At age 13, Craig Kielburger decided that his purpose in life was to help others discover their purpose. Over the years, he has worked with some of the world’s most renowned thinkers and social activists to raise awareness among young people that the power to change lies within their hands.

Blinking in the sunlight, 22 children emerged from a dark, fetid shed that had been their home and prison. The building was a carpet factory near Calcutta, where they had toiled as slaves. Chained to looms, the children were fed just one meal a day to keep them hungry and awake so they could work longer. 

It was 1996, and at age 13, I’d just participated in my first raid to free child laborers. I climbed into a jeep and sat beside an eight-year-old boy named Munnilal. Our conversation was interrupted when the vehicle ahead of us got stuck crossing a shallow river. We all surged into the chest-deep water and began to push. Powered by a mob of heaving children, the vehicle was freed from the river. As we piled back into the jeep, Munnilal offered me the blanket rescue workers had given him. I declined. Tiny and malnourished, Munnilal had far greater need. But I’ve never forgotten that moment embodying the Golden Rule: to offer comfort to those in need, as I would wish to be comforted in similar circumstances. 

Even now, child labor is skyrocketing among young Syrian refugees in countries like Jordan and Turkey. In Nigeria, the Islamic militia Boko Haram is kidnapping girls and turning them into suicide bombers. And in a remote northern indigenous community in Canada, poverty and hopelessness are fueling an epidemic of youth suicides. 

Children are like the canary in the coal mine: Their plight suggests where our world is taking a wrong turn. The question isn’t how can such things happen, but why aren’t more people trying to do something about it? As the Dalai Lama once said, “The greatest challenge facing our century is that we are raising a generation of passive bystanders.” 

There are two fundamental reasons people don’t act on the problems they see in the world. The first is a lack of connection to those in communities different from our own. The second barrier is the feeling of powerlessness. There are so many problems in the world; it’s hard to see how one individual could make a difference.

As much as children shine a spotlight on our problems, they’re also the solution. Young people have the power to change the world when we teach them compassion through  service-learning. Children learn about local and global issues — from homelessness to child labor to climate change — first in the classroom and then through volunteering and activism, shifting their perspective from “us and them” to “we.” 

In January 2016, Grade 7 and 8 students at North Ward elementary school in Paris, Ontario, gathered around a computer for a Skype chat with Nena Aqlan and Bushra Al-Fusail, two peace activists from war-torn Yemen. Describing their childhoods, one told a story of drawing straws with her friends to see who would have to knock on the neighbor’s door after they kicked their soccer ball into his yard. Suddenly, Yemenis were no longer strangers from a strange land; they were people just like us.

The children were appalled as the women described the horrors unfolding in their country: indiscriminate aerial bombings, shortages of food and water, children deprived of an education. Afterward, the quietest student in the class — the boy who never raised his hand — stood up and demanded to know why Canada wasn’t doing more to help the people of Yemen. The students wrote letters to the Prime Minister of Canada and to local politicians, made posters, and hung a banner at an inter-school basketball tournament to educate more students. They even launched a social media campaign with hashtags like #YemenMatters to raise awareness. 

 In 2014, social research firm Mission Measurement surveyed almost 1,000 educators and participants in Free The Children’s service-learning program, WE Schools. The survey found that participants were 1.3 times more likely to vote, twice as likely to volunteer, and nearly eight times more likely to start a campaign to address a social issue.

 But what about that second barrier — the feeling of powerlessness? How did a group of kids in small-town Ontario come to believe they could impact a war half a world away? By encouraging young people to take on significant issues as a group, service-learning turns ‘How can I make a difference?’ into ‘How can we make a difference?’ And in changing one word, everything changes. 

Our world today is like the jeep in the river: mired in conflict, poverty, and environmental degradation. And the waters are rising. Standing on the bank are the children of the next generation. Will they remain passive bystanders, or will they leap in and be part of the solution? 

Let’s use service learning to make the Golden Rule a part of the core curriculum in every classroom. Let’s raise young people to feel a connection with others around the world and to understand that working together, they can solve any problem.

This is extracted from Imaginal Cells: Visions of Transformation, a publication from Reboot the Future, which brings together 25 of the world’s leading visionaries and their alternative roadmaps for the future, united by the Golden Rule. RebootTheFuture.org

Omar was 19 when he lost his leg after a bullet tore through it on May 14, 2018, the worst day in a series of border demonstrations in Gaza. Today, following months of suffering from physical pain and psychological trauma, Omar is sending a ball across the football field with great force and determination.

“I asked myself: ‘Until when I am going to stay like this? Depressed and doing nothing,’ and so I started playing football on crutches,” Omar says. Gaza has some 1,600 amputees among a population of two million people. According to the Ministry of Health, 136 people lost limbs since violence escalated in the border areas one year ago. Out of 80 amputee football players, 20 lost their limbs after being injured in the border violence. 

The first amputee football team organized a game in Gaza a year ago. Earlier this year, a weeklong visit by Simon Baker, the General Secretary of the European Amputee Football Federation, became the first opportunity for the players to receive high-level coaching and hone their skills. It helped boost interest in the amputee football games in the strip, where five new teams were created, and the first tournament attracted crowds of fans.

Invited by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Baker trained 15 coaches, 12 referees and 80 amputee players in the Gaza strip. The project will continue in the coming months with the goal of creating a strong team to represent Gaza in international competitions.

An amputee himself, Baker lost his leg in 2004 in a building site accident. Since then he has pushed every boundary to prove that amputees can be athletes. ICRC helps people with disabilities fight stigma and gain confidence through sports, as part of its physical rehabilitation program in Gaza.

The general population, otherwise known as the 99%, have a love/hate relationship with wealth. They resent those who have it but spend their lives attempting to get it for themselves, all the while self-sabotaging that effort in ways that are avoidable if they knew the rules of the rich.

Yes, the rich have rules. Most individuals, and indeed the majority of Black Americans, never accumulate any substantial savings because they do not understand the nature of money and how it works. Much of this lack of understanding and lack of access to financial education comes down to systemic racism passed down from generation to generation within the black community. Throughout American history, most Black Americans were shut out of our financial system, thereby not gaining the access or opportunity to accumulate wealth or an understanding of money that could have been passed down through the generations. Well, the time to start is now. More generational wealth means more societal influence and less vulnerability to the ills of civil rights infringements. In short, wealth equals life. Our very survival depends upon it.

The Wealthy Have A Different Mindset

Earning a lot of money does not make you wealthy. You will never out-earn your lack of financial education or your bad money habits. It’s like trying to out-exercise your lack of nutritional knowledge or your lousy eating habits; it’s exhausting to take two steps forward and three steps back, not to mention futile. Being wealthy is more about your financial behaviors and your financial intelligence quotient than about how much income you earn. Wealth is also not an aesthetic pursuit. Driving an expensive car, buying a house you cannot afford, and wearing high-end fashion labels doesn’t make you wealthy. In fact, for most folks who have not yet attained enough steady wealth to afford them comfortably, it can even make you broke.

Let’s take a look at a well-known billionaire. Sir Richard Branson has a current estimated net worth of $4.3 billion from his Virgin brand and portfolio of assets. As with many wealthy people, the wealth they have accumulated is not an accident. If you took all that money away from him, he would still retain the same knowledge and behavioral patterns that made him wealthy in the first place. He would always understand how to raise capital, develop and scale businesses, and invest his money with wisdom. If he had to start again today, from ground zero, I’m sure he would once again have a substantial net worth within five years.

Conversely, an individual who has poor money habits and wins the lottery still doesn’t understand how money works or the behaviors needed to grow and sustain wealth. There is a good chance he or she will be flat broke in less than five years. Although they were gifted a giant windfall, they were not rich because they did not know the rules of the wealthy. Ever wonder why so many professional athletes and recording artists gain enormous riches, only to lose it all? 

To bring this lesson home, a person who earns $100,000 per year and spends $100,000 per year will prosper far less than a person who earns $40,000 per year and spends only $20,000 per year. The latter is on a path toward building wealth, whereas the prior individual is spinning their wheels and making no progress towards achieving wealth. Bankruptcy could be in their future if there is an abrupt loss of income. You now have the idea: Wealth is the result of applied knowledge, discipline, behavioral patterns, and time; more than it is about a specific income. The higher the income, the more opportunities to save and invest, but behavior, values, and discipline are the ultimate deciding factors. 

Flash Does Not Equal Cash – It Mostly Equals Broke

Now let’s take a look at Black American money habits and the value we have brought to this country’s economy. In recent decades, Black Americans’ value to corporations has primarily been in the volume of goods they consume, which is greater than the average American. With a handful of exceptions, we have traditionally been consumers rather than creators. 

According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, “Black buying power will rise from $1.3 trillion in 2017 to $1.54 trillion by 2022. This estimate for 2022 reflects a 5.4% increase over a five-year estimate and reaching $1.46 trillion by 2021. The 108% increase in Black buying power between 2000 and 2017 outperformed the 87% rise in White buying power and the 97% increase in total buying power (all races combined) during the same period.” 

Based on anecdotal evidence that I have observed, Black Americans are the largest consumers. We have been emotionally conditioned to believe that acquiring material things makes us wealthy, rather than producing, saving, and investing. Great for corporations, bad for Black wealth. 

If you look at money as energy, and the exchange of energy, this equals a lot of energy being freely handed over by Black people in this country. Black people have been all too eager to relinquish their resources, aka their wealth-building tools, in exchange for the next, newest, greatest thing being marketed to them. Things like shoes, clothes, leased luxury cars, handbags, and other flashy accouterments that will never make them wealthy — because they are not income-producing assets.

The wealthy are not consumers. Yes, we all consume to some degree, but the wealthy are measured and strategic with how, when, and why they make a purchase. Their bank accounts’ bottom line is far more important to them than the visual appearance of wealth. Once they have obtained some wealth and decide to purchase things within the luxury market, it’s measured and typically amounts to a small percentage of their total net worth.

We Now Know That Aesthetics Do Not Equal Wealth. How is Wealth Defined?

The longer you can go without working and still meet your financial obligations and retain your current lifestyle, the wealthier you are. Could you go one month, three months, six months, even a year, without working? Or do you need that next paycheck to make ends meet and keep your creditors at bay? The wealthy always save and invest a portion of their income because they know that money equals freedom. Money also equals the ability to make more money. This is when your money starts to work for you rather than the other way around.  

Wealthy and Poor People Focus Their Attention on Different Types of Money

There are three types of money. Earned money is the result of performing a job (you are exchanging your time, labor and energy for money), portfolio money is the result of cash generated from income already earned that is now gaining value from individual stocks or bonds, or a diversified investment portfolio. Passive money is derived from real estate, intellectual property/royalties, or multi-level marketing businesses with a workforce actively selling underneath you. With the last two types of income, portfolio income, and passive income, you are mostly getting paid over and over for work that has already been done, or income that has already been earned. You have income-producing assets. Our people need more of the second and third types of money. 

“Work and Spend” is a paradigm that is no longer sustainable for us. First, you only get compensated when you work, and there are a fixed number of hours in the day and a fixed amount of energy you can expend to perform that work. That means there is a cap on how much money you can make through earned income. We exchange our energy for money. You only have so much energy. Earned W2 income through an employer is also heavily taxed. The federal government taxes your salary and wages, and your state, too,  (with a handful of exceptions). Plus there’s social security. Ultimately, you are lucky if you hold onto 50% to 60% of the money you have worked for. Then, if you overspend what you bring home in a misguided effort to obtain the aesthetics of the wealthy, you are forfeiting any real power and keeping yourself on a hamster wheel. This disparity in how money is viewed and utilized is why poor and middle-class people try to get rich by working harder.

Wealthy individuals focus on the other two types of money: portfolio money and passive income money. These forms of income are not dependent upon the number of hours in a day or your energy output, so they grow indefinitely and are taxed less. According to Forbes, the current long-term capital gains tax rate ranges from 0% – 20%. Short-term capital gains tax is higher, though short-term investment losses can be deducted from your total tax liability for the year. A person who is solely dependent upon a W2 salaried income, of at least $50,000 per year, is in the 22% tax bracket, higher than a wealthy person’s capital gains income tax bracket. If you earn $100,000 in exchange for your work, you find yourself in the 25% tax bracket. You are earning less than the wealthy and paying more of your income to Uncle Sam. 

Black Americans need to understand that if you invest some money for 13 months, you will pay less on that investment income in the form of capital gains tax than your earned salaried income. The more that pyramid flips in favor of investment income or passive income, the less tax you will pay. 

“The Borrower is Slave to the Lender”

As Black Americans, we are a spiritual people and always have been. Ironically, one of the most repeated and taught bible verses about the borrower being a slave to the lender has mostly fallen on deaf ears in our communities. Proverbs 22:7 clearly states that “the borrower is a slave to the lender.” Yet, many of us have chosen to continue to enslave ourselves in the form of credit card debt, government assistance, and subprime interest rate loans that prevent us from building any real wealth and keep us beholden to a system that has marginalized us. As a Black American man, I have made the conscious choice to structure my finances to be a lender and not a borrower. 

Here is what you need to know. You’ll want to set a goal of building good credit that you use sparingly, and only to generate income-producing assets. For example, you can purchase a car with financing once you have saved enough money to put down a minimum of 20% on the vehicle at signing. The car’s total purchase price should be no more than 15% of your total household income. Endless payments at high interest rates will leave you spinning your wheels and are to be avoided. We are talking about a certified car with a transparent warranty that you can purchase with a solid down payment, pay off within one year, and then drive for 4-5 years with no monthly payment. As you make your monthly payments over one year, you will also watch your credit score skyrocket. At the end of that year, you now own an asset, free and clear. The car payment that no longer exists can now be invested into a high interest yielding Roth IRA mutual fund. If you lack a liquid emergency fund in a savings account, you can start applying it towards that. Now you are working towards building wealth. Although a car is a depreciating asset, not having a monthly car payment is a wealth-building asset, as is the trade-in value or sale value of that car.

A home is another potential wealth-producing asset since homeownership allows you to bypass rent payments that do not build equity. If held onto until the market is favorable for sellers, you can likely sell this asset for a profit. You can also rent it out to a qualified tenant at a modest monthly profit to earn yourself some rental income. If you are not yet able to purchase a home, your rent should be no higher than 25% of your total household income, so that you can work towards homeownership, or invest in other income-producing assets.

Strong credit can also be used to leverage borrowed money into net profit so that you are not servicing the debt of that borrowed money. The gross profits generated through leveraging that borrowed money is servicing the debt, while you pocket the net profits leveraged from that debt. 

The beautiful thing about earning asset-based income is that it does not require your physical presence as a job does. Employment is trading time for money with little leverage. Borrowing at high interest rates and making indefinite payments on debt also offers no financial leverage to our community. 

When you strategically borrow money to acquire income-producing assets, rather than for consumerism, you make money off the difference between the borrowed line of credit and the profit you earn by leveraging that borrowed line of credit. If I get a $10 million credit line from the bank and they charge me $1 million in interest per year, I can leverage that $10 million in credit to earn myself $3 million per year — then I’m making a net profit of $2 million per year, while my income-producing asset is servicing the debt, not me.

Let’s scale the example to a more down to earth number. If you borrowed $30,000 from the bank to either invest in an existing business, improve upon your home or start a business, and your interest rate is 5%. You are paying $1,500 in yearly interest on that loan. If you clear a profit of $3,000 in your first year, you have achieved a net profit of $1,500 (better than you could get from many traditional bank account), and the other half of your gross profit is servicing the debt for you until that debt is paid off. You have now leveraged debt into passive, or portfolio income, or equity income if you are actively working that business.

Leverage is described in the dictionary as “the mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever, or the power of action.” Leverage merely compounds ones’ strength and effectiveness. The ability to be paid for work that you do not do is the result of leverage. It engages a multiplier effect as an asset develops in value. 

The most important thing you will ever hear about building wealth is this: getting wealthy is not easy, but it is simple. It’s not easy because it requires the ability to delay gratification. However, the rules are quite simple. The second most important thing you will hear about building wealth is: there is no excuse not to save and invest. The third thing is not as readily known, but is also important: banks always win. The strategy I have adopted with my own finances is that I always prefer to position myself as a “bank.” Whether I’m investing my own money or borrowing money to invest, I position myself as the lender in some capacity because the lender always wins.

How Do I Borrow or Lend money as a Banker or Creditor if I Am Not (Yet) Wealthy?

If you are not wealthy (yet), the best approach is to leverage your creativity, intelligence, and network. Pool your resources and partner with people to accomplish the same end, and hire someone to form your own company and structure your group deal. People can put in what they can afford and get their pro-rata share based on the amount of their investment — whether real estate, small business, stock portfolio, or a currently undervalued asset with a high potential for growth. My personal belief is to position yourself as the creditor in whatever you invest your money. You are still considered to be an investor, but you are not investing in equity, you are loaning out money as a creditor to collect, no matter the outcome.

In my opinion, like it or not, the fate of your finances, your retirement, and ultimately your ability to establish generational wealth comes down to your commitment to the concepts laid out above. Purchase less than you can afford (and not more than you can afford), shun consumerism for its own sake, avoid unsecured/credit card debt, save and invest in a portfolio and passive streams of income, and only borrow money to leverage into income-producing assets. 

How can business leaders defeat unconscious bias? First, you need to know what unconscious bias is.

Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias) refers to unconscious forms of discrimination and stereotyping based on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, age, and so on. It differs from cognitive bias, which is a predictable pattern of mental errors that result in us misperceiving reality and, as a result, deviating away from the most likely way of reaching our goals. 

In other words, from the perspective of what is best for us as individuals, falling for a cognitive bias always harms us by lowering our probability of getting what we want.

Cognitive biases are common across humankind and relate to the particular wiring of our brains. In contrast, unconscious bias relates to perceptions between different groups and is specific for the society in which we live. For example, I bet you don’t care or even think about whether someone is a noble or a commoner, yet that distinction was fundamentally important a few centuries ago across Europe. To take another example — a geographic one, instead of historical — most people in the US don’t have a strong opinion on Sunni vs. Shiite Muslims, yet this distinction is incredibly meaningful in many other parts of the world.

As a frequent speaker and trainer on diversity and inclusion, who tries to address potential unconscious discriminatory behavior, I regularly share in my speeches that black Americans suffer more from police harassment and violence than white people. Often, some participants (usually white) try to defend the police by claiming that black people are more violent and more likely to break the law than whites. Thus, they attribute police harassment to the internal characteristics of black people (implying that it is deserved), and not to the external context of police behavior. 

In reality — as I point out in my response to these folks — research shows that black people are harassed and harmed by police more frequently for the same types of activities. A white person walking past a cop, for example, is statistically much less likely to be stopped and frisked than a black person. In addition, a white person resisting arrest is much less likely to be violently beaten than a black person. In other words, statistics show that the higher rate of harassment and violence against black Americans by police is due to the prejudice of police officers, to a large extent.

However, I am careful to clarify that this discrimination is not necessarily intentional. Sometimes, it is indeed deliberate, with white police officers consciously believing that black Americans deserve more scrutiny than whites. At other times, the discriminatory behavior results from the unconscious, implicit thought processes that a police officer might not consciously endorse. 

Interestingly, research shows that many black police officers have an unconscious prejudice against other black people, perceiving them in a more negative light than white people when evaluating potential suspects. This unconscious bias carried by many — not all — black police officers helps show that such prejudice comes — at least to a significant extent — from an internal culture within a police department, rather than pre-existing racist attitudes prior to joining law enforcement 

Such cultures are perpetuated by internal norms, policies, and training procedures. Any police department wishing to address unconscious bias needs to address internal culture first and foremost, rather than simply attributing racism to individual officers. Instead of saying, “it’s just a few bad apples in a barrel of good,” the key is to recognize that implicit bias is a systemic issue, and that, instead, the structure of the barrel should be fixed.

The crucial thing to highlight is that there is no shame or blame in implicit bias, as it doesn’t stem from a fault in an individual. This no-shame approach decreases the fight, freeze, or flight response among reluctant audiences, helping them instead hear and accept the issue.

By adding these statistics and discussions around implicit bias, the issue generally gets settled. Still, it’s clear that some people don’t immediately internalize these facts. It’s much more comforting for them to feel that police officers are right, and anyone targeted by the police deserve the consequences. As a result, they are highly reluctant to acknowledge that more effort and energy is needed to protect black Americans from police violence.

Here are some steps to fight unconscious bias, that will help in making the “best people decisions.” After all, our gut reactions lead us to make poor judgments when we follow our intuition. 

1) Start by learning about the kind of problems that result from unconscious bias, so that you know what you’re trying to address. 

2) You need to convey to people you want to influence, such as employees (and yourself), that there should be no shame or guilt in acknowledging our instincts. 

3) Next, you need to convey the dangers associated with following intuitions and build up an emotional investment in changing behaviors.

4) Then, you need to communicate the right mental habits that will help them make the best choices. 

Remember, one-time training is insufficient for doing this. It takes a long-term commitment and constant discipline and effort to overcome unconscious bias.

The killing of George Floyd, a member of the Yates High School family, has poignantly exposed and made abundantly public the lives that blacks have lived for centuries in America. It is heart-breaking and calls several things to question: Why have we not, as the “privileged” class, done something over all these years to bring justice to the black community – a community that has made amazing contributions to our society?

Why have we as the “privileged” closed our eyes to the unjust treatment they have endured all their lives? Our doing nothing shines a bright light on our lack of respect, understanding, and empathy for others. The blame rests on our shoulders for our insensitivity and lack of courage to stand up for what is right.

Do you worry about your safety while jogging? Do you fear being killed by others who suspect you of doing something, even though they have no evidence of having done anything wrong? Can you empathize with Ahmaud Arbery? Do you fear when your child wears a hoodie and goes to a convenience store to buy Skittles that he will be fatally shot on the way home by a neighborhood watch member, as happened to Trayvon Martin? I could go on and on. The incidences are too numerous and are well-known but not acknowledged by everyone. While some of the acts did not involve law enforcement officials, many were committed by rogue police officers. Even when these tragedies occur, the perpetrators are rarely, if ever, brought to justice.

My grandson, Austin Fendley, a recent graduate of the University of Texas, and I discussed our concern for the unjust treatment of the black population and why few people have ever taken a stand in support of them. He told me about a quote attributed to Will Smith that he had read. Will said, “Racism is not getting worse; it’s just getting filmed.” We discussed that perhaps it is about dominance and power. The empowered do not want to lose control. He also reflected on the fact that the situation is complicated by many things, including the reality of poverty.

In some cases, blacks are born into an environment where they may have had to steal food to live. Many of the “privileged” class have never had to choose between survival and legality. I responded that even though many white lives experience poverty, they are not treated the same by the justice system when they break the rules.

I asked Austin why he had always had black people among his best friends and why he didn’t feel hesitant about those relationships. His answer was something we all know but do not acknowledge. He said, “Race was not a defining factor in picking friends. How they acted, not how they looked, was the important thing.” He continued, “You learn your values from authority figures. You are taught to discriminate based on race. I was never taught that.” He also said that he had heard some white people say to a black person, “I don’t see the color of your skin. I am colorblind.” Austin said, “That statement wipes away the identity of that person and diminishes the individual’s worth. We must go further to learn that we are more alike than different, and we must embrace and celebrate our differences.”

Austin’s statements reminded me of the song from South Pacific: You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear.
You’ve got to be taught from year to year.
It’s got to be drummed in your dear, little ear.
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
Oscar Hammerstein

Perhaps there are lessons to be learned as to what we might be able to do to correct the discrimination that has been a reality for so long. Talking with Austin reminded me that today’s youth can change the world and make it a better place for all people. Perhaps they can bring unity to the nation. The following are steps that we must take to set the example for the youth:

• We must exercise our right to vote. We must vote for those people who will bring equity and empathy to our government.
• Rethink education in such a way that we model and teach all students to respect, embrace, and celebrate our differences. We must teach civility. Include all parents in the effort to rethink education.
• Individuals and groups must join hands to start a movement to demand equal treatment in the justice system and insist upon systemic change.
• Rebuild the relationship between the police department and the community and insist on ethical leaders in these departments who will ensure all people truly receive equal protection and justice under the law. Unify and retrain law enforcement officers and make sure they police themselves and one another.

In Houston, we are standing together. Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee continues to be a champion for social justice. Police Chief Art Acevedo exhibited inspiring leadership when he offered to march with protesters constructively and provide a police escort for George Floyd’s funeral. I was encouraged when our mayor, Sylvester Turner, noticed a black man power washing to remove graffiti left by some marchers. Turner said, “This is the Houston I know and love.”

Let us follow these examples and take action. Perhaps the unity we so desperately need will be found, and we will create a better world for everyone.

Dr. Bertie Simmons new book is Whispers of Hope, The Story of My Life.

America is known as a melting pot – a country built on the hopes and dreams of refugees and immigrants who sought to escape the dangers and violence of tyranny and authoritarianism. Some of the greatest leadership lessons often come from those who have overcome great challenges and survived. Tim Tran’s remarkable story shows that core values of acceptance, diversity, and inclusion can make anything possible. 

Tim Tran was four years old when his parents fled communist North Vietnam on a U.S. landing craft to South Vietnam. Many years later he received a four-year scholarship from US AID, that allowed him to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Accounting and Finance) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974. However, he was required to return to South Vietnam after graduation. On arriving home, he landed a dream job with Shell Oil in Saigon, but life became difficult and dangerous when South Vietnam fell to communists on April 30, 1975. 

His time in America with Shell, as an internal auditor, had made the newly nationalized company officials (now taken over by the communists) suspicious, and they suspected that Tran was a CIA agent. He was interrogated by security and subsequently fired. He realized that he had to escape or face arrest or imprisonment, and so, with his young wife, Cathy, they fled for their lives. 

Over the next four years, and after many failed attempts to reach freedom — which was met with deceit, betrayal, and even the murder of his father — they made it to a coastal province in Malaysia. They carried fake IDs and travel documents, paid bribes in gold, and finally boarded a rickety, overcrowded, 50-capacity boat, along with 350 other desperate people. 

During the journey, they were savagely attacked by seven groups of pirates in the open seas. Tran was even robbed of his Levi jeans and prescription glasses. With the boat’s engines damaged from the attacks, the captain crashed and destroyed the boat on a rocky shore, and they all jumped out and ran for higher ground. Unfortunately, they were all captured and placed in a make-shift barb-wire prison on the beach, that was followed by months in a Malaysian refugee camp.  

At the time, the U.S. had a policy of admitting refugees with family connections in America, and his sister in Oregon sponsored his application to immigrate. At the requests of his friends, U.S. Senators Bob Packwood and Mark Hatfield and U.S. Congressman Les AuCoin joined the effort, and wrote letters to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to advocate for his application. Eventually, Tran was interviewed and approved for asylum in the U.S.  

When he arrived in Forest Grove, just outside Portland, Oregon, in 1979, he carried all his worldly possessions in a plastic bag with the words UNHCR printed on the side. An old college friend, Roberta “Bobbi” Nickels, came to greet him and he joked, “I travel light.” She burst into tears.

Tran acknowledges that it was the American values of acceptance, diversity, and inclusion that turned out to be a turning point for his personal and professional success. US AID had given him his first lucky break by helping him get a four-year scholarship that resulted in his Bachelor’s degree. He also received support from dozens of people, that resulted in the approval of his immigration to the United States. He was also offered an entry-level job, despite being a boat-person and penniless refugee. 

The spirit of generosity didn’t end there. His new company helped him earn an MBA by covering tuition costs, something that empowered him with the latest developments and knowledge in his field. Getting the total and unwavering support of the company president also ensured that there was no appeal hanging over his head from vendors, when he was placed in charge of highly competitive contract negotiations.

Tran went on to become the chief financial officer of Johnstone Supply, and Cathy worked for U.S. Bank (then Standard Insurance) and became an accounting manager. In 2017, the couple established a Library Endowment Fund at Pacific University. In honor of their gift, the building on the Pacific University Forest Grove Campus was dedicated as The Tim and Cathy Tran Library.

Here are six lessons from Tim’s journey from communist boat-person to C-Suite:

Key Lessons Learned 

Tran believes that equity, diversity, and inclusion are incredibly important in every organization and must be brought to the forefront in the workplace and society. 

1. The CEO must be front and center. In other words, the CEO must show up at every meeting and training and give prep talk. Don’t outsource this job exclusively to H.R.

2. The company must include diversity and inclusion in the organization’s goals, expressly called out in its mission statement, and reflected in every decision and action. 

3. Everyone must champion these values. Executives, managers, and all employees must talk the talk, and walk the walk. When top executives make business decisions, they should ask themselves if they have brought the company closer to “diversity and inclusion” goals. Feedback and discussion must be encouraged and used to ensure relentless improvement is achieved. 

4. Cultural diversity needs to be acknowledged, championed, and showcased continuously. Encourage everyone to get to know all the other employees. Feature new employees and those with diverse cultural backgrounds in organization newsletters and social media. Include photos, experiences, unique talents, skills, and hobbies. Place particular emphasis on cultural backgrounds and a variety of lifestyles.

5. Celebrate all cultural days, holidays, or significant sporting events (Lunar New Year, St Patrick’s Day, Independent Days, Cinco de Mayo, Bastille Day, Black History Month, FIFA World Cup, etc.) to encourage and inspire inclusion, foster learning, acknowledgment, and appreciation of cultural differences. 

6. Mix up your internal teams to include members of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and genders. These can be sports teams, presentation teams, or problem-solving teams. Allow teams to trade members to win the “most diversified team prize.”

Tim Tran’s new book is American Dreamer — How I Escaped Communist Vietnam and Built a Successful Life in America. www.timtranamericandreamer.com

Civil unrest, systemic racial injustice, political turbulence, and a global pandemic has dramatically altered the way we live, work, socialize, connect, and move about the world. The disparity is mind-bending, and suddenly, unexpectedly, life has upended. And as the prevalence of COVID-19 continues to intensify, the vast majority of companies have embraced long-term remote operations.

They’re throwing away their playbooks, relearning schedules, defining work differently, and collaborating in new ways. Many leaders are discovering that working remotely can help their companies be more agile and even more productive. But there’s another way remote work can be a force for good that doesn’t get enough attention: It can widen our talent pools to be more inclusive and introduce much-needed diversity into our workforce. Now more than ever, it’s imperative to acknowledge and prioritize being present, taking accountability, and doing what we can to make a powerful stand – for equality and the greater good of humanity.

The shadow talent pool

There’s a shadow talent pool out there, a population of motivated, skilled, hard-working individuals for whom the job market is out of reach simply because of circumstances beyond their control—geography, a medical condition, or a spouse’s military job, for example. These individuals have the desire to work, but they lack the means to get to an office each day. By pivoting to a remote work model, you’re essentially opening your workplace to an untapped resource and giving yourself the advantage of hiring based on merit, tenacity, and skill instead of proximity.

Before the pandemic took hold and all non-essential travel was put on pause, my company hosted regular meetups for our employees throughout the U.S., the U.K., and India. These informal get-togethers gave hundreds of remote workers the chance to meet each other in real life, outside of company chat rooms.

I attended many of these gatherings to share company updates and news, hear concerns, and answer the questions that tend to crop up in a distributed work model. Invariably, I’d have someone walk up to me during lunch or a networking session. Sometimes they’d have tears in their eyes, sometimes merely a warm smile. Their message was almost always the same: They wanted to express how being able to work anywhere had changed their lives. 

I’ve heard stories from stay-at-home moms who were reluctant or unable to place their children in daycare to get back into the job market. I’ve heard from military spouses who couldn’t hold a steady job due to frequent moves. I’ve listened to caretakers who needed extra income but couldn’t leave a disabled person home alone. They all came bearing a message of gratitude that they could finally put their skills to use.

Reap the benefits of a diverse workforce

I want to make it very clear: This isn’t some charitable way of giving back to your community. You are going to benefit from hiring them. Pulling from this shadow talent pool, rather than limiting new hires to people within commuting distance, allows you:

• Access unique skills and experience. Stay-at-home moms re-entering the workforce are some of my best employees. A mom accustomed to managing a household spends her day prioritizing tasks, juggling multiple schedules, settling conflicts, and maximizing her time. Many stay-at-home moms are well-educated women who stepped away from lucrative careers to raise children, but they’re half as likely to get a call-back for a job interview than other candidates. With women-led companies yielding triple the returns of S&P 500 companies, it’s time to examine our misconceptions.
  
  Military families are another overlooked demographic. I can’t count the number of military spouses who’ve told me that they put their careers second to their partner’s. Statistically, these individuals hold a higher education than their peers yet are chronically underemployed. Working for a company that offers flexible schedules and steady employment has given our employees who are military spouses their power and independence back—and that doesn’t change even if they have to relocate again. 

• Add diversity to your workforce. A wide array of perspectives is essential for innovation and creativity. Expanding your potential job candidates to include remote employees could empower an underrepresented group of people while providing better insights into the needs of your diverse customer base. 
  
  Remote work is a natural equalizer. Remember, diversity doesn’t stop at the hiring process. Having a diverse and inclusive workplace means creating a work environment where all voices and opinions are given equal weight. In a remote workplace, where the quality of work trumps time logged in a cubicle, workers are evaluated on what they produce, leaving no room for bias, intentional or otherwise.
  
• Overcome your geographical limitations. My company’s main headquarters is located in Portland, Oregon. It’s an expensive city in which to live. In fact, there’s a growing migration to the suburbs as people grow hip to the fact that location isn’t everything. People want affordable homes, and they want to stay closer to their families and hometowns. You’ll see this echoed in other tech-heavy cities, like Seattle or San Francisco. The talent pools in major cities are shrinking, and if you don’t take steps to expand that talent pool, you’re not going to stay competitive. When we were located in an office building, we had a hard time maintaining the staff needed to provide Spanish-language coverage 24/7/365. Once we started to recruit from Texas, everything changed. Not only were we immediately able to fulfill our robust Spanish and bilingual coverage needs, but we also increased our Latinx population at work. 

Remote companies are set up to be more diverse, inclusive, and equitable than traditional co-located offices because of their model. When a company can recruit, hire, and retain the best talent—not the closest—the talent pool is limitless. My company employs hundreds of remote employees who include stay-at-home moms, military spouses, people in rural communities, and people whose health issues keep them from commuting. We’re growing every year, and our customer feedback is overwhelmingly positive. I’m proud of my team; open up your remote workforce, and I guarantee you will be too.

As protests continue around the world, we must call for action. The chaotic images of cities around the world may have you feeling helpless, but there are many ways you can support ending police violence, help the cause of racial justice, and support the broader Black Lives Matter movement. We’ve gathered a list of ways to help and educate yourself below:

Charities and Funds

• Action Bail Fund, organized by Black Lives Matter LA, is supported by White People 4 Black Lives. 100% of donations go directly to support bail, fees, and medical costs associated with actions. Donate here.
• Black Visions Collective is “a Black-led, Queer and Trans centering organization whose mission is to organize powerful, connected Black communities and dismantle systems of violence…through building strategic campaigns, investing in Black leadership, and engaging in cultural and narrative organizing.” Donate via the organization’s website here.
• The Brooklyn Bail Fund is “committed to challenging the racism, inequality, and injustice of a criminal legal system and immigration and deportation regime that disproportionately target and harm low-income communities of color.” Donate here.
• The National Bail Out is “a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration.” Donate here.
• Unicorn Riot is a non-profit media organization dedicated to fair, on-the-ground reporting on civil disobedience, police brutality and white supremacy. Donate here. Donate here.
• National Police Accountability Project: This group, a project of the National Lawyers Guild, helps people find legal counsel and to effect change in the flawed legal system. More info here.
• Campaign Zero, a police reform group that has been working on policy solutions “informed by data and human rights principles.” More info here.
• Color of Change launched a petition asking that all the officers involved in Floyd’s death are brought to justice. Sign here.
• “Justice for George Floyd” petition on Change.org already has 8.5 million supporters. Sign here.
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund: Donate today to help advance the cause of racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society. More info here.

Articles, Resources and Tools

• Anti-racism resources for white people (by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein)
• Twitter Thread: What To Do If You Can’t Donate Right Now (via @traderjosephina)
• 100 black creatives inspiring change (via The Dots)
• 75 things white people can do for racial injustice (via Medium)
• Ways to help (via Black Lives Matter)
• IG: 10 steps to non-optical allyship (via Mireille Harper)
• IG: Transform Allyship into Action: A Toolkit for Non-Black People (via Social Justice in Medicine Coalition at USC)
• Twitter Thread: Advice for companies from Sheree Atcheson, Monzo’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion (Via Sheree Atcheson)
• How to protest safely during a pandemic (via VICE)
• Talking About Race (via Smithsonian)
• Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others: Pepperdine University