John Hope Bryant

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

Love Leadership Book Interview Airs on PBS Stations, Barry Kibrick Show, in Los Angeles and Oklahoma, March, 2013

KLCS-TV - www.klcs.org/btl    

Sunday Night, March 17, at 12:00 Midnight

John Hope Bryant - Love Leadership

John Bryant is the chairman and CEO of Operation Hope.  President Clinton called John Hope Bryant; "A whirlwind of ideas and action."  He is a philanthropic entrepreneur who founded America's first nonprofit banking organization and recognized as a world wide leader for his work in empowering low wealth communities. With his book, Love Leadership, John pioneers the new way to lead in a fear-based world.

OKLAHOMA

KRSC-TV

www.rsupublictv.org

Wednesday Evening, March 20, at 7:30 PM on Channel 35.2

John Hope Bryant - Love Leadership

John Bryant is the chairman and CEO of Operation Hope.  President Clinton called John Hope Bryant; "A whirlwind of ideas and action."  He is a philanthropic entrepreneur who founded America's first nonprofit banking organization and recognized as a world wide leader for his work in empowering low wealth communities. With his book, Love Leadership, John pioneers the new way to lead in a fear-based world.

 

Minister of Labour attends SEDCO leadership seminar featuring Love Leadership based strategy for future of Saudi Arabia

H.E. the Minister of Labor Eng. Adel Fakieh was the guest of honour at a seminar organized by SEDCO Holding at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters.

Entitled "Love Leadership" the seminar was presented by Mr. John Hope Bryant, a philanthropic entrepreneur, thought leader, businessman and one of the main leadership coaches in the USA. He is also Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, a non-profit empowering others with financial dignity. 

The seminar, attended by a select group of Saudi businessmen, was organized by SEDCO Holding to raise awareness about innovative leadership techniques and to emphasize the need to unite passion with goodwill to achieve institutional and personal goals. 

Mr. Bryant passionately proposed a new way to lead in a fear based world that seems obsessed with money, a topic summarized in his book "Love Leadership" that places him among the 25 best-selling business authors in the USA.

Focusing on the importance of the small and medium enterprises sector, he pointed out that in the United States, the world's largest economy with $19 trillion GDP (gross domestic product), around 90% of American companies employ less than 500 employees while only 967 companies employed more than 10,000 staff. 

 

An Example of Love Leadership, Majora Carter, A Green Movement Entrepreneur

 

Majora Carter is an example for every young girl or young woman who is seeking to purpose and reach her dreams. Even to design some new ones, for our world.  Majora is not only an example of what I call Love Leadership in my bestselling book, she even mentions it in her inspiring presentation.  Listen, watch, learn and be inspired by her example.

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.   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.

When To Give Love

Today I was asked "when is it okay to give love, when all you feel is being depleted by other people?" This is a great question, and directly tied to a lot of the premise of my bestselling business leadership book, LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass).

The answer is, always.  Love Leadership is not about so much how you 'act,' and even less about how someone 'responds' to your acts of goodness.  Frankly, we tend to save our worst behavior for those we care the most about.  Most people don't know how to love, so no matter how much you give, their response won't filfull you.  Love Leadership is more so about your response to what happens in life.  Your response is about all that you control in this life, but actually this is saying almost everything.

"Life is 10% what life does to you, and 90% how you choose to respond to it.  What's your response going to be..."

This may sound radical, but if you can redefine success in your life as 'going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiam,' well, then nothing can stop you.  My point is, life is not about you giving and the world saying 'thank you.'  Most of the world simply will not do this, and as a result, you will be disappointed. Maybe even bitter in time, and no one likes hanging around a small and bitter person.  But 'getting appreciation' is also the wrong reason to even do something nice or kind for someone else.

John Hope Bryant Speaks Before FCCLA National Conference 2912 in Orlando, Florida

 

 

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This week I had the opportunity and pleasure of keynote speaking before more than 7,000 young leaders, their advocates and parents in Orlando, Florida at the 2012 annual conference of the FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America).  

I spoke about their responsibility (fully 90% of these students graduate college, in comparison to the rest of American students that graduate at a 30-70% rate), their opportunity (they are on fire, full of confidence and have their entire lives ahead of them), but also their challenges.  As hard as they try to diversify, they are still more than 70% majority and rural in their membership (this is not a criticism, just a fact of how the organization has developed, and its base).  The world is increasingly diverse, and our future American leadership must reflect this fact, if America will rise to the occassion of leading the world again well into the 21st century.  During my remarks I made the case that all of our DNA is about 99% identical, and yet most of us obsess about the 1/4th of 1% that defines eye color, hair color and texture, skin color and texture and the like.  We focus most of our energy on the things that matter the least.  

I am so proud to report that this incredible group rose to the ocassion, cheering and encouraging the message of diversity and simularity -- and our one world message and meaning. Most of all, I was thrilled when they cheered after I proclaimed 'America to be the most incredible nation on the planet.'  They must believe this more than anyone else, because they are literally our future.

Love Leadership Still Shining: Howard University Bookstore

A special thank you to our friends at Howard University Bookstore in Washington, D.C. for continuing to push and promote LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass) for a new generation of leaders.

I promise I will be back soon to speak, engage and continue our conversation around 'what comes next.'

Onward and with HOPE,

 

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.

 

Another 5.0 Reader Review for LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass)

5.0 out of 5 stars Awakened, June 1, 2012 By  Stustof - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Hardcover) I am a slow learner. I like to tell people that my mind is like a piece of steel - it is hard to scratch, but once the scratch is there, it is there forever. My brain is "scratched" quite easily by books that awaken something inside of me, however, and Bryant's book did just that. Leadership books are all the rage these days, and everyone seems to be attending leadership retreats, leadership conferences, leadership seminars, and obtaining entire degrees in leadership. Most leadership books I have read are heavily researched, and while these books are incredibly useful, for me, they were lacking a piece for which I was yearning - authenticity and genuineness. Mr. Bryant's book gave me those things. As I was reading, I truly felt as though my soul was awakened. He focuses on five tenets: Loss creates leaders, Fear fails, Love makes money, Vulnerability is power, and Giving is getting. Each of these tenets is based in the belief that every decision we make - every decision - is based upon two emotions: Love and Fear. Love leads to success, and fear leads to failure. As many of us have experienced in life, the success of love and the failure of fear do not always become immediately apparent. But eventually, the path always leads to the same end-point. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently in a leadership position, anyone who hopes to one day be in a leadership position, and anyone who feels unfulfilled in a current occupation. If you are of the latter category, you will quickly discover that one of the reasons you may be feeling unfulfilled, is because your leader is basing decisions on the wrong emotion.

 

 

5.0 Reader Testimonial for LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass)

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope lifts all boats!, April 17, 2012

By 

leslieatone - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Hardcover)

I had the pleasure of meeting John in Palm Beach, Florida recently and was inspired to read his book. He's an inspiring, dynamic person and a gifted writer. I felt when I received the signed copy from John that it was Heaven sent. After reading his stories and his mission through Operation Hope, I feel that HE is heaven sent (he has already been knighted, perhaps canonization is next!). Most of us dream of making the world a better place, of giving back. John Hope Bryant is doing just that, he invests his time, energy, and talent on transforming, enriching and educating the minds and hearts of both young and old, rich and poor, to create a better life and a better world by changing the "what's in it for me" attitude to "what can I do for you", to get through giving, to lead through love, and the hardest and most transforming of all, to love those you don't like. Normally it takes me weeks and even months to get through a book, but this one I read in two days. A joyful two days. Thank you John. I am honored to call you my (long term) friend!

 

ON LEADERSHIP: Money and the Financial Integrity of Leaders engaged in Community

 

"The money....that's how they will come after you son...."  

This must have been the advice and counsel that Dr. King received from his father and others when he undertook the leadership of the civil rights campaign in the 1960's and 1950's.  "They will attack your integrity around money, they will attack your integrity around your work, and finally, if none of that works, they will attack your personal integrity."  These were likely the words of one known as Daddy King, or Martin Luther King, Sr., to his son Dr. King, as he embarked on a highly visible and highly controversial mission around the civil rights movement.  Whatever Daddy King said to his son, it worked.  

Dr. King and my personal hero Ambassador Andrew Young ran a tight ship, even as they were pursuing the civil rights movement.  Which doesn't mean they were not still attacked.  Dr. King was audited by the IRS and otherwise harassed by others, both within the government and within his own community, but none of it stuck, because once again, he ran a clean shop.  I cannot stress this enough. Dr. King did not just do good works, but he ran a tight organization that could withstand public scrutiny, and an audit.