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Introduction

My story

South Central L.A.
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Questions About
Black People

Leadership

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Make the connection

Leadership is the power to influence. If you have the power to influence others, then by default you are a leader. Many leaders do not know they are leaders. In turn many leaders do not know they are not leaders. While attending Andrews University the Men's Dean told me that I have leadership abilities. Leadership was a foreign concept to me because I had never been my class president and I did not have contact with people in true leadership positions. Everyone I knew was pretty much a worker bee type.

I've been told that I should or that I am going to be the president on five different occasions by very different people in very different places and situations. I do not know what those people saw in me, but I figure what the hell. Why not give it a try? Presently, I am working to place myself in a position to run for the presidency of the United States. I feel there is a monkey on the back of Black America. I think many doubt the black man's ability to lead. I think my culture as a people do not sense the ability to become leaders.

I see a lot of my people sensing their ability to play sports, but not to own a sports organization. For example, I will hear a person in the hood say they are the next Shaq or Kobe, but none think to become the next Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. If a man can afford to pay Shaq and Kobe plus the rest of the team, then how much money is he making? But that is not a question people ask in the hood. Their thinking is focused on playing not owning. Monetarily speaking we still pick the cotton rather than own the plantation.

My favorite type of leadership has a developmental focus. Examples of this type of leadership are Jesus and his disciples, Phil Jackson's teams, Bill Parcel's teams, Jack Welch, Martin Luther King Jr., Colonel Sanders, Ray Kroc, Michael Jordan's third return to the NBA, and many others. These people are able to take something or someone and make it special or greater because of their influence. Having that ability in my eyes is a very special gift.