WUWY INTERVIEW: Derek Lewis Talks New Book 'Survive and Advance,' Family Struggles, Attending HBCU + More

Derek Lewis Talks New Book 'Survive and Advance,' Family Struggles, Attending HBCU + More

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's it's way up with Angela. Ye, and this is exciting.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I have Derek Lewis here, Hi, Derek.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
That's how you doing.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
He's going to be a national best selling author with
this book, Survive and Advance lessons on living a life
without Compromise.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now, I've known.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
You for quite some time, just from working with you
through PEPSI and then I remember when you said you
were retiring from that, all right, and I want to
get into your whole story because I feel like you
can know somebody and done business with them, but not
know their true story. And when I read your book,
it definitely taught me a lot. So it's and I
think it's a critical time because a lot of things

(00:39):
that you talk about in here are things that were
going through right now with this new presidency, with these
conversations about de Ei. Yes, I think is really important.
You could not have time this better.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes, I just you. I'm ready to talk about it.
I mean, I'm read to talk about all the bo
I mean, this is definitely a time for self help
and motivational literature. And actually it was not my idea
when I was talking to right now book. It came
from colleagues came from students on campus, people who reached
out to me and said, hey, you've got three and
a half decades experiencing you know, one of the biggest
companies in the world. You were at the top of

(01:10):
the chain. You how did you do that? You can't
leave without sharing information? Are you going to go on
speaking circuits? Are you going to do podcasts? How about
a book? And the book things seemed to be pretty intriguing,
and I did some research on it, worked with hooked
up with Page two Publishing there out of Toronto, and
we started the process and I had a ghost writer. First.
The first position of it was going to be more
of a business book. They said, hey, read Bob Iger's book.

(01:33):
We want we want a position like Lessons in Businesses,
that and the other. And then I started spending time
my ghostwriter. Our first stop was DC, my hometown, and
spent a whole day with me and we did everything,
went to all the old stops man all the old
stomping grounds and schools and neighborhoods and just talked. And
then all of a sudden she said, time out. This
is no longer just a business book, this is a memoir.
This is going to be about your life, because you've

(01:54):
already given me two or three chapters with information, So
we then sort of pivoted to making it about the
entire life from the picture fitting the business side, and
it was a big part of my life, but wanted
to make sure it was more end to end and
especially can inspire those who were also in my circumstances
growing up.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, because you are from DC and you did grow
up pretty much in a single parent home with your
mom raising you, and you refer to your father by
his first name, never called him that, never called him dad,
and you know, seeing you as a successful entrepreneur, and
I have these conversations behind the scenes all the time
with people as an executive, as an.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Entrepreneur that you are. You know, a lot of times.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
I've heard people talk about DEI recently and then talk
about the what do they call it, the meritocracy, right,
and people act like DEI means that you don't deserve
a position that you're in, You're just getting it because
of the color of your skin or because you're a woman,
And that's not the case at all, No, not at all.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, first of all, I think your timing is
good on this because it obviously is getting a lot
of attention. I do think one I'm sort of, you know,
shocked by some of the pullouts that you're seeing some
of the corporations, the companies do, but at the same time.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh my gosh, disappointing.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
I look at it as an opportunity, you know. I
do look at D and I in all honesty, as
something that you know, was obviously really built and suited
early in the sixty seven civil rights era. You know,
when I was grow up in DC at that time,
we obviously know discrimination, racial bias saw that were very
extreme back then. A lot of laws are being broken
back then, and so you needed a platform like that
to just stabilize things because things were so chaotic for

(03:31):
us back then. I think as time has marched on,
the platform needed to evolve, and I think we're here
today with the same sort of ideology that it might
have had, at least the application of it or perception
of And I do think that not evolving it has
put us in the spot today where people now are
sort of deprioritizing it, releasing the funds. Now. What I
don't like when companies say they're going to de prioritize

(03:52):
something and you don't tell us what you're going to
do Differently, you know, it's one thing to say, hey,
this is outdated. I don't think it has the application
more to what are you doing now? What are you
doing next? And so I think it's this bandwagoning or
student body left, student body right, and these sort of
hirky jerky moves on I think is just wrong. I
think actually that is a big challenge of leadership on
what are you doing, like if you're gonna come out,

(04:14):
because you have to have compassion here. People are being
affected by this what's going on. They're sensitized of this,
and my mind, not having a response to what you're
going to do is wrong.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
The way we look at it is like y'all couldn't
wait to be able to have the opportunity to be like, Okay,
we're not doing these programs anymore, we're not giving these
grants anymore, we're not providing opportunities anymore. And we have
and you talk about this in the book too. I
have my little book marks.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Just saying up.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
But we also talk about how important it is to
have people who represent your consumer base also working at
a company.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Right you were at Pepsi.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
How long did you work at Pepsi thirty five years
from the bottom to the top, all right, so you
knew how every single aspect. You even went over to
tackle bell I did for a period of time. I
didn't even know Pepsi owned.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
They did back in the nineties early nineties.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
I had no idea, but you went there and it
was to me.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Some people might feel like things are not like on
the level of you know, some people might look at
that it's like, oh, I'm not going to Taco bell
and learning how to do X, Y and Z and
getting behind the counter and doing this. But you had
no problem getting in there, rolling up your sleeves and
doing every single aspect of the business. And one thing
that you talk about is even when you were going
in and you started off at Pepsi, like kind of

(05:30):
going into the stores and stocking the shelves and making
sure that visually everything looked the way that it was
supposed to.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
But that's an important thing because when you first started,
it was kind of like, well, why is this product
not moving the way that it should? And to know
your market, they had you. I think in Maryland, I
was in Baltimore and Baltimore at first, So talk to
me about that and the importance of you knowing the
consumer base and why things weren't happening the way that
they should.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
I think everything starts with a consumer, you know, and
that type of bliss for sure, and so learning the
aspects of how our products are sort of made, how
they're moved around, and how they're sold, right, you're getting
a very fundamental not gaining fundamental knowledge of that when
you're on the starting on a route. So I'm learning
really the full business comes together. It's a lot thrown
at you. But there's times where you know, you see

(06:20):
how promotions react in our business when products get priced
cheaper when they go and feature, and certainly in the
inner city route that I had, the end of the
month was very very soft, but beginning of the month
was very very strong, and so every time I had
promotions over money was on the street. The business really
really thrive when things were not on sale. I had
to be very deliberate about positioning our portfolio ways that

(06:41):
the value products that we had, you know, maybe the
two leaders or things are priced a little bit cheaper,
I could put those in the forefront to keep our
brands healthy in the store and traction with the consumer.
Those type of differences, those type of moves made a
difference in sales throughout the entire month. Because I didn't
want to sort of eat really really good for two
weeks and then not eat it all for two weeks.
I had to find ways to keep the business move

(07:01):
and also had to bring promotional things to the neighborhoods.
I had to bring community programs to been able to
show that we're investing while we're here as well. So
we want you to buy a product, but also what
are we doing to hold stand up the community on
the other end, right, And so I was very very
deliberate about bringing promotion, sponsorship dollars, community dollars to activate
things throughout the community landscape and that and that paid

(07:22):
it forward in a big, big way. The law to
you got from the consumers. The law to you got
from the customers. Store managers all saw that as a
real real value add for their business.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Even taking the store managers out to eat.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, doing things like that makes a big difference. I
always feel like in business, if people feel like they
know you more on a personal level and makes them
more willing to do little things that can be really
beneficial or give you tips or what you know, what's
going on here, how can I help with that?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, let me just you in this way.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Absolutely got a lot of favors from that, and it's
a look, it's a hyper competitive business, so the wins
and jump balls go to relationship, and so I was
always big on relationships with my three hours, results, relationships,
and repute. I believe all three of those. If you
function a very high level in those three areas, it
will drive the most successful you as an individual, your
professional life or your personal life. And that worked for me.

(08:10):
I stuck on that formula. I drove it hard while
also betting on myself, believing myself, and being myself. I
feel like those were the tenants of my you know,
sort of framework on how I was going to be
successful in my professional career.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
How important is it, you think for executives to know
how to do all aspects of a business, because sometimes
people get brought in, you know, on the top line,
and they don't understand what employees that are you know,
working from the bottom up have to actually do on
a day to day basis.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
I think it could go both ways. You can look
at both fans. One, you can look at somebody like
me who did every job as a bit of a
I could take that as being a know it all
and almost to a point where I didn't embrace and
listen or evolve the business in the way I need
to because I could be so headstrong on what I
used to do with how it used to be when
I was on the route. So it took a lot
of diss for me to evolve my thinking, and that
as a portfolio grew, achnology started to play more role

(09:01):
in our business that I had to kind of relearn it.
I had to get back out there and relearn. I
had to hire people who can teach me things I
would have known otherwise. Now, if you're coming from the outside,
it's a very very tough situation coming from the outside
and the business like that, not having all those fundamental skills.
But you know, as a leader, you have to challenge
show then to be really a great listener, to get
out and work with people, and so to leadership style,

(09:23):
it's all about that. You can adjust that style whether
you're the most experienced person or you're not the most
experienced person. I think both ways can work, but you
have to really apply yourself in the right way to
truly get the benefit out of it.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Now, one thing you talked about was you said, one
of the reasons I joined PEPSI was that the black
management experience was front and center on their agenda and Graves.
You talked about ear Grays, who had black enterprise. I
love him right, and you said he was a significant
part of that. A lot changed after that. Graves at
the stage for not only who I was to become,
but everyone at the company. Understanding diversity not only opened

(09:54):
up more equity and equality for PEPSI employees, but it
also had an immediate bottom line impact. And I think
people do need to understand that now as they're trying
to say, like I said, we had this conversation about
and we see what Elon Musk is saying, We see
what a lot of corporate executives are saying about DEI
and acting like DEI must die. I think that's like

(10:15):
their catchphrase you know that they're using right now.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
But it does.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
I think studies have shown statistically even that when companies
are more diverse, they actually impact the bottom line.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
At a better way, better rate and have more of
an impact that.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Way, and no doubt about it. And look and perhaps
she was a company that going back to the forties
figured that out. They had the first corporate interms of
Corporate America, Alan mckella Jr. Who had a relationship with
until he passed away in twenty eighteen when he was
ninety eight. Jeannette Mount, she went to Hampton, he went
to South Carolina State. They were hard back in nineteen
forty two. The first black salesforces put in place a
couple of years behind that, and from there you can

(10:49):
see the company making the African Americans sum a priority
in the forties when that was a very difficult time America.
Segregation is still very much alive, very difficult vironment, but
morally and from a business case standpoint, the company said, hey,
and the brand said, we're going to invest in that consumer.
You fast forward to the sixties and seventies in the
Civil rights era, company got behind it started including African
Americans in a lot of the marketing materials. Again, it

(11:10):
wasn't necessarily always embraced in a nice manner. There was
a lot of criticisms behind that, but they made it
a priority that the consumer is going to be part
of our growth strategy going forward. We can lock in
this consumer because no one else was chasing that consumer.
We're going to chase that consumer. Really get behind it.
Then you fast forward to eighties and then I talked
about its earlier Michael Jackson, and you signed these big
megastars now that are coming into the space. And then

(11:31):
all of a sudden, entertainment pop culture, you know, became important,
signing big endorsement deals with celebrities, many of them who
were African American, you know. Then you get to the
nineties and it's hip hop and Source Awards and two
thousand and twenty ten, it became a core principal of
the company strategy. Up until twenty twenty, we had all
the racial quality stuff. I was a note of all that.
So there's a good example of an evolutionary journey. A

(11:52):
company can have to stay behind its cohorts that they
deemed to be important in the business for the business case,
but also continuously invest and involve the platform. And I
get fixated on what we did in the forties is
what we do in the twenty twenty. So a lot
of companies can learn from that model. I do talk
about you got to be more comprehensive. Now. You can't
just go in and lean in for a carve out.

(12:13):
These carve out and just talk of carve out, just
talk of mandate is over. That's over. That will not
work going forward. The people in the companies won't embrace it.
The younger people coming up won't. Don't embrace that. We
have to be a lot more comprehensive at our discussions
on uniqueness, celebrating uniqueness, leveraging you neatness to win because
you're true, You're right. The businesses and the companies and

(12:37):
organizations that have the most uniqueness represent the marketplace, do
the best job and winning, and so you can win
win in this business if you do it the right way.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
And I know one thing that you love about your
job was that said you love sports so much. You
did have the opportunity to work with a lot of
great athletes.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Who are endorsing things.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
And you also talk about sports as being a metaphor
to life right with your kids and everything and explaining
to them. Can you just break down how you compare
sports to how we should be living our lives and
chasing our goals and dreams.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
We look at the issues that are happening outside of sports.
We just talked about this whole de and I situation.
You look in sports, and that's the ultimate where uniqueness
is all blend together for a common mission and a
common purpose, right to win. Teams win, they built to win,
They share their skills, they all bring different unique skills
to the table. They work in a way that is
team oriented as team first and going. There's a strategic plan,

(13:31):
a strategy about winning and competing each you and every day.
I love sports. As a kid, I didn't have the
resources to play club level, to play recreational ball like
I wanted to, so I was basically just a playground kid,
and I enjoyed that. I was my getaway. But I
vowed that one day, when I have a family, I'm
going to invest heavily in sports because I see what
it does to change lives. Right, see what it does
for teamwork. I see what does for discipline, I see

(13:53):
what does for focus. I love then element of competing.
I love the what you have to get in the
zone and you have to deliver. You have to your accountable.
Youre accountable to yourself, you accountable for your teammates. I
love the fact the different coaches that we had in
our lives can be extra parents, an extra set of odds.
Are our kids things that I may not be able
to do for them, they're doing for them. Right. So
it's this whole comprehensive look at the way sports can

(14:13):
impact lives. Positively, I'm all in and it translates to
the business world for me because I use a lot
of lessons, a lot of famous coaches to drive culture
and a winning culture right, and it really did level
up things. I can use great examples like I use
University Alabama Nick Saban, right, who is a better person
at leveling up a culture, going to a campus and
transforming not only the school, but the entire industry transform

(14:36):
based on his philosophy of leveling up, you know, and
bringing everybody together to find that common vision that is powerful.
And so what works in sports apps you can translate
working in business and can work for your families for
kids if done the right way.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, and coaches can be like for you in particular,
a great kind of a substitute for if your father
is not present in your life the way that you
would have wanted, and how difficult was that for you?

Speaker 2 (14:59):
To even and write about that, or was it because.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Sometimes it's hard to we know you as an executive,
I know you in that capacity and being like, well,
I had no idea. You know, this is how Derek
was brought up and the things that he had to overcome.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
And did you even.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Realize how much that affected you when you were younger?
Or was it something that as you were writing this
book you were like, damn, I didn't have X, Y,
and Z because my father was you know, in and
out and the things that he was doing and how
it affected your mom and your household and even your
youngest brother.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
It brought a lot of trauma back to me. When
I was going through those particular chapters with my ghostwriter
and telling those stories, it didn't bring back a lot
of you know, like wow, like how did I get
through it? I mean, it really allowed me to sort
of again, you know, really recommit to how strong my
faith was, because that's really what got me through it.
There's no way. As I played back some of the

(15:52):
stories and some of the incidents, and so many situations
were life and death. We certainly were breaking the law
a lot. I was around drugs, I was around abuse,
you know, It was very difficult, and I had to
be the dad basically to two younger brothers and be
their big brother at the same time. That was very hard.
There was times when I'm being a nurturing big brother

(16:14):
caring for them at ten, eleven, twelve years old, and
then I had to I had to spank them sometimes,
you know, when they got out of the line and right,
and that was a very hard thing to deal with emotionally.
I let my mom down one time. I'll never forget this.
This story came back up when I was writing a
book the rent money. My dad was always looking for
the rent money so he could fuel his his habit
substitutes habit. And one day he came to the house

(16:35):
and asked me who the rent money was. I happened
to know where my mom used to hide the rent
much you hit it, like under the carpet, underneath the
bed in the bedroom. And one day somehow he came
on and cornered me and said, where's that rent money.
Where's that money? I know you know where it is.
And he started coming at me and coming at me
and coming at me, coming at me. And again I
don't want let my dad down. I also was scared
if I didn't give it to what happened, And I
told him where it was and he grabbed the money,

(16:56):
left the house. Didn't see him for another day or two.
My mom got home. The expression on her face when
she looked underneath that carpet, she knew he was home,
asked me what he was doing home, and then she
went right to the car because she had an idea
money was gone. I couldn't believe how terroorged. She was
totally panicked and just really got to her knee, got
to her knees and just started screaming, crying because she

(17:16):
didn't know how she was gonna pay a rent. And
I feel like I let her down, you know. I
feel like I let her down because I was trying
to just follow the oars for my dad, and I'm
you know, and I'm like at that time, I think
I'm like nine years old, and so it was hard,
like it was. The stress was there. And I go
to school, I got kids that are trying to pick
on me. I gotta fight defend myself there. So I'm
constantly like living like an adult as a child, you know.

(17:38):
So I gained a lot of responsibility. I gained a
lot of maturity. I gained a lot of perspective. I
knew right from wrong for sure, and I had to
convince myself and commit to myself that I was going
to be doing the right things the rest of my
life so that I am not putting my family in
this situation or I may not even get out of
the situation. My brother didn't get out of the situation.
I feel guilty for that as well. You know, I
feel like I probably didn't do enough for him.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
I mean, I you know, it's hard, and not think
anybody would put that on themselves, but from reading this book,
you know it's hard. Like you have your own family,
you did everything that you could, and sometimes you can't
help people that aren't going to accept that help, you know,
And I mean fortunately for you, it could go either way.
You know, when you think about growing up in certain circumstances,

(18:22):
you know, you go into school and having to wear
the same clothes and get and teased that school. It
actually helped you come better at defending yourself, but it
could have went a whole other way. You know, you
just never know what can happen with people. And that's
another thing that we have to also have the circumstances
that people grow up in. Everybody doesn't have the luxury
of being able to say, Okay, we had it all

(18:44):
growing up and I was able to just they'll say,
just go to school, pull yourself up by.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Your boostaps, do what you need to do.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
And that's not always the case, and everybody can't survive
those circumstances in the same way you know survive and advance.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
Right, there's real trauma there. And every person that was
in my situation can hope for the best. They can
dream big. I want every young person, no matter what
your circumstances are, you can find that light that says
I can create a better life for myself. But you're
going to have to lock in and make choices right
now here and now. You can't wait till later on,
because they don't may not be guaranteed. So take the

(19:17):
moment now to lock in on betting on yourself, believing yourself,
and being yourself throughout your entire life, and you can
dream as big as possible and likely going to be
very very successful.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Now, another thing that helped be successful was having the
right woman by your side, and we.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Can remember that and.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
We can never discount the power in that. And you
almost do that a way too, you.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Know, being I did, I did, I did.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
I was like this guy, but you were young, and
I'll give you grace.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Thank you for that. I'm looking for that. I haven't
gotten a lot of that so far with people who
read it, but thank you for your forgiving me some
grace on that.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I think being in college and you know, being
a little and you you did try to like overly
justify well. I did tell her I was in a relationship,
but then she had a chance to see you with
another woman, and she stuck to her guns and was
not trying to mess with you for a little while.
But it was the person that you kept on thinking
about that your mind went back to that. You were

(20:11):
like she you kind of knew she was the one
I did.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
I didn't. I didn't necessarily know it then, but I
knew it after I left and after we were separated,
after I messed up, I knew that she was and
I had to figure out, well, how am I gonna
go get her back? How am I going to work
my way back in. I had a strategy, I mean,
no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Strategy.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Oh yeah, yeah, I had a strategy. She doesn't know that,
but I had a strategy, and.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
It's a strategy for people out there that may need
some help too.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Hey, look, you just gotta you gotta hunk her down,
get yourself right again, be the best rods of yourself.
You may get one more chance. I was just praying
for one more chance to get some FaceTime to show
that I was in a different place right. And I
think everybody will, at least most people who'll get that moment.
You've got to see that moment. Now, had I messed
up that moment, then this thing would have been a
rapid will never happened. But I did take advantage of

(20:55):
that one little moment, that one bright light that I have.
I'm a guy that can see a little bit of
light and I can tell advantage of it. I can
see my way through that light. But you got to
be prepared for that moment each and every time when
I was that moment and thing, God it worked out
because our vision has been completely aligned from that single
from that day on, you know, maybe a couple days
after because it was that easy for us day.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
But POSI shouldn't because privately, part of what helped you
was the fact that it wasn't so easy right away,
right because somebody has to know their value to know
that I'm not just gonna let you do whatever and
then I'm right here right. You know, sometimes people take
advantage of that, but it does feel like whatever it
is that you want to do, you go really hard
to make that happen. Do you feel like ever at
a time because just reading this and reading about you

(21:34):
taking flights, going to get your NBA, having babies in
the house, like so many different things at once was
and being exhausted in all of that, do you ever
feel like your work life balance was off? Like when
you look back at it. I know that seeing where
you are now amazing that you've been able to retire
being entrepreneur, and we'll talk about that in a second,
but looking back where you're like, man, I was really

(21:55):
so like overly focused on work or do you think
that's necessary for people?

Speaker 3 (21:59):
I feel like the balance was there, I really do.
I felt like I gave it. I still I gave
it my best shot, you know, and there were times
when it may not have felt even and there's times
it went went the other way, you know, because like sports,
was the anchor of our household in terms of activities.
I felt like I made the majority of sports event.
That was a big deal for me. But that required
some very early morning flights, that required some getting in

(22:20):
really late, and I were driving extensive hours to get somewhere.
But to me, the calendar management of that and being
there for my kids and the sports, not just the
sports things, but also the academic things. I feel like
I made at least probably seventy five or eight percent
of their key activities. Yeah. Yeah, I felt like that
was a real key thing. But I communicated well with
the company. I told them what was going on. They knew.

(22:41):
They say, when you're sort of transparent about who you are,
and people know who you are and you bring your
whole self to work, they know that I was about
my kids and about the sports. They knew that was
something I didn't have my life, and therefore that was
something I was investing in. I want to be there
for those moments. I want to be there for some
moments when that game is over, to put you on around.
You can't tell me love them. They did great.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
You know, It's interesting because I feel like work ethic
is different now, like for me having businesses and dealing
with employees. I definitely feel like people would be like
I need to you know, a lot more on self
care nowadays, a lot more on you know, taking days
and time off. I feel like when I was coming up,
I worked like NonStop and really hard. I literally was
like sometimes and I still do this to this day,

(23:20):
like seven days a week of work.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
But I feel like now.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
It's more like like I need a hybrid situation or
I need a personal day. I need this, I need that.
We didn't used to have that, you know, coming up.
What do you think about the new culture when it
comes to work with the newer generation.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
I think it works, and I think it's actually important
because you know, in the book also it talks about
the health issue that I went through and had I
spent more time on self care. Self care not just
being getting a massage and getting man your petiture, but
also self care of my physical being. I might not
have ever had, you know, that disease come my way.
So I think the time as long as people are

(23:57):
investing in their whole selves. Now, if you're using the
time and it you know, if it's playtime is playtime.
I got no problems. I like playing a lot of golf,
so I put that as part of my lifestyle as well.
But making sure that your health is good now that
you have the time to get physicals and get check
ups and stay on top of your maintenance, I think
is so important, critically important in life now because I
can talk about it. I'm a hypocrite when I say

(24:17):
I'm there for everybody else, but I'm not there for myself.
If I'm not the best version of myself, I can't
be the best version to you to others. And so
that health piece was a really wake up call for me,
and I do think what we went through in twenty
twenty is now allowed for the opportunity to people to
better write the ship with things that matter most of them.
That could be relationships that can be with their family,
that could be with their kids, that could be with

(24:37):
their education, that could be with their health. And so
for me, if you're taking advantage of it to make
you a better person, I think the ri on that
back to the company and your family is going to
be expansioning greater than the old days, where it is
you have to show up work, I have to be
seen at work. For me, to get credit working hard.
I think that model against data and I think there's
new ways of reinventing yourself to do what you can do,
and then some by having the more and more balanced

(25:00):
ruture in place each every single week.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
All right.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Now, another thing that you talk about in great detail
is going to an HBCU.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
You went to Hampton and you're a Kappa.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Love it, love it yo, Yo, yo, baby yo.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Which is such a big deal.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
But when people are talking about HBCUs and you talk
about PEPSI embracing the black community and also partnering with HBCUs,
that was some some of the things that happened there
and diversity. When it comes to that, what did going
to an hbc YOU do for you? Because sometimes people
who are listening, if you have kids, or if you're

(25:34):
a student and you're trying to figure out what you
want to do, what made going to an HBCU, what helped?

Speaker 2 (25:40):
How did that help make you the person who you
are today?

Speaker 3 (25:42):
I think it was actually transformational my time at Hampton.
I look back on it. I'm fifty eight now, those
four years there, I still say it with the best
four years of my life. Right For obviously all the
circumstances of talking about I got my degree, I got
my job at PEPSI I plus Kappa. I met my
wife there. I got a business bandsman degree. I was
business Club. And so my life really went from you

(26:03):
know whatever you want to call it, double the triple,
what it was in terms of experiences and knowledge and confidence.
I was about to be myself. There I evolved. I
was allowed to be myself, but also grew. I was
around very smart kids, very bright individuals, leaders, people were
getting things done, you know, real badasses, and I thrived
in that environment. I was a little intimidated at the beginning,

(26:25):
overwhelmed by that because I thought I was gonna be
big man on campus, coming in freshmen from DC. And
when you get there and you see the power of
the students that are there, and then the history and
you know, the collaboration of the students and the social environment.
It was something I was amazed by and I took
it in though I took it as a growth moment.
Each and every semester got better and better and better.
By the time I was a senior, I had a

(26:46):
tremendous amount of influence on that campus. I was extremely
confident what I was doing I was doing well in
my grades. I was a dean of pledges, I was
mister Business Club. I was affecting change in a positive
way because I learned from people in front of me
how to go do so, so that richness, that tradition
still lives with us now. We moved away for years
to the West Coast. We couldn't come back a lot,

(27:07):
and so we got disconnected from our home by the sea.
But once we got back to the East Coast, certainly
when we got down in Florida, we're now coming back
on a routine basis. I'm a trustee at the school,
so heavily involved our kids playing basketball there. So we're
involved in school in the ways that we've you know,
never have been. I was always bringing PEPSI resources back there, recruitment,

(27:27):
community activation, brand activations. So it's really the gift that
keeps on giving. Hampton is the gift that keeps on given.
And I use that work to spread out to other
HBCUs too. So I wasn't just a solo act and
the only school I care about was Hampton. I care
about all the abc US and my efforts on recruitment,
the efforts on brand activation. The efforts on community engagement
and support was widespread throughout not only the Mid Atlantic

(27:50):
areas of Northeast areas, but also particularly in the South
as well. So I'm proud to be an HPCU student.
I want other people to be proud. There's challenges in
the space, no doubt about it. Raising money and funding
and succession planning with presidents and things like that. There's
some challenges are out there, but you know, I'm doing
everything in my power to help try to shore those
areas up and create some strategic road maps that could

(28:12):
be more beneficial so we can be certainly more financially healthy.
We can have a pipeline of the future leaders that
are on campus or other campuses so when when you
get opening you can just basically fill them pretty quickly.
And then also just keeping the spirit and traditions alive
of the school. So what a proud experience that I
could talk about for hours on our problem to be
a Hampton graduate and ahpC graduate.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, and even when you were going other places, you
were able to tap into your fraternity and resources and
other cities because.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
You moved around a lot, you know, for work.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Now, I do want to ask you this because before
we started this interview, we were talking about Target and
everything that's been happening with them cutting back on DEI.
We see people talking about boycotting Target, but we also
see black owned brands that are currently in Target that
are concerned about how is that going to a other
brands And as a general consumer and as a black

(29:03):
person as a business owner, I have brands. My coffee
uplists people that's in Target and on Amazon, So that
is something that we think about, but we also want
to make sure that we're thinking bigger picture. What are
your thoughts about Target and them coming back on DEI
initiatives and what should people be doing because right now
I think people are looking to try to figure out

(29:25):
what is the thing that I can do that will
be impactful.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah. I think it is a challenging time, no doubt.
When you have major players like that step in who
who over a long period of time demonstrated their support
for the community and the culture in the big ways
like you know ELC, and there's all type of recognition
going their way because of some of these things. So
I do think it's a difficult time. I don't know
the sort of the basis for or what they've articulated

(29:49):
their positioning is. I haven't really spent that much time
on their particular situation, but I hope that they can
have a conversation or at least have communication internally first
to get themselves together where they're talking their associates and
their culture about the different moves are going to make.
Now this is all about evolving and elevating for the
greater good. Again, Let's have that conversation. Let's be open
to that conversation, because you have to be open to

(30:10):
the greater good. Now. The silos, the carve outs, things
like that just bring a lot of polarization inside a
culture that that does create a lot of dysfunctionality and strife,
and so you don't want that either. But the same
to you can't just walk away and say we're no
longer committed to the space anymore, no longer committed.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
To co HOD, especially because that's what they really kind
of like got to plug it.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
There were too, they were two yeah, absolutely completely, no
no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Some organizations were not like, oh my god, I can't
believe that, you know, Meta is cutting back.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
They're like, okay, shocker. But when you see targeting about it.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
A lot of their platform is about supporting these brands.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
You know, that's a tough thing.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
I think there's time now it's Tom Moore never for
conversations with them. I would, you know, brand owners that
are in their clients customers need to be reaching out
to have a conver station. Don't put the business out
there on social media, don't put the business out in
the media. Go in and have a conversation. Because there
was history there of supporting the space and then again

(31:10):
the pivoting. What cause the pivoting need some answers on that,
you know. I think as customers are clients and supporters,
answers need to be given, particularly again where they were before.
And I think there needs to be also instead of
waiting for them to come up with the idea of
the solutions, sometimes bringing solutions to retails like that. Customers
like that. Leadership like that can help the effort move
along a lot faster and a lot more collaborative way.

(31:32):
So I think if we leave it to just executives
sitting in a room and figure out the new roadmap
for the future, I think we're all going to be
disappointed at what we see I think it's time to
build the bridges, get in there and say, hey, how
can we be of help. Here's some ideas that we have.
You know, we're not going to go in and acknowledge
and try to push for mandates and carve outs and guarantees.

(31:53):
We're going to try to go in and talk about
a holistic future that's much more comprehensive, that's much more collaborative,
you know, and again a lot more compassionate, because I
do think that you're dealing with humans, you're dealing with entrepreneurs,
you're dealing with associates, and so you can't just shut
off the human valve in all this as well, there
is a component of empathy that has to be involved
in this process. So I think brand owners and leaders

(32:15):
need to get in there, start dialo up conversations with
one of the most senior leaders in the company who
are black, and then also try to get to the top.
They have a great, great reputation again of supporting the
space before. But I think what's most important is where
do we go from here before we start getting too
you know, too challenging, trying to get defiant, starting to
get really confrontational. Let's use a very mature strategic approach

(32:37):
acknowledging that the platform should evolve, it should it should evolve,
and I think it's the right thing to do. Now
coming out of that, there has to be some action,
There has to be some declaration, there has to be
some movement on the agenda. And I think if with
that collaborate approach, you'll see leaps and bounds progress from
organizations that take that approach. Some organizations will continue to resist,
some will just not do anything that's going to happen.

(32:58):
We have to be prepared for that and deal with that.
But I think the ones that you know at some
states set standards or really made strides, we still need
them to deliver yeah, holistically, and then they're too big
of an outfit not to be part of that solution.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
I mean them, that's how they exactly, Yeah, that's how
they got.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
And it's just interesting because I also when I was
looking on social media, I was seeing some people, you know,
posting angry about them cutting back DEI. But then I
see people in the comments like good now I can
shop there again. You know, we're such a divided country
right now. Or seeing Costco who is still saying that
they're still going to go ahead with their DEI initiatives.
I see people being like, I won't be going there

(33:38):
anymore because people think that DEI is I see white
people that gets racist against white people, and that's what
they're their way of explaining it is like, oh, this
shouldn't be happening. Why should they be getting X, Y
and Z that they don't deserve. And I just want
to make sure that myth is is not out there.
But you know, people believe what they want to believe.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
They want to believe. But I do think it's a
growth momenting for the companies that are saying they're the course.
You need to evolve the platform. The platform has to
evolve to be more comprehensive again, to be more collaud
you've got to have all this uniqueness celebrated and participating
ways they never have before. To make sure this is sustainable,
because everything we do, everything we say now are going

(34:18):
to be in cycles, and we don't want these three
four to five ve cycles. Twenty twenty, we had a
whole cycle where all this funding, people write checks. You know,
it was kind of in your face moment, right where
what you're gonna do? What you're gonna do and everybody's like, Okay,
we're gonna write check, We're gonna make a statement. Absolutely absolutely,
and I think a lot of people knew that was
gonna happen. And so that was a time really for evolution,
not not sort of in your face and not sort

(34:38):
of back to the mandate kind of mantra that I
think happened in a lot of cases. It was sort
of a perception of that. So best thing to do.
Leaders need to step up. It's a time of this
can be turned around to a real growth situation. People
don't need to head down. And also the culture needs
to say what can I do to help? Not what
people are gonna do for me, but what can I
do to help the companies that are in this situation

(34:59):
out of help to help them through that.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Now, you did work, like you said, at PEPSI for
thirty five years, right, and I want to talk to
you about stepping away from that. It's kind of like
when you played sports your whole life and now you're
not playing on the team and you retired from that.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Now, what's next, what's the next chapter.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
I want to talk about you stepping away from Pepsi
because I know that was not an eat well.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
I don't know if it was. It an easy decision
for you.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Thirty five years is a long time for anything, right,
It's a long time, and then you get to a
point where you do have goals and ambitions that you
want to carry forward the rest of your life. And
so it was a time where you know, once you
get the fifty five there certainly the classic comes in
that I came in with in the late eighties and
Mida's early eighties. Usually the dismounting window was fifty five
because that's the way allowed the pension I kicked in.

(35:45):
But those things changed over time. So it wasn't necessarily
the pension that sort of drove me and motivated me.
It was really a little more or less around the
opportunity now to go do something else. And because when
I was part of these programs that were helping these entrepreneurs,
I started really thinking about how can I be my
own entrepre I can I get in that space myself,
I can I take everything I've learned now become It
wasn't necessari I wanted to be a restaurant or things

(36:07):
like that, but there were other businesses that I got involved.
I was hanging out a lot with the entrepreneurs, and
I started to see the promise of a second call
it like a second career, but the second chapter, and
so using everything I had capitalized on that taking a break,
because when you're in the grind like that, you can't
take you can't take time to figure it out. In
the grind, it's just two intensive environments. So I actually

(36:28):
needed to step away. And I thank God every night
for doing it, because you know what, my doctor on
college just told me I had cancer for eighteen months.
So I had cancer my last year I was there.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Wow, I was.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Carrying cancer the whole year. So all twenty twenty two
I had cancer. That's crazy, and I didn't know about it.
And so if you don't think you don't believe in God, hey,
sorry for you. If I do, and I always have,
and that moment so I get there to say, it
wasn't that methodical, it was just time it happened. I
probably saved my life doing that, and have also reinvented
myself for the second chapter, which now is an entrepreneur

(37:01):
an author, which I'm so proud to have completed this project,
investing in private companies. I'm on more nonprofit boards, I'm
serving schools. I'm in this real go give her phase
of my life. I was go get her phase, Now
go give her right. I'm paying it forward. I was
going to pay it now chapter for a long time.
Now I'm in to pay a forward chapter.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
And I will say, when you were at PEPSI, you
were definitely one of the people on the front lines
that I saw always trying to do things that were
trying to help other people. And like I've witnessed that firsthand.
That's why I was very excited for you when you left.
And then you're also the first franchise owner of ten
Big Days Testakes locations in Florida.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Congratulations on that.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
K for that. Yeah, it's exciting.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah, and I love like listen, the two of them
are amazing at what they do. So talk to me
about what made you decide to do that, because clearly
you've made these relationships. Like you said, you've been on
the ground, You've been seeing the work that people are doing,
and so that gave you kind of an insight into
what you knew you wanted to do next.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
It did, and particularly with those two because I support
them in a big way at PEPSI, right, so the
part of the whole digging program and right around COVID.
You know. Matter of fact, we were here back in
twenty twenty one. We were here over in the next
room having the interview when we came home in the state.
So I got behind them pretty because I saw the
growth they had. I believe in their vision, I believe

(38:18):
in their brands. I believe them as a couple. I
think they're amazing, and we treat them we're family. Now
we have such a great, strong relationship. But at the
time that I retired, always kidded him, said, hey, I
want to put one store for floors. I love cheese steaks.
I grew up as a kid loving cheese steaks. Right,
Philly love cheese steaks. Right. I grew up in DC.
But when I had a Philly cheese steak man, it
was like one of the best days.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Of Which place did you go to in Philly for
the Los Angeles? Okay, yeah, you know everybody has their favorites.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, that was one of my favorites. Yeah. I go
visit my buddies. We go to Eagles games, or we
go to Atlantic City to gamble.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
We have to have Philly one time just to get
yeah a cheesteaks.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
It was your spot, which your spot?

Speaker 1 (38:52):
We used to go to Ish Cobibosk. But you know,
it was just because I also liked being on South Street, right.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
Okay, I just feel on South Street too. I used
to like want I wanted the business. I want to
have all those relationships from a poring right standpoint, right,
So I want to get cheese stakes where we were
poring it was, it wasn't but so I uh said,
give me one, and He's like, Derek, I need to
get more than one now I need I'm trying to
scale up. I want to be, you know, one day
big as Jersey. Mike's right, and I'm saying, you know

(39:19):
what we can do that. I bring a lot of
experience on scale. I know how to scale things up.
I know how to move fast with that.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
He brings a great brand to the table, a great
vision for the table, how he sees the future of
his brand. He does remarkable workouts in the community, so
he's operating with a strong sense of purpose at what
he does. So he has given me sort of the
foundation ingredients now where I can build on that. I
can scale up new markets. I can scale across different platforms.
We're in sporting arenas for example. I have sports deals, right,

(39:46):
So there's going to be a whole lot of growth
that we're going to see coming out of the business.
So he and I said the table, I'm a franchise e.
I got ten units I'm building out over a period
of time. But I'm also at the table with him
on building the strategic roadmap for scale growth in the company.
So it's a fun journey to want support them, him
being who they are, where they came from the category,
and me just having something now fun to do. I'm

(40:07):
going to actually use it as a catalyst to probably
getting other businesses over time. You're going to see me
expand the portflo of things that I ended up doing
because I loved like being entrepreneur. Now, like it's fun.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
You know, I have a coffee brand, but anyway, you.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Had a juice brand. I was asking about those juices.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Be honest, the juices brand.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
Sometimes it was a lot of work at the price
of produce is going up and down. The bottling and
I know you would know about like the whole issues
with bottling, and then I mean it was definitely like
for me having my own brand and trying to scale
it to the point where the more you purchase, right,
the cheaper it is. But I just couldn't do the
mass scale that I would need to do to bring

(40:44):
the price down and then also get it in stores
because it's something that expires, yeah, within three months, and
so that also made it really difficult.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
It was just a lot of learning.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
Like I was bonding rosters, you were New Orleans also
New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Bonds, shout out to them for that.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yeah, so and look and I did that, and it
was like, you know, like again like I said it
to me, like on the front lines. But I do
still have a day job that's very time.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Consuming, and I always.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Felt like if I went like full blast into something
like that. You know, one thing I would say about
myself is I like to well, I believe that whatever
it is that I decide to do, it will end
up being successful if that's what I put all my
time and energy into, you know. But I do love
my job here as well, and so even me working
with the coffee, I always look at that as something

(41:29):
that you know, I do that as well, and I
wish I had and I'm going to dedicate more time
to it, but it's something that I know once I'm
like full fledged into it's going to be.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
Right now, visits there for you absolutely, and you should
love forward. That's gonna be a fun chapter when you
get to.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
That chapter, you know, And it means a lot to
me also just from the standpoint of the history of
coffee and the culture of it and just what it
does here in the United States. So I think another
thing I wanted to talk to you about is you
got your MBA in the midst of all of this. Yes,
you know, like I said, having a kid and getting
married and being an executive and moving to Phoenix and

(42:04):
doing all these different things.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
What made you decide that that was something?

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Because I'm a big believer in also degrees and getting
further education and helping build myself up in that way.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, it was a whole elevation package. Right. So love
what I did at Hampton. Love the you know, bachelor
science I got in business management. But I knew early
on in the cycle of PEPSI that that was not
going to be enough to give me to the highest levels.
I needed to enhance that experience. I tried to force
myself to do it. In the DC area, I was
going to University of Maryland at night, taking like two classes,

(42:37):
and was going to school four days a week and
getting home at like ten ten o'clock a night and
had to do homework all weekend. Yeah, that wasn't That
was hard. That was really hard grind. So I actually
ended up dropping out of that because it was just
too much. Like I you know, just got married and
it was just too much. You know, the low was
too much. I was barely getting bees in the class.

(42:59):
I mean, I was screened. Harambling. Didn't feel good. That's
not me. That wasn't my best version myself. So when
we then moved from Maryland, Ohio, I did some research
on the schools there. They got great universities there. Universe
Cincinnati is a great university and Xavier. And Xavier had
a great NBA program was about nineteen nineteen twenty months,
was every weekend. I talked to my employer I was

(43:20):
with Taco Bell. Then they said absolutely, because that was
the culture. A lot of the market managers in my
jobs were getting nbas or had MBAs, and it was
a roadmap for you to get to further down the
executive path, because when they start looking at your background,
your credentials, there's going to be a question around strategic
thinking and having that. NBA certainly elevates sort of that

(43:40):
perception of that and really gives you the real experience
is that you are more strategic coming out of that.
And so I was happy enough to get in Xavier.
I was one of the youngest people in the class.
Transformational like being in a room with doctors and entrepreneurs,
corporate executives, all walks of life in there. Forty two
of us had the greatest time ever. We're in pods.
So there was a group of seven of us that

(44:00):
I was with the whole time. You basically said the
same table, you study together every week, you did presentations together,
you know, you did everything basically to get with the
lunch together, doing breaks. And that group was so dynamic
for me and such a great inspiration me. I learned
a ton out of that, And once I got out
of that program, I bounced. I mean I bounced not
It wasn't just the piece of paper. I tell people,

(44:21):
it's not the piece of paper that gets it. It's
the experiences that make you better. And so I was
coming out of there, a lot more mature, a lot
more strategic, you know, a lot more balanced from an
executive maturity standpoint. And I may not have felt it,
but I can tell everybody around felt it.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
It was different.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Absolutely, you don't know what you're going through it. You
feel like, okay, you know, I got the NBA now,
and you sort of you're looking, you know, you're asking
and wondering where does this go from here? But then
you see the rids. You see how the elevation is
happening around you. People look at you differently, You're saying
things a little bit differently, people are intrigued, want to
be around you. And and so I felt that elevation
going into the executive role in the Phoenix, and I

(44:59):
just catapulted the ways that I could never believe it.
So I absolutely believe it's a must for individuals that
are looking to go high as high to have that
next level of educational experience like that, you can do
it in ways that are efficient for your family. This
was still hard to do because I'm giving up, you know,
a day a week, and I'm doing it for almost
two years. We had the international trip, which is also
transformation to go over to London and Germany and study,

(45:23):
you know, with companies over there for two weeks. That
was a great experience as well. But it is it
was a game changer for me, no doubt about it.
And so my life has been a series of game
changes where I look at things that continuous can elevate me.
And I knew the educational part was a critical part
of that sometime early in my career. So I'm glad
I did it. I failed at the first time I
even looked at shortcut NBA's I was trying to do

(45:44):
stuff online and stuff like that. This is back in
like the early nineties, right, and I was trying so
hard to get the NBA because I knew you needed it.
And I started playing the shortcut game. I'm like, this
is not your game, this is not who you are.
You haven't done shortcusts anything else. Why are you doing
shortcust now? Why are you trying to rush this process?
It let it flow, and in Ohio, it flowed. It worked,

(46:04):
It was great, and it changed my whole trajectory in
my mind of my career.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
After the experience, I would tell you I'm a big
fan of that because whenever I get into something. I'm
always like, how can I further my education? That's why
I got my real estate license. Actually last week sold
my first house, and it felt good because having those conversations,
knowing the language that you're supposed to use, knowing the strategies,
knowing like okay, if we do this, we say this, well,
if they're offering this all cash offer, then I know

(46:29):
they have this if I offer you know. It just
was amazing for me to feel confident enough to be
able to negotiate that deal and close it.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
And now you're gonna like they're gonna You're gonna rip
them off now, like so fast? I watch, watch, watch
what happens. Well, don't take shortcuts, the messages don't. You
can't shortcut your way to the elevation. So what I
call the elevation package. You cannot take shortcuts. You have
to put the work in. The experiences really is what matters,
not the test in the homework assignment. It's the experiences.
The experiences with people, the experiences with the course world,

(47:00):
the ability to think differently, those are the things that
really push you to the elevation side.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
And listen, I know we're having a whole long conversation.
I want to ask you about one last thing. When
we talk about Earl Graves and him being a mentor
to you, and he gave you suits that he was
about to donate, and he said, look, you know, take
these suits. You can do whatever you need to do
to them right to make sure that they fit you right.
Whatever you don't take, I'm going to donate them anyway.
And you took all of these suits. How important do

(47:27):
you think it is how you show up and how
you come dressed, Because sometimes people act like it's not
as important. If you have the skills and you have
the background to be able to do it, and you
want to show up as your quote unquote authentic self,
you can do that.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
But for you, those suits were important for you.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Let me talk about first of all, paid tribute to
mister Graves. He is one of my heroes. You know
two lass people who want your heroes. He's one of
my heroes. He took me under his wing in ways
that no one else has ever done before. Let's week
I've come back to my very first interview with him
up here in New York at Block Enterprise head quarters
back in nineteen ninety. Then offered me the job in
DC and then sort of taking me under his wing.

(48:03):
And I spent like a whole day with him that day,
and it was the suits watching him navigate through DC.
Got on the phone with the mayor. You know, he's
a whole. It was a hole in the ground, so
it was construction. He's like, what's going on the ground there, Like, well,
I don't know. Mister Gray's like, let me find out.
Calls mayor's office. We need to find out what's going
on the ground. We're over in the Mayor's office. We're
sitting with the mayor shaking hand. So I'm watching him navigate.
We called President of Hampton, doctor Harvey on the phone.

(48:25):
He's like, Bill, I got one of your alumni here.
I want to know I can't make your graduation. I'm
want to send him down to be our representative for
your graduation weekend. I'm put a couple bucks in his pocket.
Have a good time down there. But he just he
just looked at for him and he has such a
high standard for himself on the relationship side and on
the professional look side. So when I talk about my
three hours results relationship with reputation, that look is super important.

(48:48):
It's about your image, it's about your character, it's about
your exposure. Image is a really critical part of your
reputation and your brand. And so if you're not looking
the part, how in the world can you How can
you translate that to elite performance with the brands that
you sell, with the execution that you're asking for or
landing new deals if you're not showing up in ways
that are the highest levels. And he was the gold

(49:11):
standard for that, you know, I don't know if I
ever met that standard that he had because he was
such a high standard with that, but it taught me
that that look is everything, look, feel, touch means everything
for your brand. And absolutely think it matters a lot.
I go to schools of recruit and I have people
to show up with all different looks that people show
up in sweatpants, that moments like why are you even here?

Speaker 2 (49:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Kiuds, they show up in suits, I'm going like, you
look the part, And so when they raise their hand
immediately going to the person that has a suite effort, Absolutely,
you made the you showed up in a way that
you wanted to be here. You recognized the moment that
there was a senior executive from a fortune and fifty company,
and you recognize that moment and you showed up, and
you got my attention showing up. You showed up. You're
not getting my attention because you didn't show up. You
didn't take the time to show up when I'm making

(49:55):
an investment in you, and I think that's real important
that you need to show up. If you're to take
that next step, you have to look the part do that.
So I think it's really important.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
All right, Well, listen, I appreciate you so much for
coming through. I told you I read this entire book
Survive in advance. It was a fantastic read, especially because
I mean, even if you have never met Derek before
in your life, you're gonna love reading this book because
it's something.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
That is going to be relatable to you. No matter
what it is that you've gone through.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
There's going to be something in here that you're like,
I need to do this, or you know, I feel
the same exact way about it. So lessons on living
a life without compromise. Congratulations on everything that you've achieved
in every facet of your life.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
And I'm so happy you wrote a book.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Yes, well, thank you for that, and again it was
driven by other people. And so thank you for putting
on your shelf. And you have a distinguished collection, you know.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
So happy because I think it's also signed inside. And
so I always say books are like artwork to me,
and so to be able to have a best selling
author on my shelf at the sign book, you know,
that means a lot to me. So congratulations all of this.
And like I said, I love this new journey that
you've embarked on. You've inspired me collaborate.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
I want to help you and support you in any
way I can. Let's keep our friendship partnership going. And
it's been great. You were exceptional to work with at
my time at PEPSI and his old New Chapter.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
And I saw you had an amazing book launch party.
I saw you post it and I was like, I
would have flew down for that one.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
Okay, well, hey say to him, I do I'm gonna
do one in DC.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
So I can make it to DC, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
All right, So Derek Lewis survived in advance. This book
is out today.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
Appreciate you. Thank you,