what you can do,

615
00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,920
Speaker 3: and then some by having the more and more balanced

616
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:01,880
Speaker 3: ruture in place each every single week.

617
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:02,680
Speaker 2: All right.

618
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: Now, another thing that you talk about in great detail

619
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,679
Speaker 1: is going to an HBCU.

620
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:08,920
Speaker 2: You went to Hampton and you're a Kappa.

621
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,160
Speaker 3: Love it, love it yo, Yo, yo, baby yo.

622
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 2: Which is such a big deal.

623
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 1: But when people are talking about HBCUs and you talk

624
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: about PEPSI embracing the black community and also partnering with HBCUs,

625
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:24,920
Speaker 1: that was some some of the things that happened there

626
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: and diversity. When it comes to that, what did going

627
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,160
Speaker 1: to an hbc YOU do for you? Because sometimes people

628
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,360
Speaker 1: who are listening, if you have kids, or if you're

629
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: a student and you're trying to figure out what you

630
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 1: want to do, what made going to an HBCU, what helped?

631
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:41,960
Speaker 2: How did that help make you the person who you

632
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 2: are today?

633
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 3: I think it was actually transformational my time at Hampton.

634
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,800
Speaker 3: I look back on it. I'm fifty eight now, those

635
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,120
Speaker 3: four years there, I still say it with the best

636
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:52,639
Speaker 3: four years of my life. Right For obviously all the

637
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 3: circumstances of talking about I got my degree, I got

638
00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 3: my job at PEPSI I plus Kappa. I met my

639
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 3: wife there. I got a business bandsman degree. I was

640
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 3: business Club. And so my life really went from you

641
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 3: know whatever you want to call it, double the triple,

642
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 3: what it was in terms of experiences and knowledge and confidence.

643
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:11,919
Speaker 3: I was about to be myself. There I evolved. I

644
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 3: was allowed to be myself, but also grew. I was

645
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:19,239
Speaker 3: around very smart kids, very bright individuals, leaders, people were

646
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,680
Speaker 3: getting things done, you know, real badasses, and I thrived

647
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 3: in that environment. I was a little intimidated at the beginning,

648
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,119
Speaker 3: overwhelmed by that because I thought I was gonna be

649
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,560
Speaker 3: big man on campus, coming in freshmen from DC. And

650
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 3: when you get there and you see the power of

651
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 3: the students that are there, and then the history and

652
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 3: you know, the collaboration of the students and the social environment.

653
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 3: It was something I was amazed by and I took

654
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 3: it in though I took it as a growth moment.

655
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,920
Speaker 3: Each and every semester got better and better and better.

656
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 3: By the time I was a senior, I had a

657
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 3: tremendous amount of influence on that campus. I was extremely

658
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 3: confident what I was doing I was doing well in

659
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 3: my grades. I was a dean of pledges, I was

660
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 3: mister Business Club. I was affecting change in a positive

661
00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,159
Speaker 3: way because I learned from people in front of me

662
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 3: how to go do so, so that richness, that tradition

663
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 3: still lives with us now. We moved away for years

664
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 3: to the West Coast. We couldn't come back a lot,

665
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,360
Speaker 3: and so we got disconnected from our home by the sea.

666
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 3: But once we got back to the East Coast, certainly

667
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 3: when we got down in Florida, we're now coming back

668
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 3: on a routine basis. I'm a trustee at the school,

669
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,160
Speaker 3: so heavily involved our kids playing basketball there. So we're

670
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,679
Speaker 3: involved in school in the ways that we've you know,

671
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 3: never have been. I was always bringing PEPSI resources back there, recruitment,

672
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 3: community activation, brand activations. So it's really the gift that

673
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 3: keeps on giving. Hampton is the gift that keeps on given.

674
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 3: And I use that work to spread out to other

675
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 3: HBCUs too. So I wasn't just a solo act and

676
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:39,960
Speaker 3: the only school I care about was Hampton. I care

677
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,960
Speaker 3: about all the abc US and my efforts on recruitment,

678
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 3: the efforts on brand activation. The efforts on community engagement

679
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 3: and support was widespread throughout not only the Mid Atlantic

680
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 3: areas of Northeast areas, but also particularly in the South

681
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,679
Speaker 3: as well. So I'm proud to be an HPCU student.

682
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,439
Speaker 3: I want other people to be proud. There's challenges in

683
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,119
Speaker 3: the space, no doubt about it. Raising money and funding

684
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 3: and succession planning with presidents and things like that. There's

685
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 3: some challenges are out there, but you know, I'm doing

686
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 3: everything in my power to help try to shore those

687
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,360
Speaker 3: areas up and create some strategic road maps that could

688
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 3: be more beneficial so we can be certainly more financially healthy.

689
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:18,200
Speaker 3: We can have a pipeline of the future leaders that

690
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 3: are on campus or other campuses so when when you

691
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 3: get opening you can just basically fill them pretty quickly.

692
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 3: And then also just keeping the spirit and traditions alive

693
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 3: of the school. So what a proud experience that I

694
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 3: could talk about for hours on our problem to be

695
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 3: a Hampton graduate and ahpC graduate.

696
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, and even when you were going other places, you

697
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 1: were able to tap into your fraternity and resources and

698
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: other cities because.

699
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 2: You moved around a lot, you know, for work.

700
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 1: Now, I do want to ask you this because before

701
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: we started this interview, we were talking about Target and

702
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 1: everything that's been happening with them cutting back on DEI.

703
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:55,320
Speaker 1: We see people talking about boycotting Target, but we also

704
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:57,960
Speaker 1: see black owned brands that are currently in Target that

705
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: are concerned about how is that going to a other

706
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 1: brands And as a general consumer and as a black

707
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 1: person as a business owner, I have brands. My coffee

708
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 1: uplists people that's in Target and on Amazon, So that

709
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 1: is something that we think about, but we also want

710
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 1: to make sure that we're thinking bigger picture. What are

711
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: your thoughts about Target and them coming back on DEI

712
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 1: initiatives and what should people be doing because right now

713
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: I think people are looking to try to figure out

714
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: what is the thing that I can do that will

715
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 1: be impactful.

716
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think it is a challenging time, no doubt.

717
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 3: When you have major players like that step in who

718
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 3: who over a long period of time demonstrated their support

719
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 3: for the community and the culture in the big ways

720
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 3: like you know ELC, and there's all type of recognition

721
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 3: going their way because of some of these things. So

722
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 3: I do think it's a difficult time. I don't know

723
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 3: the sort of the basis for or what they've articulated

724
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 3: their positioning is. I haven't really spent that much time

725
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 3: on their particular situation, but I hope that they can

726
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 3: have a conversation or at least have communication internally first

727
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 3: to get themselves together where they're talking their associates and

728
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,400
Speaker 3: their culture about the different moves are going to make.

729
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 3: Now this is all about evolving and elevating for the

730
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 3: greater good. Again, Let's have that conversation. Let's be open

731
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 3: to that conversation, because you have to be open to

732
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 3: the greater good. Now. The silos, the carve outs, things

733
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 3: like that just bring a lot of polarization inside a

734
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 3: culture that that does create a lot of dysfunctionality and strife,

735
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 3: and so you don't want that either. But the same

736
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 3: to you can't just walk away and say we're no

737
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 3: longer committed to the space anymore, no longer committed.

738
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,240
Speaker 1: To co HOD, especially because that's what they really kind

739
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 1: of like got to plug it.

740
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 3: There were too, they were two yeah, absolutely completely, no

741
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 3: no doubt about it.

742
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: Some organizations were not like, oh my god, I can't

743
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: believe that, you know, Meta is cutting back.

744
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 2: They're like, okay, shocker. But when you see targeting about it.

745
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 1: A lot of their platform is about supporting these brands.

746
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 2: You know, that's a tough thing.

747
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 3: I think there's time now it's Tom Moore never for

748
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 3: conversations with them. I would, you know, brand owners that

749
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 3: are in their clients customers need to be reaching out

750
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 3: to have a conver station. Don't put the business out

751
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 3: there on social media, don't put the business out in

752
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 3: the media. Go in and have a conversation. Because there

753
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 3: was history there of supporting the space and then again

754
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 3: the pivoting. What cause the pivoting need some answers on that,

755
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 3: you know. I think as customers are clients and supporters,

756
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 3: answers need to be given, particularly again where they were before.

757
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 3: And I think there needs to be also instead of

758
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 3: waiting for them to come up with the idea of

759
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 3: the solutions, sometimes bringing solutions to retails like that. Customers

760
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 3: like that. Leadership like that can help the effort move

761
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 3: along a lot faster and a lot more collaborative way.

762
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 3: So I think if we leave it to just executives

763
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 3: sitting in a room and figure out the new roadmap

764
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 3: for the future, I think we're all going to be

765
00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 3: disappointed at what we see I think it's time to

766
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 3: build the bridges, get in there and say, hey, how

767
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 3: can we be of help. Here's some ideas that we have.

768
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 3: You know, we're not going to go in and acknowledge

769
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,560
Speaker 3: and try to push for mandates and carve outs and guarantees.

770
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:55,240
Speaker 3: We're going to try to go in and talk about

771
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 3: a holistic future that's much more comprehensive, that's much more collaborative,

772
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 3: you know, and again a lot more compassionate, because I

773
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 3: do think that you're dealing with humans, you're dealing with entrepreneurs,

774
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,600
Speaker 3: you're dealing with associates, and so you can't just shut

775
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 3: off the human valve in all this as well, there

776
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:12,480
Speaker 3: is a component of empathy that has to be involved

777
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 3: in this process. So I think brand owners and leaders

778
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 3: need to get in there, start dialo up conversations with

779
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 3: one of the most senior leaders in the company who

780
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 3: are black, and then also try to get to the top.

781
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 3: They have a great, great reputation again of supporting the

782
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,240
Speaker 3: space before. But I think what's most important is where

783
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 3: do we go from here before we start getting too

784
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 3: you know, too challenging, trying to get defiant, starting to

785
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:37,479
Speaker 3: get really confrontational. Let's use a very mature strategic approach

786
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,959
Speaker 3: acknowledging that the platform should evolve, it should it should evolve,

787
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:42,760
Speaker 3: and I think it's the right thing to do. Now

788
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 3: coming out of that, there has to be some action,

789
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 3: There has to be some declaration, there has to be

790
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 3: some movement on the agenda. And I think if with

791
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 3: that collaborate approach, you'll see leaps and bounds progress from

792
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 3: organizations that take that approach. Some organizations will continue to resist,

793
00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 3: some will just not do anything that's going to happen.

794
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 3: We have to be prepared for that and deal with that.

795
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 3: But I think the ones that you know at some

796
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 3: states set standards or really made strides, we still need

797
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 3: them to deliver yeah, holistically, and then they're too big

798
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 3: of an outfit not to be part of that solution.

799
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:14,560
Speaker 2: I mean them, that's how they exactly, Yeah, that's how

800
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 2: they got.

801
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 1: And it's just interesting because I also when I was

802
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 1: looking on social media, I was seeing some people, you know,

803
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 1: posting angry about them cutting back DEI. But then I

804
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 1: see people in the comments like good now I can

805
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: shop there again. You know, we're such a divided country

806
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 1: right now. Or seeing Costco who is still saying that

807
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: they're still going to go ahead with their DEI initiatives.

808
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,959
Speaker 1: I see people being like, I won't be going there

809
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 1: anymore because people think that DEI is I see white

810
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 1: people that gets racist against white people, and that's what

811
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: they're their way of explaining it is like, oh, this

812
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 1: shouldn't be happening. Why should they be getting X, Y

813
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,880
Speaker 1: and Z that they don't deserve. And I just want

814
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 1: to make sure that myth is is not out there.

815
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:56,760
Speaker 1: But you know, people believe what they want to believe.

816
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 3: They want to believe. But I do think it's a

817
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:00,720
Speaker 3: growth momenting for the companies that are saying they're the course.

818
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 3: You need to evolve the platform. The platform has to

819
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 3: evolve to be more comprehensive again, to be more collaud

820
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,359
Speaker 3: you've got to have all this uniqueness celebrated and participating

821
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,600
Speaker 3: ways they never have before. To make sure this is sustainable,

822
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 3: because everything we do, everything we say now are going

823
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 3: to be in cycles, and we don't want these three

824
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,239
Speaker 3: four to five ve cycles. Twenty twenty, we had a

825
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 3: whole cycle where all this funding, people write checks. You know,

826
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 3: it was kind of in your face moment, right where

827
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 3: what you're gonna do? What you're gonna do and everybody's like, Okay,

828
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 3: we're gonna write check, We're gonna make a statement. Absolutely absolutely,

829
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 3: and I think a lot of people knew that was

830
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 3: gonna happen. And so that was a time really for evolution,

831
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 3: not not sort of in your face and not sort

832
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,440
Speaker 3: of back to the mandate kind of mantra that I

833
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 3: think happened in a lot of cases. It was sort

834
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 3: of a perception of that. So best thing to do.

835
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 3: Leaders need to step up. It's a time of this

836
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 3: can be turned around to a real growth situation. People

837
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:52,879
Speaker 3: don't need to head down. And also the culture needs

838
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:54,759
Speaker 3: to say what can I do to help? Not what

839
00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 3: people are gonna do for me, but what can I

840
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,440
Speaker 3: do to help the companies that are in this situation

841
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 3: out of help to help them through that.

842
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 1: Now, you did work, like you said, at PEPSI for

843
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: thirty five years, right, and I want to talk to

844
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 1: you about stepping away from that. It's kind of like

845
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 1: when you played sports your whole life and now you're

846
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 1: not playing on the team and you retired from that.

847
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 2: Now, what's next, what's the next chapter.

848
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,760
Speaker 1: I want to talk about you stepping away from Pepsi

849
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: because I know that was not an eat well.

850
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was. It an easy decision

851
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:23,440
Speaker 2: for you.

852
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 3: Thirty five years is a long time for anything, right,

853
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:27,279
Speaker 3: It's a long time, and then you get to a

854
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 3: point where you do have goals and ambitions that you

855
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 3: want to carry forward the rest of your life. And

856
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 3: so it was a time where you know, once you

857
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 3: get the fifty five there certainly the classic comes in

858
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 3: that I came in with in the late eighties and

859
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 3: Mida's early eighties. Usually the dismounting window was fifty five

860
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,279
Speaker 3: because that's the way allowed the pension I kicked in.

861
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:48,800
Speaker 3: But those things changed over time. So it wasn't necessarily

862
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 3: the pension that sort of drove me and motivated me.

863
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 3: It was really a little more or less around the

864
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,359
Speaker 3: opportunity now to go do something else. And because when

865
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 3: I was part of these programs that were helping these entrepreneurs,

866
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 3: I started really thinking about how can I be my

867
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:02,280
Speaker 3: own entrepre I can I get in that space myself,

868
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:05,319
Speaker 3: I can I take everything I've learned now become It

869
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 3: wasn't necessari I wanted to be a restaurant or things

870
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:09,000
Speaker 3: like that, but there were other businesses that I got involved.

871
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 3: I was hanging out a lot with the entrepreneurs, and

872
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 3: I started to see the promise of a second call

873
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,080
Speaker 3: it like a second career, but the second chapter, and

874
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 3: so using everything I had capitalized on that taking a break,

875
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,840
Speaker 3: because when you're in the grind like that, you can't

876
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 3: take you can't take time to figure it out. In

877
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 3: the grind, it's just two intensive environments. So I actually

878
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 3: needed to step away. And I thank God every night

879
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:34,359
Speaker 3: for doing it, because you know what, my doctor on

880
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:36,319
Speaker 3: college just told me I had cancer for eighteen months.

881
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,359
Speaker 3: So I had cancer my last year I was there.

882
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:39,080
Speaker 2: Wow, I was.

883
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,200
Speaker 3: Carrying cancer the whole year. So all twenty twenty two

884
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 3: I had cancer. That's crazy, and I didn't know about it.

885
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 3: And so if you don't think you don't believe in God, hey,

886
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,880
Speaker 3: sorry for you. If I do, and I always have,

887
00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 3: and that moment so I get there to say, it

888
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 3: wasn't that methodical, it was just time it happened. I

889
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,280
Speaker 3: probably saved my life doing that, and have also reinvented

890
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 3: myself for the second chapter, which now is an entrepreneur

891
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,320
Speaker 3: an author, which I'm so proud to have completed this project,

892
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,719
Speaker 3: investing in private companies. I'm on more nonprofit boards, I'm

893
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,520
Speaker 3: serving schools. I'm in this real go give her phase

894
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 3: of my life. I was go get her phase, Now

895
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:16,840
Speaker 3: go give her right. I'm paying it forward. I was

896
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 3: going to pay it now chapter for a long time.

897
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:20,320
Speaker 3: Now I'm in to pay a forward chapter.

898
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 1: And I will say, when you were at PEPSI, you

899
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,560
Speaker 1: were definitely one of the people on the front lines

900
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: that I saw always trying to do things that were

901
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,240
Speaker 1: trying to help other people. And like I've witnessed that firsthand.

902
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 1: That's why I was very excited for you when you left.

903
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: And then you're also the first franchise owner of ten

904
00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:39,000
Speaker 1: Big Days Testakes locations in Florida.

905
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,239
Speaker 2: Congratulations on that.

906
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 3: K for that. Yeah, it's exciting.

907
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I love like listen, the two of them

908
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,279
Speaker 1: are amazing at what they do. So talk to me

909
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 1: about what made you decide to do that, because clearly

910
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 1: you've made these relationships. Like you said, you've been on

911
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:53,880
Speaker 1: the ground, You've been seeing the work that people are doing,

912
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,000
Speaker 1: and so that gave you kind of an insight into

913
00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:57,439
Speaker 1: what you knew you wanted to do next.

914
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 3: It did, and particularly with those two because I support

915
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 3: them in a big way at PEPSI, right, so the

916
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 3: part of the whole digging program and right around COVID.

917
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 3: You know. Matter of fact, we were here back in

918
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,399
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. We were here over in the next

919
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 3: room having the interview when we came home in the state.

920
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:16,840
Speaker 3: So I got behind them pretty because I saw the

921
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 3: growth they had. I believe in their vision, I believe

922
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 3: in their brands. I believe them as a couple. I

923
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,319
Speaker 3: think they're amazing, and we treat them we're family. Now

924
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 3: we have such a great, strong relationship. But at the

925
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 3: time that I retired, always kidded him, said, hey, I

926
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:30,919
Speaker 3: want to put one store for floors. I love cheese steaks.

927
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:32,840
Speaker 3: I grew up as a kid loving cheese steaks. Right,

928
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 3: Philly love cheese steaks. Right. I grew up in DC.

929
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 3: But when I had a Philly cheese steak man, it

930
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 3: was like one of the best days.

931
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 2: Of Which place did you go to in Philly for

932
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:42,840
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles? Okay, yeah, you know everybody has their favorites.

933
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was one of my favorites. Yeah. I go

934
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 3: visit my buddies. We go to Eagles games, or we

935
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:47,760
Speaker 3: go to Atlantic City to gamble.

936
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 2: We have to have Philly one time just to get

937
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 2: yeah a cheesteaks.

938
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 3: It was your spot, which your spot?

939
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: We used to go to Ish Cobibosk. But you know,

940
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 1: it was just because I also liked being on South Street, right.

941
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,279
Speaker 3: Okay, I just feel on South Street too. I used

942
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,160
Speaker 3: to like want I wanted the business. I want to

943
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 3: have all those relationships from a poring right standpoint, right,

944
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 3: So I want to get cheese stakes where we were

945
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 3: poring it was, it wasn't but so I uh said,

946
00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:13,239
Speaker 3: give me one, and He's like, Derek, I need to

947
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 3: get more than one now I need I'm trying to

948
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 3: scale up. I want to be, you know, one day

949
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,200
Speaker 3: big as Jersey. Mike's right, and I'm saying, you know

950
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 3: what we can do that. I bring a lot of

951
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,719
Speaker 3: experience on scale. I know how to scale things up.

952
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 3: I know how to move fast with that.

953
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:25,520
Speaker 2: Uh.

954
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 3: He brings a great brand to the table, a great

955
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 3: vision for the table, how he sees the future of

956
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 3: his brand. He does remarkable workouts in the community, so

957
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 3: he's operating with a strong sense of purpose at what

958
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 3: he does. So he has given me sort of the

959
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,279
Speaker 3: foundation ingredients now where I can build on that. I

960
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:43,560
Speaker 3: can scale up new markets. I can scale across different platforms.

961
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,319
Speaker 3: We're in sporting arenas for example. I have sports deals, right,

962
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:47,960
Speaker 3: So there's going to be a whole lot of growth

963
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:49,240
Speaker 3: that we're going to see coming out of the business.

964
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:51,400
Speaker 3: So he and I said the table, I'm a franchise e.

965
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 3: I got ten units I'm building out over a period

966
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 3: of time. But I'm also at the table with him

967
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,840
Speaker 3: on building the strategic roadmap for scale growth in the company.

968
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:01,799
Speaker 3: So it's a fun journey to want support them, him

969
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:05,399
Speaker 3: being who they are, where they came from the category,

970
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 3: and me just having something now fun to do. I'm

971
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:09,760
Speaker 3: going to actually use it as a catalyst to probably

972
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 3: getting other businesses over time. You're going to see me

973
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:13,799
Speaker 3: expand the portflo of things that I ended up doing

974
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 3: because I loved like being entrepreneur. Now, like it's fun.

975
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,840
Speaker 2: You know, I have a coffee brand, but anyway, you.

976
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 3: Had a juice brand. I was asking about those juices.

977
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 2: Be honest, the juices brand.

978
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: Sometimes it was a lot of work at the price

979
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,040
Speaker 1: of produce is going up and down. The bottling and

980
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,080
Speaker 1: I know you would know about like the whole issues

981
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: with bottling, and then I mean it was definitely like

982
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,919
Speaker 1: for me having my own brand and trying to scale

983
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 1: it to the point where the more you purchase, right,

984
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 1: the cheaper it is. But I just couldn't do the

985
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 1: mass scale that I would need to do to bring

986
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: the price down and then also get it in stores

987
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:50,600
Speaker 1: because it's something that expires, yeah, within three months, and

988
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:52,280
Speaker 1: so that also made it really difficult.

989
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:53,360
Speaker 2: It was just a lot of learning.

990
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,640
Speaker 3: Like I was bonding rosters, you were New Orleans also

991
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 3: New Orleans.

992
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:57,720
Speaker 2: Bonds, shout out to them for that.

993
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, so and look and I did that, and it

994
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 1: was like, you know, like again like I said it

995
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 1: to me, like on the front lines. But I do

996
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: still have a day job that's very time.

997
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:08,320
Speaker 2: Consuming, and I always.

998
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 1: Felt like if I went like full blast into something

999
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:13,439
Speaker 1: like that. You know, one thing I would say about

1000
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:17,320
Speaker 1: myself is I like to well, I believe that whatever

1001
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 1: it is that I decide to do, it will end

1002
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,239
Speaker 1: up being successful if that's what I put all my

1003
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:24,640
Speaker 1: time and energy into, you know. But I do love

1004
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 1: my job here as well, and so even me working

1005
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 1: with the coffee, I always look at that as something

1006
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: that you know, I do that as well, and I

1007
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:33,960
Speaker 1: wish I had and I'm going to dedicate more time

1008
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:35,560
Speaker 1: to it, but it's something that I know once I'm

1009
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 1: like full fledged into it's going to be.

1010
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:40,360
Speaker 3: Right now, visits there for you absolutely, and you should

1011
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:42,480
Speaker 3: love forward. That's gonna be a fun chapter when you

1012
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:42,799
Speaker 3: get to.

1013
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: That chapter, you know, And it means a lot to

1014
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,120
Speaker 1: me also just from the standpoint of the history of

1015
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 1: coffee and the culture of it and just what it

1016
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:53,040
Speaker 1: does here in the United States. So I think another

1017
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:54,400
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to talk to you about is you

1018
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 1: got your MBA in the midst of all of this. Yes,

1019
00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:01,080
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, having a kid and getting

1020
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,359
Speaker 1: married and being an executive and moving to Phoenix and

1021
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 1: doing all these different things.

1022
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 2: What made you decide that that was something?

1023
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:11,360
Speaker 1: Because I'm a big believer in also degrees and getting

1024
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:15,359
Speaker 1: further education and helping build myself up in that way.

1025
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a whole elevation package. Right. So love

1026
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,880
Speaker 3: what I did at Hampton. Love the you know, bachelor

1027
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 3: science I got in business management. But I knew early

1028
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,799
Speaker 3: on in the cycle of PEPSI that that was not

1029
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 3: going to be enough to give me to the highest levels.

1030
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 3: I needed to enhance that experience. I tried to force

1031
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 3: myself to do it. In the DC area, I was

1032
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,719
Speaker 3: going to University of Maryland at night, taking like two classes,

1033
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:39,840
Speaker 3: and was going to school four days a week and

1034
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 3: getting home at like ten ten o'clock a night and

1035
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 3: had to do homework all weekend. Yeah, that wasn't That

1036
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,240
Speaker 3: was hard. That was really hard grind. So I actually

1037
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:50,840
Speaker 3: ended up dropping out of that because it was just

1038
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 3: too much. Like I you know, just got married and

1039
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:56,160
Speaker 3: it was just too much. You know, the low was

1040
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:59,240
Speaker 3: too much. I was barely getting bees in the class.

1041
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:01,480
Speaker 3: I mean, I was screened. Harambling. Didn't feel good. That's

1042
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:04,879
Speaker 3: not me. That wasn't my best version myself. So when

1043
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:07,720
Speaker 3: we then moved from Maryland, Ohio, I did some research

1044
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,800
Speaker 3: on the schools there. They got great universities there. Universe

1045
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:13,680
Speaker 3: Cincinnati is a great university and Xavier. And Xavier had

1046
00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:17,520
Speaker 3: a great NBA program was about nineteen nineteen twenty months,

1047
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:20,080
Speaker 3: was every weekend. I talked to my employer I was

1048
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 3: with Taco Bell. Then they said absolutely, because that was

1049
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,040
Speaker 3: the culture. A lot of the market managers in my

1050
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:27,759
Speaker 3: jobs were getting nbas or had MBAs, and it was

1051
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 3: a roadmap for you to get to further down the

1052
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 3: executive path, because when they start looking at your background,

1053
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 3: your credentials, there's going to be a question around strategic

1054
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:40,200
Speaker 3: thinking and having that. NBA certainly elevates sort of that

1055
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 3: perception of that and really gives you the real experience

1056
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:44,799
Speaker 3: is that you are more strategic coming out of that.

1057
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:46,759
Speaker 3: And so I was happy enough to get in Xavier.

1058
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:48,280
Speaker 3: I was one of the youngest people in the class.

1059
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 3: Transformational like being in a room with doctors and entrepreneurs,

1060
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:55,920
Speaker 3: corporate executives, all walks of life in there. Forty two

1061
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,320
Speaker 3: of us had the greatest time ever. We're in pods.

1062
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 3: So there was a group of seven of us that

1063
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,680
Speaker 3: I was with the whole time. You basically said the

1064
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 3: same table, you study together every week, you did presentations together,

1065
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:08,400
Speaker 3: you know, you did everything basically to get with the

1066
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 3: lunch together, doing breaks. And that group was so dynamic

1067
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,920
Speaker 3: for me and such a great inspiration me. I learned

1068
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:16,239
Speaker 3: a ton out of that, And once I got out

1069
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,960
Speaker 3: of that program, I bounced. I mean I bounced not

1070
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 3: It wasn't just the piece of paper. I tell people,

1071
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:23,200
Speaker 3: it's not the piece of paper that gets it. It's

1072
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 3: the experiences that make you better. And so I was

1073
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 3: coming out of there, a lot more mature, a lot

1074
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 3: more strategic, you know, a lot more balanced from an

1075
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:35,520
Speaker 3: executive maturity standpoint. And I may not have felt it,

1076
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:37,200
Speaker 3: but I can tell everybody around felt it.

1077
00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:38,320
Speaker 2: It was different.

1078
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you don't know what you're going through it. You

1079
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:42,839
Speaker 3: feel like, okay, you know, I got the NBA now,

1080
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 3: and you sort of you're looking, you know, you're asking

1081
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:47,440
Speaker 3: and wondering where does this go from here? But then

1082
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 3: you see the rids. You see how the elevation is

1083
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,520
Speaker 3: happening around you. People look at you differently, You're saying

1084
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 3: things a little bit differently, people are intrigued, want to

1085
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:56,760
Speaker 3: be around you. And and so I felt that elevation

1086
00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:59,279
Speaker 3: going into the executive role in the Phoenix, and I

1087
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,920
Speaker 3: just catapulted the ways that I could never believe it.

1088
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,279
Speaker 3: So I absolutely believe it's a must for individuals that

1089
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,719
Speaker 3: are looking to go high as high to have that

1090
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:10,799
Speaker 3: next level of educational experience like that, you can do

1091
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 3: it in ways that are efficient for your family. This

1092
00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 3: was still hard to do because I'm giving up, you know,

1093
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 3: a day a week, and I'm doing it for almost

1094
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:19,239
Speaker 3: two years. We had the international trip, which is also

1095
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:22,200
Speaker 3: transformation to go over to London and Germany and study,

1096
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,319
Speaker 3: you know, with companies over there for two weeks. That

1097
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,480
Speaker 3: was a great experience as well. But it is it

1098
00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:30,239
Speaker 3: was a game changer for me, no doubt about it.

1099
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 3: And so my life has been a series of game

1100
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 3: changes where I look at things that continuous can elevate me.

1101
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:37,960
Speaker 3: And I knew the educational part was a critical part

1102
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:39,919
Speaker 3: of that sometime early in my career. So I'm glad

1103
00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 3: I did it. I failed at the first time I

1104
00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:44,200
Speaker 3: even looked at shortcut NBA's I was trying to do

1105
00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:46,920
Speaker 3: stuff online and stuff like that. This is back in

1106
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:49,560
Speaker 3: like the early nineties, right, and I was trying so

1107
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:51,799
Speaker 3: hard to get the NBA because I knew you needed it.

1108
00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:54,480
Speaker 3: And I started playing the shortcut game. I'm like, this

1109
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 3: is not your game, this is not who you are.

1110
00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:57,880
Speaker 3: You haven't done shortcusts anything else. Why are you doing

1111
00:45:57,920 --> 00:45:59,880
Speaker 3: shortcust now? Why are you trying to rush this process?

1112
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:04,240
Speaker 3: It let it flow, and in Ohio, it flowed. It worked,

1113
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,360
Speaker 3: It was great, and it changed my whole trajectory in

1114
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:08,760
Speaker 3: my mind of my career.

1115
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:11,239
Speaker 1: After the experience, I would tell you I'm a big

1116
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:13,960
Speaker 1: fan of that because whenever I get into something. I'm

1117
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 1: always like, how can I further my education? That's why

1118
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:18,799
Speaker 1: I got my real estate license. Actually last week sold

1119
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:21,920
Speaker 1: my first house, and it felt good because having those conversations,

1120
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 1: knowing the language that you're supposed to use, knowing the strategies,

1121
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:27,600
Speaker 1: knowing like okay, if we do this, we say this, well,

1122
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:29,759
Speaker 1: if they're offering this all cash offer, then I know

1123
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:31,799
Speaker 1: they have this if I offer you know. It just

1124
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: was amazing for me to feel confident enough to be

1125
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:36,560
Speaker 1: able to negotiate that deal and close it.

1126
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:38,399
Speaker 3: And now you're gonna like they're gonna You're gonna rip

1127
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:40,839
Speaker 3: them off now, like so fast? I watch, watch, watch

1128
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 3: what happens. Well, don't take shortcuts, the messages don't. You

1129
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:46,799
Speaker 3: can't shortcut your way to the elevation. So what I

1130
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 3: call the elevation package. You cannot take shortcuts. You have

1131
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:52,920
Speaker 3: to put the work in. The experiences really is what matters,

1132
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:56,400
Speaker 3: not the test in the homework assignment. It's the experiences.

1133
00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:59,960
Speaker 3: The experiences with people, the experiences with the course world,

1134
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:03,120
Speaker 3: the ability to think differently, those are the things that

1135
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:05,120
Speaker 3: really push you to the elevation side.

1136
00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:07,320
Speaker 1: And listen, I know we're having a whole long conversation.

1137
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about one last thing. When

1138
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 1: we talk about Earl Graves and him being a mentor

1139
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: to you, and he gave you suits that he was

1140
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,160
Speaker 1: about to donate, and he said, look, you know, take

1141
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:19,440
Speaker 1: these suits. You can do whatever you need to do

1142
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,120
Speaker 1: to them right to make sure that they fit you right.

1143
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: Whatever you don't take, I'm going to donate them anyway.

1144
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 1: And you took all of these suits. How important do

1145
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:29,120
Speaker 1: you think it is how you show up and how

1146
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,200
Speaker 1: you come dressed, Because sometimes people act like it's not

1147
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 1: as important. If you have the skills and you have

1148
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:36,440
Speaker 1: the background to be able to do it, and you

1149
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:39,080
Speaker 1: want to show up as your quote unquote authentic self,

1150
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:40,480
Speaker 1: you can do that.

1151
00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:42,680
Speaker 2: But for you, those suits were important for you.

1152
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,560
Speaker 3: Let me talk about first of all, paid tribute to

1153
00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:47,000
Speaker 3: mister Graves. He is one of my heroes. You know

1154
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 3: two lass people who want your heroes. He's one of

1155
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,880
Speaker 3: my heroes. He took me under his wing in ways

1156
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:53,920
Speaker 3: that no one else has ever done before. Let's week

1157
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:55,919
Speaker 3: I've come back to my very first interview with him

1158
00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:58,280
Speaker 3: up here in New York at Block Enterprise head quarters

1159
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:01,080
Speaker 3: back in nineteen ninety. Then offered me the job in

1160
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:03,399
Speaker 3: DC and then sort of taking me under his wing.

1161
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 3: And I spent like a whole day with him that day,

1162
00:48:05,719 --> 00:48:09,240
Speaker 3: and it was the suits watching him navigate through DC.

1163
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:11,440
Speaker 3: Got on the phone with the mayor. You know, he's

1164
00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:12,640
Speaker 3: a whole. It was a hole in the ground, so

1165
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:14,839
Speaker 3: it was construction. He's like, what's going on the ground there, Like, well,

1166
00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:16,640
Speaker 3: I don't know. Mister Gray's like, let me find out.

1167
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:19,120
Speaker 3: Calls mayor's office. We need to find out what's going

1168
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 3: on the ground. We're over in the Mayor's office. We're

1169
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:23,200
Speaker 3: sitting with the mayor shaking hand. So I'm watching him navigate.

1170
00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:25,839
Speaker 3: We called President of Hampton, doctor Harvey on the phone.

1171
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,080
Speaker 3: He's like, Bill, I got one of your alumni here.

1172
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:29,799
Speaker 3: I want to know I can't make your graduation. I'm

1173
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 3: want to send him down to be our representative for

1174
00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:35,040
Speaker 3: your graduation weekend. I'm put a couple bucks in his pocket.

1175
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,080
Speaker 3: Have a good time down there. But he just he

1176
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 3: just looked at for him and he has such a

1177
00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 3: high standard for himself on the relationship side and on

1178
00:48:42,239 --> 00:48:44,719
Speaker 3: the professional look side. So when I talk about my

1179
00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 3: three hours results relationship with reputation, that look is super important.

1180
00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,319
Speaker 3: It's about your image, it's about your character, it's about

1181
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:55,319
Speaker 3: your exposure. Image is a really critical part of your

1182
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,560
Speaker 3: reputation and your brand. And so if you're not looking

1183
00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 3: the part, how in the world can you How can

1184
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 3: you translate that to elite performance with the brands that

1185
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:05,919
Speaker 3: you sell, with the execution that you're asking for or

1186
00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:08,360
Speaker 3: landing new deals if you're not showing up in ways

1187
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:11,359
Speaker 3: that are the highest levels. And he was the gold

1188
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 3: standard for that, you know, I don't know if I

1189
00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 3: ever met that standard that he had because he was

1190
00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:17,480
Speaker 3: such a high standard with that, but it taught me

1191
00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:20,920
Speaker 3: that that look is everything, look, feel, touch means everything

1192
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:24,280
Speaker 3: for your brand. And absolutely think it matters a lot.

1193
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:26,720
Speaker 3: I go to schools of recruit and I have people

1194
00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:28,480
Speaker 3: to show up with all different looks that people show

1195
00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:30,839
Speaker 3: up in sweatpants, that moments like why are you even here?

1196
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 2: You know.

1197
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:35,520
Speaker 3: Kiuds, they show up in suits, I'm going like, you

1198
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:37,040
Speaker 3: look the part, And so when they raise their hand

1199
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:40,840
Speaker 3: immediately going to the person that has a suite effort, Absolutely,

1200
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:42,359
Speaker 3: you made the you showed up in a way that

1201
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:44,680
Speaker 3: you wanted to be here. You recognized the moment that

1202
00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:46,879
Speaker 3: there was a senior executive from a fortune and fifty company,

1203
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:48,960
Speaker 3: and you recognize that moment and you showed up, and

1204
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:51,279
Speaker 3: you got my attention showing up. You showed up. You're

1205
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,400
Speaker 3: not getting my attention because you didn't show up. You

1206
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:55,600
Speaker 3: didn't take the time to show up when I'm making

1207
00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:58,560
Speaker 3: an investment in you, and I think that's real important

1208
00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:00,440
Speaker 3: that you need to show up. If you're to take

1209
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:02,440
Speaker 3: that next step, you have to look the part do that.

1210
00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:03,719
Speaker 3: So I think it's really important.

1211
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:06,319
Speaker 1: All right, Well, listen, I appreciate you so much for

1212
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:08,680
Speaker 1: coming through. I told you I read this entire book

1213
00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:12,320
Speaker 1: Survive in advance. It was a fantastic read, especially because

1214
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:14,960
Speaker 1: I mean, even if you have never met Derek before

1215
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:17,200
Speaker 1: in your life, you're gonna love reading this book because

1216
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:17,840
Speaker 1: it's something.

1217
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:19,239
Speaker 2: That is going to be relatable to you. No matter

1218
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:20,239
Speaker 2: what it is that you've gone through.

1219
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:22,160
Speaker 1: There's going to be something in here that you're like,

1220
00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:25,439
Speaker 1: I need to do this, or you know, I feel

1221
00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:28,160
Speaker 1: the same exact way about it. So lessons on living

1222
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:32,160
Speaker 1: a life without compromise. Congratulations on everything that you've achieved

1223
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:33,720
Speaker 1: in every facet of your life.

1224
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:35,560
Speaker 2: And I'm so happy you wrote a book.

1225
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:38,560
Speaker 3: Yes, well, thank you for that, and again it was

1226
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:41,120
Speaker 3: driven by other people. And so thank you for putting

1227
00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:43,840
Speaker 3: on your shelf. And you have a distinguished collection, you know.

1228
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:49,200
Speaker 1: So happy because I think it's also signed inside. And

1229
00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:51,080
Speaker 1: so I always say books are like artwork to me,

1230
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,120
Speaker 1: and so to be able to have a best selling

1231
00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:56,640
Speaker 1: author on my shelf at the sign book, you know,

1232
00:50:56,680 --> 00:50:59,319
Speaker 1: that means a lot to me. So congratulations all of this.

1233
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:01,440
Speaker 1: And like I said, I love this new journey that

1234
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:03,720
Speaker 1: you've embarked on. You've inspired me collaborate.

1235
00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 3: I want to help you and support you in any

1236
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,520
Speaker 3: way I can. Let's keep our friendship partnership going. And

1237
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:09,920
Speaker 3: it's been great. You were exceptional to work with at

1238
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:11,879
Speaker 3: my time at PEPSI and his old New Chapter.

1239
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:14,200
Speaker 1: And I saw you had an amazing book launch party.

1240
00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:16,560
Speaker 1: I saw you post it and I was like, I

1241
00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:17,919
Speaker 1: would have flew down for that one.

1242
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:20,160
Speaker 3: Okay, well, hey say to him, I do I'm gonna

1243
00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 3: do one in DC.

1244
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:23,320
Speaker 2: So I can make it to DC, no doubt.

1245
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:27,320
Speaker 1: All right, So Derek Lewis survived in advance. This book

1246
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:28,440
Speaker 1: is out today.

1247
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:29,880
Speaker 3: Appreciate you. Thank you,