Embark on a profound exploration as Dr. Mordecai Brownlee , president of the Community College of Aurora, joins me to discuss the journey of Black men toward freedom and empowerment. We delve into the essential building blocks of trust, financial literacy, health, and identity, and how these elements come together to shape a path of progress. Dr. Mordecai Brownlee own narrative, marked by the influence of African-American mentors and a rise to academic leadership, paves the way for our conversation that seeks to challenge, inspire, and uplift.
This episode takes you through the pivotal moments and critical decisions that forge not only a career but a life rich with purpose and meaning. From navigating the intricacies of educational systems to the delicate balance of family and faith, we uncover the strategies that Dr. Brown-Leon and I have employed in our personal quests for self-validation and success. The shared experiences here provide a blueprint for those looking to make a profound impact in their communities and beyond, through education and service.
Finally, we celebrate the joy that comes from following our passions and the importance of strategic planning in achieving personal and communal goals. Dr. Mordecai Brownlee wisdom serves as a beacon, illuminating the path for our listeners as we collectively pursue truth, consistency, and growth. Join us for a conversation that not only informs but transforms, as we continue on our collective Journey to Freedom.
Embark on a profound exploration as Dr. Mordecai Brownlee , president of the Community College of Aurora, joins me to discuss the journey of Black men toward freedom and empowerment. We delve into the essential building blocks of trust, financial literacy, health, and identity, and how these elements come together to shape a path of progress. Dr. Mordecai Brownlee own narrative, marked by the influence of African-American mentors and a rise to academic leadership, paves the way for our conversation that seeks to challenge, inspire, and uplift.
This episode takes you through the pivotal moments and critical decisions that forge not only a career but a life rich with purpose and meaning. From navigating the intricacies of educational systems to the delicate balance of family and faith, we uncover the strategies that Dr. Brown-Leon and I have employed in our personal quests for self-validation and success. The shared experiences here provide a blueprint for those looking to make a profound impact in their communities and beyond, through education and service.
Finally, we celebrate the joy that comes from following our passions and the importance of strategic planning in achieving personal and communal goals. Dr. Mordecai Brownlee wisdom serves as a beacon, illuminating the path for our listeners as we collectively pursue truth, consistency, and growth. Join us for a conversation that not only informs but transforms, as we continue on our collective Journey to Freedom.
All right, well, welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Journey to Freedom podcast. And each week and each day and every time that we get to record one of these, I just learn more and more and more. And so you know the goal is with the Journey to Freedom is how do we, as Black men, continue to move forward, knowing what happened in the past, knowing and learning from the past, but not getting stuck in the present and being able to move forward with whatever happened? The things that you know whether we grew up in a situation that wasn't optimal situation, or whether we've been in places where we've been discriminated against, or you know the systematic issues that have happened in our society are all parts of who we are, but are not the excuses or the reasons that we don't move forward and a lot of the reasons, and there's five pillars that go with this. You know we have trust and you know our ability to trust others and how we grew up. Learning how to trust is so huge.
Speaker 1:We talk about our finances and you know where's money come from and you know I've had so many. You know folks that are afraid to talk about money and they tell me that money isn't important when we all know what's up there with oxygen, it's the thing that allows us to trade and move forward and go backwards in our society. When we talk about health, the expectancy of a black man in America is about 72 years old, where our white counterparts are much older. Why is that? What are some things that we can do to make sure that we're getting the right health care, that we're asking the right questions. We want to talk about our faith. You know we are rooted in our faith and have had the opportunity for most of us, whatever that faith is, whether it's you know, whether it's the Christian faith or it's the Muslim faith or whatever that is there. How are we interacting within the faith and the faith in ourselves? And finally, when we talk about faith and health, health, trust, identity, identity is the last part, and probably one of the most important is how do we show up on a daily basis? How do we show up at the grocery store when we've been taught to fear? How do we show up at our educational institutions when we think that we're not good enough or we're not able to achieve?
Speaker 1:And so today today, I'm so excited because we have the president of the Aurora Community College of Aurora, dr Marikai Brown-Leon, and I want to just thank you for being on today. He has some incredible Instagram. You know he's meeting technology right on head to head, and so I encourage you to look him up to see some of the things that he's saying, how he's working with young students, no matter if they're black, white or whatever they are. He has this vision to make sure that we have the right education. That's going to take us where we want to be, and so, like I said, I thank you for being on.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm going to let you kind of just tell your story and tell maybe we can start out there how did you get to be a president of a college? What is it that that happened in your life that separated you or not separated you, or just the people who told you that you could do it? Because I think a lot of our identity comes from our associations, and so maybe you can just kind of talk about your experience and growing up, and then we'll just go back and forth and, you know, take, you know, know the next amount of time and just find out what it really takes and then maybe give some really great inspiration. You know motivation I know that's a lot of that is intrinsic, but more thought process on what folks can do. So thank you for being on.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dr Arnold, for having me. It's an honor to be with you and thank you for the work that you're doing in the community. I would share that. You know I was raised by a single mother who was an educator, a K-12 educator. Mom taught for 30 plus years in special education as well, spent a significant amount of time there. We moved around a whole lot and I honestly believe that part of that moving around a whole lot originally from the Midwest Toledo, ohio on down to landing in Texas, in Galveston, texas, and then finally finishing up school there in Humboldt, texas but that had a bit of an impact, I think, in my academic preparedness because when I graduated high school I was testing at developmental levels in math and so at that particular time we've since been able to address her health.
Speaker 2:But at that time my mother's health was failing and I didn't necessarily have the option of going off to school. So I worked her overnight shift at the airport breaking down trucks and then made a promise that I will still continue my higher education, so signed up for those developmental courses in that morning so I would get off at six, 10 to 6 am, would work that overnight, show up to class at 8 o'clock and did that for quite some time, up until the point of essentially failing developmental math, and which at that point, I just said I'm done with this and began to try to find other odd jobs and things to just help out. But what ended up happening in my particular situation was that they no longer needed our help at the airport. Particular situation was is they no longer needed our help at the airport? And someone ended up saying, hey, because of your financial situation, go on up there to the college and work there. Call work study and essentially for those that are watching this, listening to this, work study is a scholarship that you can work for at your local college. And so I ended up doing that and flipping burgers in the cafeteria and running lights and sound in the theater department and working in the library.
Speaker 2:What ended up happening? I want to bring honor to his name, dr Williams. He's since passed, but being able to be surrounded by African-American men for the first time, really, in my academic career and them being able to pour into me and share that you know what you can be more you can do more these kind of engagements were something that I was hungry for and hadn't necessarily experienced outside of the faith sector of my church. If you will, I'm very grateful for those deacons and deacons and those different men, but I didn't have it outside of that realm. That was extremely beneficial towards me beginning to achieve a sense of agency, to say that whatever my path is going to be, it's doable. Then I would say that from that time really began to be my interest in working in higher education and then from there transferred and began to do that. I've now since served this is my seventh institution that I've served. I've served at two historical black colleges and universities. I currently still teach, even though I serve as president. I teach out of the School of Business and Leadership in the University of Charleston and in the summertime I support where I earned my doctorate at Lamar University, and the work that I continue to do in terms of advancing.
Speaker 2:The other thing that I was not exposed to was content by African-American men that would feed me in terms of where I was in my particular point of development. So I've addressed that by writing and publishing and I've served as a columnist, most recently now, for Diverse Issues and Higher Education Magazine, and so just any way that I can be a part of advancing positive content. I was very honored by what you shared, dr Arnold, about my social media engagements. I told someone years ago when I started this. Years ago, when I started this work didn't necessarily know everything and how to do it, but I started releasing these YouTube videos just as a way to encourage others.
Speaker 2:The idea there truly was to say there's enough negative content out there for our children and for ourselves to digest and ingest every day. What does it look like for us to be a part of the solution of positive content being created and creating content that can be a breakthrough opportunity? And, yes, the written form has traditionally been how we've approached this work in higher education, but now we've got to lean deeply into the 30-second videos, into the one-minute videos and how we're going to be the content creators, because you never know how our content can lead someone towards transformation. And so it's been an honor to serve Community College of Aurora at the time of us recording this. I'm almost three years into the presidency. The summer of 2024 will be three years of me relocating my family, most recently from San Antonio, texas, and it's been an absolute blessing. Great community, we're growing, we're thriving and a lot of work is ahead, but committed to making sure that we get this job done.
Speaker 1:Oh man, that is so neat that you're there and you know, I'll just, I'll just kind of jump into. You know, when I think about the pillars and I think about trust and I think about you know, being able to show up with trust, have there been, you know, through your journey, you know and it sounds like you spent some time, definitely in the South, you were in Texas, you were in the Midwest Was there ever time that you had issues with trust, or trusting the process, or trusting? What did that look like and how did you overcome some of those trust issues that allowed you to move forward?
Speaker 2:Well, it's a it's a very powerful question. I would tell you, what I did not trust were the educational system I had this issue coming through the educational system that the content did not resonate with me, and it was this all for one, all fits all, one size fits all approach that felt very bland and did not feel as though it spoke to the essence of who I was, and there were no other engagements that spoke to that. And so, as I am seeking at that particular time was seeking my identity and the understanding of my identity as a young African-American male. There was nothing there to be able to speak to that development and my identity of that, and there were so many forces unfortunately being raised in the South to where conformity was the recipe for the day every day and assimilation. And so, and I do believe in the power of code switching and how we are to, within ourselves, be able to interact in different environments. However, I would tell you, one can get lost in all the code shifting if you have not rooted yourself in your personal identity of who you are, because as you begin to shift in these different environments and spaces, one can lose their selves, especially if there's no moral compass that has been established, a sense of personal integrity that has been established. So, in the midst of all of that, I'm watching favoritism, in the midst of all of that, I'm watching there not be what appeared to be an absence of integrity and equity and this idea of what I believe equity now is an understanding of. But in the midst of that, this is before some of these evolutions about what equity then meant.
Speaker 2:As a millennial coming through this system, because I'm then saying that I am not starting at the same base as some of my peers, why isn't there systems to support me where I am in my particular journey and then only being met with then?
Speaker 2:Well, you're either college material or you're not.
Speaker 2:And so I think that now we've progressed into understanding that that's unacceptable and that that does not speak to the identity of who the individual is.
Speaker 2:But this is before those evolutions, and I would still say we still have a ways to go Mainstream. While there's a word, now the way in which it's even utilized in a very divisive manner, we can understand when one says, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, but we don't yet understand on a mainstream, what do we do when that person doesn't have any bootstraps, and so we still have a ways to go. So, trust of the educational system, trust, lack of trust with the wealth creation and the systems and the infrastructure that lead to personal finance and the achievement of wealth, which I would tell you then was part of my lack of trust in terms of society and what pop culture was sending my way, this belief that in order to, as an African-American male, to achieve wealth I have to be an athlete or a rapper, and there were not these other interactions and images of wealth to help me understand that there were other pathways towards achieving not only wealth but real wealth, lasting wealth, generational wealth.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is so deep. I love it. And you brought up identity and you said you know rooted I think I wrote it down root yourself. You know in your own identity and we think about you know the last. You know 200 years or 300 or 400 years that we hear about, that we talk about. That is prevalent in the conversations that we have. We talk about you know in the. You know in the 60s and 70s when Black men were kind of taken out of homes. You know as we were thriving in the 30s, 40s and 50s and you know all of a sudden we're taken out of homes. What can you say? You were raised by a single mom. Helped you create the identity? Were there associations? Were there certain people that were in place, or was it just? You know the books you read Help me find out like how your identity was shaped in a society that was trying to strip that identity from you, or systems, I guess I should say.
Speaker 2:Very good. I will tell you. There's two parts to this. One is the transferable skill set that I didn't even realize I was developing.
Speaker 2:I was raised in a Pentecostal church and in the Pentecostal church in the South, you're either going to be a musician or a preacher, or both. You didn't have too many other options musician, preacher or both. And I will tell you, being raised in that environment, I decided to become a musician. Well, in the Pentecostal church, when you're in church every day, all the time, especially as a musician, you're really I mean you're what they call shredding. I mean you're really getting pretty good in order to be able to play, because there is a slew of other children that are also being raised the same way. So, when it came time to larger services based on your ability to be able to, to deliver and to play that instrument, allow for you to either stay on an entire service to play that instrument in my case, the drums or you got to tap on a shoulder, someone that had a higher skill set began to play and you had to stand by and watch them play, and so I will tell you, I ended up learning this very interesting transferable skill set that has still served me to this day, and that is I never wanted to get the tap on the shoulder. I never wanted to get off the set, but when I did get the tap on the shoulder, it was usually by much older guys, teenagers at that particular point. That were guys that were in college, and what I would essentially do is sit back and I would watch their moves, I would watch their shreds, I would watch the combinations that they put together and then I made sure that when I got back on the set, I stole it and then I reincorporated it back into what it is that I do, and so it forced this interchangeable. We all got to get better because I'm going to play this song You're not going to get me off the set and I'm going to do what you just showed. It was the thing that got you on the set, so now I'm going to do it better than you.
Speaker 2:That became a transferable skill set that I think has served for me being able to find myself in society of that any time that I watched or I saw and had interactions with male, black, male entrepreneurs, with men that I saw as businessmen that appeared on surface level to be successful, but I was able to get close enough to get those exposures and I took what I saw to be the best of them. And then, in some situations, I then began to observe behind the curtain all of the failures, the weaknesses of some of these men. I will tell you that that in itself was another journey, because I know what I saw on stage, if you will, I know what I saw in the public, and then you get the view of what happens behind the scenes and it's like okay. And then in those moments, for a number of years, I had to wrestle with okay, that's not the kind of man I want to be, but I do want to take the best of who you are, and that, then, is the transferable skillset that continue to play out.
Speaker 2:So I would say, those two things continuing to thrive towards other exposures, other opportunities, studying, whether it be images, whether it be, whether it be day to day interactions, whether it be through media, whether it be through all of these different facets of studying the black male in the image of success, pairing that with a lot of what my mother even showed me as old school movies, coming up and watching men like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and how they conducted themselves on screen. So, beginning to put all of this together and how they dress, how they carry, how they speak, the clarity how they would control a room, and that pairing that with current day society and pop culture, and then pairing that with the transferable skill set that I learned as a child to not get off the drum set, and I think that those are all the things that have allowed for me to be able to, what I would say, speed up my trajectory towards executive leadership.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. Well, and you said exposure, which was one of those key words, and gaining that exposure. If you were talking to folks now who kind of have this belief that they don't have the ability or they don't have the right word set or they don't have the right skill set, or you know they've been kind of stuck based on where they grew up, but how would somebody gain that exposure? You know other than you know. You had that in the church to start out with. You know where you know there's a lot of young folks now who don't have, you know, some of that same upbringing that we were able to enjoy with our elders and seeing them. How do you gain? Or you know, as you're talking to your kids I know you teach business there as well as you know an open door policy for folks to come in. How are you advising them on that exposure?
Speaker 2:and how important it is. I will tell you now. It's a everyday occurrence for us to get on social media and be able to be in another place in time, to get news and information in another place in time. We don't have to depend upon the five o'clock news, 10 o'clock news to shape what we want to know about the world. We don't have to depend upon something that we just see in a classroom and if it's going to be shown on media day for us to get information. There is so much. I mean the deregulation of information is what we now must use to our advantage and making sure that our youth, our young adults, our working adults are fully understanding what has happened when it comes to information and the lack of control.
Speaker 2:There's the positive the ability to get our hands on information like we have never been able to get our hands on information before, which then means then understanding that it doesn't matter who's present physically in your life. You have the ability to get a hold of information and to find mentors and with people who you may never even meet physically, you may never ever get the chance to meet this particular person, but there's enough content on that person to study the knowledge and then you to conduct your own work and homework on that in the development of who you are. I think that in itself is powerful, the ability to be able to get a hold of those images. The other part of that is is the intentionality behind it. The individual has to understand the power and the necessary actions on their part to to intentionally seek such information. Students have asked me before what is the purpose of college, and in a very bite-sized form I tell them this is going to be one of the very first times in your life where you're going to be able to wrestle with what you've been told is real. You have lived under a roof that you've been told. This is how you think about politics, about economics, about religion. This is what you think about society, and you have been forced into that level. And then understanding of assimilation and now, in many cases, especially moving off to college, one is now getting an opportunity to live with people that they would have never lived with before, have interactions that they would have never had before, and now they want to hear and have some conversations within themselves from an intellectual standpoint. Do I really believe this? Is this real to me? And then you're being exposed to ideologies and methodologies that are now going to shape their own conceptual framework, where they're now going to shape their own realities, which I think is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:Information, the deregulation of information, has now made that possible, and we have to make sure that individuals understand the power of that. Now, here goes the caveat, the other side of the coin. Along with this deregulation of information, we also have a lot of false information, a lot of false narratives out there. The deregulation doesn't necessarily mean that the information that they may be exposed to has been regulated in terms of its accuracies.
Speaker 2:It is narrative, agenda driven information, and so there is, then, the need that we've got to really strengthen our K-12 schools, our institutions of higher education, to teach what to look for, to break down what can be to look for, to break down what can be, uh, the, the, the, digesting what is truly false information, and we cannot depend upon these images. And just because a video said it meant that it's real, no, it's not. And so you have to be able to teach, then, how to be able to go and do your homework and to verify triangulation. We understand it as doctoral researchers. We understand triangulation. You don't just depend upon one source? How do we compare this with other sources? But how do we then teach that in the everyday life of those that aren't living in that academic realm, Wow.
Speaker 1:So you know, as I'm thinking, as you're saying this and I'm thinking, you know, my wife said to me yesterday we were watching, you know, some TikTok videos or something, and she's like everybody wants to be famous but everybody doesn't, you know. But somehow the fame is what creates success, and you and I both know that there's a lot of successful people that are not famous. There's some people that I would even love to be, you know, that are famous. How do you help our younger generation separate this need to be seen from the successes they can get intrinsically and that they can get, from who they become as a you know, I guess as a part of the process of us, you, of us, teaching and education and all that.
Speaker 2:Very powerful question. I think the answer in that lies in something that seems very simple, but it is not, and I think that this is where people get distracted and live their lives outside of the purpose that they got designed for them to live within, and that is is the lack of validation. People need to have systems of validation. That need for validation then shows up in different spaces. It's what may encourage one to get involved in a legal activity, because they are now associated with a community that validates them. The need for validation could cause one to be in a relationship that's abusive, but that individual has found a way to validate them, so they'll deal with the abuse in order to be validated. Validation can also lead one to then discover the essence and the full embodiment of who they are and who God intended them to be, but it was the right moment, the right time that gave them the right interaction that validated them. So I think that the essence of this lies in the intentionality behind the systems that we allow to validate us, and that it is very important in that we do not depend upon others to validate us. We must then find ways to validate ourselves Easier said than done, but it is an infrastructure that will then best serve us.
Speaker 2:Because then, as we lean deeply into purpose, as we lean deeply into our God-given purpose, we will then understand that when times externally where we aren't being validated, that we still lean deeply into our purpose. And then, as we move through those seasons, we then find where we're supposed to be. We then find the community that we're supposed to have. We're less dependent upon what may be the immediate, because we're deeply able to understand what my God-given purpose is. And then I move forward into the season that then God has for me, and then we watch how alignments begin to happen. But usually what I've seen is when you begin to embrace that level of validation, you begin to shed a lot of what was, because it has nothing to do what is and certainly where you're at.
Speaker 1:Wow, and I'm loving where we're going because this is so important and maybe you can impact purpose for me, because you know that is such a hard concept. Because that is such a hard concept, I think, when you're young, because you're trying to find yourself and who you are, and you're trying to go OK, god, why do you have me on this planet? Or why am I here? And then you're talking about the validation which I see so much is. Other people try to influence who you are in a big way based on who they are and would get in their own validation.
Speaker 1:I'm going to put you in this box because it validates me, and then sometimes we start living in that box that somebody put us in, because we're there. So maybe you can help us just understand. How do, how do we search for that purpose? How do we, you know, find that purpose that ignites us, that makes us excited, that makes us want to continue to grow and continue to move on? And then you know I want to move into family here in a minute. But yeah, how do we do that?
Speaker 2:How do we find that purpose? You know, my mother told me something many years ago, when I was at the very beginnings of seeking to understand why I was put here on this earth, and that she asked me what is the thing that you do without thinking? What is the thing that you do without thinking? What is the thing that you don't have to put any effort? It's just innately, it's in you. You do it In a given situation. This is how you respond In a given situation. This is what you're leaning towards in terms of thought, or what is the thing that you really enjoy? That is personal, it's for you, it's something that you really enjoy doing. And that was the very beginnings. I would say a kindergarten level understanding of, but it's a strong foundation of understanding. Okay, well, this is what I am interested in and I began to understand very early on that I like building things, I like building people, I like building systems, I like having a team and kind of being that team captain. I took pride in that. That meant something for me. That then grew into me understanding that I really have been put here to build teams and to build people. That then evolved into understanding that again, that transferable skill set, that then being able to be in administration and realize the responsibility of creating these systems and infrastructures for individuals to thrive and to have parameters that then shape and lead a community of folks under one manner of an institutional mission. It then grew into that and understanding, essentially that's what I do every day as a college president, and so all of that grew from me realizing that, man, I really like team environments I really love, but I love leading teams, not being bossy, not being in control, but leading teams Understanding. How do we lead through conflict, how do we take those moments and shape for them and people, in the understanding that this is just an opportunity of refinement. Yet we lead with grace to get towards the development and the understanding for all involved to grow through this situation. That was the beginnings of that.
Speaker 2:So then, I would just say, for anyone that, as they're still seeking to understand their purpose, their purpose and what they do, to perhaps conduct that exercise for themselves and there's other elements of this that they can bring into that they call it swallowing analysis your own personal strengths, your own personal weaknesses, your own opportunities, things that you have yet to take fully advantage of in your personal life. That's just been on the table. And then the threats. Those threats can be the things that have been battles for your particular bloodline and generation. The men in my family have had challenges, as I did that research. Men in my family have had challenges, as I did that research. Men in my family have had challenges with being able to finish what they start. They've been very intelligent men, but they haven't necessarily had the tools to be able to keep their families whole because of certain threats and weaknesses that they allowed to then take fully advantage of the responsibility that they had in their households. That's the stuff that I then studied and said I didn't want to be that.
Speaker 2:And then you get into what I was talking about code switching earlier, of understanding then this what's called pest analysis political, economic, sociological, technological. It's a way of then taking a look and understanding the environment to which we dwell, and one cannot be a one trick pony. There are some folks that they get mad because they want to be serving multiple dimensions of who they are, yet they keep showing up the same in these same spaces, and every space for your effectiveness requires you to do something different. I think that's been the pure essence of code switching of how are we going to be effective in where our purpose is and what we've been put here to do, but to do it in many different environments. So I hope that answered your question and let me know the other aspect of that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because, you know, purpose is one of those things that if we don't chase it, we kind of it kind of happens to us and then our purpose is defined by somebody else and it's important to make sure that that it's not. Let me switch to, you know, just a little bit. Maybe we'll kind of talk about, you know, whether it's finances or money or just success, cause I a hundred percent believe that success leaves clues, the things that I can see in others and I'm watching others, and the things that they're successful in. You teach business. You run a multimillion dollar business as a president there.
Speaker 1:What are some of the things that you would say are some of those clues that somebody who's saying I want to be successful or I want to maybe you didn't send a leadership I want to run something, I want to be better.
Speaker 1:You know, and I believe that God put us on this planet to do better than we were the next day. So we're better today than we were yesterday, we're better next week than we were this week, we should be better next month, and that perpetually needs to continue to go. But what are some of the things or the principles, or the things that I should study, the things that I should work on that would allow me to continue that perpetual growth, or that perpetual, you know, I guess eyes on success, because that's a moving target. You were never as soon as you hit what you thought success was five years ago. Now you hit it this year. Success is something different, probably for most of us as we try to move forward into our careers. So what are some of those things that you would say as a business, you know, or as you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what I would share is is that again, another one of those things that my mother taught me, and that was is? She told me very early on that I needed to manage my life like a business, and I would then give the same advice to anyone that's watching and listening to this. If you can sit up and do strategic planning for an organization, you better do better strategic planning for your own personal life. As we talk about purpose, I would encourage everyone to have their own personal mission statement If you want to manage your life like a business. By doing that, you begin to understand from a strategic planning standpoint, to understand the difference between goal setting and objective setting, and this is where I watch people fail because they are trying to build an entire life off of goals. Every strategic plan has seasons associated with it. Who do you hear of with a 30, 40-year strategic plan? There's too many changes that then happen in the environment to where a plan from 40 years ago is not even relevant today no-transcript, but I would not encourage that being more than four or five years, as I would not for any organization, because there's too many changes that then happen in the environment, and as the environment shifts, one must then shift its objectives in order to accomplish its mission. So then it all goes back to my statement of. I really believe everyone needs to have a mission statement.
Speaker 2:My personal mission statement is Mordecai Ian Brownlee empowers the lives of others and build systems that empowers the lives of others. I recite this to myself every day. If it falls in line with the mission my personal mission I do it. If it doesn't, I don't touch it. You won't see me there because it doesn't align with the mission. And then the objectives that sit under that, which are personal to me, are then things that all have goals associated with it, but those goals are only held accountable by what we know in business and industry as key performance indicators. It's data, it's something that is actual, measurable, and the example I would give in that is at one point in time in my life, I weighed over 400 pounds. Now I certainly have a ways to go.
Speaker 2:I still have a goal one day of weighing a certain amount, but I'm not over 400 pounds like I used to be, and so I had to then set goals that were measurable goals to get me to the point of not only my goals being addressed but my objective, which to improve my overall health. Same thing with my sleeping. I had gotten used to only being able to survive with three, four hours a night. Yet we talk about health and then, especially as African-American men, we talk about our cardiovascular health. We talk about stresses, we talk about certain things that our African-American men have historically dealt with that impact all aspects of our lives and our family's lives, and so I've been needed to adjust my sleep schedule, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 2:So, strategic planning it is so important that we all go back to understanding. If you can strategically plan for an organization, you need to be strategically planning for your own personal life and your family, and we shouldn't be doing more for these companies than we do for our own family. And so that, I think, in itself is the essence of what integrity should look like.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I love that. I love that and just thinking in that whole realm of of success and, you know, strategic planning and having. I love what you said about objective goals. You know, not just you know, or objective planning, you know instead of, just what am I trying to achieve here? Not, this is my goal that I have to achieve, and once I achieve it, what do I do next when we talk about it?
Speaker 1:And you kind of started alluding to the family unit. You know, for Black men, the family unit has been something where we say where do I see the success? I hate to go back to when I was in college and the Cosby show was out and thinking about, hey, this is a family that we could see, that has a dad and has a mom and has these amazing kids that do whatever they do. That doesn't happen to be all of our lives, but I know you. I mean, you have children and you have an amazing wife that I've had the opportunity to work with in some manner sometimes.
Speaker 1:What is it that drives you to keep your family unit not only whole and going, because we all have, you know, obstacles that we deal with but that says that this is such an important aspect of my life that you know this is where I need to end up. Kind of talk to us about family and how important family is. As somebody who's looking to you know, hey, I might not have the best family, but like you said when you were a kid, right, this isn't going to be me, this is what's going to be me. So kind of walk me through that a little bit.
Speaker 2:I think that I don't know where to tell you where that understanding came from for me, but I just made a point that as I continue to learn about the histories of those that came before me and my family and understand the talents that they had, yet what was it able to materialize? The essence of just that. I don't know where to tell you where it came from, but that belief, and maybe I just have to continue to give credit to my mother of continuing to showcase to me that at some point the curse has to break, at some point it has to stop. We have to live the embodiment of what we were put here to do and we should not be putting and bringing harm to others. In our family, where we've been given the responsibility to lead our families, we talk about trust. You know it needs to be able to where my wife can trust me.
Speaker 2:I hear too many men talk about how you know, especially in the South. It was something I was raised around, hearing men, especially in the barbershop, talk about a submissive wife and all these things. And I look back at that and I says you know what there was. Why would she be submissive to something she can't trust? Wow, why, you know, I wouldn't you know, and this understanding of even understanding deeper levels of submission. What shouldn't we submit to one another? It's just this, this, this ignorance that's been allowed for years to be able to fester, that all is breaking down what I think was a God given infrastructure that we, if we would have did it and stuck to the play, where would we be today? But unfortunately, now you've got a new generation of folks that's got to figure this thing out, tear up a lot of these old weeds and this old infrastructure and old ways of thinking, and then live to be the example. Because, unfortunately, what I'll tell you, dr Arnold, is that we watch it. I'm watching it happen now with a national, world-known comedian where we've seen these images of African-American men be raised to only be tore down because of their own shortcomings. And then where do we get to the images for our young black males to take a look at and says not only are they successful, but all aspects of their lives are successful. And even if they don't get something right, it's not these massive mistakes, because they address the small mistakes. Small mistakes lead to the real big mistakes. So by the time that we're hearing about it, you could have had many different warnings.
Speaker 2:How do we teach that alarm system and build that alarm system within ourselves? And I think that that then takes us teaching our children and being living examples of what does it look like to have that compass, to have that internal alarm system that should be going off, because if you love yourself, you would not cause and create harm for someone else. You understand what's at stake and you understand then that, yes, there's going to be varying perspectives and viewpoints, but I don't seek to bring harm. I don't seek to kill you as an individual. I seek to harm. I don't seek to kill you as an individual.
Speaker 2:I seek to understand the infrastructure of how we have constructive conflict, teaching our children, especially now in the age of social media, that we're going right from social media engagements to violence, right, and we're dealing with harm in a new, different way that we haven't dealt with before. And so all of these are the things that I think we have to address and that comes to us living this out in our everyday lives, in our own homes, and so there's a lot that I'm trying to button up, but I would just say that it's just innate within me, that I just grew up saying that won't be me and I look forward to there being more men of color, more men, african American men, being able to be a lived example. And and I look forward to there being more men of color, more men, african-american men, being able to be a lived example, and we don't have to wait for the scandal to come out.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen. Talk about the joy of family. I mean, sometimes we just talk about all the aspects that are wrong with the family and all the things and the hardships and the controversy and family's family, but we do it because we love our and you know family's family, but you know we do it because we love our family. Right, we enjoy our family. So maybe talk about what, what drives you as far as you know your family and the things that you get to do and you know the things that you wake up every morning excited about as a result of, maybe, some of the things that happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will tell you that my wife and I both come from single mothers. I will tell you that the joy of family is something that has had to be learned, because the idealism that sat before that we were raised in was the understandings that family did not have. It was more responsibility than joy, and I think that there's a lot to unpack in that. That's a whole nother episode. But that's a whole nother episode, right. But to learn joy of family versus the responsibility of family, the burden of family, the lack of family, and then you get into what is a whole nother series of unpacking where family has been used as a framework to manipulate, wow, right. So that is the reason why I will tell you, in business and industry, I do not refer to my organization or the folks within my organization as a family, because, if we were to be honest, the idealism around family can mean many different things to many different people and how much trauma has been passed down thanks to their families.
Speaker 2:So, then, the terminology that I then use is team. We're a team, which then gives me a framework for everyone to understand their positionality, the responsibility of covering ground for the next person, and all of that that goes with having a successful championship winning team. So that's the terminology that I didn't use. But to go back to family, I would say we've had to learn joy, and I would tell you then that it was an understanding of what love, but what healthy love looks like, and so I'm very grateful, then. I've been able that God paired me with someone who was willing to be thirsty enough to strive for what is the essence of what family should have been that, even though we've never experienced it. Now we're committed to creating the framework to what it should look like, not for the image of social media, but for the essence of what is pleasing to God's design. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Can we think about parenting and lessons that you have for your kids? I have eight children and I have 13 grandkids now.
Speaker 1:So this is a daily conversation. What is it that I? You know you can't control your kids, especially, as you know, mine are adults now. So there's definitely that that I, you know I could do to control them. But what are the things that you try to impart, the lessons that you want them to learn, the things that you don't want them to experience? You know, we hear this helicopter parent thing all the time, where they don't get to experience anything because you're controlling everything. But then there, there has to be that time where they get to become and you see it now because they come to the two year college, you know, as different people. But what are some of those lessons that you go? Ok, this is what, these are the non-negotiables, and then you might never think of all of them right now, but some of the things that, with your children, that you want to make sure that they're rooted in, that they're grounded in, that they have that foundation.
Speaker 2:You know, I'll answer that with one thing, because there's a lot there. One thing that I, my wife and I, make sure to help our children understand that by no means are they better than anybody. Help our children understand that by no means are they better than anybody. Everybody has the same value, however, however. However, you're not better than anybody, but you are different than other people and there's so much to unpack in that.
Speaker 2:But it's value, it's that sense of validation, it's the understanding that you're to respect everybody, but there's a standard that you're going to live by and understand, because there's too many folks that come before us that have made too many sacrifices In understanding the essence of who you are and who's come before you. Then you got to understand then what you've been called to do in this given point in time, and by embracing your personal purpose, you're going to understand that you're not better than anybody, but you are different. You are different and you are to embrace what that then means for them, for them, and then I'm to hold them to that regard, to not live in my shadow, not to be the second coming of a Mordecai Brownlee. They ought to be the fullness of who they are. Then, by me doing my job, then they'll be able to do theirs, and then those that come after me can do theirs. But we'll all have an understanding that we're not better than anybody, but we are different from, and that comes with, a responsibility.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm getting so much good advice here. I'm just writing down like crazy and I'm all over the place in my thoughts and where I want to go Faith you know, Dr Brownlee is a man of faith and faith has played a pretty big, I guess, role in your life. Kind of talk about how faith has integrated into who you are, no matter where you show up.
Speaker 2:You know what I'll say, and I know we're coming to a close here, but I would say that, for me, it is the, the fullness of who I am, and I have had to go along on my own first personal faith journeys, where I talked about that moments of discovery. There was what I was raised in, but then there's what I had to understand for my own self, and I do think that that has also helped me to understand that there is a bit of especially again being raised in the South, what we were taught and utilizing the faith, still through the church, and just to outright state I am a Christian, follow Jesus Christ, and I would say, though, that my understandings of faith and Christianity have continued to evolve over time. I will tell you that, unfortunately, because of and this goes back to the roots of slavery, some of those spaces and places that I was learning faith were rooted in a disadvantaged perspective. The one day we shalls, you know, I remember being sitting in a church service, and it just vexed me so that the pastor, at that given point in time, was talking about how God was going to bless people with credit cards, do you understand? And so that's just one example for you, and I think that now, looking back, if we're to talk about creating credit, to understanding how to leverage, to then understand, you know, we get into some of these other aspects of business, but that ain't where he was coming from. He was talking about guy giving you that 30% APR credit card, right, and we get into these teachings that you know God going to bless you with this and God going to bless you with that.
Speaker 2:We never got into the understandings of budgeting. We never got into the understandings of investing. We never got into how, how do we build an infrastructure towards wealth? So then we even understand the power of a 10 percent being raised around this whole idea of the prayer line, you know, and the money. You got to have money in your hand again. This is not what christianity should have ever been about, but unfortunately, those were some of the exposures that I then had growing up, and I'm very grateful that I was able to grow out of that, because you got to spot a hustler, where a hustler is, and it just has different forms of it. That ain't got nothing to do with following Jesus Christ, and so I would tell you then that, yes, it is deeply rooted in who I am, but I'm very grateful for the journey that I've been on to understand that what the essence of it truly is.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, the last few minutes, and I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about education. It's what you do, it's what I'm part of and what I've done for many years, and kind of walk me through education. For since we're talking about Black men here and the importance of education and the different avenues that are options. You know, I think sometimes we pigeonhole ourselves into. This is my only option. I gotta go get this, I gotta go with this skill and I'm not gonna, you know, talk about how education can help us progress forward.
Speaker 2:Education. And let me be honest and tell you the right kind of education, please, please, the right kind of education can help one progress forward. The best book, one of the best books in the world Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Pablo Freire, who broke down the oppressiveness of what these educational systems can do and the indoctrination that can come about with one, and how all of this has impacted third world countries and the power of what, the essence of what real truth and what it can do for one. And I think that that's part of the war that America is having within itself now of not wanting to deal with some truths. Because if we were to be honest and deal with some real truths, we would then not only be convicted in what it is that we've allowed to take place, but now we're going to get into true understandings of wealth and what we consider some to be wealthy, but what they built that wealth on. And then we get into a whole nother element of infrastructure and having to break down and tear these systems that we have now held to be true. And I don't think that America wants to deal with that, because once America takes its makeup off, if you will I'm only using that, figuratively speaking, we're going to realize that it's beautiful within, but it's got some ugly blemishes to it, and I don't think that we want to really deal with that.
Speaker 2:And so I would say that a lot there to unpack, but the education in itself, the pureness of it, one should continue to always pursue the truth, and by pursuing the truth they can then get to a discovery of their own truths. And by becoming in alignment and understanding, having full understanding of the truths that are within, we then are able to have the tools to be equipped to live out our purpose. And then we get into the understanding that it doesn't take anybody to tell me I know how to find it for myself, and that's that resilience, that's that resilience, that's the essence of what does it mean to strive towards truth and the truth that I'm to be, and I won't allow you to tell me no, your no is only the truth that you want me to understand about the realities that you've accepted. That's not my no, that's your no, that's not my no. And that's then, I think, is the power of what education should be.
Speaker 2:But unfortunately, we have school systems to where instructors, teachers, can even teach these children they haven't to prepare them, how to take tests, and that's a whole other conversation that I just can't stand, and I've done research around standardized testing. It does have its purpose, but we now live in a day and time where that is essentially the infrastructure that we've allowed to raise our children. Testing, not development, those are two different things.
Speaker 1:So how can I as an individual? So now, let's say I'm a young adult and I want to make sure that I'm educating myself. What are the steps that I should take? I mean, I know there's the social media and trying to figure out what's real and what's not real. I know there's institutions of education that I can go to. I know there's church stuff that I can go to. I know there's all these different information is being bombarded at me all the time. How do I choose and pick what's going to be right for me, the best for me, or even options that I have that I may not know, that I have A lot in that question.
Speaker 2:I would only go back to earlier in our conversation and just say that it is very important then that, as development, it goes to something that you said earlier about development and that every day we should be getting better. If we embrace the value of who we are, we then will understand and have a basis on what we hold to be true and understanding that there is a ton of information out there, but the information that may be present may not resonate with who we are. It also comes with a sense of accountability. There's going to be information that we come across. That is true and it's factual and it doesn't necessarily align with what we may be living at that given time, and it's that truth that we then have to deal with.
Speaker 2:Health is a perfect example of that. Men in my family love themselves to keep, as they say, a cold one, keep something in their hands, sipping and drinking and alcohol on a regular basis. However, if we were to be honest, what is the impact of alcohol on a regular basis to our bodies, to our minds, to our abilities to rest? And I only use that as one example, but it's part of that truth that we have to deal with. We don't care for it, but we got to deal with it oh man, that's good.
Speaker 1:So five minutes left and you can share whatever you want that you think would help folks out. What would be the lesson, or your mini lesson, or your mini teaching that you would say, hey, this is so important that you look at in your life to be able to become into in this journey to freedom that we're going on? And what does it mean to be free, or whatever it is that you want to talk about? What would? What would that be?
Speaker 2:You know, so much has already been shared. That is enough for folks, I think, to really eat on and digest and continue to reflect on for quite some time, because what I've just shared over the past hour, I will tell you, took me years. This isn't something, you know, it's not something overnight, but it is the commitment to consistency. Consistency and quality we understand it in the marketplace, but do we understand it in our own personal life? Consistency and quality we understand it in the marketplace, but do we understand it in our own personal life? We should be eating quality consistently, we should be living quality consistently, we should be spending with a quality mindset consistently.
Speaker 2:Every aspect of our lives should be quality and done so consistently. Alive should be quality and done so consistently. That in itself, I think, is what then? The reflections of growth for every day, reflecting, being intentional, thinking about what we've done, the impacts of those things, and does it lead us to our lived or our desired mission and purpose? If there is misalignment in our actions to our mission, we reflect, taking those moments for reflection which I think impacts all other aspects of our life, because then we understand that success is then found in the fulfillment of our purpose. That's where the alignment then happens. That's where real wealth then shows up by quality, living in alignment with what it is that we've been put here to do, and doing that consistently.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So you know you saw me smiling while you were talking right then, because I had written down. My last question is what's the importance of consistency? And you answered it. So you know I just go hey, this was meant to be, this is purposeful. And you know, when I think, as I talk to young folks, you know I just go hey, this was meant to be, this is purposeful.
Speaker 1:And you know, when I think in it, as I talk to young folks, you know, and I and I want to tell them that who you become, you know, is going to be a lot based on who your inner circle is, the people that you're around, the books and the information that you put into your mind. And so our journey should be one of how can I continue to be around the right people, how do I create those circles of people that are above where I'm at? You know, for me it's like if I see somebody that I want to emulate, or see somebody that I think their life has an aspect, and I really want to pinpoint that and say an aspect, because there's not a whole person that I want to follow, right, oh the Christ, but you go. Ok, so a person on this planet is really good at this. I want to be around him. I want to be around. How do I start developing those relationships? I start reading about that. You know I'm reading a lot of Thomas Saul right now. You know his financial stuff and you know one of the greatest economists that I probably ever lived. You know that, but I wasn't ready for it 10 years ago. I wasn't ready for it 50 years ago, right, you know. So what did they say? When the student is ready to teach a role here. So I really want to thank you today on. There is so much.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have to go back and listen to you know our conversations all the time because there was so many good nuggets and I would suggest for anybody who just heard this the first time, one of the things that I've learned in it. You know, I don't know if you do this versus if I have the opportunity, and I think this day and age, with technology and AI and everything else that allows me to do, is if I can just listen the first time and then go back and take notes, and so many things are recorded these days, so many things allow. You know, when you and I were coming, we had to take notes seriously because if we didn't get it it wasn't going to be said again. But now just to listen intake process then go back after you've recorded and write down those nuggets and then say how do they apply to and, like you said, our purpose, the things why God put us on this planet. That's right and and the reason and I pray that every day that God, you know, would show me how I could be, serve others in a way that pleases him. You know, and by doing that with my gifting and all of us and he said this before is we have gift things.
Speaker 1:You know, there's that thing that you what he said before, right, that Dr Brownlee said before is the things that you don't think about and you just do anyways, and you love doing it. That's where you pursue, that's where you grow, that's where you move forward and so you know, thank you for another great episode of the Journey to Freedom. Thank you for being on and taking your time out. I know how difficult it is when people are super busy in their lives and stuff to take the time and I believe you've absolutely served others in this setting by doing this today and I look forward to talking with you and thank you guys for participating in another Journey to Freedom podcast. And again, dr Bradley, thank you, we'll talk with you guys for participating in another Journey of Freedom podcast. And again, dr Bradley, thank you. We'll talk with you guys soon. Have a great, wonderful, amazing day.