John Hope Bryant

Stop Complaining About Your Problems

This seemingly happy family (meaning, they get their joy from their inner being, and not their material possessions, which were not many) in a township in South Africa live on the equivalent of $2 a day.  I met this dignity rich family while touring Operation HOPE South Africa's work in the country.

The young lady in the middle, who is 19 and now attending a good school (which by the way, she and her family have to pay for out of their already thin pockets), is my hope for South Africa.  She is full of hope and as smart as can be.  All she desired was an opportunity, and she would do the rest.

The only time that she stopped and felt any sadness at all in our presence, is when she broke down and cried about the conditions of her township. How (from her perspective) elected officials care very little about addressing the concerns, and conditions that they find themselves in today.

A Mother's Day Tribute, and a Rose, for A Mother-Leader to us All

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

On April 27th, 2013, the King Center unveiled the Coretta Scott King commemorative rose, and I was honored and pleasantly surprised to return home from one of my many trips to find two of the beautiful roses at my home.

The roses were a gift from my friend and HOPE board member Dr. Bernice A. King, CEO of the King Center (a post once held by her mother), and destined for a special planting location in my private park here in Atlanta, Georgia. But as I reflected on the Coretta Scott King commemorative Rose, I also began to reflect on the woman.  The woman, as leader, mother, wife, keeper of the King legacy flame.  I decided I had to write something in honor of her, on this special day.

Saluting Operation HOPE's Own Jena Roscoe

 

Jena Roscoe serves as First Senior Vice President and Chief of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Operation HOPE. Ms. Roscoe is the first Senior Director of the East Coast Regional Corporate Headquarters at Gallup in Washington, DC.  

Jena Roscoe is in charge of the HOPE Office of Government Relations and Public Policy, which is a global responsibility.  In this post Ms. Roscoe has managed the relationship of and between three Presidential Administrations, from (Democrat) President Bill Clinton to (Republican) President George W. Bush, to (Democrat) President Barack Obama.

During her tenture at Operation HOPE, Ms. Jena Roscoe has led or otherwise helped to marshall in almost every major national private/public partnership and national government agreement with HOPE over the past decade; including our HOPE Coalition America national agreement with FEMA, our national agreements with the FDIC, the Veterans Administration, the creation of the SBA Office of Entrepreneurship Education, and the Operation HOPE 5-year partnership with the FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE, amongst many others.  

Ms. Roscoe manages John Hope Bryant's personal public policy portfolio, including his involvement as a Presidential Appointee to the U.S. CDFI Fund at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability, the portfolio of more than 100 Local Financial Literacy Councils for the Subcommittee on the Underserved and Community Empowerment for the President's Council, under President Barack Obama.

Global Dignity Leaders Announce Global Dignity Day for October 16, 2013

Global Dignity Country Chairs meet in Norway to discuss plans for making sixth anniversary the biggest event year to date

 

Oslo, Norway – April 25, 2013 – Global Dignity co-founders and Young Global Leaders Alumni HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Operation HOPE Founder John Hope Bryant, and Professor Pekka Himanen of the University of Art and Design Helsinki and Oxford University announced today that the Sixth Annual Global Dignity Day will be held on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. 

More than 350,000 students, in more than 70 countries, will be taught the key principles of Global Dignityduring the event.  Held annually on the third Wednesday in October, Global Dignity Day is celebrated worldwide with volunteers leading “A Course in Dignity” in classrooms. 

The announcement comes during the Global Dignity Seminar held in Norway’s capital, where His Royal Highness The Crown Prince hosted a Global Dignity Country Chair meeting at Skaugum. The two-day conference included planning on how to improve and expand the reach and focus for the event.

Read the complete Global Dignity article here.

Related articles

Brothers in Global Dignity, and Life

Global Dignity, USA Reports Results

Global Dignity Country Chairs at Work in Oslo, Norway

Become a Part of Global Dignity Day 2013, Around the World

Rich Food for the Soul ~ Images and Voices of Global Dignity Day, Brazil, 2013

John Hope Bryant and Global Dignity Country Chairs at Session at Local Oslo School

Standing Up For Hope and Dignity

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.  

Hurricane Sandy Update from HOPE Coalition America and Project Restore HOPE

HOPE Coalition America and Project Restore HOPE: Hurricane Sandy have already hired staff, and this month will be opening offices in Brick, New Jersey and other key cities impacted by Sandy in the state of New Jersey.

HCA has more than 1,000 professionals committed to provide volunteer financial case management and counseling, along with my team, for those impacted.  The lead volunteer partner for Sandy work is JP Morgan Chase, which has been incredible with more than 600 committed HOPE Corps volunteers leaning into this important work.

A special thank you to the State of New Jersey Relief Fund (for Hurricane Sandy), the Office of the First Lady for New Jersey, Mrs. Mary Pat Christie, the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Economic Development Administration, JP Morgan Chase, Ares Capital Management, the American Red Cross, UPS, Chubb Insurace which donated our 55 Water Street office space in New York, and a range of additional partners engaged here.

HCA is a national partner with FEMA for emergency financial and economic preparedness, response and recovery for the nation.  For more information on our Hurricane Sandy response work, how you can get involved, or get help, contact Fred Smith, division president for HCA.  Also important to the process is Mary Hagerty, CEO of Operation HOPE NYC and my NE leadership officer.

A special tank you to Michael Arougheti, principal of Ares Management of Manhattan, and a national member of the Operation HOPE board of directors.  It was Mr. Arougheti who spearheaded the corporate effort to get corporate leaders engaged and involved in our Sandy recovery efforts in the weeks following the disaster.  His leadership will be forever remembered, and much appreciated.

John Hope Bryant

More

 

Related articles

Hurricane Sandy: 6 months later

Operation HOPE Receives Red Cross Grant for Sandy Recovery

Is your area still damaged from Hurricane Sandy? Send us your photos

Operation HOPE and HOPE Coalition America Provide Support This Weekend for Hurricane Sandy Survivors

New Jersey.Com: First Lady Mary Pat Christie announces $600K grant to Operation HOPE for Sandy relief

JPMorgan Chase Awards Financial Dignity Nonprofit Operation HOPE Grant for Superstorm Sandy Financial Recovery

Operation HOPE and the American Red Cross Together -- Helping Others

Operation HOPE Receives $200,00 Award from UPS to Help Empower Youth and to Provide Sandy Assistance

Huffington Post ~ Solving Poverty: What South Africa Needs Now Are Jobs

John Hope Bryant

Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur

 

I just returned from an inspring, and in parts equally frustrating trip to South Africa, supporting my on-the-ground team working for Operation HOPE, South Africa.

Inspiring because, well who would not be inspired by all that is South Africa. The cultural richness, the spirit of the people, and the energy present wherever you go. Or the natural beauty of the place, all the untapped resources, and the incredible opportunity to create real, even transformational change throughout the country. And all the stories...

The young boys and girls we spoke with me in a local school, who once exposed to the concept of entrepreneurship, vowed to keep both their heads and their grades high until graduation. They wanted very to become their own job in the future (owning their own business). Imagine looking out over a sea of young 16 year-olds, witnessing for yourself a new generation of committed entrepreneurs, job creators and leaders being born. Inspiring indeed.

Or the elderly women whom we met at a cheetah observation park who proudly announced to us that she had achieved an 'NQ4 financial business management designation' from the local Cape Technical College, allowing her to become (her description here) an "advanced and better skilled" small business owner. This wonderful lady was selling handmade South African products under a covered tent at the cheetah park, but for her this might as well have been a ritzy brick and mortar facility in downtown Cape Town. She was anowner of her own destiny, and she even made me feel this immense sense of pride she had, in doing for herself. An pride of creating her own job.

Read and comment on the full Huffington Post article here.

 

 

Related articles

John Hope Bryant and Operation HOPE Team Visits South Africa This Week

Bryant Reflects on CNN Story: Youth Call Mandela Revered, Not Relevant

South Africa's Black Middle Class Doubles, Studay Shows - Bloomberg

Huffington Post ~ On Leadership: The Power of Persistence

John Hope Bryant

Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur

 

If first you don't succeed...

A friend sent me this note recently, but in reality it is my life battle cry. This is what I am built with and by -- tenacity. Stick-to-it-ness. The magic of compounded hustle. Persistence. I just never give up. You shouldn't either.

If I had to give just one piece of advise to young people today, it would be to never, ever give up. And to believe in yourself. Or put another way, I believe that half of success in life is absolute self-confidence, self-esteem and self-love (it is also an attractive trait to have for the opposite sex, devoid of course of arrogance and over-confidence, which is really insecurity), followed by a commitment to genuine relationship building (not networking. For the love of God, please, no 'networking'), persistence -- and of course, substance is right in there too. But I must tell you, at the upper reaches of the success ladder, substance and competence are assumed.

Read, comment and share the complete article here.

 

Related articles

The HUFFINGTON POST ~ Solving Poverty: Atlanta in Black and Green, the Tale of Two Cities

Love Leadership Featured on PBS in Oklahoma on Sunday Evening, Monday Morning

Operation HOPE, South Africa Report Card 2013

I was inspired to spend a week with my HOPE, South Africa team last week, and found that they have made significant progress around our original promise of instilling and embedding principals of core consumer protection amongst a vulnerable population of women and children.  

Going forward, we will be forging a bold new agenda focused on both consumer protection, and consumer empowerment too -- all leading to local GDP, jobs, small business ownership, entrepreneurship, and important in Africa, creating a generation of what we call "self-employment projects."

Here is a summary of our Operation HOPE, South Africa team's impressive results on the ground there:

• 40,752 youth and adults educated and empowered with financial literacy over the past 5-years.
• 1,739 youth and adults educated and empowered during the first quarter of 2013 alone.
• Approximately 2,000 HOPE Corps volunteers recruited, trained and mobilized in South Africa alone.
• 65 partners supporting our work, inclusive of Sanlam Insurance, our lead signature partner, Citi, the Banking Association of South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Peace Corps South Africa amongst others.
• Operation HOPE and Banking on Our Future embedded into 60 local schools throughout South Africa.

From the civil rights justice of Nelson Mandela's bold generation of leaders, to the silver rights empowerment agenda available to this one, Operation HOPE is committed to the future prosperity of this great country, and the African continent overall.

Let's go.

John Hope Bryant

 

Related articles

John Hope Bryant and Operation HOPE Team Visits South Africa This Week

Mandela appears an ailing man in video

Bryant Reflects on CNN Story: Youth Call Mandela Revered, Not Relevant

Bryant Speaks at South African School on Financial Dignity and Hope for Their Futures

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