Thank you What up what up what’s up Good People welcome to the I am Alpha podcast I got my main man Jeff forever in the building tell them what’s up Jay what’s up people I’m glad to be here with you today I feel uh honored no I could be a part of
Your podcast you know it was interesting I told you this last time we met up for lunch to talk about some opportunity and um I just feel privileged to sit and to communicate and you’re one of the guys when I’m able to say I look up to
Someone I like to always mention your name so it’s an honor for you allow me to come in I didn’t know you was going to start off with that the mushy part yeah you know you know as we age you know we tend to show our emotions a lot more
Freely so don’t start with this all right yeah but but I appreciate that I’m uh you know it’s it’s um yeah I think we all are uh the sum of the environment yes we place ourselves in and the engagement uh that we cherish and pour into yeah and hopefully sometimes we can
Get a little bit from those absolutely that’s what it’s about that’s that’s good it’s about see that’s why I mess with him that’s it so guys if it’s your very first time I want to welcome you uh the I am Alpha what is the I am Alpha
Right it’s for us to be able to communicate as men what I’ve learned us as men we need to communicate better with each other also with women but also with society as well this series is called Brotherhood for those that watch the first couple of episodes uh that was
My community growing up y’all were able to meet taco and D cried and Leroy guys that I grew up with so some of the terminology or the bad grammar that I use it’s their fault right but leading into Brotherhood again we are the summer right that’s it that’s it that’s it and
Hopefully you guys enjoyed those episodes and today Jeff I really wanted to connect with you because you’re a part of a lot of things that I believe brings happiness joy peace to you and one of the things that I’ve noticed is the Brotherhood that even though I’m not
A part of the Greek organization or some of the other things we’ll talk about today I get to see how you light up when you talk about it or the fun that you have from those experiences so when I say Brotherhood what does that look like and what does that mean to you
When you just hear the term Brotherhood I think it’s um it it’s I like to say sometimes it’s the family that you choose or the family that chose you in some respects meaning that you know we all I say we all we come from a blood relationship that we
Don’t have a choice in yeah you know I may I may or may not like um that blood relationship but we’re still connected through the bond of blood absolutely but when you actively seek out another individual or group of individuals or that group of individuals or individuals seeks you out is because
They made a choice and so when I think of Brotherhood in that respect to me it’s almost like okay well I have to love Yeah my blood brother yeah but I don’t have to love this person that’s not connected to me through blood but I choose to I like that right and so
When I think of Brotherhood it’s it’s a it’s a it’s it’s that act of choice okay and um a a connected kinship you have some similarities in in some of the ways or the journey that you’ve made to get to that spot I love it and that’s that’s
What I think about when I think my brother so that’s why you know when I you know I meet Brothers um that have some commonality there may be some things that are different but we have some commonalities together and we immediately connect and we’re immediately there for one another we
Immediately have a good time and share ideas I love to help grow our community I love it and that’s what it’s about right that’s what it’s about it’s uh it’s cool to to hear that response but knowing that before you even say it right because I mean word say one thing
But action say another thing and everything you just said aligned the way that if I was to brag on you and create the Avatar Jeff that’s yeah very similar words I probably said um Jeff you have a beautiful wife beautiful little girls can you tell us a
Little bit about for those that don’t know who Jeff is what do you do where are you from yeah how did you get in Houston if you’re not from Houston that’s right so I grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma um in recent years I guess it’s it’s it you
Know a lot of people talk about Black Wall Street all those types of things so I grew up in that in that City okay um you know I’ve known about Blackwell Street you know you know practically all my life I didn’t I know that’s why I
Said but but you’d be surprised or you may not be surprised by this now because there’s a lot of documentation about it but we were never taught that in in in grade school growing up in Tulsa I grew up on the North side of Tulsa Oklahoma predominantly black uh part of that City
Still to this day okay um but you know we’re all um the the massacre occurred it was not too far from where I grew up really and I knew about it because of the older members of my family shared shared stories that were passed down and over
Time but we were never taught it formally in any in any classroom that I can remember in fact not only that but they there was an active um uh role in redacting a lot of things out of the history there so it’s also so it’s great so that’s Tulsa and not to
Interrupt but I’m just curious because this is not even on the dialogue right right what I wanted to talk about but when you say you learned that that’s from you know people in your bloodline yeah teaching you so in your in your generation your peers you grew up with
In grade school in high school was that ever a conversation that came up or the only way that was actually even spoke about was from family members it was for family members but I think the the main thing was uh when you when it came up outside of that it was more
Um as an example of what we should aspire to do in terms of it didn’t talk so much about the killing that certainly is a part of the narrative but it was more so about um the the producers um the folks that were thriving and how
Positive uh Wall Street was prior to uh the master that occurred and so that’s the part that you know you know we tried to cling on to okay um so that’s where I grew up um my mom was an educator um for she retired and not you know 10
10 or so years ago she um her Focus was around the English language she was a writer she wrote for the local newspaper there for a while um my dad who raised me his name is Pops Pops and Pops he was a a long time employee of um uh the the United States
Postal Service okay he’s retired as well doing well good uh my sister she still lives there outside of uh Oklahoma outside of Tulsa she’s in financial industry my other sister is a longtime employee of the poster Postal Service and my other sister she’s she sells insurance and other things they’re
They’re in Oklahoma which sister did I meet you met Angela the youngest youngest okay yeah so we have a substance we have some we have a blended family um but you know we’re all pretty close absolutely we talk um so so it’s been been a good good
Environment I went to school at Oklahoma State University yeah um graduated high school from Booker T Washington um High School there in Oklahoma historic High School there Oklahoma State University University and came to Houston in the early 90s and just fell in love with Houston I was here in 91
Right after I pledged Kappa Alpha Psi in the spring of 91 and came here went to the Kappa beach party that was it met a lot of friends had a great time and fell in love yeah got here um then I traveled around quite a bit on projects in the construction industry I
Got my degree in my bachelor’s in construction management okay and I’ve been fortunate enough to work in that field um got married a little bit later in life than some met my wife my beautiful wife keithia in 2000 2002 ish and we immediately started having babies because we were
Both in our mid-30s and we didn’t want to be too old graduating you know children stage I think that’s a good age I think you know in hindsight I think was a great age um but she she has been um you know incredible incredible mother incredible spouse very supportive and
And not just support but she’s an absolute contributor yeah and uh in all aspects of life and it’s just been been great our marriage has been fun yeah and we’ve had a lot of great times a lot of memories a lot of trips and a lot more
To do yeah and um but you know our pride and joy and the and the absolute best of us our two daughters yeah we have a senior Sarah and we have a sophomore a Morgan and they’re both intelligent both beautiful both independent both have their heads on right yeah they’re very
You know focused on and you know they won’t call it this but I see that they’ll be citizens of the world yeah they’ll be very well learned uh very well exposed um it’s hard not to be in this day and age but far smarter than I was at this age for them
I tell them that and they remind me of that and whenever I try to give those advice but it certainly is a joy to see them grow and develop absolutely man yeah and it’s been cool to see from afar right I can only see what you guys post
But just your wife being a class act the way you bring up your daughters I’ve been knowing them since they were in elementary yeah yeah so to see that transition it makes me feel older yeah now look now I’m looking at your boys and I’m like oh man there we go it’s
Time right it waits for no man yeah but um you know it’s it’s cool to also say that I I lived in Oklahoma as well for a while you did oh that’s right that’s right right so yeah when you probably heard a Guthrie I have yeah so between Oklahoma State and Langston University
You pass uh the gut oh yeah um you know great friends um and I would call them you know family yeah that are from um Langston I’m sorry they went to school in Langston when I was there we’re still friends to this day yeah you probably know some of them
But we’re still friends to this day that’s awesome maternity Brothers both fraternity brothers and um folks that that just went to school there at the same time as I did you know 30 30 plus years relationships so it goes to what we’re talking about right still to the Brotherhood right that’s
Right so I actually just prior to getting on camera was uh did you have any brothers so you talked about your three sisters Elementary Middle School High School did you ever say I want a brother or always had the desire maybe to have someone I don’t know around your age
That was a male that was blood related you know I uh I thought it would be great um but you know the the thing that um fulfilled that voice feel that void for me one was my close friends to this day you could probably I’m not going to
Show you this on my phone there’s a text there’s a text chat group chat yeah of of friends that we were friends in Middle School okay right and I have another text group chat friends that are my my frat brothers wow I have another one that are folks that we were in high
School and there’s like some spillover high school and college Okay so all distinct but all are are what make up my environment and make up who I am today so that that was was always there and and I didn’t even mention my cousins because it was all it
Was all boy cousins okay until um you know we we were in our I won’t say teenage years but we were in our like almost teenagers yeah and then we started there was a girl there were girls that came along yeah and so they were like brothers uh to me because we
Would always be in my grandmother’s house yeah playing football on the street and doing all the things that boys do yeah so I was never I never sat back and thought hey man I need need a brother right because I had brothers or they just simply weren’t uh Blood Brothers was that something
That came easy for you like to introduce or someone approach you and then y’all gradually become friends or was you more standoffish no it was it always was because again it goes back to you know what do we have in common um you know either we were in the same
School or we you know sometimes we like the same girl yeah or whatever it was and um you know so we ended up you know just you know vibing on that good example of that I moved into a new neighborhood back when I guess I was in Middle School
Okay and my next door neighbor I kid you not um his name is Julian we have the same exact birthday wow same year okay so there was a natural yeah even if we moved into initially thinking you know I’m not going to like this person or whatever it
Was we initially had some connectivity up top right and so then that connectivity that he had in the in a uh having already been in that in that neighborhood whatever connectivity he had I had that connectivity yeah right and so and his connectivity went back to your birth yeah you know in some
Respects and so that first call it you know a few years of those lives I automatically was kind of brought into that okay and those those are my same friends today that’s awesome man isn’t that awesome that’s awesome so we always joke back and forth who’s older you know
About a minute but it’s about hours yeah you know the morning versus the date versus uh the afternoon but we had you know we had we’d have joint birthday parties together we’d like had similar interest we I think we we were also we were all setting a rap group together
And they would rap group um hold on stop hold on you didn’t know that you can’t say that and then keep moving what’s the rap group name what was your place those things yeah you’d have to come you had to go watch the other song okay uh
Episode okay but no so he’s still working in the music industry oh really yeah he has his own uh radio network and um and he does other things he does some production and he’s uh he’s doing doing really well up in the Dallas area I love
It but I used to be a DJ you didn’t know that either it seemed like we no I don’t know I don’t know why I want to call him DJ Jazzy well I guess that’s some fresh prince he’s a Jazzy Jeff so that was already taken okay we thought about this
Okay but I didn’t think that so so what’s the name uh I’ll change the whole titles turntable prints okay okay and then there was scratch master sensei okay because that’s some somewhere oh this is what it was when I was in a freshman in high school I learned this I took
Japanese so I’m gonna Sensei meant teacher so I brought that back so I’m gonna be scratch master sensei sensei okay and so that’s what that’s what the name was now y’all know I didn’t know the talent show all that there’s no video I don’t think anywhere we should
Find it we should try to find it but anyway that’s that’s the that’s the story yeah I love it man it it’s so cool to see that and hear that because knowing you from where I know you yeah I’ve never seen you like in a corner
Yeah really shy yeah I guess the thing I want you to think of and I’m curious of Your Action have you ever noticed another man being the shy guy and are you the type to introduce yourself or do you kind of let them you know keep their own domain I think I
Think you have to meet people where they are I think that um in you know as grown men probably not I don’t you know some it depends on depends on the environment and the situation if it is a networking event um I will you know try to network but
You got to start with baby steps some people you can walk right up to yeah and you you get a sense of that you can do that you can walk right up to and have a very Lively conversation other folks you may have to meet them where they are and
Maybe tone down you know how you approach them in order to you know get them engaged into the the conversation so I think it’s important to like to know your audience I mean you can’t I mean I can’t just run up and because you might turn them off yeah
Um you might catch it one two yeah yeah exactly two-piece with a biscuit right but um I think you just got to know your environment but I think you know you know life is about connections yeah no one can do this alone so you know you you have to make
Engagements in every I tell people this all the time every excuse it every every engagement with every person is an interview um and what I mean by that is that you don’t know if that person is going to have the ability to invest in you help you sell whatever you’re selling
That’s right or hire you that’s real right and so that goes for entrepreneurs that goes for people who seek corporate careers every engagement is an interview well so don’t show up late um because that’s going to set the tone for how people uh what box they put you
In yep and so that and don’t show up unprepared that’s going to set the tone I love it I love it and that that’s going to be you know you know you know the road map of how your relationship is going to evolve I like that no 100 because you know
Not just because of my my space where I do for a living is just anybody you know it can be the bartender it can be the waiter it can be the person that’s checking me out at the Apple Store it’s been so many sequences in my life where that next
Move that I made potentially came off of a conversation I just had with the rep at the Apple Store or uh I’m not gonna say the individual but I’ve met people out and about and then they became one of the new mean green trainers in the future that’s right based upon a
Five-minute conversation absolutely and um so I think that’s I think that’s awesome man um Brotherhood Brotherhood going to the meat of what I wanted to really talk to you about okay I’m not Greek okay all right uh so my first school I went to I played the two schools played at Houston
Baptist University for dominant white school and then Houston uh not Houston I almost said Houston Langston uh Langston University is all you know it’s at HBC so I transferred in my senior year so I didn’t get really the full exposure of what a four-year College looks like with
Different variety of Greek so in Houston Baptist there were no you know it wasn’t even you know we didn’t have that exposure right looking back I’m now like if I went there as a freshman what have I been Greek I always have these questions like what would have happened if I’d have
Been Greek some of my closest friends uh got from the first episode Carl uh he’s a Kappa the guy after this podcast would be Larry Brooks I think y’all know each other that’s right he’s a cap so it’s like what is that what was that like outside
Looking in I don’t know but that’s why I’m really intrigued with this conversation so I guess my first question going into OSU did you know you were going to be in a fraternity or was that something that conversations led up to interest you know so so the interesting thing about
My journey my road to Kappa okay is um growing up all the men that I looked up to and you really thought were great men or kappas okay but here’s the thing when I was looking up to him and thought they were great I didn’t know they were campus okay my coaches
Some of the Educators that I looked up to some other communities that I looked up to went to church with I just didn’t know that there was a connected connectivity with those individuals wow it wasn’t until um you know cap officer was the first scholarship that I received really yeah the very first
Scholarship that I received you know you know graduating senior going to school a little this year that was the first scholarship and so when I sat before um the Kappa Alpha side Tulsa alumni chapter I go in the room and I’m like I know these men wow it was the same two
Coaches wow that’s all other educators community members that I knew no brainer then and I was like man I they’re capitalists right right and so they were clearly advocating for me when I wasn’t in the room because I was awarded the scholarship yeah okay and when I got that scholarship
I got to campus and the nukes were running the yard okay I’m not trying to cause no scenes out here y’all I’m just sitting in I’m sitting in the eye of mouth podcasts guys the snoops were running the yard yeah okay and again so again this connectivity um
They were running they were achieving they were doing these things that I aspired to do when you say achievement what was that what was that like for a 18 19 20 year old achieving uh one you know when I say achieving I’m looking at these men who
Are achieving in in real life in real time I got that scholarship you know there was so then I went to school and I was like man these these guys are doing positive things yeah on the campus uh both socially and both academically both in the community doing doing whatever
They’re supposed to do that’s all achievement yeah right so when you think about our our motto right achievement achievement in every field of human endeavor okay that’s what cappers do okay and so when I got there I said you know I think I I think I’m going to be
An achiever right you know you know that was what I wanted to do yeah and so that’s that was my pursuit to Kappa you know it was like that it wasn’t as easy as saying that’s what I want had to go earn it and so I think I think
About that that brings me to you know desire and discipline right you got to have both of those because desire without discipline is debilitating right and so when you think about that um for me there was no other choice yeah other than Kappa yeah and you know you talk about
You were at Langston getting didn’t get an opportunity because you were there at a later age in life Langston fortunately for me is about 15 20 minutes yeah from Oklahoma State University yeah some some of my friends joke to this day they say well you know Jeff was down there so
Much they thought they thought I did go to school in Langston Langston’s foot it was a lot it was a great time yeah outstanding institution of Education yeah um outstanding people to this day you know certainly a great experience and man I tell you um I love I love I love Langston
Um and you know they’re you know again just a great great experience all around Oklahoma State and Langston altogether that was just a great time in life what do you think Jeff when I said achievement I want to kind of bring a foundation to that because I
Don’t know who watches this and listens but the hope and the prayer that it inspires all right I think when I first got to Langston going to Houston Baptist right where there were no fraternities that I would join I said that way of course um Mr political right yeah I like that um
When I got there I thought it was just party oh you know the chicks the ladies are gonna like you know or man this is where everybody you know and it wasn’t until I got maybe about the second semester I started noticing the cohesiveness between them where they
Will work together to produce right and I was like I get it and I didn’t want anybody to walk away from this thinking oh I just want to join whatever fraternity based upon the 60 to 90 minutes that the party takes place on the yard is more about
The opportunity and what you connect within the fraternity for sure so going to my second question with you within fraternity what what was like the very first thing you did at OSU as a capital that said that made you say I’m a Kappa like what really took place and you was
Like man I’m really doing this I’m really a part of this organization well you know we’re not going to divulge too much around that first thing yeah but we’ll talk about kind of in totality absolutely uh it was it was it was both of us so if you think about you know
Shine and grind okay you know what people see uh externally a lot of time is the shine and that’s the parties uh that’s the the fun times um that that go on the social events the grind which is really kind of the foundation when I think of achievement
Right because you know without the grinding there’s no there is no shine yeah so the grind is more around community service work that you do um the um you know the Kappa League on if you’ve heard you heard Capital that’s a mentoring um um process or program that Kappa invests
In with young younger younger men okay and and that’s something you know again gives them exposure to Achievers okay and so for me uh the first thing was kind of the tutorials that we used to do okay with with students you know if I was strong in a particular subject we
Would set up tutorials to help students that were younger than me help them through some of their classwork and so to me that was a broader uh and deeper penetration into the mind of people okay and it would help I think that that’ll pay off exponentially more than just a
Party right I was having a good time and so for me that was kind of the first thing you know after someone that you know I tutored or I was involved in tutoring came back and said hey look these things that we went over or these study habits that you gave me really
Helped me over time and that was the first you know for me it was like man I was man yeah you’re making a real impact I said in that way uh Beyond you know just hey look we we do like to have a good time but you know when we do yeah
Don’t make no mistake we do like to have a good time but it you know the world is bigger than you know that good time yeah and so you fast forward that it’s the same thing now you know you know the the local chapters um here uh with Kappa uh and other other
Greek organizations they do a lot in the in in the community whether it be a voting voting Drive um the registering to vote drive on an annual basis they feed feed you know needy families um and throughout the course of the Year Kappa League they do we we do
A um a college tour with over 100 you know students or more to take them to several colleges um just so they can get a sense of one where they might want to go to school and we utilize we leverage connections and I like that in fact I think it was last year
You know one of the meetings the leader of the Capital League was asking was talking about where they’re going and they were having challenges and getting to one University you know the association with me or I’m sorry me being to hear that will say oh man I
Know somebody there right so again it’s all about connectivity so when he got finished making this presentation I made a phone call to a to a a high school friend of mine who happens to be an alpha and I said two different two different organizations
But again I said hey look I have uh uh you know my chapter is trying to do this um College Twitter having some trouble getting it all set up because of the complexities with between covet and um you know the timing of it can you
Help me yeah you know he happened to be in a position to say okay have him send it directly to me I’ll get it set up and then he said in fact I’ll have one of the undergrad kappas be a part of taking them around the university wow and so
When you talk about um affiliation in a Brotherhood or Sisterhood right that’s that’s when I’m talking about the connectivity to build bridges yeah right because if we’re all sitting on individual Islands and can none of us swim yeah but what I need is on that island I need
Somebody that can help build a bridge bring a boat over to me I’ll bring it over there and I may not know anybody with a boat yeah but I may know somebody that knows somebody with a boat right and so when you talk about the Brotherhood Sisterhood that’s what it is literally
You know a guy that I went to high school with who chose a different path we went to the same college but he chose a different path than I did yeah but I had a need and he said because you have that need and you make this call I’m going to
Make an accommodation I love it so so that’s so and so that’s just one example but there’s any number of examples that I’m sure if someone else is sitting in the sea could tell you about that Brotherhood but that’s it in a nutshell making things happen making them happen faster
And more efficient than they possibly could happen on your own I love it well said it’s um it’s beautiful to be honest it’s so for me Jeff I never like I told you I wasn’t part of a fraternity my thing was more of being a basketball player yeah right so that’s a
Brotherhood absolutely um you know Brothers partying whether it’s staying eligible right whether it’s uh you know just sharing Secrets right one one when you said the networking thing I do want to come back to it hopefully I don’t forget it right don’t let me forget I
Want to talk a little bit about the difference between connecting with different fraternities right okay but when you said something I rang a bell thanked my friend John Holman hopefully he hears this uh we were having I was having a we both was having a tough time uh we’re both
Seniors we’re both starting and this part of the Season it was up and down year we both got out the lineup and it was difficult for both of us and as a man out of the starting lineup out of the starting line okay right so you’ve been
Balling yeah you’re going to three game losing streak coach comes in hey we’re gonna go in a different direction we’re going to start the sophomores oh wow so I was like but this is your team right so you don’t want to be the cancer of the team where you seem like you’re sour
But right to be honest yourself right and um I guess my dad is such a macho man right we I didn’t really see my dad cry or anything like that so I I personally I I struggle or still struggle sometimes showing vulnerability and I remember
Feeling a certain type of way we were on the road I remember going in a hotel and everybody would kind of play cards or dominoes in in the rooms but I didn’t want to play cards and dominoes because I’m sour right right exactly so I remember I walked out the room
And I went down the hall and I remember seeing John he was in the hallway reading the Bible um and I walked so I was like hey man what’s going on the other other player that had the similar situation as you correct okay and he was just like man I just need to
Get in the word I just and I could tell right then and there he was dealing with the same thing right that I was dealing with and I that’s probably one of my earliest memories of me sitting down with the man and like hey man it’s okay we’re gonna go through this together
So we start working out more kind of seek you know what I do now for a living room but we were show up to the gym already we get to the weight room we get extra shots in and the only reason why I believe we were able to get back to that
Story lineup I think the only reason why our bond still is close today than it’s ever been it was because of that moment where we both were vulnerable and I think that’s a thing that I will love for more men to see right with me saying that not for you to share
A specific story right but as a man that’s a part of a fraternity without saying a story you can but without saying one you know no need to have you ever experienced that where vulnerability needs to be shown to create growth for you or create growth
For a friend or a peer oh absolutely I think that um it’s really difficult to um grow without some pain in my opinion yeah I agree you have to decide that being vulnerable is okay yeah um but staying in that position is not okay and I think that um
You know as men in general we we’re told to um you know you know quit you know you know um suck it up yeah all right quit being a punk or whatever the word they want to use um don’t cry yeah and I think that to me there’s development in
You know being vulnerable and you know that’s a good example you gave about your your friend it’s not unlike you know situations um you know I experienced going you know my on my road to Kappa because no one um has the ability to make it through any tough situations
Alone I agree 100 now if you do you’re going to give up a little piece of yourself on the way right but the idea of Brotherhood and trusting that Brotherhood is to be vulnerable because you know that if you fall somebody has your back they’re going to catch you right and so
When when when that when you saw their brother you saw he was going through it he may have been at that time dealing with it differently than you but you were there for him and vice versa he turned that back and and was there for you absolutely and
That’s what vulnerability is about is you know I’m sorry that’s what growth through vulnerability is about is that you understand that the person is in the Foxhole with you fighting the same battle uh has your best interest at heart and they’re going to do whatever they can to make sure you win absolutely
And you and being born you know and having the ability to be vulnerable is to say I trust that person yeah I trust that person and I know that they’re going to be there for me so I’m okay with being vulnerable yeah and that’s the thing about
Um you know Kappa Brotherhood all these things that is a part of it is that you know every person is going to do their part they’re going to do their part yeah now every person may not be good at doing their part right and and the collective may suffer as a result
But everyone’s going to do their part we’re going to pick up pick up the ones that that need some help yeah and we’re gonna make them Strong by going to the gym all the stuff y’all did right where you need that help and then ultimately um you know we’ll meet each other or
We’ll grow together and make it to the other side that’s it I mean that’s I mean in a nutshell what you what you just talked about is you know kind of the journey um and you can kind of take that as a proxy for you know many Journeys is that
You know hey look you’re going to have some adversity it feels easy that you know somebody else be doing it absolutely right and I think that you know you have that adversity and you use it as fuel um you surround yourself around people who have the greater good in mind
Um and you’re gonna be fine that’s it I would love a little opportunity to talk to you bro you know I call them bro when I look at the camera bro uh it’s okay to uh to show vulnerability to the right person it’s absolutely right it’s it’s okay to
Accept help uh I know in especially the era I grew up in in rap it was more of I’m self-made I do it like honestly guys everything that I’ve ever done I’ve never done it by myself I’ve always had some support some help some empowerment
Upon call whatever it may be so I just want to encourage you man if you do have that that Brotherhood with someone man be the brother that sits down and tell them we’ll get through it or be the brother that actually shows vulnerability because you said it best
To meet Jeff trust if you can trust that man the speed of trust the Speed Of Trust yeah I love that so I’m I need a notepad though why y’all didn’t give me a notepad yeah think about it Speed Of Trust break this down think about it if you trust someone
You can move a lot faster yeah because you know every day this person shows up absolutely and they’re ready to work okay if you don’t trust them you’re gonna say yeah he shows up but I gotta make sure I gotta check right which means so what does that do
Slows you down yeah right but once you develop that trust a real trust genuine trust then you can say okay they got it yeah I’m gonna go do this other thing and then that way you can go yeah but if you don’t trust trust them um you know that’s that’s a challenge
Because you’re always even though you may give it to them and go you’re always going to be thinking about it yeah and and just think about if you if you multiply that over time with multiple people and you’re always thinking about each of them individual for whatever reason or not that’s
Occupying a lot of time for you to create for you to develop and and think of new ideas is that too philosophical no that’s hella good though the speed of trust the Speed Of Trust that’s a big thing it’s a thing yeah you know it’s a real thing I
And I’ve told I told my leadership as I look you know um I need to be able to trust you in the room when you’re by yourself with a customer yeah in fact if we can’t do that and that that’s a problem that’s a problem well guys for those that are
Part of Mean Green brand if we sit in the office and I bring up the Speed Of Trust just know Jeff whoever is the man no that that’s awesome man yeah yeah that’s awesome so I do have two things I wanted to shoot to you man yeah but I
Did want to touch on this one but let’s be real brief with it okay you said as a Kappa you was able to communicate to someone that was an alpha yeah what is that like can you if possible if it is and if it’s not just say no it’s not right has it
Been beneficial to know people outside of what you know now I’m using that as a term but let’s use it as a fraternity from Kappa to save others yeah what what has that been something where you were able to build outside of your fraternity with other fraternities oh absolutely
Okay so I think we’re always you know we’re always stronger together right we have enough um division yeah amongst us as a people yeah and I think that you would even there’s some some division within each organization was probably division within their organization yeah right so I think that
At the end of the day the thing that made it so easy for that to happen was the fact that we had a bond before either one of us were either one of those organizations but that said there is a commonality uh we support one another to this day and
Capitals support other events other other folks possible to support our events because it’s about a common good and having a a um a good light shined on all of the organizations that’s supposed to be now we you know certainly we joke back and forth to one another that’s better who’s that who’s this
Um I mean and they all know that the capitals are better but yeah I had a comment section going a little crazy on the YouTube but that no all that said if you said it out it’ll say something different or whatever else they’ll say they’ll say something there but that’s
Just that’s just banter yeah Brothers banter back and forth and they talk talk trash to one another I’m sorry you know uh or the organizations do that so it’s always a good time yeah and I say that too Jeff because I think there are individuals we’re
Using fraternity as as an example as an example right but how many of us won’t travel outside of our neighborhood you know because it’s on the other side of town or because there are certain race you know you say we’re stronger what is it we’re better together we’re better
Together we’re better together yeah and uh I just wanted to bring when you said that I was like man I think that’s important for the young man or the old man to hear that I know you may have been traditionally seen a specific way or right
Paul Paul may have only show you this exposure but man at the end of the day great people are great people so don’t be that’s right afraid of growing with someone that’s different from you that’s right you know you certainly have to protect yourself protect your interests
But at the end of the day um we are a people yeah you know and then certainly there are pockets of people who don’t view it that way yeah and you just leave them over there in the corner move on and you go with
People who uh will yeah uh see it see it the way that you see it and work together to make a stronger Community I love it yeah so if you turn it as y’all can see I was intrigued I wanted to know more about it so the next two I won’t
Spend as much but it just meant a lot to hear the inside of someone that Not only was a part of it but still pretty active in it um segway right to from Greek to the Work World right you’re professional lifestyle how important has it been to
Network with other men maybe in your field or people that you come across yeah it’s extremely important because it kind of goes back to what we talked about you know I’m in the construction business we work in Oil and Gas Energy sector but it goes back to what I said you represent something
Whether you’re representing the business that you own or if you’re a leader in the business that stick them to work right now or you’re a leader in the business where you work or you’re an employee or you’re a manager whatever you are people are going to feel like they have a lens
Into the more fabric of whatever you’re representing okay so if I go out here and I do some silly stuff and they know I work for alter Strickland they’re going to say all right is that the kind of stuff that they accept right or if I’m just walking
Down the street and I got Weber on the back of my name I’m representing Weber and they’re going to say well man is that what that family is is about yeah and so that’s what I mean when I say every engagement every single engagement is an interview yeah back to it you know
Back back to that and and so for me it is important to always re-represent well you’ll be on time do your part be a contributor um make deposits not just withdrawals and yeah you know that’s that’s the part that um you know I’m very focused on yeah so
So it is important it is important to do that is it is important to make sure that your your engaging in a positive way with folks that are within your organization and outside of your organization um to make a positive influence do you feel that when you got into like your
Career was there any brother you know you say you gave a phone call for a young man to get an opportunity do you feel like you’ve ever received a Brotherhood call based upon a relationship um what do you mean by Brother call where somebody’s called me based upon a
Relationship or based upon uh an experience with you oh somebody made a call to give you an opportunity already sure a deal yes I have and I think I think some of them I know about that’s something I probably don’t know about and I think I think the the things that
Uh and that’s that’s what I mean is that the ones that you don’t know about are the ones that you want yeah because they’re they’re not in it for the shine they’re in it to help you yeah so I’ve made those calls well hey look you know this this person
Um I see it in them give them an opportunity yeah and I think that has occurred for me yeah I just really do yeah but I may not ever know about it I love that and and to me those are the most genuine ones those
Are the ones you want it’s not the ones where they say hey look man I just made a call for you and I’m not all that kind of stuff no they don’t want nothing to return I don’t want nothing in return and that’s the part that you know people
Sometimes don’t understand those are the ones you want you want someone to be your Champion when you’re not there yeah all right yeah and and those are those are the real ones yeah my opinion from a professional standpoint not a friendship just uh someone you respect at work my
Question suited for this one is what do you look for in that into another brother or a friend or a peer from a professionalism what are you looking for what’s the ingredients for you to say man that’s the call I would make for that person because of XYZ absolutely
And you know and that’s a good point because I am well I I have been I think everybody should be I’m guarded about making those calls you have to it sure is because it’s you right and so for me what I look for do you show up and are you prepared
Right do you show up on time are you prepared although today right I’ll say this when I called you or when I sent a text to you and I said hey are we still on for today I knew what the question I knew what the
Answer was going to be I knew you were gonna say yeah yeah I’m on the way yeah I knew that yeah but it was just it was just another way for me to kind of validate I was like you know I’m just gonna copter I know he’s gonna say yes
Because Chris shows up he’s always prepared got to always prepared so so if you called me and say look I see that you know this person can you give me some help here oh oh okay we got to go what time when you need to get there yeah and that is what
The you know networking connectivity in a meaningful way means so you know show up yeah be prepared put the work in that’s it that’s it that’s it yeah that’s what it is yeah bro again um you know I just I want people to hear and see and find a proven system I truly
Believe that success is no secret I believe it’s a system and for me there are so many things I was able to achieve because of a system and I just want someone to hear or see this and know the importance of Brotherhood and Brotherhood doesn’t necessarily have to
Be blood related like you said earlier and it don’t even necessarily have to be always a friendship sometimes it’s business related that’s right and those key components that you just said are things that it doesn’t matter if you grew up in a certain neighborhood it doesn’t matter what school you went to
Though those columns is considered to me effort right and I just want to let you know bro man put the effort forward be consistent at it and doing that puts you in a position to really find abundance and peace and joy wisdom the things that you really truly
Desire so don’t think you don’t have enough don’t think you don’t have the resources a lot of it does come down to effort and just being who you need to be at the perfect moment so I thought well you said Jeff it helped me because I
Listening to you I I do the same thing to others you know one time we had to go a different direction with one of the trainers and it wasn’t that they couldn’t train they were fabulous right but the things that I look for especially in a man within our brand you have to
You have to be confident in helping people believe achieve receive and sometimes that takes sacrifice sometimes you have to go out the way and do what’s unexpected but when they didn’t fit those ingredients it just wasn’t a good fit for our brand right and that all came down to
Me being okay with that but the thing I want to tie in was the people that typically work out with that are people that I considered that connection of Brotherhood or Sisterhood because they fit those ingredients that we look for so some people don’t know and that’s okay but today I don’t want
You to walk around saying you don’t know no more because you heard from Jeff whoever so uh that’s a great point I know we’re about to finish but what you just said is another great point we’ve been we’ve been talking about Brotherhood we’ve been talking about connectivity
But another important thing is to know when to cut people off that’s a real one that’s a real one that’s a reason to know when to cut people off that’s a real one I mean I’m serious you think about if there was a if there was a tree
Out here that never was pruned yeah or didn’t remove dead weight or whatever you have to do that yeah those are the hard decisions sometimes yeah and I think that what you just said is is certainly appropriate um and certainly a good you know kind of
Final statement yeah you have to know I mean you can do all you want I think I think it starts with before you make you know cut people off you should start in the mirror and say well hey did I do everything that I possibly could do to
Help them succeed to help them succeed did I coach them up did I help them with development that I that I pour into them did I do everything as a leader I’m supposed to do or a person and if you can answer if you can check the box yes
And all of that you should be comfortable with it yeah whatever decision happens next I love it yeah well let’s finish with this we talk about the Brotherhood Within the way you grew up and joining a fraternity in High impactful that has been for you and for others uh
We pivoted and talked about the professionalism of Brotherhood let’s close with this one quickly Jeff is passing it Forward yeah um I was telling you prior to camera time you share something that I walked away thinking like man like I almost hit myself on the chest
Like like yeah like I was really hyped about the example you gave me on what it means to not just the person that passed it for but for the person that received what’s being passed forward how important how important has it been to you to pass things forward or for people
To pass things forward to you as a Brotherhood or as a friend for you to file success peace Joy wisdom whatever you’re looking for yeah so my wife and I my wife keithia and I talk about this often okay and it is it is simply not enough to be successful in life
To us and I will own that because we you know we in the first half of our life we we did Chase success we’ve had a a measure of success but we said okay well that’s great but what we want is significance if that makes sense and so you know as we weld
Into our I said this just last week we’re well into our second half of Life what a significance looks like look like so we we pray that it looks like children that we have they’ll treat people right right there’ll be Community there’ll be good community um servants
They’ll help people yeah and so as we pick and choose where we want to invest our time to grow what we consider significance which will stand the test of time we’ve chosen education and so collectively we’ve um we have an endowment at her alma mater Jackson State University HBCU HBCU
Um you know some some might call it down uh coach Prime you or whatever they call it I would love to go out there actually he’s done a great job of highlighting hbcus which you know the light should have never came off of them but it just did over time
Uh so we have an endowment there we have an endowment at my alma mater Oklahoma State University black folks go to predominantly white schools absolutely I did um and so we uh you know we’re just focused on you know trying to close the gap with educational uh inequities
Because we think that that translates into uh Financial um and the wealth Gap as well absolutely and not saying that the only Road uh to doing that is a college education but it certainly helps but there are other ways to get there as well yeah um so so for
Us it’s about significance as a family it’s about significance it’s about instilling in our children how they should how should it treat everybody yeah and hopefully so I pass that on to them and then the way that we live the you know the phone calls that you talked
About earlier that we make the advocacy that we provide and support for others who are trying to to make their way in this world uh that is how you pass that on yeah it’s not always a financial element to it but it is a it’s still an investment as long as you
Made the call absolutely and sometimes it is a financial element to it yeah and but but not everything um is something that I’m willing to invest in right but I may make a call to somebody who is which can be more impacted and can be more impactful and so you know for me
Um you know what I would say to you bro yeah is to open up your network to others you know and you you can help somebody without I love being able to write a check if you have if you have influence if you have connectivity to something
Yeah you help somebody I love it but you know you got to believe in it that person has to again show up be prepared and do the work yeah believe achieve receive they got to be able to do that it’s not just everybody yeah um but certainly be guarding that but
But be willing to do it yeah and and trust that they’ll be willing to do the same for you and yours as they move through life lovely man it’s um yeah I should add a notepad but you got the video and then I got the video hopefully
Y’all keeping notes Jeff man I want to be respectful to your time yeah um appreciate it again for my heart to yours man it’s it’s always a blessing to be able to sit around you and just listen um I know typically when I get on the
Podcast y’all hear me talk more but as you can see I wanted to be a steward or something that’s great so I appreciate it I appreciate everything that you do Chris and you just always been inspirational I think we’ve known each other for 10 years now or so and and
Again and connectivity we’re talking about Brotherhood here but it was it was my my uh female friend high school friend like that that problem yeah Teresa yeah I seen her two weeks ago at church yeah yeah how’s she doing she’s doing good yeah she’s doing good so it’s
Just you know everybody you know has an opportunity to show up every day yeah and just need to do that yeah absolutely and we continue well you know as we talked about passing it for our goal with the IM alpha is to pass this forward right to be the voice of what’s
Positive the voice of what’s empowering so guys if you found value into what you heard today go ahead and just share this it’s totally cool to press the Subscribe button comment down below give my guy Jeff some love in the comment section um what what I will ask for a favor from
You guys is you know really process what we talked about today and and be the difference you know I I truly believe you can hear this all day you can hear positive talk and empowerment you can keep the best notes in the world but with no implementation there’s no growth
So if there was one thing that touched you today to inspire you do it don’t just listen you know um Amen to that but that’s all I have Jeff unless you got anything I don’t thank you I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you this has been great
Sometimes you have to some stuff you say you got to do it too yeah so you start thinking about things man this is really what I subscribe to yeah and so it challenges and convicts you too yeah well I think like you said uh I’m gonna
Say it in my words I say it a lot when I do the uh the workout videos with no challenge there’s no change that’s right right so it’s okay to be challenged uh just don’t stay there all right you gotta change something you want something different so right let’s
Press cut after you say this what does I am alpha mean to you when you hear that it’s my first time I’ve been listening to podcasts all the time so I always hear like the titles and they act and it catches them off guard so Jeff is the
First person I’ve been able to do like that so what does I am alpha mean to you it means it needs a cap on the front don’t joke no I feel my God I’m not playing with me no no no no no no Greek Greek organization is notwithstanding
Um it means uh you’re kind of the beginning uh or or a leader yeah um and that’s that’s kind of what I think about it so so it’s like um you’re trying to forge ahead and you know lead the way and tell show people not just tell them
But show people a better way yeah and um you know not everything’s gonna work for everyone but hopefully along that Journey they can pick up a pick up a nugget that’ll help them in life love it perfect well said guys Jeff Weber talk to y’all soon all right thank you thanks
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