080 | Leading A Social Justice Fund with Gregg Bishop - Career Cheat Code

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so he was like hmm, I don't think you want to
go to Boston.
And I was like what do you mean?
He's like, no, you don't wantto, you don't want to do Boston,
you don't, you're not going tolike Boston.
It's like you should go toTallahassee.
I was like what, what's inTallahassee, florida A&M
University?
And he, you know, made a call.
I flew down to meet, told himmy story.

(00:21):
You know he was looking at mytranscript.
Like you know, I dropped out ofcollege.
I didn't finish classes, all myincompletes turned into Fs.
I had a 1.9 GPA and he was likeI am impressed with what you
have accomplished so far in lifeand literally gave me a Dean's
Exception.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to Career Cheat Code.
In this podcast, you'll hearhow everyday people impact the
world through their careers.
Learn about their journey,career hacks and obstacles along
the way.
Whether you're already havingthe impact you want or are
searching for it, this is thepodcast for you.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
So, greg, welcome to the show.
Ready, what's up, man?
Thanks for inviting me.
Appreciate you taking the time.
You have been doing a lot ofgreat work recently, so we'd
love to hear more about that andsome of the stuff that has led
you to this point.
But you know, let's dive rightin, man.
Let's tell the world what it isyou do for a living.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
So sometimes I wonder myself.
No, I'm the executive directorof the Social Justice Fund,
which was founded by Clara Husaiin 2020.
And the Social Justice Fund wasan initiative that she
announced to invest $50 millionin Brooklyn over 10 years.
It was at the point in timewhen George Floyd was murdered,

(01:30):
but Clara and her husband Joe,about six months before, had
just acquired the Brooklyn Netsand the New York Liberty, so it
was also an opportunity for herto invest in Brooklyn around
issues that she cares about soeconomic mobility, racial
justice and the arts and so Iwork with her specifically to
help her execute her vision andalso invest in organizations in

(01:54):
Brooklyn.
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
So you find organizations that align with
those pillars of work typicallynonprofit organizations, I'd
imagine and you help financiallysupport, scale, replicate,
pilot some of the work thatthey're already doing.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, so we're a little bit different on the
economic mobility front.
We focus a lot on addressingaccess to capital, specifically
for businesses and underservedcommunities.
So what you'll find is thatwe're doing a lot of work in
terms of providing capital,access to for-profits actually.
So a good example is ourRevitalize Brooklyn initiative,

(02:31):
where businesses in the creativeeconomy can actually receive a
$50,000 grant from us.
One of the things that I do isreally look for great partners
to help build out these programs.
I do is really work for lookfor great partners to help build
out these programs.
So, for example, like I'm notthe one sort of like reviewing

(02:52):
financials and making loans andgrants, et cetera, et cetera.
For certain, for some of theprograms we rely on like
institutions, like communitydevelopment financial
institutions, cdfis, and so youknow, they sort of get a grant
from us and then they use thatcapital to get it out to the
community.
So there's a number ofinitiatives around business
support.
Our goal is really to, you know, sustain a lot of the

(03:15):
businesses in Brooklyn, actuallyhelp create more jobs.
So businesses are still inbusiness, they'll hire, et
cetera, et cetera.
But there is a part of andthat's like 60, 70% of the work
that we do.
The other remaining 30, 40% isactually exactly what you said.
I find organizations that arealigned with Clara's priorities.

(03:36):
I vet them.
We look at different sort ofthe impact that those
organizations have.
I then sort of have meetingsand, you know, kick the tires on
their programming.
One of the main, you know,there's like a couple of things.
I look for One, you know, is itimpactful, is it scalable, is
it sustainable, and so is itinnovative?
And so, using those sort oflike lens, I then make a

(04:00):
determination on whichorganizations we should fund and
then I present it to Clara andmost of the times we are in
agreement.
Sometimes we have she has anorganization that she wants me
to look at, and vice versa.
So it's a great partnership.
It's similar to working for afoundation your standard
foundation that your listenersmight be familiar with, like the

(04:22):
Ford Foundation, rockefellerFoundation, et cetera.
They do similar work, butinstead I work specifically for
a family member.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Wow, that makes a lot of sense and you know that
requires a lot of trust, rightLike for this person to trust
you, your sound judgment, youradvice, as this person is
seeking to have their legacy,their impact, right On community
.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
That's one of the biggest difference between this
job versus, like you know, otherjobs.
It is.
It's definitely a personalconnection.
Clara and I started talking in2020 about the work that she
wanted to do and we wanted to,and part of the conversation and
you know there was multipleinterviews, but part of the
conversation was whether we werevalues aligned and the things

(05:04):
that she wanted to do or thethings that you know I cared
about.
And so, yes, there's a lot oftrust involved.
There's a lot of trust in termsof my connection to the
community as well.
I definitely need to be outthere learning about, you know,
what organizations are doinggreat things.
The good part of this and thegreat part of the job was that I
had that experience.
My previous work in the city ofNew York required me to be out

(05:26):
in all five boroughs and workwith actually the same
organizations that I'm workingwith now to sort of make an
impact in the community.
So everything just worked outthat my lived experience, my
previous experience, led me andmade me, you know, sort of like
qualify for this job.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
That makes sense.
So you know, and we'll get toyour your city experience and
kind of how some of thatbackground came, came together
and that's you know when oh yeah, before we get there, because
this sounds like a very, youknow, unique type of role like
these roles are not a dime, adozen, right Like they're not
always available.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
I don't think you're going to find this type of role
on Indeed.
To be honest with you Exactly.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
So can you, can you speak a little bit about you
know how you actually getconnected to have these types of
conversations and be consideredfor this type of role, and then
also like what's your favoritepart of your role?

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah so.
So I think you know, for yourlisteners, these, these types of
roles are very, very limited.
I think you know, one of thebiggest questions I get from
individuals is like well, howdid you, you know, how did you
get this job?
Et cetera, et cetera.
And, to be honest and actuallytransparent, my connection to
Clara was based off of theindividuals who I worked with

(06:39):
previously with the city of NewYork, with the city of New York.
Individuals who, you know, sawmy approach to leadership,
individuals who saw, you know,my passion for community,
individuals who saw my abilityto execute.
And so, because of that, whenClara was, you know, sort of
doing her own listening tour andtalking to individuals about
what should be done in Brooklyn,one of the questions that she

(07:02):
asked was like, who should Italk to?
And those individuals were likeyou should talk to Gray.
So one of the most importantlessons for your viewership is
you know you want to have peoplethat talk about you in rooms
that you're not in, and not onlytalk about you but talk about
you positively, right, becauseyou know what you don't want is
somebody to say like, no, notthat person, right?

(07:23):
And so I feel very blessed andfortunate that I was able to
make strong connections in mytime in my previous role and
that led to this position.
Now.
There's not a lot ofopportunities when you know you
have somebody who wants to giveback to community, has
significant means to do that,and, once they're like, hire a

(07:45):
team like.
That's very rare.
However, there are sort of likeyou know, jobs in this field,
in philanthropy, that opens uponce, you know, every now and
then, but it really is aboutyour network in terms of like.
When those roles open up, youhave to know about it, you have
to get your resume in, et cetera, et cetera.
So it is.

(08:05):
You know, the philanthropicindustry is very, very, very
insular.
I say because you knoweverybody knows everyone, and
because the work is someaningful the turnover is very,
very low, and so when ithappens, though, there's a huge
disruption and you know folksmove the chess piece of move,
and then it calms down again.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
That makes sense, and I've definitely seen that it's
kind of a revolving door right.
If you're able to do somethinggood in philanthropy in one
place, you can typically takeyour talents to another
foundation and, as you said,people just find so much
connection with the work thatthey tend to stay in the field.
Yeah, and especially.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
For example, the work that I'm doing is with a family
right, and so there is a worldwhere that work ends and the
family recommends me to anotherfamily.
You know what I mean.
That's sort of like how thatoperates.
Or you have a small foundationor another sort of individual

(08:59):
that wants to start a foundation, and you have that expertise
where you've worked withgovernment, you've worked with
the nonprofit sector, you'veworked in a private sector,
you've worked with a familyfoundation, and so they want
that type of experience.
But, as you can see, like thelayers of experience that you
need to have, which makes thesejobs very, very, very
competitive, but also and when Isay competitive meaning

(09:21):
experience wise, and so there'sa very limited few that have
that type of experience.
So that's why it seems like arevolving door.
But certainly you know, in like, for example, in my case, where
you know Clara sort of, one ofthe conversations we had was
she's not a philanthropist and Iwas like Clara, I'm not a
philanthropist either, and shewas like great, so that way we

(09:44):
can, you know, do someinnovative things.
So so sometimes you do get thatbreakthrough where in newer
individuals you know sort ofstep into the field and come
with different and differentideas.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
No, absolutely so.
That makes a lot of sense.
You know, in this type ofunique role, I will say
philanthropy, while it isinsular, you know for my
experience.
Right, just so viewers don'tget discouraged and say, well, I
have to know someone to get mein the door right.
I got my job at the rockefellerfoundation applying on linkedin
without knowing anyone there.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
It was on linkedin and not like indeed, or
something that's like correct,but you were connected.
Were you connected to someonethat posted?
Not at all, they posted no theydid so.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
they posted a linkedin job and I just applied
blindly without knowing a soulin that building, and you know
it worked out.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
But the reason why, though absolutely.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I think that's exactly, you know to your point.
It's because they were seekingfolks that worked specifically
in economic development, hadexperience dealing with
government directly and hadexperience either building or
supporting entrepreneurs, rightLike those are very layered,
specific things.
So it makes sense.
But you know, I completelyagree that you need the

(10:51):
experience to back it, to besure that you're like a subject
matter expert in something thataligns with that foundation, or
have the end or have thatnetwork to to at least get you a
conversation.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah absolutely I have to stress about that
network, right, that network isso important.
And, and you know, the otherthing I want to make sure your
listeners understand is, likeyou know, depending on you know
your career trajectory, treateveryone with respect.
I remember, you know, when Iwas just starting my career, the
receptionist, the custodian,you know everyone in the
building, you know.

(11:20):
It was like, hey, how you doing, how's everything, everything
you know, you have aconversation, etc.
Etc.
Because you never know likethat person could know someone
in you know, sort of in theiroff time, and say like, hey, I
know, you know, I've, there'sthis guy that always says hello
to me, blah, blah.
You know, you just never know.
Or that person could becomeyour boss at some point in time.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
So absolutely always treat people with respect
absolutely, and you know, andI'll get to I'll get to that now
because that's kind of how youand I met each other, right,
like we met each other early onin our at least in my career,
for sure and at the time youweren't, you know, the head of a
city agency or any of that.
We were partnering together ona program to support
entrepreneurs.

(11:57):
We had to sit in the sameclassroom for, like you know, a
couple of weeks in a row, justin the back of the classroom
taking notes and doing things aslike counterparts, basically
doing it on behalf of the agencyand supporting the work on that
side Me doing it at the time onbehalf of Columbia University
and we just stayed in touch andwe just build like a
relationship from there, right,and you know, since then I think

(12:19):
that was remarkable because notonly have we built a friendship
, then since then you're also amentor to me.
You're someone that's on myboard of directors, right, like
when I have a life decision tomake, I'm calling.
I don't know if I'm taking allthat credit I'm expressing.
I've called you for basicallyevery job opportunity I've
received since, right, and said,hey, this is.

(12:42):
I don't know what I'm doing.
I don't know what to think.
You've guided me to make surethat I negotiated better salary,
better titles.
Sometimes you advise me not totake the roles, and then that's
what I'm doing.
I'm not taking that role, soyou know.
So I just appreciate it, andthat came from just meeting
people where they are and likejust building from there.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
So, first of all, I appreciate that, you know I
would say it's my pleasure, Iwould.
You know I have a guidingprinciple that you know your
success is my success, right?
I don't think sometimes weoperate with that in mind
because you know, if you'resuccessful, guess what?
Like I benefit from that, right?
Like, even if it's, you know,that steak dinner that you take

(13:19):
me to.
Like your success certainlywill help not only your family
but all of us, right?
Like your success certainlywill help not only your family
but all of us, right?
You know Sadiq Bello.
You know I always talk about hewas, I guess, 24, 25 at the
time working at Vibe magazine.
At the time I was probably 17or 18.
And I just, you know, I wasteaching myself how to code and

(13:41):
was stealing pictures from Vibeand was stealing pictures from
Vibe, and you know they foundout meaning Sadiq, and he sent
me a cease and desist email.
But in the second paragraph itwas like we kind of like what
you did with our stuff, why didyou come in?
And that's how I got my firststart in terms of my career.
But Sadiq Bello, he doesn'tknow this, but definitely was

(14:02):
the person that shaped sort ofwho I am today.
There was a number of otherfolks, right, but Sadiq talked
about us as black men notsupporting each other.
Sadiq talked about us as blackmen undervaluing the skill set
that we have.
Going to take the first salary,right, because we are so sort

(14:23):
of appreciative, right, themarket is so tough for us in
terms of getting the right jobthat, when it happens, we don't
want to, like, overplay our hand, we don't want to ask for too
much, and so, therefore, weundervalue the skill that we
have.
Right.
It's easy, I understand, for meto say that, especially when
you're employed, right, but thatis definitely something we

(14:44):
suffer with in terms of, as Ithink, a culture, and I think
we're getting better, obviouslyfrom the past decade or so, but
we certainly can do more interms of, like, demanding the
salaries that we should beearning, and so I'll always
remember those conversations.
You know the teenage me, theyoung adult me, and so you know,

(15:06):
even after, when I left five, Istarted practicing, sort of
like what Sadiq put in me interms of like, you know, you
have a skill.
I always remember that in myhead.
You have a skill that someonewants, what is the value of that
skill?
Right, and you determine thatvalue Right, because if somebody
is offering you to pay you $80,and you're looking to make one
hundred fifty thousand dollarsat some point in time, if you

(15:29):
accept that eighty thousand,then you have devalued yourself
Right, it is not on them.
Right, they're a business,they're a corporation, they're
looking to especially, you know,with labor costs.
They're looking to reduce andkeep the labor costs as low as
possible.
But they also know that youhave the skill set that they're
looking for.
So I remember thoseconversations and the other

(15:49):
thing that I practice is, likeyou know, pay it forward.
So that is why, like you know,you and I, you know, connected I
would tell you the same thingthat Sadiq told me.
And you know I continue to dothat to this day because I think
, you know, I always joke aroundwith.
You know all, all the folks whoyou know I have conversations
with, and mentors that you know,when you make it, you know, I

(16:11):
just want to have the first rideon your private jet.
That's, that's all.
That's all I want, you knowjust remember me.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
That's awesome for sure.
So you know, let's talk alittle bit about kind of what
led you to that, to to Sadiq.
So tell me more about where'dyou grow up, oh man, and when
you were around 17, when youwere around that age of 17, 18
years old, like would you thinkyou were going to be at that age
, oh man.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
And how'd that come together to popular opinion?
I didn't have a plan and youknow and we talked about this
I'm at the point in my careerwhere, you know, folks are like,
oh wow, like, look at hisresume, he's done this, he's
done that, he's done this, he'sdone that.
You know, he must have, like,been structured.
The only thing that wasstructured about me was that I
felt like, okay, something willhappen, like I don't know what,

(17:01):
but something's going to happen.
You know, I do give credit,obviously.
You know I grew up in a singlefamily household.
My mom worked really, really,really hard.
She worked actually two jobs tosend me to private school.
So let's start there.
I had a strong foundation, withthe resources necessary for me
to get into the best high schooland yes, brooklyn Tech is the
best high school.
I don't care what they say outthere, but I went to Brooklyn

(17:25):
Tech and that afforded me theexposure to things like robotics
and programming, et cetera, etcetera.
I was a mechanical engineer.
I never played basketball and Ilove saying that I'm 6'6" and
when people come in it's like,hey, you know, did you play ball
?
You must have played ball.
No, I'm a nerd, right, I'm anerd, right, like, like, I'm a
mechanical engineer.
And then when I said I'm amechanical engineer, they're

(17:46):
like, oh right, like, yes, youknow what I mean T-square, like
you know, all that kind of stuff.
And so I was able to have theexposure, um, and and develop
the curiosity in terms of, like,what this programming thing was
and this language.
And so when I ended up but Ididn't have a plan, like I, you
know, I only applied to onecollege.
Chalk that up to the fact thatmy mom, you know, didn't

(18:09):
understand the college systemhere, you know, didn't?
You know, I went on, I think,one college tour and that's the
only college that I applied to.
They rejected me.
I thought the world was goingto end.

(18:45):
No-transcript, taught myself howto code and again, I'm saying
this casually, but remember, I'mliving in East Flatbush I have
to convince my mom to get me acomputer.
A computer at that time wasalmost like, I don't know, it
was like $2,000 or somethinglike that, and back then, you

(19:08):
know, that's a lot of money,right, and so the fact that my
mom had the ability to do thatand provide for me, that's why I
give her a lot of props, rightand so, because there are a lot
of folks out there that havelike this burning, you know,
skill, but they don't have themeans to get the equipment to
actually start doing the workRight.
And so it's all aboutopportunity and access, and I'll

(19:28):
talk a little bit about that,hopefully, throughout the rest
of this conversation.
And so that's that's whatstarted me, man.
I started working at Vibe but,like I said, I dropped out of
college because, you know, I wasthat dot-com kid and I'm like,
hey, you know it was a big deal.
At home, my mom, like was likeyou're not staying here?

(19:49):
No, she didn't kick me out, butshe was very upset about the
fact that I dropped out ofcollege.
But I worked for seven and ahalf years in tech without a
college degree, and I tell thatstory because I want folks to
know that not everyone is goingto follow that linear path of,
like, high school, college, gradschool, you know, work right,
sometimes people have like adifferent way of getting to the

(20:10):
end goal, and in this case I hada skill, though, right.
So if you decide like, okay,college not for you, make sure
you have a skill, and a skillthat's in demand, because at the
time I was able to commandsalaries, you know, 50,000,
90,000, I topped off at $125,000, right At 25, right, and it's

(20:30):
so.
You know, that's because I hada skill set and that's because I
poured a lot of energy indeveloping that skill on my own.
And so there's a level of,there's a certain level of, you
know, sort of hard work.
You know, and you know we talkabout that with this generation,
but certainly, like you know,you do have to put in the time

(20:51):
and the effort.
And then September 11th happenedand what we call the dotcom
crash.
So I know, like you know, gen Z, they've gone through like a
whole bunch of life changingthings.
For me, I think the first majorlife-changing thing was
September 11th.
You know the fact that I wasunemployed.
This was 2001, into 2002.

(21:13):
I was unemployed for almost awhole year.
You know self-doubt, depression, you know there's so many
things that came up during thattime and I had no idea what I
was going to do.
You know because, remember, Ibuilt up a huge tech resume.
I was like a vice president, Iwas a director, and now I was
facing that glass ceiling of theonly roles I could apply for

(21:35):
would be senior management roles, but they require a degree.
And I didn't have a degree.
And so my uncle and I werehaving a conversation and he was
like look, greg, you're a blackman without a degree.
What do you think your futureis going to be?
And I was like but I have a car, I have an apartment, I have a
mortgage.
I was 25 with a mortgage.

(21:55):
It's like I can't go back toschool now.
I haven't been in math classsince like 1993.
What are you talking about?
You know what I mean, but Ispoke to a couple of my mentors
Keith Klingscales, that'sanother name that I want to make
sure I give credit to.
He was a CEO of Vibe when I wasworking there, and I went back
to him.
He had gone to this school, youknow, in Boston, called Harvard

(22:16):
, and got his master's.
And so here I am.
I was like hey, keith, I needyou to make a couple of calls
and get me into Harvard, youknow?
So again, another, another gema closed mouth don't get fed
right.
You've got to speak things intoexistence.
And so I am definitely one like, if I wanted, like you know
what they say, shoot for themoon right and get the stars.

(22:37):
So I was shooting for Saturn,like, forget the moon, like I'm
getting the Saturn right.
And so he was like, hmm, Idon't think you want to go to
Boston.
And I was like what do you mean?
He's like no, you don't want to, you don't want to do Boston,
you don't, you're not going tolike Boston.
It's like you should go toTallahassee.
I was like what, what's inTallahassee, florida A&M

(23:03):
University.
And he, you know, made a call.
I flew down to meet the Dean ofknow, I dropped out of college.
I didn't finish classes, all myincompletes turned into Fs.
I had a 1.9 GPA and he was likeI am impressed with what you
have accomplished so far in lifeand literally gave me a dean's
exception.
I applied to other collegesbecause I didn't make the same
mistake.
Morehouse was the other collegethat accepted me.

(23:25):
Everybody else said you know,go to a community college.
And I chose FAMU, not onlybecause of Keith, but also, you
know, the cost of living inTallahassee was much cheaper
than Atlanta, but that was thebest decision ever, and so I
love HBCUs and so a lot of thepassion you see me bring to the
work I do, even when I was withthe city, you know around
understanding folks who areunemployed.

(23:45):
I've been through it, right,understanding how to train
people in skills that are indemand so they can earn a decent
living.
I've been through it, right.
You know supporting HBCUs right, I understand the importance of
that right.
And so the Greg that you seetoday is sort of shaped by you
know.
It's almost like you know howthe Grand Canyon was shaped by

(24:07):
the wind and the water and allthat Like that's me.
Life's failures shaped who yousee today and that resume is
based off of.
It's like an iceberg.
If you go underneath, you'llsee everything that I just
talked about in terms of thetimes where I thought I have no
idea what I'm going to be doing.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
I thought I have no idea what I'm going to be doing.
Wow, no, and I appreciate yousharing that right, because I do
think it's easy to look at youand say he's so successful.
He probably always had itfigured out, he probably always
had a roadmap.
And then they hear oh actually,I dropped out of school with my
1.9 GPA, worked for seven yearsand then got convinced to move
out of New York and go toTallahassee, tallahassee,

(24:49):
florida, right To be a student,right?

Speaker 1 (24:53):
The culture shock, bro.
So let me tell you a sidebar.
Growing up in New York, right,you think going down south is
Virginia.
Like, I kid you, not Like whenI tell you, like you tell people
, I'm going down south, we'retalking about Virginia.
Right, I was in Tallahassee,florida, which is like South
Georgia.
The first first thing is peoplewhen they hit Florida they

(25:14):
always think Miami.
Right, so Tallahassee, florida,has no beaches.
It's all like, you know, sortof like.
It's like redwoods or whatever,like these big trees, the big
oak trees that if they couldtalk, probably would say, like I
had, you know, dead bodies,dead black bodies on me hanging
on me in the early 1800s,whatever Confederate flags.

(25:35):
Like this is.
This is the part of Florida,the panhandle, where you are
quickly reminded about who youare in terms of your skin color,
and certainly me, coming fromNew York as a Yankee.
It was a huge culture shock.
But guess what?
The campus of Florida A&M waslike a safety zone.

(25:55):
It was just like the culture,the teachers, my graduation.
So I graduated when I was 30.
I went back to school at 27,which is a whole hilarious
episode in itself, because I wasvery determined, right, like I
was that student who, like I'mpaying my own tuition, so I need
to make sure that I get everysingle cent out of this class.

(26:16):
And so if the class ends at9.50, at 9.45, I don't
understand what you just said.
Right, like everybody wants togo, I'm seated, like I don't get
it, like you need to finish upand give me my last five minutes
, right?
But FAMU, when I tell you theteachers, their investments in

(26:37):
terms of like pouring into youto make sure that you're
successful, because theyunderstand most of the
population of FAMU, it's likeyou know, maybe it's about maybe
60% black, maybe a little bitmore, but you know, some are
first-generation students, someare legacy, but they understand
like, okay, you may not be ableto afford, you know, to pay for

(26:58):
your tuition for four years, soit's going to take you five
years, it may take you six yearsbecause you have to get a job,
you know what I mean.
Or you have, like, childcareduties, you have like a whole
bunch of like the faculty, youknow there's a slogan they call
caring with excellence.
But the faculty cares so muchabout your success that when I

(27:21):
graduated, I was walking acrossthat stage, I was 30.
And I remember the first.
It was a dean, oh my gosh, Ijust blanked on her name.
But she, when I saw her, shewas the first person that walked
with me on campus.
But she, when I saw her, shewas the first person that
welcomed me on campus.
And when I saw her on stage,she gave me the biggest hug,
like a mom would do, and saidI'm so proud of you.
And that was it.

(27:41):
My eyes, my graduation picture,my eyes are of this is that I
was afraid to go back to school.
Right, and fear will always bethe enemy to success, right, and
a lot of people fear to do XRight, and sometimes you just

(28:02):
have to do it Right.
You have to take that leap offaith.
And there were many times Right.
Just remember, like I wasmaking you know over one hundred
thousand dollars.
I was making you know over$100,000.
Here I am in Tallahassee,florida, at, you know,
tallahassee Mall, at a gap, withmy resume, looking for a job.
They're confused, right,because they're seeing like
director, this VP of that, da dada.

(28:23):
And they're like you're lookingfor what Like a sales job.
I was like, look, ignore theresume, I just need money.
Right, I need to like.
But you know my church familycame through and you know I lead
a at least I hope I lead abalanced life, and so my church
family sometimes would send me acheck for like a hundred
dollars, $200,.

(28:43):
You know like, hey, you know,god just laid on my heart to
send you some money and so thatliterally you took this faith
and someone connected you to adean of the business school.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
You took this leap of faith and some of the folks in
your church were like let mesupport you.
The dean gave you a big hugwhen you got there, because this
person saw your struggles andunderstood what you went through
to get there right.
And I think the universe reallycomes together to make sure
that we we succeed in what weset our minds to.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Absolutely.
Valencia Matthews is her name.
She was the dean of the school.
I think it's like theaterschool of performing arts, I
think it is.
But let me tell you this so sothe thing about you know, these
leap of faiths you knowsometimes, and I talk about
opportunity, and I rememberKeith was one that opened up the
door right.
I had to step through it rightand I had to perform and, and so

(29:53):
you know, I also want to makesure on the record, like when I
graduated from FAMU I had a 3.7GPA, right, Like you know I was.
It's no joke, you know what I'msaying.
But when I got there, you knowone of the things, I stepped
into the school of journalismbecause one of my good friends,
he went to Georgia Tech and hehad a radio show in Atlanta on
WREK, atlanta, and sometimeswhen I go, when I went to visit

(30:14):
him, I'd go on the show I waslike, oh, this is cool.
And so FAMU also has a radiostation called WAM 90.5.
And I was like, oh well, Icould go in there and like,
maybe get a radio show, justlike my friend Right.
And when I went in there therewas this guy called.
His name is Keith Miles thereare a lot of Keiths in my life
and so, keith, he talks aboutthe story about this kid.

(30:36):
Now I'm 27, but he calls me akid.
This kid that kept on coming into the station asking about
opportunities and that was me.
I kept on going.
I was like, hey, is thereanything I could do?
I was willing to volunteerbecause I had nothing else to do
.
Like I went from a full workschedule to school schedule,

(30:58):
which you know is very different.
Right, it's like Monday,wednesday, friday is class.
What am I supposed to do?
Tuesday and Thursday Like Ihave all this time.
Like what am I supposed to do?
And the New Yorker in me islike I can't waste time.

(31:30):
I got to occupy that time withsomething and so I ended up
volunteering at the collegeradio station for two, almost
three years.
Then I became the operationsmanager once I graduated, which
is like a full time job.
So a lot of people don't knowthat I have a radio background.
A lot of people don't know thatI'm the voice of Wm uh in
tallahassee.
So if you go to tallahassee,florida, and at the top hour of

(31:52):
every hour and you're listeningto wm, you'll hear me give you
the id.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
That's great.
I'm gonna have to test thattheory and we're in a situation.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Actually you don't even need to go to tallahassee,
florida, you just like pull upwNM on the web and stream it.
You know it's college radio,it's good, it's actually good,
good music, a student program,but yeah, but that's how I ended
up with almost a minor injournalism, and even today, you
know, florida produces the mostblack journalists, and one of

(32:23):
the things that I'm passionateabout I'm on the board of
visitors for the School ofJournalism is how do we get more
of our voices out there to tellour story?

Speaker 3 (32:32):
So when you took this job upon graduation right, you
didn't go down there with theintentions to work at a radio
station, right, so you take thisjob, but in your mind did you
have an idea of what you wantedto do, Because that's also a big
shift from working in tech tonow working at a radio station?
But you went down there forbusiness.
So where was your mindset?

Speaker 1 (32:53):
So this is the part that I'm telling you like I did
not have a plan.
So let's talk about the factthat the goal for me was to
graduate right, and so that'swhat kept me focused, right, it
wasn't sort of like, okay, Ineed to have a degree in this,
et cetera, et cetera.
It wasn't sort of like, okay, Ineed to have a degree in this,
My goal was to have a diplomathat says that now I could show

(33:13):
to the world that, okay, thisperson can learn right, this
person is teachable, and that'sreally what the paper tells
industry.
Right, it's like you havestructured, you know how to like
perform under pressure, likeliterally a whole bunch of you
know.
It's sort of like anunderstanding of your
personality comes through yourdiploma.

(33:43):
When I graduated and we gothrough this every decade every
decade I think everyone changes,right, you have sort of like
this crisis of like, thisidentity crisis of like, of like
this crisis of like thisidentity crisis of like, what am
I doing and what do I want todo?
Right?
And so when I graduated, I waslike, okay, I knew for sure I
did not want to go back intotech.
I did not know where I wantedto go, but my resume was leading
me into tech.
And so I remember a recruiterfrom the New York times came up

(34:07):
to campus and he saw my resumeyou know these recruiters,
they're used to college resumesand he saw my resume, he's like,
oh, wait, a minute, I need to,I need to put you in a different
pile.
And then I had, like, the CTOof the New York Times call me
and he's like, yeah, you know,you have an interesting resume,
you know, and there were.
This was their space in Tampa,and there was a thought of me

(34:29):
actually ending up in Tampaworking for the New York Times.
There was a thought of me juststaying in Tallahassee and
working at the university.
But my network and because Isent my emails to a lot of folks
the next name that I'm going tomention in terms of who have
been instrumental in my life,barbara Chang, and so again and

(34:50):
I wanted to make sure yourviewers understand how to
connect the dots so when I wasat thestreetcom, one of the
early investors of thestreetcomwas Flatiron Partners.
Right, that's Fred Wilson,who's a venture capitalist, and
Jerry Colonna.
I reached out to Fred and Jerrylooking for opportunities and
this is when I was laid off in2001.

(35:12):
And Jerry connected me to hiswife at the time, barbara Chang.
Barbara Chang ran a nonprofitcalled Empower and so I
consulted with Empower for likethree months and then basically
went to Barbara.
Actually, she hired me.
This is a funny story.
She hired me in october of 2002I'll never forget that and I
told her like hey, I made adecision to go go back to school

(35:36):
, so I'm leaving in january.
And she's like, okay, it's fine, you know, like she needed me
to do some work.
December came and I went intoher office.
I said, hey, so next week is mylast day.
And she stopped.
You know, she last day and shestopped.
She was like, oh, you wereserious.
She was like why are you goingto Florida?

(35:58):
There's plenty of schools inNew York.
But I was committed, so fastforward, I'm now graduating with
my master's from Florida State,ready to figure out where I'm
going to go.
And I sent a note to Barb andsaid, hey, I'm looking for an
opportunity.
Let me know if you know, youknow, if you hear of anything.
This is what you typically useyour network for.

(36:19):
And she said I actually needsomeone here.
And so, believe it or not.
That's how I got back to NewYork, worked at Empower to
rebuild their workforce programand again their workforce
program.
To do what?
Train young people at Promisetech skills.
So these are young people whocame to Empower of alternatives

(36:40):
to incarceration, potentiallyhomeless, et cetera, et cetera,
and we were training them intech skills to then find a
meaningful work, which is mylived experience.
And so at the gala literallyI'm talking about, you know,
growing the program from like 40students, 120 students and
someone from the Bloombergadministration is in the

(37:02):
audience and approaches meduring one of the you know, the
sessions, one of the breaks, andsays have you ever thought
about working for the city ofNew York?
And I said absolutely not.
But I need the city to help meplace these young people into
jobs because I'm strugglingfinding jobs.
And she said I could help.
And she brought me into thisagency called Small Business
Services and talked about, youknow, the workforce system and

(37:25):
how workforce could help thestudents.
But then she said but I wantyou to, yeah, I want to talk to
you about the Minority of WomenBusiness Enterprise Program and
she was talking about, you know,mayor Bloomberg wants to like
restart the program and she'slooking for someone to help her.
And literally after about maybethree or four conversations, I
realized she was interviewing meand then the final conversation

(37:46):
was that I'm going to introduceyou as a commissioner, but if
he offers your job, you have totell me you're going to say yes.
And so that's how I gotconnected to the city of New
York.
There was no plan for me ever towork for the city of New York.
A matter of fact, and yourlisteners might appreciate this
government was an abstractthought for me.
Like government was this thingwhere like is politicians.

(38:07):
You know there's DMV, there's apolice department, you know the
sanitation department, but youknow I'm not really.
I don't know what this thingcalled government is Right.
And so the fact that I wasjoining the Bloomberg
administration which wasinteresting was it was supposed
to be his last year and in hislast term.
And people asked me thatquestion, like, why would you

(38:28):
want to join administration atthe end?
And it's like I didn't knowanything about that.
All I know is that my resumeneeds a big name and the city of
New York is the biggest name Iknow, right, and even if I have
the city of New York on myresume for one year at least, I
could get a better job afterthat.
Right, that was my thinking.
Right, one year turned intofive, turned into 10, right, one

(38:51):
year turned into five, turnedinto 10, turned into 13.
And so so it has been a magicalride, and I think I say magical
because the work that I wasdoing was right in my alley.
It was addressing economicmobility for communities that
I'm really really connected to.
That I'm really reallyconnected to, and also, you know
, just being in the room to talkthrough policy and being able

(39:12):
to bring your lived experienceto that right.
So there are many differenttimes when you know I would, you
know, talk about, okay, ifwe're going to help, you know,
small businesses in Canarsie, itcan't be online.
How many of those businesseshave, like, online access, right
, like, those are the type ofconversations I would have.
So, anyway, so that's basicallyhow I got connected after

(39:35):
college into the career that Ihad and, of course, starting
with our earlier conversation, Idid 13 years with the city of
New York and then that's howthat got me connected to this
job that I have right now.
So now you know the completesort of like infinity stone
connection I love it.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
So what was your first role at the Department of
Small Business Services, right,and then what was ultimately
your last role?
Because in 13 years, you grew alot in your time there.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, and I stayed with.
I think it's possible.
The uniform agency is that thishappens.
I stayed in one agency.
So many people with theexperience that I have, you know
, usually bounce around fromagent to the agency, which is
actually one of the benefits ofgovernment because you, sort of
like, have differentresponsibilities and the work is
different and it remainsexciting, it doesn't get stale.

(40:23):
But I stayed with one agencybut the work still remained
exciting and didn't get stale,because the agency is
responsible for not only helpingbusinesses but helping New
Yorkers with finding jobs andalso supporting and
strengthening commercialquarters.
So I had to deal witheverything from minority and
women-owned businesses,hurricane Sandy, steam, pipe

(40:44):
explosions, terrorist attacks,opening up workforce centers,
pipe explosions, terroristattacks, opening up workforce
centers Like.
There were so many differentthings that I had to do in this
job that it just every day wasalways something exciting.
I started as an assistantcommissioner and you know, for
those who are in government,that's listening they would say
like oh, wow, that's like a hugetitle.
I had no idea what assistantcommissioner was Like.

(41:07):
All I know is I know is I wasat NPower.
I was a director, actually asenior manager, of workforce
development.
They were asking me like, okay,what's the equivalent of that
title, because you're cominginto assistant commissioner.
I was like I don't know, but Istarted as assistant
commissioner, which once I gotinto government, I realized how

(41:28):
blessed I was to actually comeinto government at that level
and that rank.
And then, you know about two, Ithink maybe three years later I
got promoted by CommissionerRob Walsh, who hired me to
deputy commissioner, and so myportfolio expanded and then I
went through you know sort ofthe transition from the

(41:48):
Bloomberg administration to thede Blasio administration.
I was asked by the incomingcommissioner, maria Torres
Springer, to stay on which is,you know, a blessing as well and
I stayed as a deputycommissioner under her
leadership.
And then when she was moved tobecome the president of EDC,
that is when I went to the mayorand it wasn't sort of like it

(42:09):
was one of those situationsAgain, a closed mouth don't get
fed.
I was seven years in at SBS andI went through one transition
and when Maria left I was like,ok, if I cannot sit in this
commissioner seat, then why am Ihere, right?
And so I was at Gracie Mansionat an event invited not by the

(42:29):
mayor but by someone else, aclose friend, who is actually
the same close friend thatconnected me to Clara and the
mayor came to our table and Istood up and I said, hi, mr
Mayor, my name is Greg Bishop.
He's like I know who you are,greg, with two Gs.
And the minute he said two Gs,I was like, oh, he does know who
, I am right.
And I was like I'd like SPS andI want you to consider me being

(42:53):
the commissioner.
And he was like, oh, you wantto, you want to figure out, like
you know, I'd love to hear yourideas, et cetera, et cetera.
And so I had to verbally, youknow, say I want this role.
I didn't, you know, was goingto sit back and wait for
somebody to come to me, and youknow so.
So there is a level when, whenwe talk about career growth,
like you have to, a door couldopen.

(43:14):
But you got to step through,right, and not only step through
, but step through withconfidence, step through.
Sometimes you have to stepthrough a little bit
aggressively, and my aggressivebehavior was like approaching
the mayor at an event, right,and then.
But I knew that that was notthe right time to start spewing
my ideas, right, he would not be.
You know, he's distracted, etcetera.

(43:35):
So what did I do?
I asked him for his contactinformation and then, righty,
that night, like right after theevent, I probably stayed up
until like 3 am, right, Icomposed the most.
And now I'm you know, everybodyhas chat GPT, right?
I feel like I could have donethat in like 30 seconds, right,

(43:57):
but I had to compose the mostarticulate email ever.
That sort of states who I am,what I want to do and why I want
to be considered.
I sent it to a couple offriends to like wordsmith for me
to make sure like my grammarwas correct, like that was the
most consequential email that Iever sent, I think.

(44:17):
And I had, and one of the thingsthat was driving me was I had
to strike while the iron was hotand so I did not want to wait a
day or two to email him becausehe would forget.
I wanted to email himimmediately.
So around 3am, I fired off theemail to him and then, of course
you know, went through theprocess, spoke to the deputy
mayor, et cetera, et cetera, andthen, in November of 2015, he

(44:39):
gave me the call that I waswaiting for and I will tell you.
Sometimes you ask for something.
But when it happens then theweight is on your shoulders and
you're like, oh, oh, this reallyis happening.
And I remember him calling me Ithink it was the Friday, no,
sorry, it was the Wednesday oreither the Tuesday or Wednesday

(45:02):
before Thanksgiving and heoffered me the job and said now
you cannot say a word about thisuntil Monday because that's
when the press release is goingto go out.
So you know, at Thanksgivingeverybody's like so how's work?
And you're like, well, but Iwill admit I did tell one person

(45:23):
, which was my mom, like yeah, Ihad to tell her.
You know it's a big deal, butthat's basically how I got to
the point of being commissionerand you know it was a lot more
right.
Like a lot of folks, like mytime at SBS as assistant
commissioner, deputycommissioner, I was always in a
community, you know, talking toso many different stakeholders.

(45:46):
You know sometimes when Icouldn't deliver to a
stakeholder, I would actuallytell them look, I can't do it
this time.
So there's that respect ofcommunication.
You know, sort of likedelivering to different
communities, being present indifferent communities, and so
when the vetting startedhappening and folks at City Hall
was like, okay, should Greg be?
You know, I'm sure they spoketo stakeholders who were like oh

(46:08):
yeah, we know Greg, we likeGreg.
You know what I mean, and so itmade it easier for the mayor
and others to actually put me inthat position.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
So many cheat codes dropped right there, I unloaded
on you today, right, I thinkthat's great, right, because if
you think about it, the closemouths don't get fed for sure.
You had the gall to go up tothe mayor of New York City and
say, hey, that job opening youhave.
You should consider me for thatright Exactly.
Of New York City.
And say, hey, that job openingyou have.
You should consider me for that, right, exactly.

(46:37):
And granted, he was at thatpoint, two people removed from
your role, right, so it wasn'tlike such a leap, right, but you
approached him not knowing ifhe knew your name, right?
Right, so that says a lot,right.
Then the follow-up, just theprep time that it took to write
a very thorough explanation asto why you think you should be
considered for this, which isbasically your cover letter.

(46:58):
Right, but in real time.
In real time, and thinkingabout doing the same night, even
if it's three in the morning,let me do it today, because this
is the mayor of New York.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Tomorrow could be a fire in another borough and
he'll forget about it, believeit or not.
That night, a police officergot shot, right, and so, to your
point, there was a lot ofdistractions, right, and so
that's why sometimes you have tostrike while the iron is hot.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Absolutely, and just even before that, leading up to
that, having a track record ofdelivering right.
So you got to SBS.
For seven years you've beendelivering and you got promoted
one time and you have thisreputation, both in community
and within the building, thatyou get invited to places like
this to even have that proximityRight.
So and so that when they thengo back and say, all right,

(47:43):
what's up with this great guy?
You know the background checkclears and people are like nah,
he's, he's legit, exactly.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
And and that that sort of like background check
happened with this job.
You know, I'm guarantee you Italked to more than just one
person and so your reputation,right, you know people talk
about you know just yourreputation and reputation risk,
But you have to protect itfiercely.
And so you know, for yourlisteners, the things that you

(48:15):
do on social media, the thingsthat you do at work, you know
what I mean.
Like you have to be at a pointwhere people will talk about you
positively behind you know,behind closed doors, and some of
it is just your work ethic.
Like you know I am definitely.
You know the analog to digitalgeneration.
You know I recognize where I amright now in sort of like the
ecosystem of you knowgenerations.

(48:35):
I strongly will go back to doorsopen when you work hard, right,
and you don't have to give up,like, your personal time.
You know you could have a goodwork life balance but you've got
to deliver Right Things.
Just don't come to you becauseyou are John or Greg or whatever
, right, like you've got to,like get your hands dirty.

(48:56):
Those are some of the thingsthat I tell you know my mentees
now right, like especially thosethat are coming into their
career early on.
Like you got to get your handsdirty and you got to like you
know, yeah, sometimes you mighthave to stay a little bit after
work, you know, till six, seven,eight o'clock, right.
But if someone gives you anassignment and you deliver on
time, or even early, they'llremember that Right.
And if you are consistent indoing that, that's when

(49:20):
opportunities come in in termsof promotion, et cetera, et
cetera.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
One of the things I'd like to highlight here is that
in different sectors right,because this is one of the
things that actually led me tostarting the show was that you
can make money in government,right, so can you talk about if
you remember how much money cansomeone make in a place like the
small business, services orother agencies?
Right, as you think about yourstart and your ending, as the

(49:47):
head of it.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
So the funny thing is and this goes back to our
salary conversation right, I hadto make some critical decisions
in terms of, like, earningright.
And if you remember, I startedthis conversation telling you
that I, you know, at 25, I wasmaking $125,000.
Fast forward, I have mymaster's degree and when I went

(50:09):
back to New York to work atEmpower, I was making $ 90,000.
So you're going to say, andyour listeners are going to be
saying, like, wait, he has amaster's degree and he's making
less right.
The reason why I took that job?
Two things.
One, it got me back to New York, right, it was Barbara Chang,
right, and it was a nonprofit.

(50:30):
So I knew, like you know, whenthe street sorry, when the city
came and knocking, right, theassistant commissioner position
was paying $118,000.
That's still less than what Iwas making prior to going back
to school.
So you will probably say, well,why did you take that job?
Right, I told you why I tookthat job.

(50:51):
It wasn't because of the salary, it was because of the, the
brand, the city of New York onmy resume.
That was my thinking.
Was that?
Okay, I'm going to make thisshort term sacrifice in terms of
salary because I know at somepoint in time I'll be able to
flip that into something largerbecause I have the city and you
know sort of working that theincreases happened so once I

(51:18):
became a deputy commissioner,that's when I sort of started
seeing the value of, like youknow, having a degree, et cetera
, et cetera.
So, deputy commissioners at SBS, I think they're much higher
now, but at the time I was, Imoved up to 130, then 150.
And then, I think, deputycommissioners now at like 180,
potentially, and then, of course, when I became commissioner,

(51:40):
the interesting thing aboutgovernment is that at the
commissioner level we all makethe same amount of money, right?
So whether you're thecommissioner of the police
department or SBS, we're at 235,or it's probably a little bit
more now, but like it's, youknow, 235.
And so leaving government right,philanthropy is a little bit
trickier, because now you're ina private sector.

(52:02):
But I would say that every orfoundation, et cetera, it's such
a wide range depending on whatyou want to do.
So it could start at like 250and you could end up, you know,
at 1.5 million, right, it alldepends on the size of the
foundation, it all depends onthe scope, the reach, the
endowment.
So philanthropy is a little bitdifferent.

(52:23):
But you know, I would say thatthe balance between you know,
sort of like the work-lifebalance, the things that you're
doing, the meaningful work thatyou're doing without the
bureaucracy, like that certainlyis a bonus for me.
You know what I mean and so sothat's that's sort of like that
salary trajectory.
So if you think of it like at acurve, like there was a high
point in my twenties, then Isort of like dipped a little bit

(52:47):
and then went up a little bitand then, sort of like, then it
started.
It's almost like a, you know,like a five-year stock chart.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Right, they went up and then now it's like you know,
yeah, absolutely, and that'ssuper helpful, right, and I
think, as we think about notjust salaries, but now you also
have like a city pension behindyou, right?
Oh yeah, so many other thingsthat make it make sense right,
wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Here's the big thing I got my loans forgiven.
Here's the big thing I got myloans forgiven.
So that was, you know, 10 yearsin the public service, that
public service loan forgivenessprogram.
Thank you to the Bidenadministration for changing some
of the eligibility criteria sothat made me eligible in terms
of the amount of payments that Imade.
But, yeah, but my gamble onpaying for grad school, which,

(53:33):
you know, a lot of people don'treally need to pay it off
because I was able to get myloans forgiven, see that's great
.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
So loan forgiveness, pension, higher salary,
ultimately and it led you onthis trajectory of pivoting from
doing tech to now doingcommunity driven work, work for
entrepreneurs, and now,ultimately, to where you are now
with the foundation.
Were there any programs orresources along the way that
helped you that you think peopleshould check out?

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yeah, I think you know well, let's talk about if
you have young children.
I definitely am a big fan ofjunior achievement.
I think that sort of helped meunderstand sort of financial
literacy.
I think that sort of helped meunderstand sort of financial
literacy.
You know how you know theprivate sector works, et cetera,

(54:20):
et cetera.
If you are young in your career.
There are a number of programsthat I attended.
Coro Leadership, new York, forexample, was a professional
development program that Iattended Great networking, not
only great networking, but italso allowed you to explore
different sectors and challengesin those sectors and actually
interact with differentindividuals and personalities.
Think they also have a similarversion for those not in

(54:43):
government, but those programswere very, very helpful for me.
When I did the Harvard program,I remember coming back and I

(55:05):
remember one of the modules thatwe had.
I can't remember everything,but I do remember this One of
the modules we had.
We talked about, I guess,managing.
I can't remember what it was,but this idea of disappointing
people at a rate they can absorb.
I came back with that I, I thatwas of all the things that we
talked about.
I just, it's instantlyremembered that and realize, oh

(55:27):
wait a minute, this is part ofgovernment right, like we can't
say yes to everyone, but we haveto be able to soften the blow
when we say no Right.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
And so so that that I've, you know, used in my
career ever since Are there anyforms of media books, movies,
shows, podcasts that you haveconsumed, that have helped you
personally or professionally?

Speaker 1 (55:50):
So who Moved my Cheese is one of my favorite
books because it talks aboutthat, that fear, fear of change.
And I remember when I becamecommissioner I had all my
leadership team read who movedmy cheese, cause it was like.
You know, I wanted them to alsounderstand, you know, how their
sort of internal safeguardssort of shows up in the

(56:11):
workplace.
You know everybody hasdifferent levels of risk and so
who Moved my Cheese is one ofthem.
You know there was oh my gosh.
How am I blanking on his namenow?
The book is called Winning,though Jack Welch, and one of
the things that he talked aboutwas making a decision.
The decision was a bad decisionand I think he had like,

(56:35):
basically, a plant blew up right, like a plant caught on fire.
Based on this is that he made,because I think he was like
storing chemicals or whatever,whatever, whatever.
And what did I get out fromthat?
Like, no matter how bad youthink things, that things are
like, just remember you didn'tblow up a plant right.
So sometimes you have thosedays where you think like, oh my

(56:58):
gosh, like work is so stressful, this is like, and I remember
sometimes I was like well, Ididn't blow up a plant.
Like you know, I'll figure itout Right, so yeah, so those are
the two, the two things thatcome off the top of my head in
terms of, like you know,podcasts.
You know I haven podcasts, youknow I haven't.
I don't have like a favoritepodcast like I.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
well, now I do you do now?

Speaker 1 (57:18):
I was gonna say now I do right, but, but I do think
that you know any type ofprogram that allows you know
these type of conversationswhere you can learn gems from
individuals like I don't haveenough time to meet with
everyone, right, um, and sosometimes even someone looking
at this might be the thing thatthey need to, like figure out

(57:39):
the next step right, instead oflike trying to get on my
calendar, et cetera, et cetera.
So I certainly would encouragefolks you know to to seek out
podcasts that deal withself-improvement and career
development.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
Greg, in your career, which has gone from working at
a magazine to running a radioshow to ultimately reporting to
the mayor and having hundreds ofpeople reporting up to you to
now working at a familyfoundation.
What are you most proud of inyour career to this date?
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Well, let me start with the most recent.
We created a loan fund to helpbusinesses after the pandemic.
Four out of five businessesthat received a loan from us are
still in business, you know,five years later.
So super, super proud of that.
70% of those businesses wererun by black women.
40% of those businesses hiredadditional staff.

(58:30):
I could go back to now SBS, andthere's such a long list of
things that I'm proud of, butthe biggest thing that I'm proud
of is actually building a greatteam at SBS.
You know, the team that we hadwhen I was commissioner was, I
think, one of the best.
It reflected the diversity ofthe city.
We did some amazing things.

(58:52):
You know we had to deal withCOVID.
We had to deal, like I said,with the steam pipe explosions
and terror attacks, but we alsobuilt out certain initiatives.
Super, super proud of the factthat I was able to launch the
NYC.
It was an initiativespecifically for Black
entrepreneurs, and when I saysuper proud, even this

(59:13):
administration continues to sortof like talk about the work
around supporting blackentrepreneurs, and that was the
intention that I had.
I had a hand in the NYC WomenEntrepreneurs.
I did some work with the TenantMuseum to highlight the
contributions, the hugecontributions of immigrant
entrepreneurs.
You know 50, I think it's 51 or52% of businesses in New York

(59:38):
City are owned by a foreign-bornindividual.
The list, as you can see, thelist goes down in terms of, like
, the things that I feel super,super proud of.
You know we built workforcecenters in, like.
I opened up a workforce centerin Far Rockaway, you know
thinking about.
You know, for those center inFar Rockaway, you know thinking
about.
You know, for those who don'tunderstand city, you know city,

(59:58):
city, uh, geography, you knowFar Rockaway is called Far
Rockaway for a reason.
Right, it's far right.
You know, in order to get to,like, the nearest workforce in
in Jamaica, you have to jump ona train.
I think it's like an hour ortwo hour drive a ride.
And so why should individualslose out on opportunities simply
because they live in a certainzip code?

(01:00:18):
We were able to open up acenter there which the community
really appreciated.
So there's a number of things,a long list of things that I was
.
That's why my time working inthe city, from the different
levels, will always be thepinnacle of, like, you know,
giving back to communities thatI care about.
I don't think I'm ever going tohave an opportunity to have

(01:00:42):
that impact that I had.
This current job is terrific.
We focus on Brooklyn, rightWith the city.
I'm in Staten Island.
I'm in the Bronx, right Like.
I know so much about the Bronxin terms of like the challenges,
Like my Staten Island.
I'm in the Bronx, right Like Iknow so much about the Bronx in
terms of like the challenges, etcetera, et cetera.
Like my Staten Island IQ wentup really quick.
It's like North Shore Okay,okay.

(01:01:07):
The South Shore was like yeah,okay, I got you, you got okay.
Right Off the Avenue Right,okay, I got you Right.
You know like like you knowlearning all about.
You know Queens and diversityof Queens and you know all that
stuff.
Like you know.
I would always be appreciativeof the time that I had with the
city.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
Is there anything else we haven't discussed today
that the world?

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
should know about Greg.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
Greg with two G's Right, right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
Greg, greg, with two GGs who, you know, I think live
every single day to the fullest,and I know that sounds cliche,
but like three years ago Iactually had two blood clots.
So I started my fitness journey, was really struggling in the
gym, you know my trainer waslike breathe you're not
breathing I was like I am, like,am like.

(01:01:52):
You know, I'm trying to breatheand literally he, uh, nain, is
barnaby, nain, barnaby is, uh,is my angel.
All right, he's my guardedangel.
I literally was working outwith him in january I think it's
now what are we 25, maybe 22 orsomething like that and
couldn't even warm up and he'slike okay, okay, I know you went

(01:02:15):
to the virtual ER, but you gotto go to a real ER.
Something is wrong with you.
You need to stop late.
Right Like he's, and he'sJamaican, so you know, it's that
sort of like you need to go now, right and ready.
I went, you know they did awhole bunch of tests, et cetera,
et cetera, and two doctorspopped up on my bed and I
remember I was planning you knowI'm part of a fraternity called
Alpha Phi Alpha FraternityIncorporated Shout out to all

(01:02:37):
the bros and we were having agala that Saturday and this is
like a Wednesday and we'replanning to have the general
president and I'm coordinatinglike who's going to pick up the
general president, et cetera andthe curtain opens up.
It's two doctors and they'relike so we have some images and
we don't like what we see, sowe're going to need to keep you

(01:03:02):
for observation and we're goingto need to put you on this and
blah blah, and so like I'mhearing them speak, but I all I
heard was keep right, and so Iwas.
My first response was like so Ican't leave.
I've never been hospitalizedbefore.
And so they found two bloodclots in my lungs, and those
clots were probably in my lungsfor at least a month or two, and
so I had to go on immediateblood thinners for a year,

(01:03:26):
almost two years, I was on bloodthinners, similar to like Chris
Bosh.
Thank God now that I need totake the thinners when I travel.
But you know it hit me that atany given moment I could have
died immediately.
You know like instantly, and soI have a renewed passion for
life and just you know thisjourney that we're on, and

(01:03:48):
certainly I know there's, youknow there's individuals who are
on the journey.
You get to a certain age whereyou realize you're, you know
you're mortal, right, I think,for your listeners.
Every day you need to live asif it might be your last.
I know this sounds like alittle bit morbid, but I think
you know you can really do a lot, if you know.

(01:04:11):
Imagine if somebody told youthat you only have six days to
live, right, you would do somuch and remember that fair that
I talk about.
You wouldn't have that fairanymore because you'd be like
I'm going to do it Doesn'treally matter, because I'm going
to do it right.
And so I think you know justreally appreciating life, you
know pushing through and really,as they say, you know seize the

(01:04:32):
day Like really there's 24hours in a day.
You're sleeping like maybe sixto eight of them.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
Use those the rest of those hours productively that's
great well, thank you forjoining us today thank you for
having me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
I appreciate it.
Congratulations to you, um onon the show and, and definitely
you know, thanks for having meand uh, if folks want to learn
more about the work that we do,uh, they can check us out online
, bksjforg.
Or if folks want to learn moreabout the work that we do, they
can check us out online,bksjforg.
Or if they want to learn moreabout me, you can check my
website out, gregbishopnyc.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Awesome.
Thank you, and subscribe tothis podcast on whatever
platform you're using, and sharethis podcast with your friends
and your networks.
Make sure you follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn at Career
Cheat Code and tell us peopleor careers you would like to see
highlighted.
See you next week with somemore cheat codes, peace.

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080 | Leading A Social Justice Fund with Gregg Bishop

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