John Hope Bryant

Operation HOPE 21: Telling The Story of Our Founding

21 years ago, this day, May 5th, 2013, the bold vision of and for Operation HOPE was born in South Central Los Angeles, immediately following the Rodney King Riots of April 29th, 1992.

"Rainbows, after storms.  You cannot have a rainbow without a storm first."

After the Rodney King verdict came down, so many things just went dark in the community I loved so much. The community I still love.  But not all things were negative, in the days and weeks and months that followed.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters and her local leadership group, led by Brenda Shockley as I recall, stood up their vision of and for Community Build. Today, Congresswoman Waters serves on the financial services committee for Congress, continuing to push her agenda for her people.

Then City Counciman Mark Ridkey-Thomas, who today is an esteemed and accomplished lead member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.  I fondly remember Supervisor Ridley-Thomas for so many reasons, but a couple stand out for me.  Mark (as I respectfully call him as a friend) served on our first board of directors for Operation HOPE. I remember our parting conversation. It was our first letterhead. We were committed to "eradicating poverty across America," and Mark (Ridley-Thomas) wanted to eradicate poverty and empower people IN THE 8TH DISTRICT!  We were both right, but Councilman Ridley-Thomas was more right than me.  He was 100% focused on empowering and serving the people in the district he was elected to serve.  This impresses me now, as much as it impressed me then.  I was sad to see Ridley-Thomas leave our board back then, by I so respected "why" he did it.  I also got the phrase "With HOPE," which has become my global signature sign-off statement on all correspondence, from Mr. Ridley-Thomas.  Finally, back then I would say that Ridley-Thomas was the only sitting elected official who really knew and understood community development, community empowerment, and the power of financial dignity in one's life.  

My Word for 2013

Every year I pick a word, just one, that represents my goal for that year. What everything else for me, is all about. Previous words have included:

....Intentionality in 2011 (thank you Atlanta Mayor Reed. His word, he told me Christmas, 2010, was to be 'intentional,' and I immediately connected with that, but went a step further, with 'intentionality.').

....Balance in 2012

...Authenticity before that, and so on, and so on.

My word for 2013, is Empowered.

Once you have drained the negative energy (and people) out of your life and environment, filled that space with authenticity and goodness, been focused and specific about what you want next, and then made moves to achieve that.

Once you have taken steps to "reset" your life and environment, so that all of the pieces come back into it with a sort of balance --- then it is time to MOVE FORWARD, boldly in the direction of your dreams.

To fulfill the mandate and aspirations of your higher self.
To be a servant, and of service, to both society and your own soul.
To live your truth, with no regrets, and no looking backwards.
To create the life, environment, and to the extent possible, the world -- you want to live in.
The world you want your children to see, to feel, and to be bathed in the backdrop of.

This is the essence of my new commitment. My word for 2013, Empowered.

You will see a lot of it as I move through the balance of my year, integrated into the whole of what I do, what I am about, my life's journey...

What is your word for today, this week, this month, this year? What are you about, beyond paying your bills, going to work, coming home (assuming you are blessed enough to have either or both), and doing the things on your to-do list today?

Answering these questions, for yourself, is the essence of living a fulfilled life.

Okay, let's to......

John Hope Bryant

What John Hope Bryant is About

"In many ways my life, as well as the work of Operation HOPE and Global Dignity, is about expanding the boundaries of 'what' is considered comfortable in life, and in our world. Expansions of consciousness and actions, which include what is presently uncomfortable in both worlds --- thereby creating a new and expanded definition of what's comfortable for all. And by extension, for society in overall."

John Hope Bryant


John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass) the only African-American bestselling business author in the U.S., and is chairman of the Subcommittee for the Under-Served and Community Empowerment for the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, for President Barack Obama. Mr. Bryant is the co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, the only national research poll on youth financial dignity and youth economic energy in the U.S. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum. Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, an NYSE Euronext publicly traded company, and a division of $54 billion Ares Capital.

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Defining what John Hope Bryant is about

"My life journey is wholly dedicated to the software of human development.  

Whether it is my silver rights financial and economic empowerment work through the nonprofit I founded, Operation HOPE, or our work with human dignity through the nonprofit I co-founded, Global Dignity, the inspiration available through Bryant Speaks, the thought leadership available through writing and books, or the private initiatives of Bryant Group Companies, this is my life mission.  

Advancing the next big boom in global human, social, emotional, spiritual and economic growth, and the baseline for the next huge GDP surge point in the world -- the software of human development."

John Hope Bryant

 

The Things I Deal With...

People often comment about how amazing the work we do at Operation HOPE is, and it is amazing. Others comment about how impactful it is in people's lives, and I am continually humbled by its stated impact through our clients, partners and advocates. But securing the resources to "do" that work is not nearly as easy and effortless as it looks. I guess I make it look easy on some levels, but believe me, it is anything but.

The key is, I am absolutely passionate about the work and what we do, so that makes it easy to do on some levels, and the frustrations easy enough to put up with, but frustrations are everywhere in my work. Everywhere.

I have often said that in some ways Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and my mentor and personal hero, Ambassador Andrew Young, Dr. King's most senior aide in the movement, had it easier (I am sure that I am incorrect here in the literal sense, but I am only speaking about what comes next in my statement). Easier in the sense, that they ran into people who seemed to fit into one of two paradigms -- people really, really supported what they were doing, or they really, really were not. It was love, or hate. Even the envy that Dr. King collected like banks collect deposits, could be cataloged as 'aggressively non-constructive' energy. But it was energy. People took a position.

Often times in my work, the issue I find is neither love nor hate, but what I now call "radical indifference." People who don't care enough to hate you. Radical indifference, this is the worst thing imaginable. And a sense of "whatever," no matter how casually it is communicated, is the worse blow-off anyone could encounter. Imagine your child sharing the most important thing to you, their parent, and what they got back in return, time and time again was "whatever." It would absolutely devastate their self-esteem. For years, that is precisely what I felt in our push for silver rights empowerment for all.

And so, sure, as Operation HOPE and I have become more prominent and noteworthy over these past 20 years, the interest has increased, the indifference, less so -- but it is so still there. Most notably with almost every new interaction of major-monied-interest I run into. Equally frustrating, is when someone says they are interested in the work, but in reality, they are merely interested in basking in your after-glow.

I have to first get these 'radically indifferent' so-called leaders to actually care about the issue, and the poor, and then to get them to want to do something about it. And all of this before I can even approach the issue of them supporting our work. Like building a ship, set to sea. It is nothing short of exhausting, and draining, and I am glad to do it.

As the late Dr. Scott Peck said in his famous book THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED, "love is work," and "life is difficult."

Whatever you do in life, anything worth a damn, it is going to take time, energy, sacrifice, and in the end it will hurt you. It may break your heart. It will damage a part of your soul, tied to your hopefulness if you are not careful. But that does not mean it is not fully worth doing.

Love is work, and rainbows only follow storms. You cannot have a rainbow, without a storm first.


John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass) the only African-American bestselling business author in the U.S., and is chairman of the Subcommittee for the Under-Served and Community Empowerment for the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, for President Barack Obama. Mr. Bryant is the co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, the only national research poll on youth financial dignity and youth economic energy in the U.S. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum. Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, an NYSE Euronext publicly traded company, and a division of $54 billion Ares Capital.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Kindness and Karma. Love Leadership in Full Effect

If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plan....

Yesterday morning, I wanted to travel with my hero Ambassador Andrew Young back from our dual speaking engagements at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Summit, in Aspen, Colorado.  The only problem was, we were on different travel itineraries, and his car pick up was 6am, and mine was 9:30am. I opted to just keep mine, and get a little more sleep.  I am honored to spend the time I do with him, I figured, and moved on to something else.  And anyway, the Aspen Institute team has an incredibly well-oiled travel team whom I knew would take very good care of my hero in transit.  This included my new friend Lori Meredith Gabow, who takes care of all the Aspen Institute travel and travelers when they hit their midpoint connections at the Denver Airport.  She had solved all sorts of travel delay-related problems on the way end, and I knew she would take care of Ambassador Young on the way out. I could rest well, get up and travel back home knowing all was well.

Well, I arrived in Denver, Colorado, only to find that I did something mindless in travel that I almost never do; I misjudged the time changes I always encounter, and missed my flight without even trying (smile). Thinking that I easily had an hour window, and then sat down to do some work, little did I know that my flight door was actually closing at that moment.  And the next available flight was hours away, and involved being re-routed through at least one other city, putting me at home at close to midnight. My answer was to call the great Lori, and see if she and her friends at United Airlines could sort it out.

Lori arrived, but she did not look all too confident about sorting this one out. She knew of the flight options ahead of me, and while she can do wonders, producing new flights out of the blue is not one of her talents.

"The difficult I do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer..."

To make her feel better, I did the only right thing -- I immediately took full responsibility for the screw up, and chalked the whole adventure up to a 'high class problem,' thanking her and United Airlines for whatever help they could provide, or not, up front.  This relaxed everyone involved, and now we could just do the best we could to move forward.  A great 'reset' place to start.

Press On: The Poem That Best Describes My Best Attribute ~ Perseverance

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Calvin Coolidge

 

The Crazy Ones: The Apple Ad That Best Describes My Lifelong Journey, and View of Approaching Life, Best

 

And this is the public statement of intent, vision and leadership -- that best describes and expresses my view of the world, and what it takes to change it.  Enjoy.

You should be inspired, after you watch it.

 

John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass) the only African-American bestselling business author in America, and is chairman of the Subcommittee for the Under-Served and Community Empowerment for the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, for President Barack Obama.  Mr. Bryant is the co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, the only national research poll on youth financial dignity and youth economic energy in the U.S. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum.   Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, an NYSE Euronext publicly traded company, and a division of $54 billion Ares Capital.

 

 

 

John Hope Bryant Featured in a Historic Apple Video with Steve Jobs

 

Okay, before I turn everyone over to watch and see this amazing yet little known 1984 visionary production by Apple, staring Steve Jobs, I will let you in on a little secret -- I am in it as an actor, from long, long ago.  

After I discovered the power of entrepreneurship at age 10, but before I discovered service leadership with the founding of Operation HOPE at at 26, I was an actor during most of my teenage years.  That's probably where I learned the power and effectiveness of communication. That said, I was not an incredibly good actor, but I was good enough to have a couple recurring roles in mediocre shows, a good number of bit and extra roles in big shows, and an occasional starring role in shows you probably have never heard about -- before or sense (smile).  

I did so much over this period that I literally have forgotten about many of my appearances. And that includes this very special Apple production. 

Now, for those who remain courious about my ho-hum acting career, here is a bit more; one appearance I remember well, and that you can find easily on the Internet today if interested, is a co-lead role (playing a bad guy) in Twilight Zone with my friend Glynn Turman, and the late, great Danny Kaye.

Twilight Zone use to be my favorite memory from that era of my life, but now I have a new favorite from the gallery of all that I had forgotten.  Thanks to Sherry John from Operation HOPE's Communications Group, the Apple piece was somehow found and brought to my attention.

I literally could not recall doing it, but once you look at the black dude on the screen -- trying hard to be 'hard' (smile again) -- you will come to the same conclusion that I did.  Wow....that's me!  

As Steve Jobs is one of the American entrepreneurs I admire most with respect to "changing everything," and Apple is a company I continue to admire as one of the best in the world, period, I am really honored today to have done this then.  And when I speak on the subject of leadership, what change takes, and "re-inventing and re-imaginging everything," I often read the Apple Ad called "The Crazy Ones."  This poem in many ways defines how I see the world, and 'the how' of all that we seek to accomplish with and through Operation HOPE, today.  All of this, without ever knowing or realizing that I actually played a pretty cool role in an amazing slice of the Apple history.

Postscript note: for all those who think that all acting is just glamorous and well paid, you will note here that this entire film-advertisement probably cost no more than $50,000.00 to make. That's $50,000.00 for everything; me included (smile).  

That's okay though, because this shared memory with Steve Jobs is PRICELESS.  Enjoy, and of course let me know what you think.

Here you go...

Why I Decided I Would Just Love Everyone

It is not just that looking at a photo like this one inspires you beyond belief, and gives one a sense of the enormous potential of one world -- or even that a photo like this one just seems so natural. I have decided to love the world, because the world is me, and I am she.

Thanks to my friends at African Ancestry, a few years back I took a DNA test and "discovered" my own ancestry.  To my pleasant surprise, I was 71% Cameroon (in Africa), and actually from the same village as my mentor and friend Quincy Jones (what is the likelihood of that...), 26% European, and the rest of Indian, Asian and "other."  That meant to me, that if I somehow found a way to hate white folk, I would be hating myself. If I found a way to hate Asians, Indians or anyone else for that matter -- I was again hating myself.  It dawned on me that most everyone on the planet -- you included -- are of "mixed race" -- and that this fact made racism and discrimination base on race the silliest thing imaginable.

It also made me chuckle.  No longer would I have to prepare a moral speech for say the Grandmaster of the Klu Klux Klan.  I could simply give him a DNA test and await the results.  The likelihood that he has some measure of Black blood running through his veins is extremely high, and my guess is that he would just lose his mind from there (smile).