John Hope Bryant

The Mother of Financial Literacy and Financial Dignity

This is literally my mother, Ms. Juanita Smith, but I am not simply being sentimental here.  She IS the mother of financial literacy, leading to financial dignity, that I know in my life. 

When we were growing up my mother divorced my dad, essentially over money and how decisions were impacting the children.  My dad is a good man and is the reason I am an entrepreneur today, but mom was the financial model -- and she was not playing!  I tell her story in more fullness in my bestselling business book LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based Leadership (Jossey-Bass).

My mother believed in investing her time and her money.  She accepted a job, far below her know-how and skills, as the janitor in my elementary school, just so that she could watch over me.  Before that, she started a nursery business, so that she had a (funded) excuse to spend time with me early in my formative years.  What a women.

RARE Youth in Northern Virginia School Listen to Operation HOPE John Hope Bryant during Virtual MLK Session Featuring Banking on Our Future

Wow -- this proves the power of technology.  Here I gave a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr speech and didn't even know it.  The kids simply pulled up a video of me on their iPad (YouTube) and made it happen for themselves (smile).  The youth were taught a Banking on Our Future financial literacy session as well by HOPE's own Jena Roscoe.

Here at Operation HOPE we believe that financial literacy is the new civil rights issue for this generation.

 

 

Operation HOPE Promises Made, Promises Kept to Spur Local Urban Entrepreneur

I am pleased to report that Operation HOPE, Atlanta has successfully funded the $10,000 grant commitment made on behalf of local Atlanta urban entrepreneur Ms. Kwanza Fisher, pictured above.  HOPE funded this with and as part of the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs organization, which manages the commitments and inspiring "pitch" programs.

ORIGINAL STORY REPRINT:

Thanks to the leadership of the White House Business Council, White House Office of Public Engagement, White House Urban Policy, and Mayor Kasim Reed and the City of Atlanta, Operation HOPE and I were honored to participate in the White House Urban Entrepreneurship Forum, Atlanta, held on Friday, July 29th, 2011, in the City of Atlanta (Operation HOPE is a national partner in the series).

Testimonial for Global Dignity Forum, Finland

"Hi there,

I just had to send my thanks to Mr. John Hope Bryant. I saw a rerun of the speech that you gave at this year's Global Dignity day. The speech about eagles and other birds had to be one of the best that I've ever seen. Not the fact that it had so much information in a short time (witch to me it did) but your style to take the crowd. Just with that five or ten minutes you instantly became a person that inspires me a lot! Smart and big words! Thank you!!

Yours,

Sami"


John Hope Bryant is founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and bestselling author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass).

- Posted from my iPhone

John Hope Bryant Comes To Danville, Virginia

 

Bryant on Leadership: How Everyone Can Give

Today on Twitter I spent some time talking about the power and importance of "charity," and of course it wasn't long before I received a solicitation from someone else on Twitter asking me to donate to their favorite charity (smile). All good, and I don't blame them at all for trying, but I literally gave at the office, as the founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE. HOPE has serves more than 1.5 million individuals from low-wealth and under-served communities to date, over its 19 year history, but there is so much more yet to be done.

This did though get me thinking about how many people misunderstand what giving is all about, and how it is defined in one's life.

Money is not giving, it is a tool for giving, no different than the Internet is not entertainment or news or empowerment, but simply a tool for these things. The Internet is in many ways simply the new television, radio or newspaper. It is the new how, but not the new what.

The what is your character and your intent, and at its core -- you. If you have a giving spirit, you will always find a way to give, help and support others, whether you have money or not.

How Everyone Can Help

There are two basic ways that each and everyone on the planet can help; they can invest and give their money or their time. Money is the most obvious, and if you have it, maybe even the easiest. In this way, unless it is combined with a genuine intent and purposefulness, it can also be the laziest -- as it allows many to pay and bypass (the pain).

But each and every person on the planet has another power -- and that is their time. You can invest your money, or you can invest your time -- but either and both are investments, and a gift to those you endow with their benefit. Investing either, or both, also speaks to your priorities.

If you have money, look at your priorities and then look at where you invest your financial resources.

If you say you love your children, then there should be a checkbook register entry or payment for school fees, tutoring courses.

If you say you love your family, then there should be entries or payments for a mortgage or in Europe and parts of Africa a bond payment, or a rent payment, for their shelter and care. They should likewise be investments in food, health and wellness. But you should also invest your time -- giving your kids and those you say you love, your time.

I am always tickled by those who say they really want to eradicate poverty, as long as it's not in their backyard, it doesn't inconvenience them, doesn't cost them much money or raise their taxes, nor change their way or life. Otherwise, they would really love to help. And this is the ultimate laziness -- an unwillingness to give or invest either time or money.

Everyone can give their time, which in the end may in fact be their richest and most valuable contribution of all.

If you say you love community, then look at where you are investing your time in your own community on a regular basis. What are you doing, and where are you showing up?

If you say you love our children and care desperately about their future success -- how often are you showing up in local classrooms, Boys & Girls Clubs, Operation HOPE's Banking on Our Future classrooms, Junior Achievement and National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship classrooms and such? Or my friend Susan Taylor's National Cares Mentoring Movement, or right here in Atlanta, with 100 Black Men of Atlanta, or my personal hero's Andrew Young YMCA? What are you doing, right where you sit, and maybe even through those you love? What are you giving back, as even you would not be where you are today, without someone believing in you -- investing a little time and energy, in you.

Someone whom I care about dearly is also one of my greatest role models, as I see them volunteering on a regular basis for our under-served children (meaning often the most at risk), without anyone asking or encouraging, weekly. This says more about their character and priorities in life than almost anything else. It makes me admire, respect and love them even more. The more you give, the more you get.

It is true that giving is ultimately getting. That whatever goes around comes around. And that those who give, actually in the end feel as though they received the most. This is the 5th Law of Love Leadership; giving is getting.

To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "everyone can lead, because everyone can serve."

Okay, let's go...



John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, the founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc., author of Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business book LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), and a Member of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability.

Saluting An American Icon: Farewell Steve Jobs, You Will Be Missed

And so, a book is closed, and an era in many ways defines by the imagination of one Steve Jobs comes to an end today, with the stunning announcement of his death.  

That said, because of what he built, who he empowered, where he applied his transformative powers, and how he changed the way we worked and lived (and even felt), his legacy will live on forever.

We had no idea of course, when we asked the question in our forthcoming announcement of the Gallup-HOPE Index, "which one of these young people will be the next Steve Jobs," that we would be doing so in the backdrop of his literal passing -- but what a fitting tribute to a man who changed so much, and inspired so many -- including me.  And so, next week, Gallup and the Operation HOPE family will release national data that will hopefully help insure that there will be hundreds more Steve Jobs of and for our future.  

The Operation HOPE family joins me in saluting an American icon, and a global leader for change -- Mr. Steve Jobs.  You will be missed sir.  Your legacy, lives on, and I am not talking about an iPad. I am talking about our way life, our possibilities, and how we actually "see" our world.  Thank you sir. Thank you.

Finally, our hearts go out to his family, and those who obviously loved him so very much.  Please know that he has been "promoted." Gone on, to a better place.

Onward and with HOPE

John Hope Bryant

 

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), and a Member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for President Barack Obama.  Mr. Bryant is 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.

 

 

 

Bryant Commends New District of Columbia Department of Employment Services Director Lisa Mallory

Sometimes, good people really do come out on top.  Such is the case for long-time friend and public servant Ms. Lisa Mallory. Lisa was recently selected by Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray as the permanent director of the Department of Employment Services, where she is already making a significant impact on the culture, policies and approach of this critically important agency in the District; our nation's capital.

I have known Lisa Mallory since the days when she was deputy chief of staff for then U.S. Vice President Al Gore, where she focused on, amongst other things, "reinventing government."  Lisa Mallory is a strong leader who speaks multiple languages and possesses not only a global perspective, but a local and personal touch. In other words, she is authentic and deeply, deeply cares about producing real results, for real people.  She is a genuine public servant, and the District will be well served by her leadership.  Humbly I say also, the mayor is lucky to have her.

Recently, my government relations chief Jena Roscoe and I had the opportunity to tour Ms. Lisa Mallory's DOES operations in the District of Columbia, and to meet some on her team, and I was very impressed with their focus and stated commitment to empowering residents.  

Reflections on the YGL Annual Meeting in Dalian, China

As part of the first class of YGLs in 2005, I was honored to attend the 2011 YGL Annual Meeting as a YGL Alumni. The interesting thing is, I really didn't "feel" like a former YGL, or a so-called Alumni; I just felt like family. This is the special chemistry that is unique to the YGL experience that Professor Klaus Schwab, YGL Director David Aikman and their team has created over the years.

Professor Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, put up $1 million from a leadership prize he won (and chose not to use the money for his own purposes) to launch the Forum of Young Global Leaders in 2004, nominating his first class of just under 300 YGLs in 2005 (my class). Our charge was to help to change the state of our world by 2030, and I believe that many YGLs are well on their way to doing precisely this.

A couple YGLs took up a special initiative they call "Table for Two," which is now in corporate board rooms all around the world. Another group took on "Deworming the World," which has helped to direct million of dollars into this fight in and for developing countries. The three "dignity brothers," as we are called, HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland and myself, representing the United States, founded Global Dignity, designed to introduce a new language and a new way to lead the world. More than 50 YGLs signed up to lead Global Dignity Day 2011 sessions around the world, and several YGLs stepped up to become Global Dignity Country Chairs, around the world, including key countries such as Pakistan. To date, more than 450 YGLs and leaders from around the world have signed up to conduct Global Dignity Day 2011, in more than 50 countries. All of this started with, and is rooted in the YGL experience.

For me personally, I found myself in the same exact room that inspired me to write LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), which I wrote in 2009, with proceeds benefiting to Operation HOPE. Well, this week, in the same room, complete with the orange carpet, I was inspired once again. You just cannot make this stuff up.

YGL is much more than an organization, it is a family, an experience, and an opportunity -- to make the world, our world better.

As we say within the YGL community, "you cannot call yourself a leader, unless you are prepared to serve."


John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, the founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc., author of Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business book LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), and a Member of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability.

SPECIAL FROM THE FORUM BLOG: From Davos to Dalian: We Are All Global Citizens

 

                 

 

John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies. 

The first day I met Professor Klaus Shwab, the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum, I was in a school in inner-city Detroit, Michigan, teaching a financial dignity course, and he was in his Forum office in Geneva, Switzerland, bringing world leaders together to advance his vision of creating a better world.  On this international call we shared his then new vision for something world changing; something that would later go on to become known as the Forum of Young Global leaders. 

Today, YGL is a vision made real with over 900 YGL’s from around the world, and from right here in China too, making a difference in our world.

Professor Schwab and I may have come from very different cultures and backgrounds, and now we were communicating across two very different continents, but the language we used on that call was in fact universal.  The values needed to lift any society, and to create a sustainable world, are in fact universal.  I did not realize it then, but on this day we were global citizens.   He knew it, and I was about to learn the power of it. This is but one of the powerful things at the World Economic Forum does quietly, yet powerfully for all who attend.

READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE. The World Economic Forum Blog

 

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), and a Member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for President Barack Obama.  Mr. Bryant is 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.