John Hope Bryant

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....

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.

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.

Operation HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer ~ On The Move in Atlanta

This is literally a "steel out of the ground" silver rights movement, under way right now in Atlanta, at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and America's "Freedom Church."

The HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer serves as the anchor tenant and partner for the Martin Luther King, Sr Community Resource Complex, next to Ebenezer and on the broader King Center site.

Partners in HOPE Center, Ebenezer, led and organized by Steve Bartlett (CEO) and the FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE, include Suntrust Bank, State Farm Insurance, LPL Financial, Wells Fargo, MasterCard, Coca-Cola, the United Way of Greater Atlanta and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.  This commitment from the FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE is a highlight feature of the HOPE-FSR National Framework Agreement for Financial Literacy, designed to bring financial literacy into the C-Suite of America's financial leaders, and to make it a 'business case' for those involved.

A special thank you to Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, for seeing the vision here for silver rights, and moving to make it real in people's lives.

The best is yet to come.  Stay tuned....

 

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. 

 

Unsung Heroes for Financial Dignity: Members of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability

 

Last Thursday, January 19th, 2012, in a full capacity meeting in the Cash Room at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, members of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability met to kick off 2012 with a strong agenda and plan on behalf of President Obama and the nation.

Some of the accomplishments of this meeting included:

• A formal and Council approved recommendation by my friend and Council Partnership Subcommittee Chair Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz around financial literacy and federal employee engagement.
• An Interim Report from the full Council to President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner.

Additionally, the Council and the public heard from Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Cyrus Amir-Mokri, Council Chairman John Rogers, Josh Wright, acting director of the Treasury Office of Financial Education and Financial Access, and substantive subcommittee reports from Council members Arty Arteaga, Ted Beck, Amy Rosen and Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz.  Council vice chair Amy Rosen moderated an in-depth discussion with Alan B. Krueger, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Later, friend to the Council, Ms. Michelle Greene, vice president of corporate responsibility for NYSE Euronext and executive director of the NYSE Foundation, moderated a panel discussion with Steve Bigari, CEO of Stellar Restaurant Solutions and founder of America's Family, Brad Wenger, general manager of Hilton, Wilmington, Mary DuPont, director of financial empowerment for the State of Deleware, and Mateen Ali, senior manager of retirement and wealth strategy for Best Buy.

SPECIAL FROM THE GAINESVILLE SUN: A Different Struggle

John Hope Bryant, founder and CEO of Operation HOPE Inc., delivers the keynote speech during the 27th annual MLK banquet at the Paramount Plaza Hotel in Gainesville.

By Chad Smith
Staff writer

Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 10:34 p.m.

Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned 83 years old Sunday, five days shy of the third anniversary of the inauguration of the first black president.

The world is significantly different from the one King left when he was assassinated in 1968, with the civil-rights movement giving way to a struggle over class, said John Hope Bryant, the founder of Operation HOPE, which provides economic education in under-served areas, in his keynote address at the 27th annual banquet honoring King’s legacy in Gainesville.

“The 21st century is about economics. Greece’s problem is not more democracy, it’s too much debt,” said Bryant, a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability.

Read the rest of the story here.

 

 

 

 

A Different Sort of Love Story

Hanging with Vince and my crew at my local barber shop, Rick's Barber Shop, where you get the real education of what's going on in the economy, and the neighborhood. But coming here today was really just an excuse to ride my other love -- my Indian Chief motorcycle. She is pure class, strength, elegance, style and grace. Her beauty sort of sneaks up on you. Understated elegance. A strength that does not need to scream or draw undue attention to herself.



Sometimes I call her Beast, and sometimes I call her Freedom. You can guess her selected name for this day (smile).


We all need someone and something to love, something meaningful to do, and something to wish for.


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

SPECIAL FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST: On Leadership: Why Financial Dignity is the New Movement for Financial Literacy

 

 

John HopeBryant

Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur

I am a supporter of financial literacy. I am a constructive critic of financial literacy. Both are legitimate and essential in an honestdialogue. As HOPE Global Spokesman Ambassador Andrew Young said, "John, be skeptical, but don't be cynical. To be cynical is to be without hope."

Operation HOPE pioneered financial literacy as policy within the U.S. federal government in 2008, when we inspired then President George W. Bush to sign an Executive Order establishing financial literacy as new federal government policy, and with it the creation of the first ever U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. I was honored to serve as vice chairman for this first council, with Charles Schwab as chairman, and to serve as chairman of the Council Committee on the Under Served.

President Barack Obama took this vision to another level; bringing to life his own Executive Order during his Presidency, and thereafter establishing the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability (on which I am proud to serve), and then the Federal Consumer Protection Bureau.

President Obama named smart people to head both, with Ariel Capital Management's extremely smart founder John Rogers chairing the Council, and my friend Professor Elizabeth Warren spearheading the foundation of and for the Bureau. I recall one conversation in particular with Professor Warren, where I asked her what she would think if I said, "financial literacy was the new civil rights issue?" Not only did she agree with me, but she went on to say that she thought that "done right," while regulatory review and policy making might consume the formative years of the Bureau, its legacy should be a new foundation of financial literacy in America. Professor Warren and I agree 100%.

Read the complete article here on the Huffington Post.

 

 

 

Bryant and YGL Friends Speak on Global Leadership and Social Responsibility at Thunderbird University

 

YGLs Carline Casey, Matthew Bishop and John Hope Bryant amongst others, speak on corporate social responsibility and global leadership and global dialogue forum organized at Thunderbird University, and YGL Angel Cabrera, who is president of Thunderbird in Arizona.