Latest / Money And Wealth With John Hope Bryant / The Business of Government Nobody Explains

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The Business of Government Nobody Explains · Money And Wealth With John Hope Bryant

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, a
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  Speaker 1: production of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, this is John Hope Bryant, and this is
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  Speaker 1: the Money in Wealth podcast series, season two. And we
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  Speaker 1: are part of the iHeartRadio family and Black Effect Network.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And I am proud to say that this podcast consistently
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  Speaker 1: is top fifty on Apple on entrepreneurship and top two
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  Speaker 1: hundred on business on Apple for the entire country. We
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  Speaker 1: are also top two fifty for business and entrepreneurship on
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: every continent in the world. So thank you all for
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: leaning in and paying attention and learning and as we
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: unpack capitalism and free enterprise and opportunity and agency for
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: younnecting the streets with the suites and for their benefit,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: connecting the suites back to the streets. It is not
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  Speaker 1: a one way street. This is no pun intended. This
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  Speaker 1: is about opportunity for all. Or to say, in another way,
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  Speaker 1: my rich frenzy, my poor friends to do better, if
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  Speaker 1: only to stay rich. That people don't realize that the
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  Speaker 1: economy is seventy percent consumer spending. That's average everyday people.
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  Speaker 1: That's driving the biggest economy on the planet, and a
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  Speaker 1: lot of us find mystery in the economy. We find
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  Speaker 1: mystery in capitalism, we find mystery in free enterprise. We
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: find mystery and wealth, and so we resent it because
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  Speaker 1: if we can't be it, if we can't get to it,
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  Speaker 1: then somehow those who have it must be evil. We think.
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  Speaker 1: We think that if we don't understand it, it was not
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  Speaker 1: transparent to us. If we can't get it no matter
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  Speaker 1: how hard we work, it must be a setup. Some
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  Speaker 1: people would say, I was with a billionaire yesterday at breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: and we're talking about how people supposedly hate wealthy people.
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  Speaker 1: And I said, no, I say we hate rich people. No,
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  Speaker 1: we don't. We hate rich people till we become rich,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: but we hate as a game system. And so we
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  Speaker 1: say we hate government. No, you don't. You don't understand government.
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  Speaker 1: You understand how government relates to you, how it serves you,
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  Speaker 1: the benefits to you. You don't understand the people who
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: are working their tails off in public service getting nothing
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  Speaker 1: for it, if they're doing it ethically and honestly, as
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  Speaker 1: my guest today is, and they get in no good
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  Speaker 1: d show go unpunished. So I wanted to bring to
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  Speaker 1: you as you know I bring very few guests on
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  Speaker 1: this show. Most of the time is me running my mouth.
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  Speaker 1: I bring guests I think that they are have outsized importance.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, it's something I can't do on my own.
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  Speaker 1: It's a message I can't deliver on my own. It's
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  Speaker 1: it importance that I can't communicate on my own. It's
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  Speaker 1: somebody I want you to see so that you can
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  Speaker 1: want to be. From Michael Milken to Van Jones, to
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  Speaker 1: the Minister of AI for the United Era Emirates, to
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  Speaker 1: all the heroes and heroes of our world. The biggest
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  Speaker 1: money manager in the world. We just had on Joe
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  Speaker 1: Barada one point two trillion dollars et cetera of Blackstone,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Well, today today we
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  Speaker 1: have another first, the first county ceo. County chairmen some
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  Speaker 1: people call some counties call them chairmen or chairwomen, some
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  Speaker 1: people in some places they're CEOs. There's different titles, but
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  Speaker 1: the leader, effectively the mayor if you call it, the
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  Speaker 1: executive officer for a county. County's a collection of cities, municipalities,
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  Speaker 1: of townships. It is the super agency over all other
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  Speaker 1: agencies that exists in the largest economy in the world,
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  Speaker 1: which is the United States of America. So everybody lives
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  Speaker 1: in a county. I'll get into this in a moment.
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  Speaker 1: I don't realize they do. And this is not only
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  Speaker 1: an interesting leader and important leader of an important county.
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  Speaker 1: This is the first female African American CEO of the
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  Speaker 1: cab County, which is one of the biggest counties in
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  Speaker 1: the country and one of the top ten for African
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  Speaker 1: American wealth and aspiration as well in America. Ladies and gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: join me and welcoming my friend and a true Sheiro
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  Speaker 1: in the making, CEO, Lorraine Johnson, honor to have you friend.
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  Speaker 2: Happy to be here, john you said quite the stage.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm excited to share and talk and you know,
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  Speaker 2: get to know people and hopefully spread some knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna unpack what a county is, how a county
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  Speaker 1: government operates, How does it make its money, how does
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  Speaker 1: it spend its money, how does it allocate resources? Why
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  Speaker 1: does the county exist? What's a county in relation to
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  Speaker 1: our lives. We're going to start though with you and
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  Speaker 1: before we get to because I think your personal story
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  Speaker 1: is important to everything else, because you are the leader.
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  Speaker 1: People didn't take a lottery and say whomever will be CEO.
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  Speaker 1: They selected you with intentionality. Most people don't realize that
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  Speaker 1: I said earlier that the county government affects your wealth
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  Speaker 1: more than Washington d C. Does I know CEO Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: She's my friend. I call her CEO Johnson because she
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  Speaker 1: went to a lot of trouble to get to this title.
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  Speaker 1: We want to give her respect. She deserves so different
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  Speaker 1: than I and Bassard. Andrew Young is my play father.
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  Speaker 1: Call him am bachelor Young, not a Y, not Angie,
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  Speaker 1: not Andrew. I'm not casual about it. Even privately, counties
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  Speaker 1: controlled property taxes, owning, infrastructure, court, public safety, housing, housing permits,
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  Speaker 1: comes aside who gets access and who gets stuck.
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  Speaker 3: Economic development.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and here's a black one running one of the
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  Speaker 1: most important counties, not only in Georgia but in the country.
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  Speaker 1: So your authenticity, your aspiration, your credibility, your action. We
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  Speaker 1: often talked about talk about when you're not talking privately effectively,
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  Speaker 1: what I would say is PhDs are good, PhDs are better.
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  Speaker 1: You're always about getting it done, being transparent about it,
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  Speaker 1: and I want the audience to see what I recognize
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  Speaker 1: you to be. But let's talk about the who of
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  Speaker 1: you first? Who are you? Where did you? They see
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  Speaker 1: this well crafted, very smooth, not easily ruffled leader who refined,
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  Speaker 1: They don't know that behind this story is a little
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  Speaker 1: girl who grew up somewhere in a household, who was
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  Speaker 1: infused with values and principles by those that she loved,
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  Speaker 1: and who had challenges along the way. Tell us story
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  Speaker 1: real quickly.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Often John, as an icebreaker, I say to people that
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  Speaker 2: I'm from LA. Now when you hear my accent, it
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  Speaker 2: is a polished in Los Angeles. Yeah, but no, in
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  Speaker 2: my case is in Lower Alabama.
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  Speaker 1: Lower Alabama, so not lost that I think because I
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  Speaker 1: go up in LA. When I hear LA, I hear
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  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, Louisiana.
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  Speaker 2: No, the the original l A Lower Alabama.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Greenville l.
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  Speaker 1: A lower LA stands for was originally lower Alabama. Really.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, John C. You are so pragmatic
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  Speaker 2: you don't get it as sort of a joke. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, I am from Greenville, Alabama, and you know
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  Speaker 2: come from a long line.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, wait a minute, I'm completely I'm completely now it
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  Speaker 1: went over Louisiana. No, Lord, you're from where.
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  Speaker 2: L A Lower Alabama, Greenville to be specific. So just
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  Speaker 2: let it sit with you. It'll sink in. You know,
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  Speaker 2: people you know, but everyone out there that's listening you
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  Speaker 2: you get it. I am the South, I'm from the South.
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  Speaker 2: If you're from the South, podcast, you're rolling in the
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  Speaker 2: aisles like John.
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  Speaker 1: Is completely clueless.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, you know it just it's a cultural thing.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm raised in Alabama. My grandfather started as
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  Speaker 2: a sharecropper, went on to be the first African American
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  Speaker 2: man to own a cotton gin in Butler County.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: He My grandfather was a was a sharecropper in Alabama.
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  Speaker 1: So I wont I'm wondering when we'll talk about this
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  Speaker 1: online how how close they might have been. Uh, that's deep.
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  Speaker 1: My grandfather was RB Smith. Wasn't a sharecropper in Alabama. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So your your your grandfather sharecropper in what county?
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  Speaker 3: Butler County, Butler County, Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Mm And uh longline of Southern Baptist, minister's, civil activist
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  Speaker 2: and honestly just hard working folk. And I'm you know,
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  Speaker 2: very proud to say to this day I still own
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  Speaker 2: his three hundred acres of land.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I come from a group of people who
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  Speaker 3: taught you early the.
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  Speaker 2: Importance of work, and you know, John as we talked about,
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  Speaker 2: you know, civil rights and so forth. It's interesting because
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  Speaker 2: now I am becoming him and them in so many ways,
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  Speaker 2: because you know, I remember when my grandfather and I
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  Speaker 2: was just a child.
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  Speaker 3: I just, you know, want to watch TV and do
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  Speaker 3: normal things.
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  Speaker 2: And he's sitting there having a whole conversation that I
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  Speaker 2: wasn't in tune with at that age. But I remember
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  Speaker 2: him saying that Title seven of the Civil Rights Act
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  Speaker 2: of nineteen sixty four was the worst thing that ever
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  Speaker 2: happened to the Negro in America. And he would go
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  Speaker 2: through all these reasons, and I'm sure we'll get there,
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  Speaker 2: but of course.
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  Speaker 1: Tell people what that act is, by the way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Title seven of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen
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  Speaker 2: sixty three was designed to give equal access so that
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  Speaker 2: there was equality and employment and opportunity. But my grandfather
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  Speaker 2: would always argue that during that time, he can remember
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  Speaker 2: people celebrating and shouting in the streets and marching and
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  Speaker 2: excited because they felt that, you know, black folk would
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  Speaker 2: be treated equally now and there would be equal access
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  Speaker 2: to opportunity, but he went on to say that what
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  Speaker 2: they didn't see was the glass ceiling no one told
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  Speaker 2: them about. So during you know, the fifties, sixties, forties,
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  Speaker 2: he said, you know, everyone had their own business. Communities
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  Speaker 2: sought independence because they knew that self reliance was important.
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  Speaker 2: But after Titles seven, many people bought into the American
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  Speaker 2: dream because they felt for the first time they were
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  Speaker 2: accepted and he would now be accessible, only to find
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  Speaker 2: that it was not.
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  Speaker 3: So he said, you.
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  Speaker 1: Know, mean clearly, didn't mean literally it was where I
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  Speaker 1: mean clearly was a great thing in Bastlor Andrew young
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  Speaker 1: doctor King, all these heroes and heroes did that. He
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  Speaker 1: meant that it may have locked people into a false.
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  Speaker 2: Narrative sense of security, of opportunity, and in the process
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  Speaker 2: many people let go of that determination to be independent,
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  Speaker 2: to be a part of the system that would not
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  Speaker 2: be of the equal access that they thought. So from there,
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  Speaker 2: you know, of course, And you know it's interesting to say, John,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and I don't know about your you know,
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  Speaker 2: I know your mother in many ways, but you know,
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  Speaker 2: I did not come from a house that was highly
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  Speaker 2: educated by empirical data through universities. My grandfather was extremely
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  Speaker 2: well read and I can remember him giving me books.
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  Speaker 2: And it wasn't until later in life and I realized
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  Speaker 2: he didn't read so well, but he knew it was
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  Speaker 2: in the book. But he would always talk to me
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  Speaker 2: as if he knew, you know. So that being said,
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  Speaker 2: went on to college three degrees later, attended law school.
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  Speaker 1: You keep messing me up, La, Louisiana, La. You're messing
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  Speaker 1: me up, and you keep and you movet me and
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  Speaker 1: you are offer the next thing. I'm still days from
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  Speaker 1: the last week. You just had three degrees. Slow that down,
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  Speaker 1: average black person, the average person, sorry, the average genius
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  Speaker 1: doesn't have three degrees. Slow that down. We're back three degrees.
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  Speaker 2: And what My first degree was political science criminal justice
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  Speaker 2: with a minor in international relations.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, and then.
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  Speaker 2: Of course I did that in three years because time
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  Speaker 2: was of the essence, John, I was told to get
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: in and get out. And interestingly too, I do like
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  Speaker 2: to share this to just show you how things change.
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  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: I went to college on the Lerlin B. Wallace Leadership Scholarship.
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  Speaker 2: And of course Georgia Wallace was the governor who stood
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  Speaker 2: in the door at the University of Alabama to prevent
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  Speaker 2: the enrollment of the first African American students. But ultimately
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  Speaker 2: it was through their foundation that I attended college as
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  Speaker 2: an undergraduate. So my fourth year I received my Masters
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  Speaker 2: in Criminal Justice.
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  Speaker 3: At that time, I thought.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to be awarded and run prisons, and that
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  Speaker 2: was because I had never been in more so, I
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  Speaker 2: can remember going in for an interview, walking into a prison,
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  Speaker 2: having to take off the earrings, the jewelry and all that.
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  Speaker 2: And then the reality of what I had studied became
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: real because you saw the you know, the statistics and
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: the data on incarceration high race and you know, sitting
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: there and were walking through that day. I became a
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: social scientist because I saw young men with fraternity brands
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  Speaker 2: and you know, me being a member of a sorority.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I began to wonder, how does this happen?
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  Speaker 2: And I was more concerned with the story. But immediately
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  Speaker 2: I realized this wasn't a place where I could work.
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  Speaker 2: So left there, went to Auburn University, received an MPa
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  Speaker 2: Masters in Public Administration with a concentration in economic development
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  Speaker 2: and grant writing. So hens, you know, that's how I
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: was able to procure funds learn program development, and that's
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: probably the most valuable education that I'd ever had.
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  Speaker 1: So in the three degrees are.
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  Speaker 2: Bs political Science and Criminal Justice, a master's in the
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  Speaker 2: Administration of Criminal Justice, and an MPa Masters in Public
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  Speaker 2: Administration with concentration in economic development, and also a Harvard
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  Speaker 2: Certificate in Governmental Efficiency and Operations.
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  Speaker 1: So you literally went from the streets reactive to the
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  Speaker 1: swedes proactive, from from trying to make the worst thing
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  Speaker 1: less bad to trying to take good people and put
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: them in a place where they can do great and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: become fantastically empowered with their own vision, give them itself
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  Speaker 1: agency so you don't end up in a bad situation.
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  Speaker 1: You're now trying to make sure that good things happen
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  Speaker 1: to good people, and that not make sure that bad
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: things don't happen to good people so often. So just
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  Speaker 1: that narrative of your education, unpacks explains you a great
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  Speaker 1: deal to me and I think the audience. So you're
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: trying to be the architect of a future, not the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: reactor to a past.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely got these three degrees?
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  Speaker 1: Or where there any life changing moments or things that
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  Speaker 1: harmed or hurt your self esteem and your aspiration? That's
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  Speaker 1: import I.
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  Speaker 3: Can say that you know throughout my life.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I've always been grounded in self, so I've
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: never expected things to be easy and so to speak.
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  Speaker 2: And I can't sit here and say that I've had
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: any moments where you know, there are times, but those
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: have been primarily in business transactions, in purchasing real estate,
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  Speaker 2: where it became keenly apparent to me that it was
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: bigger than the transaction, that there were underlying factors as
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: to why, you know, I have made a full price
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: offer and you chose to accept a different offer.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: So that's a different conversation because when you do everything
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: that you should to have access and opportunity and you
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: find that there are encumbrances that weren't a part of
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: the memo, I have experienced that. But in terms of career,
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  Speaker 2: I can also say too that I've felt in certain
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  Speaker 2: instances because you know, I have diverse friends and I've
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: watched their career path, you know, and I have felt
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  Speaker 2: that there may have been an easier path. And you know,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of these things are documented.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: The Atlanta Regional Commission did a study a few years
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: ago on income disparities amongst race and found that the
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  Speaker 2: greatest disparity is in Metro Atlanta.
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  Speaker 3: And immediately it was a Scooby Doo moment for me.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: I'm like, huh, you know, so I started to read
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: through it, and it followed the path of two doctors,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: one being Caucasian, another African American, all things equal, but
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: the African American doctor being a little more equal in
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: terms of education and work experience, but having vastly different salaries.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I began.
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  Speaker 3: To question, how does that happen?
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And you know, John, truth is, you know, nowadays, if
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: you apply for particular a particularly a S C suite position,
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: you may have a vast range for the salary, or
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: in many instances they will ask what is your requirement
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: without listing a salary. And you know, when the revelation
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: occurred that the African American doctor, I think was earning
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: somewhere in the neighborhood of two hundred and thirty thousand,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: the Caucasian doctor earned them to sixty or to ninety
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: for performing the same job with literally no difference in education.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: How does that happen? It happens because and it's a
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: systemic thing, you know that. And it also affects the
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: party that's you know, know, detrimentally affected for life because
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: it creates a false reality of self work that will
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: follow that individual. Because if you apply for another position
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: and you're at to thirty, you may ask or to
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: forty to fifty, while your counterpart who's doing the same
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: job is already to sixty or two ninety. So there's
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: a lot to talk about there. But overall, you know.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: I'll work hard.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Opportunities have presented themselves.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So let me let me, let me, let me cut
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to the chase. Here. We know racism is real. I
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: mean racism like rain is either fall in someplace or
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: its gathering. So you might as we get an umbrella
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and the color alike start strolling through it. It's not
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: going to change, so you must what I'm concerned about
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: that dispairity, Yet it exists in the existing since.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I get beyond it. What the real issue is? How
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: you get beyond the dispairity?
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Oh so sore? So somebody told you they loved you?
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Who was that person? Point? At this point, you're yourself.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I know you enough to know you. You have to
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: you're your You're your you are encouraging yourself. At this point,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: you're reasonably comfortable in your own skins. But who told
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: you they loved you growing up? So the audience can
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: hear what they've got to do with their kids.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I can say within my household, my mother, my grandfather,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: my aunts, my uncles, and I came from that village
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: you know where we had the Sunday Revival and everybody
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: went to church, the Girl Scouts and church was really
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: the center and the core of community. So I grew
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: up in a community that affirmed me in a positive
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: way and had high expectations of you.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I want the audience to hear this now. Clearly we
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: could have talked. We can talk to this entire podcast
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: about the stats, the data, the specifics, the reports about
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: racism and bias and discrimination and that it exists. And
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: it's completely clear. I mean, oh, my brother steveen asn't
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: offected by this. Ford Stevie Wonder can see this. Right.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: The question is how do you get around that, deal
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: with that, go around that achieve that uh over around
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: until we're gonna get to it. And she said, I
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: have a village. I didn't know her story. Clearly, I
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: didn't know what la she was from. Right, she has
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and we're friends, but we even talked about this part,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: but she was affirmed. She had a group of people
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: who said, you can do this no matter what. Egos
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: don't fly in pacts. So that's the first message that
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I want everybody to hear. Is the through line for
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Lorraine Johnson's life is not the title or a position,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: because she also has a She has a she's an entrepreneur,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: she's a business person. She the glasses she's wearing she built,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: She designed them herself. It is a really innovative person.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: But not everything has worked for her. Most things have
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: been have not worked to her satisfaction. And she was
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: not even expected to win the CEO post and the Cavs.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: She was underestimated. So so I want everybody is like,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: get out of your pity party, knock it off right.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: You're going to have to realize no one's coming to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: save you. You have to do that and that comes with
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: self esteem, confidence and the information of then how do
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: you navigate in this system? So now your CEO, Lorraine,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: you're getting this position. How many how many residents do
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: you have?
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Seven hundred and eighty nine thousand. We're the fourth largest
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: county in the state of Georgia. We have the most
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: diverse square mile in America in Clarkston, Georgia. And right
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: now we are nipping highly on the bud of having
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: the largest pocket of African America wealth in the United States,
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: currently second only to Prince Georgie's County, Maryland. And that
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: is the three zero zero three eight zip code of
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Stone PRIs, Georgia.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's fantastic. And what is the GDP? What is
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the economic energy for the county? What is the economic
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: post rate?
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, let me say that, you know, in terms of
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: the cab County budget. And it was interesting you went
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: through how government generates revenue, because that's really important for
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: people to understand.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Gotten there. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm comb exactly.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, but we operate off a four point eight billion
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: dollar annual budget.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I want the audience that she keeps walking past these
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: these dropped the mics. Here's a black woman in America, sorry,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: a woman, no, a leader in America who happens to
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: be black and happens to be a woman, right, who
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: is running a four plus billion dollar ballance sheet. Think
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: about a corporation, right, this is huge and she's running
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: it competently. So four billion dollars plus of annual just
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: for the government.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: Right, correct, And let me say that the Cab County
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I am the only and this is very unique CEO
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: chief executive officer in the state of Georgia out of
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty nine counties, to Cab County is unique.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: We are the only chief executive form of government. And
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: you know, some people go to mayors, as you said,
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: the chairman's you have you know, chairman's Englnet chairman and
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: cobb Henry County, so forth. But we have twelve municipalities
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: and those are your cities that come out of you,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: that are birth from the CAB. So each receives a
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: pro raut of distribution of that four point eight billion,
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: leaving the CAB with a roughly one point nine But.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: The average GDP in twenty twenty two, I'm sure the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: number is much bigger now. It was fifty two billion
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: dollars of economic energy. Yeah, that's that's ten times what
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: her operating budget is. To give some context of the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: impact that she and the county has.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, we are one of the major
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: players and we continue to grow, you know, and when
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: you talk about government and people, people either reject or
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: they resent what they don't understand, and many people playing
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: simply don't understand government. Government is the largest procure of
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: services in the world. If you have a business and
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: you're not doing business with government, then you need to
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: reevaluate if you're really doing business. You know a lot
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: of goods and services that are needed. People look at
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: the government, but what they can't do for themselves. Government
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: was never designed to provide housing. But across America we
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: have an affordable housing crisis. We have an inventory crisis period.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Whether you're talking market value, you know, people use all
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: these different names. But nonetheless, you know, I encourage people
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: that are listening. If you provide a good and service,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: reach out to your local government. There is one hundred
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: and fifty nine counties in the state of Georgia and
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: in the cab Counties instance, with twelve municipalities, so that
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: means you have thirteen opportunities to do business.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, memory may be wrong about this, but I think
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: there's I think there's four thousand counties in America. By
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the way, it's it's thousands of counties, and I think
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: it's four So this is just you know, just in Georgia,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: which you know, of course you're a podcast is going
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: to be heard nationally and internationally, so we want people
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: to reach out wherever they happen to be. Let's unpack
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: how a county because you're you're talking about the Cab
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: but it's relevant draw county. How do you make your
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: money and how do you spend your money? And what
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: are and what's something that is not obvious to people
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: about how the impact that you're having on their lives.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: The Cab County and all counties, the majority of our
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: money is received through taxation, property taxes, business taxes is
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: how we generate money. Also into Cab County, we have
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: a splossed, a special purpose local option sales tax that
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: is one cent and it is earmarked specifically for infrastructure
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: and capital improvement projects. And that particular penny brings in
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: about on an on an average on a six six
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: year basis, eight hundred and eighty six million dollars will
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: be generated through spots with one penny over a six
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: year period. And let me say, you know, John, that
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: is consistent with saving and a lot of people don't
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: understand how important it is to simply be consistent, even
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: if it's a small amount. You know here my husband
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: he needs the money man. He always running numbers on savings.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: And if you were to invest just one hundred dollars
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: per year, over one hundred dollars per month over a
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: twenty year period, you would retire a millionaire. It's just
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: that simple. It's the consistency and most people can afford
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: to do that, but having the discipline to do it
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: is what separates those who do from those who do not.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: So to speak, continue, Yes, when you talk about services
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: that government provide, you know, we're responsible for everything from
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: the courts to the jails, sanitation, water, sanitation, water, and
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: those are the things that government is designed to do
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: technically essential services because of water, infrastructure, your sanitation, those
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: are things that are critical. Roads parks are operated by
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: county Economic Development, you know, recruiting of business and also
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: funding small businesses. And for people that are listening to us,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: that is very important for you to understand. We can
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: help you start your own business. You know, I've seen
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of instances here in the cab County. Two
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: three years ago we got our first culty on the
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: south side. And I want to be clear, John, there
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: is a there is I consider Memorial Drive. If you
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: know anything about the Cab County to be the Mason
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Dixon line between the north and the south and south
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: the Cab has unique issues and if you're a leader,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: you have to understand your community. You have to understand
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: the very needs. And in south to Cab, you know,
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: we have challenges, but we got our first CHAPOLTI and
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: I can remember sitting across from a gentleman who brought
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: a folder to breakfast. But yes, I don't take folders.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what was in it. He said, you know, hey,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: I have some options here. I'm thinking about bringing in
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: the restaurant and I want you to take a look
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: at it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And by the way, listen, she says something again, drop
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the mic. Anybody going elected official listening to this, anyone
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: who wants to go in the government. She said, I
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: don't take folders.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Uh, that is none of that folder.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: That's wisdom there. It could be a set up, by
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the way, on top of you shouldn't be doing it. It
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: should be a set up. Somebody can be sitting around
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: with a camera waiting for you to grab that folder
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: or that envelope and they don't know what's in it.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: It'd be completely innocent, but they can make it up
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: and say, oh, that was this person on the tape.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Never take should everything being in public and let them
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: let the other person unfold what's in the folder. If
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: somebody wants to give it to you, you don't want
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: your hands on it, go ahead.
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: Uh yeah, and believe it or not.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: I actually carried along my chief of staff, but you know,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: he pushed the folder across the table and I said, well,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: you know, of course we need economic development, we need restaurants.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you now that if it sells fried chicken,
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: Friday rice or burgers, it doesn't work for me. And
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I just pushed the folder back and never opened it.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: But he then said, well in that case. He picked
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: up his folder and he said, well, what do you
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: have in mind? So I gave him some options, and
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: one of the top options I had was Chipolti And
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: believe it or not, I told him, I said, if
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: you give me what I'm asking, it will be one
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: of the top revenue producing franchises in your chain. And
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: he left and he came back and he said, well,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: I got one of the three, and you know we
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: have two others and they're going to reposition.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: So we opened our first Chipolti in South.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Decab and within ninety days it was one of the
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: top three revenue generating restaurants in the state. And you know,
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I told them the outcome. But what I'm
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: saying to people who may be listening in is, you know,
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: these were outside investors that came in, but you can
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: do this. Enfranchising is an easy way to own business
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: because it already has a model when you choose the
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: right model, So you know, reach out.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm depending on you to help.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Me solve issues in our communities, particularly with economic equity
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: because right now, you know, John, I hear I've heard
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: you say it many times, my friend, nothing changes a
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: community more than a seven hundred credits.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: That's right, and you are certainly a model for that.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: We went thanks to the CEO who used to be
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: a commissioner. Operation Hope is active organization. I found it
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: is active in the cab and converting folks from renters
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: to homeowners and small business reamers and small business owners.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: And we've put up some incredible numbers of achievements tied
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to her commissioners and we're looking for doing more in
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: her in her role as CEO through my nonprofit operation Hope.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: So she just gave you a very practical example of
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: somebody who came in who had some capital and they
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: had their own idea what they wanted to do. But
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: at CEO she can say no, I'm not gonna tell
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: you know on that, but I'm less excited about uh,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: you know, X, Y and Z. I'm more excited about
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: this other thing. I'm not telling you what to do,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: but if you do this other thing, it will be
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: higher on my priority list. And because she was trying to,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: she's crafting a vision for the county tied to what
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: she promised her consistent when she would do as CEO
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: in time, the degree, the three degrees that she built,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: that she that she earns, so she knows, not emotionally,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: not emotionally, what a business plan for the county should
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: look like. She also said something and again another drop
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: of mic. She said, a friend franchise comes with a
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: business plan tied to it. So what she means by
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that is people interact these words entrepreneur, business person. No, no,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: they're not interactive. I'm an entrepreneur of crazy. I am
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: out of my mind. That's creating something that does not exist.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: It's the highest level of achieving a high level of risk.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Corporations are that's a separate situation. A corporation, COVID, col,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: et cetera. A business person, a franchise is an existing
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: business plan. A business person is using an gas station,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: a laundry mat, a nail salon, restaurant. And if you
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: have a restaurant with a franchise on top of it,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: we know restaurants work generally, we have a high risk level,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: a failure level. But a franchise has approved in business
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: plan and has a brand attached to it. So she
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: put all that together and said, I think the best
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: business eds doing food based on a franchise that's based
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: on that that as reasonably healthy is in this example.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Am I saying.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: Properly to it?
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Depends on I guess what what region of the country
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: you're front French.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Accent on it. So she brilliantly framed this and now
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: it's high performing and it's win win, and she's encouraging
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: you others to others out there. That's it.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: And let me say, you know, we have across the
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: cab and most other jurisdiction, either master plans or small
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: area plans that looks at our twenty thirty up to
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: twenty thirty for us, and it tells you the types
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: of developments we want. So when you do or lay
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: the proper framework, it's easy for you to sit in
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: front of investors and developers and speak within miracle knowledge
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: and say, hey, this is the direction we're heading.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Inable is there a version of it?
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Get Oh, absolutely it is. It is on our website.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: And also, you know, I want to because I'm so
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: big on economic development, because it's so important to our communities.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: You know, we have decided the Cab Development Authority. So
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: for those who are interested in owning a business, then
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: reach out to our office. We will connect you. The
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: more prepared you are, the quicker we can get you
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: across the finish line. Everyone needs a business plan. Most
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: businesses don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. Come
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: to us with the data, that information, the resources. Also
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: let us help you because a lot of folks don't understand.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: There are enhanced incentives for doing business and Opportunity and
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: Empowerment Zones areas that are identified by the Cab County
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: as well as the government as being in the the revitalization.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: So right now I'm urging people to do business along
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Memorial Drive, along Candler Road, along Columbia Road, because for us,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: those areas are transitioning quickly.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: And you know, we can talk all you know about what.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: We're seeing in terms of property values and the rises there.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: But John, I have to go back as you have
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: and say that you know, through Operation Hope, you know
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: we have issued more than twenty million dollars with your
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: assistance in home loans and first time down payment assistance
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: to create new homeowners and that's only been through you
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: and the assistance that we receive from your partners.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: And education is really the key.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: Education and access are the two biggest incumbrances to success.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, she and I are both passionate about financial literacy
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: as a civil rights issue that generations which and then
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: get your credits corrupt and energy goes up, your cost
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: the credit goes down. If the Cab County was a
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: standalone economy, for those listening to this, it would be
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: the size of a small nation. So just so you understand,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: fifty two billion dollars a year is the size of
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: many small nations in the world. It's a big, big deal.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: And the CEO that you're listening to has more influence
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: and impact on the potential opportunity of your life than
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: most folks that you pay attention to who are household names.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: I need for Lorraine Johnson to become a household name
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: in your mind. I need for you to find the
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Lorraine Johnson's in the nation or her peers and get
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: to know them and their criteria as well. And I
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: don't want you passing envelopes across the table to her.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: I want you pushing business plans across the table to her.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: In fact, I want you to upload the business plan
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: to her website. Deal with staff. It drives me nuts,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: all right when people come to me and they think
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: that old school leadership. I got to reach Joah O'Brian.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: I got to tell him my dream. No, no, no, you
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: need to go to my financial coaches. You need to
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: go to my team, my staff. Institutionalization of opportunity, we've
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: got to I consider myself an economic plumber. I know
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: you do as well. We've never talked about it this way,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: but I know that's the way you think. We're creating
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the infrastructure, the plumbing, so that people can plug into
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: opportunity at scales. So I consider you a perfect bridge
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: between public sector power and private sector wealth creation. I
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: also consider yourself you to be an efficiency leader in government,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: which frustrates you because you see so much inefficiency. Can
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: you tell the audience one or two examples and when
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: you came in office the mess that you see, because
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: by the way, she's in charge. If you see a
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: the Cab County law enforcement officer, she's their boss. I
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: mean indirectly, you see the Cab County electrician.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: Electrical Yeah, roads and drainage. It all comes down. And
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm going to give you an example. And
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: we've not talked about this, but when I came into office,
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: it's really important for you to understand what you're dealing with.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: So I brought in an outside consultant. We retained the
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: firm Maldon and Jenkins, and they did an assessment of
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: my eighteen consumer facing departments.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: And I say consumers because.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: A lot of people I think in government have failed
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: to realize government is a service provider.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: You are the consumer. And when that study was done, we.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Looked at how we could begin increasing revenue because a
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: lot of people have not looked at government as being
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: an income generating vehicle just delivering services. So when we
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: looked at those departments where there was potential, one of
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: the departments, well, PDK, the Cab County is home to
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: the second largest and busiest airport in the state of Georgia,
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: Peach Tree Cab Airport. And you know, the buildings there
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: were old. You know, there was need for capital improvements.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: And I looked at the balance sheet because I come
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: from corporate America, and I said, well, you know what's
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: going on here. I don't see the revenue. And as
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: we started to talk, they said, well, there's something we
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: can do that we've never done, and that is charge
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: transient landing fees.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I love this example. You're and I talked about this.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad to bring this up. Please everybody pay
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: close attention. This is part of the brilliance of Lorraine Johnson.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: This is very simple, but it's never been done. It's
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: brillat go ahead.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: So they said, well, one of the ways we could
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: generate revenue we've never done it is from transient landing fees.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: Now at p K Airport, of course, we have hangars
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: and we have a resident aircrafts and they pay a
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: monthly fee for having their their hanger.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: This is a private airport, right.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: It is a private airport, so with but it is
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: the second busiest in the state of Georgia and desirable. Yeah,
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: home depots aircraft is their waffle house. I could go
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: on and on. Uh So, when we looked at just
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: charging a transient landing fee, meaning if you're flying in
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: on my TARAAC, if you're landing on my runway.
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: You owe me.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: You don't get to just bring your aircraft in and out.
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: You need to pay me each way.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: So with that being said, we institute a transient landing
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: fees and those alone will generate one point eight million
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: dollars in Now, this is not We're.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: Not We're not We're not talking about any onerous. We're
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: not talking about jamming people love. We're not talking about
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: hating capitalism. No, no, no no. She just saying, look,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: you're using my termac every time you land. It causes
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: damage every time you take all but qut create stress.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: My team has to do support work and there's a crisis.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: I got to provide emergency services to come there. You
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: know that you're pulling on the electricity, you're pulling on
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the plumbing grid. So she's she's saying, we are partners,
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: we're partners. You're not paying me the county a partnership fee.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: So she just added an incremental, non painful, reasonable, yes,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: transient fee which they won't even notice. Really, that allows
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: her to generate more revenue for you. If you think
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: about this, the county basically a multi billion dollar business,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: and you're the stakeholders. You're the citizens, the citizens and
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: the shareholders. And so she just gave the shareholders a
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: dividend return.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: Yes, and we've done that, and I'll give you another
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: solid example. But also I have to share this. I
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: begin to monitor cell phone usage and I said, okay,
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: I want to do an audit of cell phones because
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: I see these folks aren't answering these phones.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: So I follow the audience I've been trying to get.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to this version of the rain
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: for forty minutes. This is the rain I love, right,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: she getting to it now? PSDs are good, PAHs ds
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: are better, okay.
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: Pe Yeah.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: So I engaged our carrier, Verizon, and I said, I
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: need you to do an audit of our phones and
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: as of today, for a sixty day window. Every phone
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: that is not utilized, I want you to turn it off. Well, John,
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: that resulted in five hundred and sixty two phones being
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: disconnected that were counting issue. It resulted in us saving
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: over nineteen thousand dollars a month and two hundred and
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: thirty eight thousand dollars a year, almost a quarter million
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: dollars by shutting off phones from people who didn't even
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: realize as many instance as they had been turned off.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: So you know that worked well. Also too, we have
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: began building our own portfolio. You know, we did something
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: recently for the first time the vehicle was present.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: We never constituted big words of rain.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: If you don't know what's the building your own portfolio
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: in what?
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's in terms of.
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: Assets. Yes, we're building an asset portfolio in the cab.
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: So we were looking at housing because there's this huge
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: need and we set aside eight million dollars and we
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: had a part to present themselves and say, hey, for
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: eight million dollars, we will purchase a set of apartments.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: We will give you a six year lease and we
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: can renew, well, we can negotiate again at the end
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: of the six year period. Well, you know, I called
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: in given three meters the data on this apartment community
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: and actually they were town homes. And when I looked
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: at the dollar value, I said, well, why aren't we
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: purchasing this and why are we doing a contract for
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: the management of the facility within? Because why would I
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: give you my money to go and purchase a facility
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: that I now rent from you and I have a
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: six year window and we're back at this again. I
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: can own it because when we ran the numbers and
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: put together the capital stack, it would be an income
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: generating vehicle. So that's what we did. We decided, hey,
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: we like you as a partner. We're willing to do
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: your contract for you to manage the facility because we
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: are not as a government in the business of managing
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: apartment communities, but we will own it. So the Cab
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: County purchased its first and that's the first in our
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: portfolio of real estate that is county owned. Previously, we
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: would give our money to the the Cab Housing Authority
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: and other external entities and sign some form of agreement
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: for use. So that was really great too. So we
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: invested the audience.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: She didn't scream, She didn't holler, she didn't raise her voice,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: she didn't curse nobody else. She wasn't emotional, she wasn't reactive,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: she wasn't personal, she didn't call out anybody's names. She
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: was professional. Because when you have the power, you don't
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: need to use it and there's no need to scream
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: and holler when you know what you're talking about. This
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: is the kind of leader you need. And she gave
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: you three examples. Now, one at the infrastructure level, one
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: at a fee level, and one at a private sector
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: partnership level that I'm sure, yeah, yeah. One was that
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: infrastructure with the restaurant, the feed level, that's the PDK,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: the airport, and now she's giving you one at the
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: ground level, and this is where leakage happens in a government.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: And then when we were talking about fraud and waste,
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: they really most people are not Most people are not crooks.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: Most people are not maliciously trying to rob the city.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: They're just financially illiterate. They don't know what they're doing.
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: And John, I have to say you are correct. And
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: let me say I've seen in government things that would
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: be acceptable in my home, if that makes sense, because
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: it just wouldn't be a wise investment. And one last example,
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: because you will appreciate this if you didn't read about it.
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: I was brought a lease to renew it.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: And when I opened up the folder and started to read,
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, my god, how long have we.
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: Been at this?
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: So that forty three eighty Memorial Drive, which is a
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: known facility building because it houses both our tax commissioner
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: and our Office of Voter Registration.
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: Oh, this it was up for renewal on my watch.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And when I pulled all the information, I said,
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: my god, how long have we been renting here?
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: I thought we owned it?
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: And short story, we had been renting the facility for
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: twenty eight years. Okay, at the time we started renting it,
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: and it was the original home depot in the state
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: of Georgia, the very first at that location, it was
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: only valued at like one point eight million, but now
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: it was valued at eighteen point five. But what I
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: found peculiar is in the twenty eight years of rent,
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: we had invested eighteen point nine million in rent, another
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: eight point six in capital improvements, and the balance we
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: also had any agreement we paid the taxes to ourselves.
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: Cool imagine that we could have abated the taxes, being
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: as how it's our you know, building. So I said, no,
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: we're not doing this. So you know, I now have
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: our first chief development officers. So I sent Jacob Valo
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: over and I said, Jacob, you have to tell them.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: Plus it needs a three million dollar roof. They're not
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: going to find another us. The building's not in the
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: best repair, so either they can sell it or we'll vacate.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: And god knows, I didn't know where those folks were going,
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: but we had already We bought the building for eighteen
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: point five after spending in rent almost twenty nine million dollars.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: You bought it for eighteen you had spent rent.
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: Of twenty twenty eight point like, yeah.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Almost double. And that's why I tell people. And then
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: you can take this back again. She said, we do
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: things in government, but we don't do in our own
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: household We wouldn't allow in our own households. But it's
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: not just that, no one washes rental cars if you
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: don't own it. And she's got an ownership mentality about
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: the county, and everybody in the county should be thankful
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: for her. And by the way, I want to commend
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: Michael Thurman that came before her. She's building on a
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: solo foundation. He's a good man and he did a
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: good job as well. She's just upgrading in software in
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: her own way. So uh so, so when I say
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: nobody washes rental cars, matter how nice you are, you
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: take the rental car with all the dirt that's been
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: accumulated on it back to the owner, which is the
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: rental car company, and let them wash it. So if
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: you are going in, if your mentality is I'm just
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: an employee in late long lunch, leave early, right, it's
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: not mine. You don't kill the contract you're writing. It's
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: all just so. She's but she's looking at the long
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: narrative and saying she's looking at an amortization schedule. Please
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: look that up if you don't know what it is,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: everybody an amortization schedule, how something looks over time in
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: a financial transaction. And if you look at it over
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: an amortization schedule, why would you long term want a
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: rent when you can own. You're paying yourself. She's paying
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: some outside vendor and then has to pay for the
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: pleasure of keeping it up and paying property taxes back
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: to herself. I mean, this is crazy, but this applies
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: to you owning a home. You listening to this, whether
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: you're the cab or wherever else. I'm a landlord. I
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: was a huge prayer in the cab by the way.
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: As a landlord, I'm encouraging you to go for rent
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: to own, And she went and did that for the
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: county and Loreena I'm thinking about. I don't want to
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: embarrass a city, but Chicago sold Chicago Leice thirty six
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: thousand parking meters for seventy five years and they got
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: an advanced payment of about a billion dollars. Those parking
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: meters are concernedly worth right now for a billion.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: I know, I heard of that. That is a great
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: case study for students in government because you know, and
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: when I say you have to do what makes sense.
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: If you didn't come from waste, you you can't do
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: this in good faith and to be honest. For some people,
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: it may feel like government money because government is just
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: moved in this way. It's normal, but it's not good business.
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: And I think that's where.
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: We have to get.
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: And even with people who are listening, because I know
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: you're all about wealth, you're all about empowerment.
• 54:53
  Speaker 3: And I deal a lot with fact.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: Because I was always taught people line numbers, don't what's
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: the numbers. We look at the numbers, and I believe
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: the number is like about eighty percent of African American
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: wealth in particular is directly linked.
• 55:08
  Speaker 3: To home ownership. So if you have no home, you
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: have no weapon.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: So when we you know, it's not acceptible to be
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: a lifelong renter because there's no benefit. Either you're going
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: to pay for someone else's or you will pay for yours.
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: So you have to create a level of comfort. And
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: also there's a lot of people who've never been told
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: you can, so bridging the gap to resources so people
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: understand financial literacy so that they understand that they can
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: own that you're not sentenced to where you are because
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: your zip code shouldn't determine your outcome. These are, you know,
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: so important because you know, if you want to talk housing,
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: I think it was twenty twenty three that I actually
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: did a housing study through Ernst.
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: In a winter out.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: And when that study came back, it showed that in
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: order for an individual earning minimum wage, and I have
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: a big problem with what I'm about to say, but
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: earning minimum wage in the metro Atlanta area, you would
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: need to work one hundred and forty hours a week
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: to afford a two bedroom to their apartment.
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: That is not sustainable.
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: And America is creating a huge economic divide. We're becoming
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: an America of the haves and the have nots, and
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: we have to do better because there's consequences for everyone
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: that is at the table. We cannot allow this economic
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: divide to occur. To do more to foster trade opportunities.
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: It's bigger than just and you know, oftentimes and we
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: talk about criminal justice, but we don't talk about the
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: fact that economics is the number one factor in crime.
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: So if you solve the economic problem, you solve the
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: crime problem.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: All a drug dealer is is a legal, an ethical entrepreneur,
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: a bad business plan, import, exports, finance, marketing, wholesale, retail,
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: customer service, security, territory logistics HR. So that's why that's
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: why I love That's why I love you. You went
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: to the prison, You're like, nah, I don't want to
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: stay here very long, and you shouldn't want to be
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: here either, and you like, let me cret a situation
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: to either make sure you don't get here in the
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: first place, or I believe at some point I want
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: to bring our one MVB one million Black business initiative
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: and just one uh this a business creation initiative your
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: respective of race to prisons. He's a natural entrepreneurs teaching
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: financial literacy, teach them business, teach them entrepreneurship, and help
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: them go from the streets to the suites. And you know,
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: that's one of the many conversations you want to you know, have.
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: Over time, and you have to get t I on
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: the show. Also, we were together for two days in
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: a row at different events.
• 58:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he he.
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: He talked about the fact that he was about as
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: bad a kid as you would find, but he had
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: to redirect it and that happened largely through his uncle
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: who took some of his money and invested it and
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: started flipping houses. And he saw the huge return there
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: and he said, well, hey, now I need to move
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: this over to the to to to.
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: To commercial properties.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: And you know, recently built his first low income housing
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: development and I want him to do the same in
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: the cab.
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: With people don't realize he's a proper businessman.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: Yes he is, and and I'm very proud of that,
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: because the you know, success is failure turned inside out.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: I'm thankful that he was able to realize that there
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: was a different way. And we have an entire group
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: of young people out there now.
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: Who just need giants.
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: That's right. As we this has been a beautiful one
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: hour together, and you and I could talk literally all
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: afternoon together if we have the time. Uh, as we
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: wrap this up, and I do believe he would have
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: gotten a chance now that I've pushed you and prodded
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: you to see the brilliance of you. You're very humble,
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: but that but that was that was that light went on,
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: It didn't go off. What are some what are some
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: pearls of wisdom that you can leave with this audience
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: as a little girl listening to you, a young girl,
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: a young woman listening to you, a woman trying who
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: thinks that her life is not fulfilled, or frankly, a
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: man or a family, or somebody trying to reset their
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: life and become a business person because they were laid off. Uh,
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: just somebody who's losing hope. What practical examples do you
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: have for them? Because I think you're a great role
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: model for that. But also the other thing. What example,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: what advice do you have for government public sector leaders
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: that you can now give them the benefit of now
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: being a cutting edge CEO of one of the biggest
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: counties in the biggest economy in the world.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: I'll start with other electeds and business leaders for you know,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: for me being in the governmental space, I have to
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: stay with leaders.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: I often say John that there's a difference between an
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: elected official and a politician.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: And I am an elected official, Okay.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: I came into this position and within one hundred and
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: forty five no, yeah, within forty.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: Five days, I had to pass.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: The largest water rate increase in the history of the
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: State of Georgia.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 3: Didn't even know.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: All I knew is what was necessary to meet the
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: consent decree that we were under because we were not
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: in compliance. So with that being said, I don't care
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: who you are, but at some point in your life,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: you have to detach yourself from what is popular and
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: simply do what is necessary and if you are willing
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: to do that, because you know, I'm so grateful that
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: I was so naive and ignorant that when I got
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: in politics, I did not realize honestly what I was
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: truly embarking upon. But now I have come to realize.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: You know, I will never run a race that I
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 2: haven't already won because whatever is for you, it will
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: present itself. And you know there's other opportunities. And I
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: don't want to go biblical, but your gift will make
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 2: prood for you whatever that may be. So don't allow
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: other people to define who you are and where you go.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: Study to show yourself a pood. I've been doing that
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: all my life, and knowledge is something that people can't
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: take away from you. So if you're discouraged, we don't
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: all start at the same place, but it's up to
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: you where you end up. Don't think someone is gonna
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: come and level the playing field for you. You acknowledge the
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: playing field and you master it, and that's what will
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: get you across that finish line. Seek people who can
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: help you. You know, John, you often say if you're
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: the smartest person in your group, you need to find
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: a new group. Then I could tell you so many
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: things that mentors. And also I want to say, reach
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: across the aisle. I don't care whether black, white, you
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: know brown. I have friends of all humans, and many
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: of them are incredible and dynamic business people like John
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: that have taught me business principles and how to maneuver
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: and make money and how also to create wealth for
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: future generations, where to invest, so you know, the conversations
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: that you have are very important. You know, invest in
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: yourself and then at the end of the day find me.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: I often when I speak with young people, I pass
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: out this little postcard and I say, take this home,
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: because I was always taught if it's really important, put
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: it in your soft drawer. Okay, if it's really important.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: My grandmother they put that in the sock drawer. So
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: I tell the children, take this home. Put it in
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: your soft drawer. If you need a letter of recommendation,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: if you find yourself in a position of adversity, if
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: you need guidance, if you simply need to have a conversation,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: as long as you have that card, you have help.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: You can call me.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: So that should be the mentality of elected officials, because
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, we have an enormous
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: amount of resources, information and opportunities, and if I'm not
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: helping you, then I'm failing miserably. So determine what you
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: want to do. I'm not going to quote a poem.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: But there's a poem out there called equipment that I
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: saw for the first time probably oh my God, as
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: a student at Auburn University. But the poem was at Tuski.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: And you have all that the greatest have had to
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: the orange, two hands, to a braid and eyes and
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: a mind. The use of you would be wise. So
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: this is up to you. With that equipment, they all begin,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: So start for the top and say you can. It's
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: really up to you. And John, thank you for being
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: a true leader, a visionary and a person who cares
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: about people and sharing knowledge. You have been given an
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: enormous opportunity because that's your lane, that's your life, and
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: it shows yous and you are truly making a difference
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: in the community.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 3: So thank you.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: Well. I'm honored by that and clearly I respected to
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: admire you. You my first county official in the country
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: on my podcast, and I don't do things without thinking
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: about it. Everything's intentional. I wanted to profile you as
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: a role model. I've been watching you for a very
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: long time, observing you. You're such a beautiful example of
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: excellence in operation. And one of the things I would
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: translate that Loraine said CEO Johnson. By the way she said, basically,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: that'd interpret it. I'd rather you respect me and learn
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: to like me than like me and never respect me.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: Life is way overrated you guys, and don't take shortcuts. Look,
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: if you're a person of color listening to this or
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: watching this, please hear me. You're born in probation in America.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: You have to be twice as intelligent, twice as well addressed.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: You know, twice as early, stay twice as late, work
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: twice as art, get half the pay. That's okay, that's
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: just the way it is. But haters make you better,
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: and don't take shortcuts. There's somebody watching waiting for you
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: to stumble, and somebody at another table. It's a setup
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: waiting for you to take that envelope and take what's
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: inside of it. The person pushed the envelope to you
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: is sit there to set you up. They hope you
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: take the envelope so they can be put you on
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: the front the front page of the news. Front page
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: of the newspaper. Send you to a theatric's class, which
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: is court. Play this out a little bit of a
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: little overtime. Drip drip, drip, destroy your credibility over time,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: send you to prison, change you from a business suit
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: to an orange suit. And now the reputation of people
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: of color is that see that person is slicks to
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: that person is a criminal. We got to change that
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: stuff on this and we are better than this. And
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: she is an example of operating at the level of excellence.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: My man, our friend mayor Andre Dickens another is it
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: operating at the level of excellence. He's not black for
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: a living. He's a great leader who happens to be black,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: right running eight hundred of sorry father, a billion dollar economy.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: That's the citium. We can do this. She's an example
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: of that. And take her up in her offer. Do
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: your research before you go chating with her and asking
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: her for her time. Don't waste her time. Do your
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: research so that when you have when you get a
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: chance to get ten to fifteen minutes whe her, you're
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: an investment, not a cost on her schedule. CEO, Jonathan,
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: thank you very much.
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 3: Thank you, John.
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: You and I'll look forward to catching up with each
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 2: other soon. Have a good rest of the day, God
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 2: bless you.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: This is money and Wealth All Black Effect Network on
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio Season two with CEO of the Cab County Lorraine Johnson.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: Go Change the World Money and Wealth with John O'Brien
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: favorite shows.