EP.17 – Vision, Grit, and Capital: Richard Powell’s Billion-Dollar Journey - Dynamic Business Leaders Podcast

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, I'm Roy Richardson, and this is the
Dynamic Business LeadersPodcast.
Welcome to this edition of theDynamic Business Leaders

(00:21):
Podcast.
I'm your host, Roy Richardson,joined by my awesome co-host,
Sean Murphy.

SPEAKER_02 (00:25):
What's up?
What's up?

SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
This podcast is brought to you by Aurora
Infotech, a cybersecurity firmhelping small and medium sized
businesses stay secure intoday's digital world.
Our guest today is someone who'sbuilt a billion dollar business,
raised game changing investmentfunds, and still finds time to
mentor the next generation ofleaders.
He's the founder and executivechairman of APC Holdings, and

(00:49):
he's passionate about creatingopportunities for minority owned
enterprises.
He's been featured in Inc.
Magazine, CNBC, and recognizedby the World Economic Forum as a
young global leader.
But beyond all the accolades,he's a down-to-earth guy with a
powerful story.
Please join us in welcomingRichard Powell, or as his

(01:10):
friends call him, Richie.
Richie, welcome.
It's great to have you here.
We're excited to dive into yourjourney and share it with our
listeners.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Happy to be here and reallyhonored that you and Sean asked
me to join.

SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
We're really happy you could find the time, sir, to
actually be here with us.
So, Richard, you've been aHarvard grad, a global investor,
and a dad.
Tell us, what's harder, raisingcapital or raising kids?

SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
By far, I would say raising kids, harder than
raising capital, but both veryfulfilling, very rewarding.

SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
Also, you were scouted by a European soccer
club.
Do you ever wonder what it wouldhave been

SPEAKER_01 (01:58):
like if you'd gone pro?
Yeah, Sean, you know that partof my story and the direct
answer is yes.
And that's actually something Ithought about more in the past,
not as much anymore today whenyou get to a point where if you
don't regret where you aretoday, right?
You don't regret any of thedecisions that led to it and

(02:20):
what caused you to be here.
But certainly there was a periodof time where I thought about
what it would be like to notjust pursue my dreams of being a
professional athlete.
I could have actually at onetime been playing in the World
Cup and running in the Olympics.

SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
So what's one thing people would be surprised to
learn about you?

SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
Well, I think...
to be surprised to learn about afew things.
One, I think people would besurprised to realize how much
time and energy I spend being afather first before anything
else.
For me, it all starts at a homeof two beautiful kids, Alina and
Alex.

(03:03):
And that's the number onepriority and everything else,
right?
When that foundation is there,right?
Everything else comes afterthat.

SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
Well, listen, let's run it back a little bit here.
I want to talk about how itstarted.
I know how it started.
You know, I'm looking across thestreet here and remember 23
years ago when we first met.
And it has been an incrediblejourney for me to get to know
you and to know this awesomestory.

(03:34):
And now that we're going to beable to share this with other
folks.
But like I said, you've had thisincredible journey growing up in
Spanish town, Jamaica.
to becoming a Harvard grad and aglobal investor.
Take us back to those earlydays, around the time when you
used to drive in a car with yourmom when she was looking at the

(03:54):
audit reports and things likethat.
I remember that story and it'sso cool, man.
But tell us, you know, what waslife like growing up and what
sparked that ambition for you topursue something bigger like you
have?

SPEAKER_01 (04:09):
I appreciate that, Shawn.
You're going way back now.
Grew up in a very humble family.
We lived in Spanish Town,Jamaica.
It was the first capital ofJamaica.
It was where the Spanishactually made the capital when
they conquered Jamaica in the1500s, and then it subsequently
became Kingston.
But a part of that was it was alittle cheaper to live in

(04:30):
Spanish Town and Kingston.
So both of my parents workedvery, very hard, but were
definitely from a middle classbackground, definitely not upper
class.
And what I remember most was howsupportive my parents were of me
and my two brothers.
I'm the eldest of three.
We're a very tight-knit family.

(04:51):
And one of my brothers that's ayear younger than I am.
And what I would remember mostabout those early days are the
sacrifices that my parents made.
to drive us to school an hour inthe opposite direction of work,
right, in the mornings, thesacrifices for the
extracurricular activities.

(05:12):
And it really honed just acertain level of gratitude,
right, for my parents and theirsupport of whatever it is
whatever needed to be done,whatever it took for their kids
to have the best opportunity tolive a successful and rewarding
life.
That's the most important thingthat I remember growing up.

(05:35):
Yes, I remember driving acrossthe island with my dad, who was
a salesman for an auto and partscompany in Jamaica.
So some of his customers werehours and hours away from where
we lived and ended up makingthat a fun trip, driving across
the island.
but driving hours and hours awayfrom home, right?

(05:56):
Because he had to work.
I remember the sacrifices my mommade to put her career second,
because raising kids and beingcloser to the kids, she was a
teacher before she was anaccountant.
So there was always a little bitelement of a teacher in her as
we were growing up.
And she made a lot of sacrificesfor her corporate career, for

(06:19):
her kids in exchange, right?
For her corporate career.
So growing up was filled with alot of gratitude for supportive
parents that really helped inmany, many ways, intangible and
tangible, as their kids weretrying to succeed and build a
better life.

SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
I can attest to that.
Back in 2015, we would gettogether in your office, me,
you, and a couple of other guyslooking to buy some companies.
So we would all have the plan.
Every Friday we'd come together,and everybody had to bring an
idea to the table because wewere going to go buy a company.

(07:02):
I was going to run it.
And I would go to your office,and I'd see your parents in the
office.
And I'm like, what are yourparents doing here?
He's like, oh, yeah, they'reworking with Yousef with his
company.
I'm like, really?
And they're like, yeah, theywork together and all of that
stuff.
And I did that for about twomonths in my oldest office.

(07:23):
was seven years old, juststarting to get into youth
sports and stuff like that.
And I was like, man, that's whatI want.
I want that.
I want to be involved with mykids' lives like that.
And so I turned the switch.
I called Richie.
I was like, man, I'm going tosit tight on the investment

(07:43):
right now.
I want to be at my kids' sportsevents and their recitals.
I don't want to be on no plane,train, automobile trying to find
an investment idea.
I want to sit at home.
And I have never missed one ofmy kids' practice or a game or
recital, whatever.
And so I That is a truestatement about what he just

(08:05):
said about his parents.
And even today, we just gotfinished from asking him, like,
how are your parents doing?
Well, they're still working withYosef, you know what

SPEAKER_01 (08:12):
I mean?
In disclosure, so my dad andYosef run a family business.
My mom also works in finance forthe business, and they supply
equipment to the Caribbean.
And they're doing some bigthings, not just supply
equipment, but that business isa means to have a foundation
that is helping youth andhelping kids with scholarships
to finish high school in theCaribbean So the business has

(08:34):
helped to create the opportunityto impact more kids' lives in
the Caribbean, and we're verygrateful for that.
But yes, today my family stillworks closely together, and I
would still consider my parentsa big part of the support system
and network.

SPEAKER_00 (08:50):
And those values, obviously, that, you know, we've
all had a little bit of that inour lives, right?
But I'm sure you're moving thatforward now with your kids.
A lot of the values that yourparents instilled in you?

SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Yeah, 100%.
That's right.
I look back at some of thedecisions my parents made with a
different lens now as a parentand even have more gratitude for
some of those things.
I was complaining when I had todrive 45 minutes on traffic here
in Orlando because it was thewrong time of day on I-4.

(09:27):
And I remember, I'm like, we diddouble that every single day
Right?
Just basic little things likethat, right?
So, yes, I am trying to learnand be as good a parent to my
kids as I felt like my parentswere for us.

SPEAKER_00 (09:44):
Good.
And I'll come back to that herein a second, but I want to touch
on, you know, Growing up inJamaica and what that has done
for you, and now fast forward abit, you were excelling in
sports and even scouted by PSVEindhoven, which is one of the
famous Dutch soccer teams.

(10:04):
And you actually went over therefor a while with them.
But what...
Was it that made you chooseacademics over athletics?

SPEAKER_01 (10:13):
Sure, Roy.
There's a whole story there, butthe answer to your question is
very short.
My parents said, you are notstaying over there to go play
sports.
You're coming back here tofinish school.
And that one made it very short.
And listen, you know, I don'tfault my parents, you know, for
that decision at the time, youknow.

(10:34):
I still think it was the rightdecision.
I was able to, because of strongacademics, get scholarships to
some of the best schools in theUnited States.
And it would have been very,very difficult to turn that
down, right, for the chance ofmaking it big, right, in sports.
And we all know the famousstories about athletes that get
one injury that could totallychange the trajectory of their

(10:57):
career.
Very short-lived careers.
Yeah, exactly.
And so I don't regret it, but itwas a very quick decision with
my parents that notwithstandingtheir interest in having you
stay here and be a professionalathlete, you're coming to finish
school, right?
And that's the most importantthing.

SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
I hear you.
And, you know, as a fellowCaribbean Islander, I'm going to
ask you, and I'm going to gointo my Caribbean twang a little
bit here, but how has yourJamaican heritage, and let's
call it your brothopsy, right,influenced your leadership and
investment philosophy?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
I think it has in a positive way, Roy.
And I'll just give you a coupleexamples.
We were talking about itearlier.
The multi-ethnic background,right?
I feel like I can relate toblack, white, Latin, and Indian,
and Asian backgrounds, cultures,nuances, idiosyncrasies.

(11:49):
I believe that's made me abetter investor.
Because at the end of the day,investing is a people business.
And it's about your ability toconnect with people.
It's about your ability to buildtrust and influence and cultural
sensitivity, right?
Helps to build trust veryquickly.
So one immediate way from theCaribbean roots, because the

(12:13):
Caribbean is a very much amelting pot, a very diverse
place is what I was about tosay.
I believe that that could be anasset in the investing business.

SPEAKER_02 (12:22):
Got it, got it.
Well, listen, let's transitionand let's talk about how you
scaled your first, well, itwasn't your first because didn't
you start your first companywhen you were 15?
Yes.
Yes.
But let's talk about, let's talkabout the, let's talk about the
one at Harvard, you know, beforeMark Zuckerberg did what he did,
but let's talk about yourventure at Harvard.

(12:43):
You co-founded a hundred milliondollar company while you were at
Harvard.
What was that experience like?

SPEAKER_01 (12:52):
It was interesting.
It was in the time of thedot-com bubble.
And I would tell you in the mostsuccinct way, what it was like
was a blur, right?
But in two or three years, wewere living the dream, building
a business that, yes, had abouta$100 million offer on the table
before the dot-com bubble burst,right, and crashed.

(13:13):
And I would tell you, I learneda lot today.
through that experience thathelped me today in business.
One of the most valuable lessonsthat I believe I learned there
was that's the first time whenwe were executing on our plan,
the bubble had crashed, theNASDAQ had popped, And the

(13:35):
second round of funding was notgoing to come, even though we
did everything the investorsasked us to do.
The investors were havingproblems in their own portfolio.
I had to look at employees, lookthem dead in the face and tell
them, I don't know where thepaycheck is coming from in two
weeks.
I was 19 years old looking atgrown men and women who believed

(13:57):
in this vision, believed in thisdream, and that was a
life-altering experience, right?
And something that today Ibelieve has made me a better
investor because I can look atan entrepreneur and I can
understand with sincerity theblood, sweat, tears, and pain
that has gone into building thisbusiness in a way that not just

(14:18):
your average Harvard grad thatworks in finance on Wall Street
can really even relate to letalone understand or have a
sensitivity around so that's oneexample of a lesson that came
from that early experience thatstill stays with me today but it
was surreal it was a time whereyou know as a college kid

(14:38):
anything is possible we'reliving big dreams we're working
in the same offices that yahoohad started in over in silicon
valley and um And thatexperience taught me some very,
very valuable lessons that stillimpact my thinking today.

SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
Got it.
Talk about, so those are theexperiences, but the leadership
style, give me a little bit moreabout that, the leadership style
that you got out of that timeand those situations.

SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
Sure.
And I think this is well known,but Harvard, and in particular
Harvard Business School, teachesa lot with the case method,
right?
And what that means is itteaches a lot that leadership is
really about building consensusas a team, right?
And not all the time as a leaderdo you have to have all the

(15:30):
answers, right?
But you have to be able to knowhow to get the best out of a
group of people to makedecisions.
And a lot of times theperspective you get from a group
of people makes better decisionsthan any one person could make
on their own, right?
from Harvard and MIT, there wasa concept of really ingrained in

(15:53):
my leadership style that theability to influence is a big
part of leadership and literallystarted a journey of mine, even
mentally and out of intellectualcuriosity, going down a path of
understanding the art ofinfluence and how inextricably

(16:13):
tied influence is to leadership.

SPEAKER_02 (16:17):
Got it.
I love what you said aboutconsensus and not everything has
to be ready And I thought thatI'd read something.
I think Ben Horowitz talkedabout that in his book, maybe.
Am I wrong?
I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 (16:34):
There is a construct, yes.
In today's day and age, it isbetter to execute, make a
decision, and iterate than taketime and procrastinate and stall
to perfect it.
And it's one of thecounterintuitive ways

(16:56):
philosophies of building veryvaluable companies, right?
You don't need everything to beperfect.
You just need to be able toiterate very quickly and get
closer and closer and closer towhat it is that your customers
want and will pay for.

SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
And I think in today's business age, and
particularly with entrepreneurs,that message needs to come
across more, right?
Because, I mean, we tend to getstuck in this it has to be
perfect before we can get it outthere.
And not only with the business,but even in terms of decisions
that we make about the businessabout, you know, whether it's

(17:34):
from a diversificationstandpoint, whether it's new
product, new services, etcetera, launching and getting
those out tends to be very, verylong, long-winded approaches and
opportunities are lost, right?
So Richard, let's talk about,and really incredible in terms
of what you did while you wereat Harvard and the leadership
examples you gave there, buttell us a little bit about, you

(17:57):
know, going from Harvard to ZeroChaos.

SPEAKER_01 (17:59):
Well, yes, that's a journey.
It had a brief stint working onWall Street for some big banks.
I really felt like it wasimportant to understand how the
game was played at the biglevel, in the big leagues.
And with a little bit ofexperience under my belt there

(18:22):
and a partner that I still talkto today, who's a couple of
years older than me, said, let'sgo, let's go, let's take this
leap.
Let's start the journey ofinvesting in private businesses
and owning private businesses asa means to create wealth and
have impact.
We moved to Orlando and acquiredZero Chaos a year and a half

(18:45):
after moving to Orlando.
And the Orlando decision wasgreat.
It was part business, partpersonal.
We saw the growth of Florida andthe growth of central Florida in
particular as an area that wasunderlooked by a lot of the big
investment firms, the big WallStreet firms.
So it was a very welcoming placefor us as we came in here to try

(19:07):
and set up shop.
And also I knew that my familywould eventually migrate from
Jamaica, but they would go nomore north, right, than Florida,
right, and Orlando being, theywouldn't even go to Georgia.
Right?
Because of how cold it getsthere in the winter.
So Orlando became a good placeas a home-based business and

(19:27):
personal.
And the Zero Chaos story, whichis a whole topic in and of
itself, was born out of thatHarvard network.
It was actually through a lot ofnetworking that my partner and I
connected with a Harvardgraduate here in Orlando that
would eventually be the CEO,right, of Zero Chaos.

UNKNOWN (19:48):
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (19:48):
And Zero Chaos actually became one of the
largest minority-ownedbusinesses in the US.
As a matter of fact, one year,it was the largest
minority-owned business.
So, you know, what were the keydecisions that fueled that
growth?

SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
Yeah, and just to be clear, it certainly was one of
the fastest growing.
It was the fastestminority-owned business ever.
to get to a billion dollars, butit definitely wasn't the
largest.
There's some very well-runbusinesses.
The largest one technically, Ithink, is Worldwide Technology,
an IT service business foundedby David Saywood out of St.

(20:24):
Louis.
But Zero Chaos absolutely wasthe fastest to scale to a
billion dollars in the US.
We're very proud of that.
Did that in less than fiveyears.
But I like to say that I'm a bigfan of and a big supporter of
all the minority-ownedbusinesses in America that are
doing great things.
You have some very well-runminority-owned businesses out

(20:47):
there, but what we did with ZeroChaos definitely was special.

SPEAKER_00 (20:51):
Nice.
And how did that successinfluence your transition into
private equity and the foundingof APC Holdings?

SPEAKER_01 (20:58):
Sure.
Yeah, so APC Holdings wasfounded before.
Zero Chaos was our firstinvestment, right?
So just to be clear, it wasmore...
It was more the evolution of APCthat would occur because of Zero
Chaos.
So APC was founded to do exactlywhat we did with Zero Chaos, and
we manifested exactly what weset out to do with Zero Chaos,

(21:22):
and that created a model,created a blueprint that we
would then evolve, tweak,enhance, and scale to be doing
some of the very interesting,very large projects we're doing
today.

SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
Awesome.
Well, I could have swore I readin Black Enterprise back in the
day that y'all were number onefor the year.
But, you know, we love David aswell.
I cannot believe how big he'sgotten.

SPEAKER_01 (21:46):
Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (21:46):
$20 billion.
That's dear to you because,again, we've talked about it for

(22:07):
20-something years.
And you're not just aboutinvestment, investment, and
investments.
You are into social impact, andyou want to make a difference in
our community and our world.
You raised the capital toempower these minority-owned
businesses.
What inspired that mission foryou?

SPEAKER_01 (22:27):
Yeah, thanks, Sean.
I appreciate you asking thatbecause you are 100% right.
This is not just about profit.
There's a bigger purpose here.
And for me, what drives memainly is job creation and the
ability to economically upliftcommunities and even nations if

(22:51):
more and more people would beinspired and replicate what it
is we're trying to do.
And that is more important to methan the profits.
But the purpose is aboutchanging the narrative on what
it means to be a diverseentrepreneur in America,
changing the narrative on whatwe can do for ourselves and our

(23:14):
community, relying on less andless government support or input
to effectuate the future that wewant to see for our kids and
their kids.
So job creation, impactingcommunities economically, that
is really the passion that fuelsthe business.

SPEAKER_02 (23:34):
I remember when you called me back in 2020, or I may
have called you, and it wasduring COVID, and you bought
STI.
And you're like, man, I'm buyingthis call center.
That's based out of theNortheast.
We've got a huge presence in thePhilippines or somewhere over in

(23:55):
that part of the world.
And you're like, I want to moveforward.
Some of the operations, a bigportion of the operations to the
state so that we can give peoplejobs, man.
And then, you know, thingshappen with the economy.
I'm not quite sure what happenedwith that because it was during
the middle of COVID when all ofthis stuff was taking place.

(24:16):
And so it was just not that thetiming may have been wrong for
that opportunity.
And I know that, again, I've.
We're going to go into somethingelse in here.
I'm going to ask you a questionabout the Billion Dollar Club.
I had never heard of the BillionDollar Club.
Billion Dollar Roundtable?
The Billion Dollar Roundtable.
That's right.
That's right.
I'd never heard of it.
You told me about it.
And you told me about that 15years ago.
And I can recall you calling meand saying, Sean, I don't care

(24:39):
how you get to Atlanta or howyou get to Miami, but you need
to come check out the billiondollar round.
And just to see what's going onin corporate America as far as
people wanting to invest in ourcommunities, man.
And so anyway, tell me how yougot started.
you know, involved with theRoundtable and your passion

SPEAKER_00 (25:02):
behind it.
What it's all about.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (25:04):
exactly.
That's a great point.
What it's all about.

SPEAKER_01 (25:06):
We'll spend a little bit of time on that.
So the Billion Dollar Roundtableis a group of committed Fortune
500 firms that want to beintentional about supporting
diverse businesses.
And it's not altruism, right?
And in today's day and age,there's been a lot of talk, a
lot of pushback, right, on DEI.
At the concept, at the core ofit, this is economic equity.

(25:28):
and good business sense forlarge companies to realize that
their consumers are increasinglydiverse.
Their consumers are increasinglychanging, right, as the
demographics of the U.S.
change, right?
So this is not about handouts.
This is not about set asides.
This is about smart businesspractices by the Microsofts, the

(25:51):
Walmarts, the GEs, the FordMotor companies of the world,
because they're seeing what thefuture of their customer is
looking like and how thatcustomer is changing.
And they want to be able toadapt to the needs of those
changing consumers.
Fundamentally, this iseconomically driven.
This is not social.

(26:11):
This is not a non-profitorganization.
I push back on people who sayDEI doesn't make sense.
No.
DEI makes a lot of sense.
It makes business sense.
It's just all about consumers.
This is not all about a handoutfor a particular community or
anything like that.
If you believe that more andmore people are Yeah.

(26:34):
in the U.S.
are going to be of variousethnic backgrounds or mixed
backgrounds, this makes sense.
So fundamentally, this is aneconomic imperative that these
large corporations have seen andrealized, and now they get
together, they come together,they trade best practices, they
trade ideas on which vendors arethe ones that are ready to scale
and handle a big contract, butthat is what it is.

(26:55):
A group of very smart Fortune500 firms that realize that this
is good business sense.

SPEAKER_02 (27:04):
And with that, again, you've been involved 15
plus years and you brought mealong all of those years.
So I'm familiar with it.
There is some frustration to theDEI model from the past.
And you're a hugely successstory of that.
But for you, there are countlessother failures that haven't been

(27:29):
able to live up to what thecompanies are looking for as far
as bringing good soundoperational leadership skills to
the table when we're talkingabout bringing services to those
organizations.
And so I commend you for that.
And again, it's something that,you know, we talk about zero
chaos, I can recall, I know thisis your podcast, but I get to

(27:50):
say a few things here.
But I can recall hearing thestory, you know, you're getting
this gigantic deal with aFortune 500 company.
I said, hey, we're going to takeyou along with us around the
globe and help set up operationsbecause you all had your stuff
together.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (28:07):
That was IBM,

SPEAKER_02 (28:08):
yeah.
You all had your stuff together,though.
It wasn't them saying, get yourstuff together first.
No, you went to them prepared,and it made their decision to
bring you along with them thatmuch easier.
So anyway, back to you, Roy.

SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
So first of all, incredible and really great to
hear that, particularly with theBillion Dollar Club, that there
are these large corporationsthat are getting together and do
things for smart business sense,particularly as it relates to
know supporting minorityentrepreneurs and diversity etc
but i want to shift gears a bitand talk about mindset and we we

(28:47):
spoke earlier and you intriguedme with with a number of things
and one of the things you saidwas persistence is the real
currency in capital raising canyou share a moment when you when
you almost gave up

SPEAKER_01 (28:58):
oh yeah there are there are tons of those right
it's um If you recall some ofthe books that I'd put in the
document you asked me toprepare, Phil Knight's book is a
great example of that.
Success in entrepreneurship isbeing on the brink of failure a
number of times, but not givingup to see it succeed.

(29:23):
There have been countlessexamples.
Let's use the example we've beentalking about before, right?
Zero chaos.
We were days away from closing.
One of our large investors hadbacked out for a number of
reasons and we were half amillion dollars short on a
transaction that needed toclose.

(29:44):
The sellers were getting veryfrustrated and weren't sure we
were gonna be able to pull itoff.
And we had to ask one of ourlocal investors here to step in
on a weekend to wire us money byMonday But that went right,
right down to the wire, right?
Having a big gap in terms ofwhat we needed to be able to
pull off that transaction.
And that was, you know, 20 plusyears ago and there are, you

(30:08):
know, countless examples since.
But yes, there's a, if you'renot, comfortable hearing the
word no, and if you're notcomfortable having a certain
level of determination and gritas it relates to, you know,
raising capital and meetingdeadlines, right?
You know, you might want tothink about how you approach,
right, the business of buyingcompanies.

SPEAKER_00 (30:30):
Well, and I think that translates into...
almost anything, right?
I mean, you shared a story withme before, Sean, about one of
your first jobs here and whereit came down to, I believe it
was a Friday afternoon and youwere going to be out the door
and all of a sudden, you know,two people you had worked with
called in and took you over thehump.

(30:53):
And I think as whether you're anentrepreneur or whether you're a
business person driven, if youdon't have those uncomfortable
moments, how do you say, theappreciation for, the future
appreciation is less, if thatmakes sense.
And so Richard, how do youbalance visionary thinking with

(31:15):
disciplined execution?

SPEAKER_01 (31:16):
Yeah, right.
That's a great question.
That's a whole topic of a wholepodcast, right?
That's a very, no, that's avery, very

SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
good question.
Note to

SPEAKER_01 (31:23):
Sean, we'll have him back.
But it's real and it's somethingwe talk about as you learn
leadership styles.
One of the things that I wouldsay is how you balance that is
having a good team, right?
Because oftentimes people thatare excellent at either can't by
almost definition, the way theirbrain is wired, do both very

(31:45):
well, right?
And so a big part of it ishaving the balance of where can
you be visionary and run withthat, but who is the one
following up on the execution?
So that to me is a real,discipline that successful
entrepreneurs have to learn andhave to master.

(32:06):
Obviously, there are people thathave done it at the highest
level, but in general, one ofthe ways to balance that is to
have a good team that helps tokeep you accountable and
operates in a highly functioningway and environment.
One of my favorite books thatwasn't on the list there,
though, is the is thedysfunctions of a team, right?

(32:28):
And it's an amazing book aroundthe five things that if you can
overcome, you can buildhigh-performing teams, right?
And one of them is thataccountability, right?
And so that's one of the,simplest ways that I believe
entrepreneurs and leaders canbalance visionary thinking and
discipline execution is makingsure that you're setting up a

(32:50):
team of people withaccountability to be able to do

SPEAKER_00 (32:53):
both.
And then trust has to play amajor role in that.

SPEAKER_01 (32:55):
Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 (32:57):
I think a lot of times we And speaking with
business leaders andentrepreneurs and others who
have made it, I mean, the mostsuccessful people that I know
surround themselves with peoplewho are smarter than they are,
who can get things done.
And then you have those where Ithink sort of shoot themselves

(33:20):
in the foot because they believesometimes they have to be the
smartest person at the top.

SPEAKER_02 (33:27):
We talked about...
We talked about emerging trends,what's new in the marketplace
and things like that.
You mentioned that AI...
Energy transition, which I loveyour DYCM power that you're
investing in and you're buildingout.

(33:49):
And also about, this is anothercool one that I really like, the
democratization of privatemarkets.
So tokenizing things and stufflike that.
That is all over.
All three of these.
Energy, you don't hear that muchabout it.
It's something that I don't seeon the news a lot.
But which of these trends exciteyou the most and why?

SPEAKER_01 (34:10):
Sean, as you know, all three of them I could talk
about for a long time.
I think everybody realizes thatAI is going to change the way we
do things, operate in almost anyindustry.
There's going to be some impactof AI in that industry.

(34:32):
But if I had to pick one to talkabout the most, I'm not going to
do the obvious one, AI.
I'm probably going to talk aboutdemocratizing our private
markets.
And the reason I mention that,and this is something that is on
the topic of the biggestinvestment firms in the world,
the Blackstones and the BlackRocks and the Goldman Sachses.

(34:53):
I believe that too few peoplehave really had access to the
American dream and the abilityto really create wealth by
owning assets, right?

(35:13):
In America today, baby boomersare retiring 8,000 a day.
There's tens of trillions ofdollars of wealth transfer that
is going to occur over the nextcouple of decades here in
America.
And that wealth transfer doneproperly could actually be very,

(35:33):
very helpful in democratizingwealth, right?
And helping to...
and helping to create impact incommunities, rebuild, if you
will, diverse communities,enhance a lot of the the
reversing of the incomeinequality, right?

(35:53):
That is happening here where therich is getting richer and the
poor are struggling and a onepaycheck away from being out on
the street.
And the middle class.
Yes, it's shrinking, right?
So that's what this topic, youknow, done properly,
democratizing private markets ina sustainable way.
could be actually a verypowerful trend that's just as

(36:13):
powerful as anything else inhelping to curb, reset, and or
reshape what the incomeinequality looks like in the US
today.
But just think about that as abig, powerful trend.
8,000 baby boomers a day areretiring in the US.

(36:34):
And the wealth that is beingtransferred to other
generations, people who need tobuy those assets because they
don't want to hand the businessdown to their kids because they
know the kids might run into theground in two years after that,
et cetera.
So again, Sean, we could spendfive minutes on any one of those
topics.
I just wanted to choose that oneas one that I think is very

(36:55):
fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 (36:56):
Well, good.
I still want you to talk aboutone of the other ones because I
love DYCM and what you got goingon there.
I remember I was looking at youthis morning.
I pulled up the email where yousent me the deck back in March
of 24 when you're like hey man Igot this deal going on big huge
deal so tell us about you knowDYCM and what's going on there

(37:19):
where you're at with

SPEAKER_01 (37:20):
that I appreciate it and like I said Sean you know a
lot about the things I'm workingon that's not necessarily public
to everybody so but I'm happyyou're asking we have the
website and I'm very passionateabout this project so what DYCM
is is we are bringing backmanufacturing to the US.
This is something that thecurrent administration is very,

(37:42):
very clued in on.
I would like to say, and this isnot a political comment, I would
like to say that should beimportant to any political
party, right?
That's in power, right?
Can we be bringing back andreshoring these critical skills
and these critical jobs?
But didn't this come out ofBiden, the

SPEAKER_02 (38:00):
ERA or ERC?
It came out of IRA.
You mentioned that this came outof the Biden administration,
which would work it up for

SPEAKER_01 (38:06):
you.
Right, and again, there's been alot of talk, right, on...
Republicans and Democrats andthe ways in which they disagree,
I like to find the commonality.
And I'd like to say, despite allof the disagreement and
differences, the one things thatRepublicans and Democrats should
agree on is that creating jobsin America are good for America

(38:29):
and its economy and itscountries.
And I don't think that anybodywould disagree with that on
whether you're blue or...
Hopefully not.
Well, yeah, yeah, hopefully not.
You never know.
You never know, right?
But, you know, Shame on him.
So the reality of it is this isnot a political commentary.
Where we are today, right, is...
It is very, very critical forpeople to take the risk to make

(38:52):
the investments into criticalindustries that allow America to
control some of its own destiny.
Investing in America'smanufacturing capability is one
thing.
This particular project is notonly doing that, but it is also
investing in America's energyindependence.
We are short on energy.

(39:12):
The grid is constrained.
Anything we're looking to do tobe a leader in AI, AI and data
centers require a lot of power,right?
Building new schools on a grid.
How are you getting power tothose schools so that the kids
can power their laptops?
So the energy independencecombined with the bringing back
of manufacturing and creatingjobs in real communities here in

(39:36):
America, DYCM is doing both.
And you can even play itfurther, right?
And if you understand what'shappening now so much of our
supply is coming from China.
It's not even coming from anally or a friend.
It's one thing to say you'rebringing back jobs that is being
done in countries that arefriendly and aligned to the US,

(39:56):
right?
Canada or Mexico, pick someother ones, the UK.
No, right?
We're trying to change a very,very critical flow, right, of
dollars because we're right nowvery reliant on one of our most
contentious And I

SPEAKER_00 (40:20):
would say it's...
from that aspect, it's alsoimportant from a security
perspective.

SPEAKER_01 (40:25):
100%.
100%.
So this is about job creation,economic impact, energy
resilience, security, energysecurity, national security.
Especially when it

SPEAKER_00 (40:37):
comes

SPEAKER_01 (40:37):
to infrastructure.
100%.
So as Sean said, this projectsits right in the middle of
that.
It's a multi-billion dollarproject.
We have global partners inplace.
And what I'm most excited about,as you guys have heard me say
before, is the almost 2,000 jobswe're going to create in the
Southeast US with this project.

(40:59):
So yes, it will be a very goodproject when it gets done.
It's taken a lot of time to getto where it is.
There have been stops and startsbecause of the uncertainty
around tariffs and around thebig, beautiful bill, et cetera.
But the fundamental thesis,going back to what we talked
about earlier, buildingbusinesses that are solving
customers' problems, thefundamental thesis This is as

(41:22):
powerful as ever.
U.S.
energy producers want to seethis solution in the market, and
we're very close to being ableto finalize the entire capital
stack, close on the project, andstart shipping panels from
Alabama end of next year.

SPEAKER_00 (41:38):
And I would venture to say that while we talk right
now about the U.S., You know,even our neighbors to the south,
a lot of the Caribbean islandsare facing a lot of energy
challenges where a project likethis could play a big role as
well.
100%.

SPEAKER_01 (41:58):
Yeah, and by the way, it's the start of a number
of things we could be doing in asimilar vein, but again...
What it really starts with is abig, bold, billion-dollar
ambition to solve amulti-billion-dollar problem in
the U.S.
for large customers.
And then we reverse engineer andsay, okay, this is the problem.
Do we have the resources, therelationships, and the capital

(42:21):
to solve that problem forcustomers?
It just turns out our customersare some of the biggest energy
producers and users in thecountry.

SPEAKER_00 (42:32):
Cool.
Well, let's bring it home.
You know, I want to focus alittle bit here on legacy and
vision.
And, you know, that's alwaysimportant from various aspects.
But, you know, if you could beremembered for one contribution,
business or personal, what wouldit be and why?

(42:52):
I

SPEAKER_01 (42:55):
would want to be remembered for inspiring people
a whole new generation ofleaders, entrepreneurs, public
servants, and otherwise, todream big, challenge existing
norms, and live the life oftheir dreams.

SPEAKER_00 (43:17):
Nice.
And if you had the ability toput together a platform a dream
board of advisors of people bothfrom the past or present, who
would you put on your board andwhy?

(43:38):
What would that dream board ofwhat you call of contributors
look like?

SPEAKER_01 (43:45):
Sure.
That's an interesting list.
I think, you know, you're askingme sort of a trick question here
because I love reading.
Right.
I love learning about people'sstories and what inspired them
to do uncommon things.
In fact, this summer I had mykids read a biography and they
got to choose.
My son did Nelson Mandela.

SPEAKER_00 (44:07):
Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (44:08):
Right.
And my daughter did.
Powerful.
My daughter did Simone Biles.
Right.
And so I had them do that, notjust reading the fiction.
fictional books and they're goodreaders they read you know three
books a month and um and so forme I think the combination of
people would be an eclectic one,right?

(44:28):
For me, but I'll give you somespecific names.
Nelson Mandela would certainlybe on the list, right?
And his example around unitingpeople, right?
Behind a shared purpose.
Warren Buffett, for sure, right?
As in my opinion, the greatestinvestor, right?
That's ever lived.
And I would probably add in anathlete, right?

(44:49):
Or two, because of mybackground.
So Lionel Messi or Usain Bolt,right?
For global excellence, right?
And really, you know that I cantalk about sports a lot.
I love sports.
Both Usain Bolt and Messi haveone thing in common, and they
talk a lot about the work andthe preparation that goes into

(45:12):
people looking at them as anovernight success, right?
And how much time they put intobeing an overnight, the 17 years
that went into being anovernight success, right?
I'd probably add a gentleman bythe name of Reginald Lewis.
who people in the US wouldrelate to, but at one time was
the first black person to do abillion dollar private equity

(45:36):
deal.
And this was decades ago andreally ushered in a whole
generation of entrepreneurs likeRobert Smith, the richest black
man in the U.S.
right now, and others that wereinspired by his story.
And then I would go, if you picksome historical figures, there's
a lot of interesting things Ithink we could learn from people

(45:58):
like an Alexander the Great or aMarcus Aurelius.
And one of the things peopledon't realize is how some of
these leaders were thrust intothat role and the aid that they
were doing some very amazingthings, right?
So there's a lot to learn fromsome of those people on
resilience, adaptability, right?
And leadership, you know, etcetera.

SPEAKER_02 (46:18):
And Reginald Lewis, a billion dollars in the 90s,
early 90s was like, you know,what Elon Musk is talking about
these days.
But there's a couple of thingsthat I want to do, Roy, that I
think we need to do.
One of the things that we wantto do with the podcast is to
touch emerging leaders.
Um, and, and so let me ask, youknow, you said that you invest,

(46:41):
you invest in trust beforetransactions.
And that, that, that to me, man,that, that just says so much.
And again, um, you know,everything I know about you,
we've been, we've been friendsfor 20 something years.
I know you're in France havebeen business partners for just
as long.
And, you know, most people don'thave, it's life is usually

(47:01):
transactional.
That's what we've, you know, wesee a lot of that.
What, Advice would you give toyoung entrepreneurs today?

SPEAKER_01 (47:09):
Sure.
The first thing that I hopefullythink is an inspiring message to
young entrepreneurs is, what isyour why?
Really question why you're doingthis.
Because unfortunately, a lot ofpeople, a lot of young

(47:32):
entrepreneurs are doing it forthe wrong reasons.
And they're doing it becausethey realize that the richest
man in the world started acouple of companies, right?
And if he can be, and that'swhat I want to do.
I want to make money, so I wantto start.
But the path of entrepreneurshipis not for everybody, right?
And you can be wildly successfulwithout having to be an
entrepreneur, right?

(47:53):
Entrepreneur is not the onlypath to be creating millions of
dollars in this day and age.
So really question the why.
Are you obsessed with solvingcustomers' problems and creating
something that's a little bitdifferent than what is out
there?
And does that drive you?
Is that fun?

(48:13):
Is that challenge exciting toyou?
Just like a professional athleteor your kids or your kids or my
kids that are playing sports andthey're dying and they're
sweating and they're starvingand they come home and they're
exhausted, but they would do itagain tomorrow because they love
it.
Is that the approach you'retaking to business and

(48:35):
entrepreneurship?
And if not, It might not be thepath for everybody.
Kevin O'Leary is big on this,right?
That not everybody has the DNAand the mindset to be a
successful entrepreneur and knowyour lane.
There's nothing wrong.
There's nothing wrong with, andyou can make millions, right?
There's nothing wrong with notbeing an entrepreneur if you

(48:56):
don't feel as if you have theright mindset for it.
So that's the, again, we couldgo on that.
That could be a whole podcast,right, Sean, on advice for young
entrepreneurs.
But the one thing, as you askedme, What is your why?
Well, maybe they'll come backand hear the

SPEAKER_00 (49:11):
podcast.
Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 (49:15):
I have like four segments already.
And let me ask you this.
And I know you don't.
You know, the rearview mirror issmaller than the window ahead,
right?
And you're not a guy that looksand wallow in the past.
But if you could go back andchange one thing in your
journey, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 (49:35):
That's a great...
You're exactly right, Sean.
You almost preempted my answerto the question because you
know...
I knew you would.
That's why I wanted you to giveus something.
Yeah, yeah.
Fair, fair.
I don't spend a lot of timelooking in the rearview mirror.
We can't.
Yeah, yeah.
We can't.
No, we can't.
You have to learn from it andmove on.

SPEAKER_02 (49:54):
That's right.

SPEAKER_01 (49:55):
Making mistakes is not a problem.
That's right.
Did you learn from them and areyou moving on and is it helping
you to be better?
But if I had to pick one, Iwould tell you I...
I'd be a lot more intentionalabout investing in and
developing my subjective skillsets as a leader.

(50:20):
Say that more about that.
Yes, my subjective versusobjective.
So I relied heavily on mycommand of numbers and finance
and and making sure the numbersdon't lie.
There's purity in the numbersand they don't lie.
And in this business, and Ibelieve in any business, it's

(50:41):
the balance of the subjectiveand the objective, the tangible,
intangible, the numbers and theintuition.
And I never relied as much oreven invested enough in
understanding the value of thesofter skills, the intuition,
the reading people, the justbeing able to follow your gut
and say, you know what, despitewhat the numbers are saying,

(51:02):
that's not a person we cantrust, right, et cetera.
And so some of my pain painfullessons in business have been
because I did not listen to thator did not invest in that.
And the numbers were right.
The people were wrong.
And the business did not performright as we expected it to.

SPEAKER_02 (51:21):
I want you to talk being very,

SPEAKER_01 (51:23):
very candid.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (51:24):
absolutely.
You know, the cool thing aboutthat, you and I connected back
in 19.
You flew up to Greensboro at theLeadership

SPEAKER_03 (51:32):
Institute,

SPEAKER_02 (51:33):
where we did a lot of work around that.
And I appreciate, you know, Ican recall back 20 years ago, we
were talking Tony Robbins,right?
But look, let's go back to, yousaid something that, man, I'm
like, okay, I want to hear moreabout this.
You said your kids and going tofunctions with them helped you

(51:54):
with the intuition part andreading the room.
Talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 (51:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Sure, Sean.
That's cool.
Yes, it's powerful.
But one of the things that Irealize and then my journey as a
leader over indexing on thatsort of analytical side of the
brain, show me the data, show methe data.
One of the things that kids dofor all of us, I'm not the only
parent in here and you're aparent listening to this, is it

(52:21):
makes you very present.
Right.
It makes you very, very presentin that moment because kids can
feel If you're there, but you'renot really there, right?
And your kid will look at you.
If you're sitting beside him,he's like, Daddy, you're not
paying me any attention.
You're not here.
I need you here because yourmind is somewhere else.
And kids can do that, right?

(52:41):
And so one of the things kidshave taught me is to be a lot
more present.
And then with that presencecomes learnings and insight.
Yes.
that you could not get becauseyour mind was literally halfway
across the world or somewhereelse.
And so I was a victim of thatbefore, having so many things

(53:02):
going on at one time that mymind just was not right here in
the moment.
Your time sharing.
Yes, yes, yes.
And so reading a room, It'salmost been like the rooms now
are, you know, 1080p HD, right,versus black and white before,
because what I'm seeing withthat presence is very different.
I'm now actually focusing onsomebody's body language, not

(53:25):
just what they're saying.
Before, I would only hear whatthey're saying.
I wouldn't even see them becauseI wasn't even looking at them.
My mind was somewhere else,right?
Right, right, right.
helping to develop that aspectthat I believe is helping to

(53:45):
make better business decisions.

SPEAKER_00 (53:47):
And that goes a long way.
Actually, I sat in a sessionthis week with a gentleman who
wrote a book about, you know,being a disciplined listener.
And he touched on that sametopic with his own kid, you
know, and, you know, theimportance of being there and

(54:08):
for them when they need youlistening and being attentive,
because as they grow older,resentment starts setting in
right and and and so you you gotto break that cycle at some
point in terms of you know youwant that in the future um you
know they're they're um how doyou say uh uh they want to know

(54:30):
that when they're when they'respeaking with you you're really
dialed into them right um so youyou've you've drawn lessons from
and you might you talked aboutyour books and stuff earlier and
and by the way a very impressivelist um i i have some catching
up to do i have a I have toadmit.
But you've drawn lessons frombooks like Shoe Dog and

(54:50):
Principles.
Which one shaped your journeythe most?

SPEAKER_01 (54:55):
Sure.
I'm going to pick two or three,but I'll be quick in telling you
the different answers because atdifferent moments in time,
different ones were that littleshift.
So in the beginning, when I was12 years old, a mentor of mine
in Jamaica was a successfulinvestor, introduced me to
Warren Buffett.
So there was a book, The Makingof an American Capitalist.

(55:18):
I think it was by Lowenstein,but it was a book on Warren
Buffett.
And at the time, one of the mostcomprehensive, almost
biography-like books on WarrenBuffett.
Absolutely, in the first 15years, I'm going to segment my
mid-40s life into threesegments.
In the first 15 years, thatprobably was one of the most
impactful books that I read.

(55:40):
In that second segment, 15 to30, in my early 20s, I was
introduced, and Sean brought itup earlier, to Tony Robbins and
Awaken the Giant Within by TonyRobbins.
At that time in my mid-20s,started to change my whole world
around...

(56:00):
that internal personal growthand that journey.
And so I've been a student ofthat since my early twenties.
And that was a very impactfulone at the time.
I'm sorry

SPEAKER_02 (56:13):
for cutting you off, but I got to say something to
the audience about that.
Because you have been a discipleof Tony's for a long time and
this personal growth anddevelopment is just as important
as going to the gym.
And a lot of us don't thinkthat, and I want that to be

(56:36):
something that if there's atakeaway, that that is just as
important as you know, thenumbers or going to the gym or
eating healthy.
So anyway, I'm sorry for cuttingyou off, but

SPEAKER_01 (56:47):
I wanted to definitely jump on that.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
100%, right?
And so if I look at my thirdphase now, right, and say in the
last 10 plus years, what bookhas been very impactful on me
and caused another little shiftin my outlook, it's Mindset.
Mindset.

(57:08):
The book Mindset.
Now, again, as you know, I tryto read at least four or five
books a year, so could go into alot more, but I just picked
three from three distinctlydifferent parts of my journey
that I think the audience wouldbe inspired by.
But as you also know, on aregular basis, I'm fascinated

(57:29):
with a topic around cognitivebiases and how we make
decisions.
I'm fascinated with how the mindworks, and I'm fascinated with
the art of leadership andinfluence and persuasion.
So I'm a big fan of a lot of thelatest research and writings
that come out about how to be abetter leader, right, and a

(57:51):
better influencer.
That whole topic of leadershipand leadership development is a
fascinating one for me.

SPEAKER_00 (57:57):
And one that we certainly need to have you back
to speak about because you youstarted you know earlier going
on and and bringing up sometopics there that i think would
be really really oh yeah nodoubt i would love to to be able
to share that um richard um youknow if you could sit down with
one person from your dream boardand we talked about this dream
board before um you know whowould it be and and and and why

SPEAKER_01 (58:22):
yeah this might sound um this might sound a
little funny but um i i would Ofall of those people that I would
sit down with and really spendsome time getting to know and
talk about it, probably would beLionel Messi.
Of all of them.
And there's one particularreason.

(58:43):
Because of how humble he is,despite his global stardom and
face.
And the humility, almost as acharacter trait, is
counterintuitive for somebodylike him.
We're used to global celebritieslike this naturally having a

(59:05):
little bit of an edge or an ego,et cetera.
And he is, if you follow him,and that's why Warren Buffett
would be a close second, for whothey are, right?
And how down to earth they wouldbe sitting down there in Messi's
instance, drinking a Pepsi.
He wouldn't drink a Coke becausehe's sponsored by Pepsi.
And in Warren Buffett'sinstance, drinking a Coca-Cola

(59:28):
because he owns a lot of theshares, right?
And drinks it every day.
And you'd have conversationswith these people that would be
so inspiring.
But the humility, and Buffetttalks about this a lot, but the
humility of these people whichagain is counterintuitive to
some of their peers.

(59:48):
But it's fascinating to me tounpack and learn about how that
as a part of their DNA actuallyhelps make them who they are,
right?
In terms of that success, right?
And legendary status in theirrespective field.
Is this Messi of FC Miami?

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:06):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lionel Messi.
What are we doing?
We went to the University ofMiami.
We don't know nobody that'sconnected to the...
We got to go look him up.
We got to look him up.
We got to go look him up.
Absolutely.
So when he comes back the nexttime, he could talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:19):
There you go.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:20):
Absolutely.
Well, if you know, Chase is abig sponsor.
If you have any contacts thereand into Miami Stadium, I'm sure
there are people within your UMalumni network that are
connected down there.
That's something to think about.
We'll get three tickets.
That would be

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:37):
awesome.
Before we transition heretowards the closing, I want to
just go through some fun factsand favorites here.
And Sean, I'm going to proposewe sort of round robin these.
You can go with the first one.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:55):
The favorite productivity hack.
Your go-to.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:02):
My go-to productivity hack is but now I
would say Gemini.
Okay.
I find it a little moreintelligent than ChatGPT at the
moment for some of the questionsthat I ask it.
But it definitely has been veryhelpful.
Very

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:19):
good.
Even after 5.0.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:23):
Yeah, yeah,

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:23):
yeah.
Look, he has some experience.
No, no, no,

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:27):
listen.
I'll show you this.
Look at the top of my thing.
There's Chat, there's Gemini,Perplexity.
You don't use Grunt?
I haven't yet.
I tried, but literally three ofthem are at the top of my
favorite apps, right?
Perplexity is a very interestingone.
Why?
Because it's apparently the mostintelligent of all of them.
It's almost like an aggregatorof what a lot of the other ones

(01:01:50):
would say.
It's called Perplexity.
To be downloaded.
Yeah, Perplexity AI.
You check that one out.
But yeah, so for now, Gemini,that's what I said for now
because it could change in twoweeks, right?
All

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:59):
right, so let's take it back down to the islands.
What's your favorite Jamaicandish?

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:05):
All right, favorite Jamaican dish.
would probably be Gunga PeaSoup.
Did y'all have a lot of

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:12):
that when you went to your

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:13):
40-year reunion a couple of weeks ago?
I had some, yeah.
Okay, got it.
I had some Gunga Pea Soup, agood soup.
And Gunga Peas is like, in Latinculture, they call it gandulas.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's just a soup made with thatparticular pea.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:26):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:26):
And the flavoring with the scotch bonnet pepper
and everything like that.
Oh, you're speaking my language.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:33):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:34):
Okay.

UNKNOWN (01:02:35):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:36):
A month ago, you were in Jamaica for your reunion
and for an investmentconference.
And then you were telling usearlier about being in Ghana.
What's the one thing you alwaystravel with outside of your
phone?

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:53):
What I always travel with is my travel-sized
Tempur-Pedic pillow.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:58):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:59):
My travel-sized Tempur-Pedic pillow.
Got it.

UNKNOWN (01:03:01):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:01):
Very

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:02):
cool.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:02):
Probably take a lesson from that.
I've stopped in many placeswhere the pillow was really
overused.
Yeah, I hear you.
It

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:08):
affects my sleep.
Yeah, I hear you.
So it's one that just fits rightin the carry-on and doesn't take

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:13):
too much.
Nice, nice.
Okay, most surprising lessonlearned from a mentor?

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:17):
Surprising?
Yes.
Lesson learned from a mentor?
At the time, I thought it wassurprising.
Now I would say I didn't knowhow I lived without it before,
but it's...
Many times in life, both yourpersonal life and business life,

(01:03:38):
it is better to be rich than tobe right.
And so in marriage, it's likeit's better to be happy than be
right.
Yes.
And sometimes you have to make atrade-off.
Amen to that.
There's a lot of times you couldwin the argument, but did you
really win?
It's better to lose the battlethan the war.
So it's sometimes better to behappy than be right, better to

(01:04:01):
be rich than be right.
Sounded a little funny to mewhen I heard it, but as I've
been processing it and utilizingit, it's very true.

UNKNOWN (01:04:11):
Nice.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:12):
Well, you know, Richard, this has been amazing.
And, you know, first andforemost, thank you for your
time.
Thank you for your wisdom.
No, no.
And thank you for being ashumble as you are.
And also for sharing with us.
I mean, what an amazing, I wouldcall this fellowship.

(01:04:34):
in terms of us getting togetherand you being able to share with
our audience your journey, butalso the things that drive you
and I would say the sound advicethat others can follow to become
successful.

(01:04:54):
Like everyone else, everybodyfaces adversity, but it's how
you get up when you're kickeddown And stand back up and face
it is what really matters.
Sean, you want some closingwords?

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:05):
No, you know, I'm a huge fan.
I've been a fan a long time.
And I've had the privilege ofgetting these stories for 20
plus years, man.
I remember when he wrote hisbook, you know, what, 10 years
ago, maybe 12 years ago.
CNBC, 12 years ago.
You know, back in the day, thisgoes back where they featured
him.
And I still think that enoughfolks don't know who he is.

(01:05:30):
And you're talking about anincredible story.
And an incredible story from anincredible individual.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:39):
Well, no, I appreciate it, guys.
I'm happy I got to share some ofthis.
For me, the passion is reallyinspiring the audience, the
people listening, to hopefullytake one or two nuggets away,
right, that can change yourlives.
And definitely look forward tobeing back to talk about some of
those other topics that wedidn't have time to get into
today.
We will make that happen.
Yeah, of course.
Thank you.
Thank you.

(01:05:59):
Thanks, brother.
It's been great, man.

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:04):
Hey,

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:04):
same

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:04):
here, man.

UNKNOWN (01:06:04):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:06):
Hi, I'm Roy Richardson, host of the Dynamic
Business Leaders podcast.
Are you a business owner orleader of a successful business?
If yes, we'd love to have you asa guest on our program.
Our goal is simple.
We provide a platform forleaders to share their
experiences to benefit others.
We want to hear your story, howyou got started, the challenges
you faced along the way, andyour passion today.

(01:06:27):
If this sounds like you or youknow someone who fits these
criteria, then be sure to get intouch with us by visiting our
website linked in the episodedescription below.
Also, don't forget to subscribeto our YouTube channel and click
the notification bell to benotified when our next episode
goes live.
Or if you'd rather listen to usduring your car rides, you can
also follow us on your favoriteaudio channel using your

(01:06:49):
podcatcher.
Thanks again and remember, keepcrushing it.

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EP.17 – Vision, Grit, and Capital: Richard Powell’s Billion-Dollar Journey

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EP.17 – Vision, Grit, and Capital: Richard Powell’s Billion-Dollar Journey