Mastering Relationship Capital: John Hope Bryant on How to Build Powerful Institutional Connections

In this clip of Market Mondays, host Ian Dunlap sits down with financial literacy powerhouse John Hope Bryant to break down the crucial steps needed to build strong institutional relationships—especially if you’re starting from scratch. John Hope Bryant wastes no time laying out the real foundation: get your credit score up to at least 700! He explains why having good credit isn’t just a personal milestone, but a fundamental requirement for anyone looking to play in the big leagues of business and finance. Drawing from the Hope Financial Wellness Index, Bryant shares how the average credit score for Black Americans hovers around 620—and how improving that number is the key to opening new doors. Ian and John dive deep into practical advice: Instead of wandering into your neighborhood bank branch, seek out the regional or chief credit officer at a community or mid-sized bank, where decision-makers are more accessible. They dish out insider tips on approaching these professionals—don’t go in with just a transaction in mind. Instead, focus on genuine relationship-building. Personal rapport trumps bravado every time. This conversation uncovers the power of relationship capital: why Harvard, country clubs, and elite initiatives function as lifelong “clubs” that drive opportunity. If you’re wondering why boardrooms often seem exclusive, Ian unpacks the concept of discrimination versus racism and challenges viewers to “break up the comfort” and get in the room where decisions are made. Finally, John and Ian discuss their own business journeys, with John opening up about building and selling a $150 million real estate portfolio and the lessons learned from joint ventures and relinquishing control. If you’re serious about transforming your financial future—especially within Black America—this clip is a must-watch. Learn how financial literacy, AI knowledge, and networking “up the ladder” can reshape your path in just five years. *Key topics in this clip:*

• Building your credit score to access big deals
• How to approach mid-tier banking executives for real connections
• The importance of storytelling and genuine rapport in business
• Relationship capital: Harvard, country clubs, and the “club” mentality
• Discrimination vs. racism in hiring and networking
• Real-life real estate and business lessons from John Hope Bryant
• The urgency of financial and AI literacy as modern civil rights issues

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, aspiring investor, or simply want practical steps to connect with powerful institutions, this Market Mondays clip gives you the blueprint. *Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more sharp financial insights every Monday!* #MarketMondays #FinancialLiteracy #JohnHopeBryant #IanDunlap #RelationshipCapital #BusinessNetworking #CreditScore #BlackWealth #FinancialWellness #RealEstate #AIGeneration #WealthBuilding #Entrepreneurship #NetworkingTips #CommunityBanking

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
About how to build these institutional relationships if they don't
have them. The first thing you got to do is
get your credit screw up to seven hundred, otherwise you
can't even It's like somebody going to lunch with you
and saying they want to do a five million dollar deal,
but they can't pay for the fifty dollars lunch. I
can't tell you many times I've had people broke, people
coming to me talking about they have a five million
dollars or five billion dollar line of credit from excuse me,

(00:20):
China or Rusher or someplace that you get from China.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm like, come on, knock that that.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I said, if you had a five billion dollars or
five one hundred million dollars line of credit, do you
really think that you'd be talking to me at lunch.
Don't you think that JB. Morgan Chase would have that.
Don't you think that Wells Froga would have that KKR
would have that, some investment banker would get that deal.
Why are you so special? Because it's a scam, right, so,
and and it unravels. So, first of all, get your
credit screw up so you so you actually can walk

(00:49):
the talk. If you can't do a fifty thousand dollars deal.
Don't be trying to talk talking about a five million
dollar deal. Knock it off. So get your credit score
up to seven hundred. They have a credit score for
black folks is six twenty across the country. I've done
that through our Hope of Financial Wellness Index. You put
your zip code in, I'll tell your credit score wherever
you live. Get your credit score up, get your vibration
up to the don't go to the local bank branch,

(01:11):
find the regional credit officer for the bank. Don't go
to money center bank. Go to a regional bank or
community bank that has a billion two billion in assets,
five billing in assets. But you can still give to
the chief credit officer. You still give to the chief
lending officer. If you didn't get a no, why would
you want to get a know from the branch manager.
No disrespect intended from the branch manager. If I'm gonna

(01:33):
get a no, I want to know from a boss.
So I'm gonna go find We're great at storytelling, Go
find who are the chief lending officer. Chief credit officer
is these people who make credit decisions at a mid
size bank.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Mid size is something with the B on top of it.
Billion in assets.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's not very big for a bank, but you can
still access These people sit their emails on their website.
In most cases, send them an email. Don't be crazy,
send an email. Hey, I'd like to buy a business
in town. I read your resume, your background. You seem
like a very interesting person. I love to meet you.
Here's a little bit about me. We're great storytelling. Most

(02:12):
people will give you fifteen minutes. So either do it virtually,
do it in person. Build a report. Don't go in
there and ask for a transaction. Don't go in there
bragging about yourself. Don't go in there with it. Don't
go there with your hand. Go there and find something
personal about that person. Look at the photos behind their desk.
Ask them about their wife, their husband, about them. No
one asks them about them. Build a personal rapport.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
A warmth.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
And but before the end of that meeting, that person
will say, hey, by the way, thank you, this has
been a great meeting.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
What were you here for? What do you need? What
do you need?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now the door is open and you say, well, actually,
thanks for asking. I really enjoy meeting you. By the way,
you gotta be authentic about this can't be a game.
I really enjoy meeting you.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
In addition to that, I'm trying to buy the dnnis
office or whatever. Okay, well let's get you with somebody.
Now that's changed everything because this person's job is to
say yes. The person in the branch manager, I'm not
the person in middle underwriting, middle management at a corporation
or a bank or lender. Their job is to say no.

(03:16):
Why they don't get fired for saying no, They get
fired or saying yes or the wrong thing to the andwers. No,
you need to go to somebody whose business it is
to say yes. That's a c suite executive. I'm just
doing this quick because we don't have a lot of time.
So you go to because I can't. I want to
get a No. One got to know from the top.
So relationship capital is everything. Why does somebody go to

(03:39):
Harvard because Harve's gonna make you three times more smart?

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Is the state university?

Speaker 1 (03:44):
No, it's because the class of twenty twenty five at
Harvard's going to.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Hook each other up for the next fifty years.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's why you go to Harvard country clubs, fraternity sororities, universities.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
It's a club.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Uh, I can't you know, I can't mention where I
was last week. But that's a club. You guys probably
know what we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
An Idaho milk and conference. It's a club.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Uh uh Clinton glob on a initiative, it's a club.
You want to be part of that club if you
want to. You want to relationship capital because they're gonna
hook up their friends. If you see a white if
you see a board of directors with all white siventy
five year old men, don't don't assume that's that's racism.
It might be discrimination. Discrimination is I'm discriminating against you

(04:38):
to do something else? But if I grew up with
these guys, went to college with them, We chased girls together,
and we lied together whatever in school. And I need
to hire somebody who's a treasurer. I'm the chief and
acil lassor I need a treasurer. And I got three
applications on my desk. One's black, eminently experienced, ones a
white woman and they qualified. And then the third one

(04:59):
was a white dude I went to college with who
chased women and he and he and he didn't tell
me when I when.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
I cheated on a test, which one gets hired.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
This is the white male now in the exactly the
third Yeah, that's discrimination. It's not racism, by the way,
that's the way the world works. You have a barbecue,
you invite black people do your barbecue?

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Are you? Are you racist?

Speaker 1 (05:22):
No? Are you discriminating a little bit? That means your friends.
So you're you're you're doing what's comfortable with you. We
got to break up the comfort and insert us. That's
why I loved you guys going to China and Africa.
I've been to one hundred countries. You don't go, you
can't know. So this AI thing and this capital markets

(05:42):
thing and the financial literacy thing, which I believe is
the civil rights issue of the generation. Financial literacy and
AI literacy is everything. These pieces plus relationship capital can
transform black Americas in five years.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
This is the third reconstruction we're in right now in
my opinion.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
So okay, So with that being said, okay, mommy, I
should just because I never really asked you about real estate.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
You you like, you said, do you still own those properties?
So you said that you you've offloaded them.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
So I was a one hundred percent owner of the problem.
I built it from zero to one hundred and fifty
million dollars. I was one hundred percent owner. I paid
off eighty eight million dollars of debt and equity Christmas Eve,
twenty twenty one. I owned thirty eight percent of the
new joint venture. I was the largest shareholder after I.

(06:39):
So so I sold it for less than it was worth.
It was worth one hundred and fifty sold it for
her to twenty one. I was a thirty eight percent
owner of the new joint venture. But I realized very quickly,
because I'm a control freak, I didn't have control of
the new entity, and so I was chairman or whatever.
I resigned as chairman, and you know, graciously, and I've

(06:59):
just I decided to let them do their thing, because
that's just not the way. The Camel's a horse designed
by committee, and I don't do committees very well. And
I have a very distinct view of how I want
to do something. So God bless them and wish them well,
and I have an interest in their success, right if
they succeed, But I no longer control the enterprise.