John Hope Bryant

The Magic of Atlanta: Giants Walking Amongst Us

The magic of Atlanta, Georgia, unlike other American cities, is that icons and legends you read about in history books are walking, living and still leading, right amongst you -- on an everyday basis.  From my personal hero civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young, who was the strategist and right arm to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  to leaders of the movement such as C.T. Vivian, Congressman John Lewis, Ms. Xernona Clayton and Rev. Joseph Lowery.  

From Mrs. Christine King-Farris, the surviving sibling of Dr. King, who now teaches at Spelman College and is totally accessible to students there, to a new generation of leaders who are carrying on their iconic parent's tradition, such as my friends Dr. Bernice King, Martin Luther King, III, Isaac Farris and Andrea Young, and so many others.

Leaders of the civil rights movement are not simply "important" to the American experience in the Ameircan South, they all are literally co-founders of the third American Revolution. A Revolution that started with America's break from Britain, and following that the American Civil War, and ultimately her Civil Rights Movement.  As Dr. King once said about his work, "the civil rights movement was about saving black men's bodies and white men's souls."

It always frustrates me when people in Atlanta treat these leaders and icons with such "casualness," as it is truly unique and special for any American citizen to be able to live, walk and work alongside living legends.

Just one of the many benefits of living in a truly unique American city: Atlanta, Georgia.  Honored to call this city my Home.  Okay, let's go.

 

 

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. 

John Hope Bryant Speaks to Parents, Youth About MAKING SMART COOL, Stay in School

 

I recorded this important video message after visiting a Georgia school, and talking to youth (of all races) about the "dumbing down of America," and how it is their mission to MAKE SMART COOL again.  Check it out, and pass it on!  The 5MK movement is in full-effect.

 

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. 

From the HOPE Archives: John Hope Bryant and Ambassador Andrew Young at B.E.S.T Academy

 

The Founding Donors for new Operation HOPE Business-In-A-Box Program for America's Youth

Introducing HOPE Business-In-A-Box, and the first founding $50.00 donors to the program for youth entrepreneurship development -- Mr. and Mrs. Spence and Jean Wiles.

Jean and Spence presented this $50.00 check to me on my birthday, establishing themselves as the first donors to this amazing new initiative to inspire a generation of entrepreneurs, small business owners and "self-employment projects."  A special thank you as well goes out to Claude and Juanita Bryan, who also made a commitment on the same evening to sponsor another HOPE Business-In-A-Box.

HOPE Business-In-A-Box is a signature initiative of and for our new HOPE Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, all launched during my birthday week.  Here is how it works....

Happening Tomorrow in Atlanta

Introducing the HOPE Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship | Operation HOPE Blog

 

Read the complete story here, on the HOPE Blog, or watch the video here.

Introducing the HOPE Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship | Operation HOPE Blog.

Announcing at Ebenezer Church in Atlanta, Georgia: From Civil Rights to Silver Rights, A Conversation on Leadership

This coming Sunday, February 12th, 2012, at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church led by my friend and partner, Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock, I will join both civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young and Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, the 5th pastor of America's freedom church in its more than 125 year history, for a special CONVERSATION ON LEADERSHIP: From Civil Rights to Silver Rights, and the new Civil Roghts Issue of Financial Dignity.

Operation HOPE is partnering with Ebenezer Baptist Church to build the HOPE Financial Dignity, Ebenezer, which will be the anchor tenant and partner in the new Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex at Ebenezer, and within the broader King Center complex.  The HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer is supported by the FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE and its members SunTrust Bank, State Farm Insurance, LPL Financial, Wells Fargo and MasterCard, as well as the US Economic Development Administration, the Coca-Cola Company and the United Way of Greater Atlanta.

Hosted by the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church but not limited to members of Ebenezer, if you are a leader in the greater Atlanta area, you can contact Operation HOPE, Atlanta to RSVP at 404-941-2919, or to get additional information.

 

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. 

 

Why I Do What I Do

I do it for THIS reason.  To see THIS expression on a young person's face.  Just look at this ~ it is literally priceless. And all I had to do here was to sign and give him a copy of my bestselling business book LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass).  Did you "get" what I just said?  I gave the young man a BUSINESS book.  Not fiction (all good by the way), or a comic, or some rap lyrics (all good too).  But a book on business and leadership, and inspired in the right way, this young man just lit up like a Christmas tree.

This is why I do what I do, and why I believe so passionately in our work in financial dignity at Operation HOPE, and the promise of the silver rights movement.

Our young people increasingly don't have something tangible of even aspirational to believe in, and as a result, we are losing them.

Operation HOPE founder John Hope Bryant meets with President Bill Clinton

Today I was deeply honored to meet and spend substantive time one on one with former U.S. President (and my friend) William Jefferson Clinton, in his Clinton Foundation office in Harlem, New York.  I was also pleased to have with me Mrs. Mary Hagerty Ehrsam, our global chief of financial dignity.  Our government relations chief, Ms. Jena Roscoe who worked for President Clinton in the second term at the White House, did not join us but she was there with us in spirit.

We covered a range of items of mutual interest to both his foundations and the Operation HOPE family, both domestic and international, including the new Gallup-HOPE Index and the Gallup-HOPE Index Cities Initiative.  We actually presented President Clinton and his staff with the first draft copy of the Gallup-HOPE Index 2011 Report, which will be mailed out nationwide to leaders later this month.  We also briefed the President on the HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer which is presently under construction in Atlanta (at the King Center complex and within th new Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex), our new HOPE Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship which will be formally announced to the public on my birthday, February 6th, 2012, along with our new HOPE Business-In-A-Box and the HOPE FILE Program (HOPE Fellows, HOPE Interns and HOPE Loan Executive Programs).

HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer on the Move in Atlanta