S5:E133🎙️ LIVE | Embracing the Impossible: A Juneteenth Reflection for Black Service Members🇺🇸✊🏾

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I'm JJ Conway, and I want to welcome you to the Juneteenth Legacy Conference. Whether or not your ancestors were American slaves, the fact of the matter is, in this country, if you are dark-skinned, you face significant challenges and unique obstacles to financial independence. You also experience disparities in healthcare, and education, and all of these things translate directly to your ability to build a financial legacy for yourself and your community. This Juneteenth Legacy Conference will equip you with the tools you need and connect you with the network you need in order to overcome these challenges and build the life you deserve, build the life you desire, achieve what you set out to, Enjoy the fruit of all your hard labor. Many of us have worked so hard at a corporate job only to realize that we have been enslaved in some capacity. Then we left the corporate plantation to start our own businesses and found out that we have created even yet another form of bondage. Now, I'm not going to equate this corporate plantation and this entrepreneurial bondage to the slavery of our ancestors. However, the impact remains the same. Black wealth is declining from generation to generation. And while these racial disparities are not our fault, they are our responsibility. No one is going to fight for us like we will fight for us. And it is up to us to fight for our future. In order to do that, I'm asking you to join me right now for the Juneteenth Legacy Conference. I hope to see you there. You take care and be blessed.

Between 1619 and 1865, there were 10 million Black people enslaved in the United States. Hundreds of thousands were trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to port cities in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the South. Even though the creation of the United States Constitution following the Revolutionary War granted freedom, justice, and liberty for all, nearly a million enslaved Black people were trafficked from the North to new states in the American South, where they were sent to forced labor camps. Black people were sold and trafficked by steamboats along rivers during agonizing journeys. In chains, they arrived in cities across the South, where they were paraded to warehouses, where they would wait to be sold. Many came to Montgomery by railcar, trafficked on rail lines built by enslaved people. Crowded cars would arrive filled with imprisoned people Worried about what would happen to them, anxious about being further separated from their loved ones. Trafficked Black people were held in holding pens, slave depots, warehouses, and jails where they awaited auctions. The population of enslaved people in Alabama grew from 40,000 in 1820 to over 400,000 in 1860. Slavery was violent. People were whipped and lashed, beaten and abused. Plantation life was hard. Living conditions in dwellings were crowded, hot in the summer, cold in the winter. It was illegal for enslaved people to learn to read or write. Nearly half of all enslaved people were sold and separated from their children, siblings, and partners. Forced to pick cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, rice, there was no rest and little comfort. Yet enslaved people were resilient. Many endured great hardship and cruelty and remarkably loved in the midst of sorrow. They cared for their children and loved ones. Some escaped and fled. All yearned for freedom. 6 million people died enslaved in this country. Through faith, courage, perseverance, intellect, and love, 4 million enslaved people survived and were emancipated after the Civil War. Many immediately sought to find children, spouses, parents, and siblings that had been sold. They committed themselves to citizenship and building new lives. And today, tens of millions of us live as their descendants. Many of us carry the names they chose. We are their children. Everyone in this country is the beneficiary of the labor of enslaved people. All of us are impacted by the legacy of slavery, and no one should forget the bigotry the violence, and racism that slavery fostered, and the continuing challenges we face today as a result. At Freedom Monument Sculpture Park and the National Monument to Freedom, we honor all those who were enslaved in this country. We celebrate the survival of those who endured. We mourn the loss of those who did not. And we hope for a future where the legacy of slavery is acknowledged, the bigotry it created is eliminated, and the harms that still persist are repaired.

All right, happy Juneteenth everyone. This is National Independence Day and I am so grateful you are here. So for you who are watching live on LinkedIn and on YouTube. Please let us know where you are joining us from, what city, what state, and also let us know what you are grateful for today. We're going to start our moment of gratitude in just a moment. And as I go through the presentation today for Juneteenth, Embracing the Impossible, I also would like for you to let us know, like, free to 5 takeaways from today's lesson, if you can type it on LinkedIn or YouTube. And of course, if you have a question for me, go ahead and type it in the comment as well. So let's start with our moment of gratitude. As you know, every single time we meet, we like to take this moment to be grateful every single time. Part of the reason why I do this, for those who've been following the show, is because in the US, it's about 21, 22 service members and veterans who commit suicide every single day. Not a year, not a quarter, not a month, not a week, but every day. And I think it's impossible to be suicidal and to be grateful at the very same time. So if you would, maybe close your eyes and put yourself in your happy place and think about one thing you are grateful for you are right now? Maybe you need to take a deep breath and just be grateful in this moment. And I think for me, on June 10th, National Independence Day, I am really grateful for freedom. Freedom! Freedom! MLK said, "Free at last! Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!" The human being was meant to be free. No human being was meant to be dominated by any other human. And for those who are believers in the Bible, in the very first book, Genesis 1, 2, it talks about God creating human being in His own image and in His own likeness. And God told to man, to Adam, "You will have dominion." So that's why no human being wants to be dominated by anyone. Slavery is evil, period. No justification, there is no if, there is no but. It's unethical, it's immoral, it is evil, period. And today we celebrate freedom because on June 10th, June 19th, that was the first day in this land, in America, where all citizens were finally free. Even in the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers, they wrote in the founding document of this country that the rights we have, they come from above, not from government, but from God. God gave us the inalienable rights for freedom. And finally, on that day, it became a reality for all of America. So today I am grateful for freedom.

Wow.

All right, so please type in the comment again where you are coming from and also what you are grateful for. From time to time, as I give you this presentation, which I gave to the Juneteenth Legacy in Tulsa, Oklahoma this morning to veterans. I want you to— you can talk back to me, of course. I'm looking at the screen, but type in the comments something that resonates with you. I want you to let me know because that helps me. It's so much better when I give this type of presentation live in a room. I can feed off the energy of the crowd, so the comment will have to do. So basically I am going to give you a presentation I gave this morning to a room full of Black veterans from every service of the US in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Black Wall Street. So here we go. So this is about Juneteenth again, which is today. And again, I appreciate your support if you can holler back at me in the comment on both YouTube and also on LinkedIn. All right, so we are talking about Juneteenth legacy. Oh, actually, before I start that, I may as well do this now. JJ Conway, really, really, really grateful for her. She really started all of this. This week was the 8th annual Juneteenth celebration, so she's going to do it again next year for the 9th annual, and I want everybody to please, please register. And next year it is going to be on June 16th, 17th, and 18th, and that's going to be in Kansas City, Missouri. And you can register right now, and you can go to our website, right, juneteenthlegacy.com/2027. You can register if you want to become a speaker. You can register and get your ticket really, really cheap right, right, right now. And that would be great. So I hope to see you in Kansas City, Missouri, June 16, 2027. So please, please register. I think it is so, so worth it. So that's going to be next year. So for today, we are going to be talking about Juneteenth, really embracing the impossible. Really what I have done, I have written a lot of articles about Leadership. You can follow me on LinkedIn. And one of those articles which I wrote last year was about, uh, Embracing the Impossible: A Cybersecurity Leader's Journey. But the reason why I wrote this article, uh, many times I get asked by, uh, people across the country, around the world, they're like, okay, I really want to get into cybersecurity, but I just don't know how to get into the field because when I apply for a job, people don't want to hire me because they say I don't have any experience. And how can I get the experience unless someone gives me a chance? So I've been trying to help a lot of aspiring cybersecurity leaders here in the US, around the world through LinkedIn. So I thought maybe I should write this article, Embracing the Impossible. How do you break into something that seems to be impossible and how do you get a chance? It takes me back when I came to the US, I was 17 years old. Then when I turned 18, I was eligible to work at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and nobody would give me a job. I applied for at least 200 jobs that summer. No one would hire me because everybody who tried to give me a position, they were really looking for somebody who already had the experience. Again, I'm like, okay, how do I get the experience unless you give me a chance? But somebody did. They did have mercy on me, showed me a lot of favor, and they gave me a job. And like they say, right, the rest is history. So that's kind of where this article came from. So what I'm going to be talking about today, a lot of those ideas come from that, but also the article I wrote about June 10th. And since this morning we were in Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also what I talked about my article America 250, Leadership Lessons from the Tulsa Race Massacre 105 Years Later. That happened in 1921, right? And then I also wrote an article about the leadership lesson from African American history, what African Americans had to endure in this country. And then I wrote one more specifically about veterans, people in the military, right? Leadership Lessons from African American Veterans From the Civil War to World War II, from enslavement to integration. So those are really the people I am talking to today. Anybody can hear this, it's public, but the people I am addressing, those that I address this morning, are the African American veterans from all branch of services in the US military. So having said that, let's get started. So we are talking about embracing the impossible. This is a Juneteenth reflection for Black service member officers and veterans. And again, I gave this presentation at the 8th Annual Juneteenth Economic Forum today, Black Wall Street, Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So again, good afternoon to everybody. It's really a great honor and a privilege to join you today at the 8th Annual Juneteenth Economic Forum, especially here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I think this is holy ground, right? This is a historic home of Black Wall Street, a place that embodied both The extraordinary achievement and the extraordinary resilience of African Americans. So before we begin, I want to acknowledge the giants upon whose shoulders we stand. Juneteenth is more than just a celebration of emancipation. It's much more than that. It is a reminder that progress is rarely immediate and freedom is rarely given freely, and justice often requires generations of perseverance, sacrifice, and courageous leadership. So as Nelson Mandela reminds us, "It always seems impossible until it is done." Think about that. It always seems impossible until it's done. Those words, they resonate very, very deeply with me because when I was growing up in the Republic of the Congo in Central Africa, becoming an officer in the US Navy seemed impossible. Seemed impossible. Serving as a commanding officer in the world's most powerful navy seemed impossible. Leading cybersecurity organization in Silicon Valley seemed impossible. For those listening, if you wanna type impossible in the comment, I would appreciate that. 'Cause standing before audiences across the world and sharing lessons on leadership seemed impossible. Yet here we are. And I suspect that many of you have your own impossible stories. Perhaps you were told that you were not smart enough, not connected enough, not wealthy enough, not the right race, not the right neighborhood, not leadership material, not the right accent. But history teaches us something very, very important: the impossible is often simply the unattempted. Throughout American history, African Americans have repeatedly accomplish what society declared impossible over and over again. It was considered impossible for enslaved people to become free citizens, impossible for African Americans to serve as commissioned officers in the US Navy, impossible for Black entrepreneurs to build generational wealth in Tulsa, impossible for African Americans to become general, admiral, governor, senator, Supreme Court justices, or president of the United States. Or dare I say, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff? Impossible. And yet generation after generation, courageous men and women embraced the impossible and they changed history. Today, I want to speak especially to my fellow service members, veterans, and aspiring leaders. Your current circumstances do not define your future. Your beginning does not determine your destination. Your setbacks do not determine your significance. Leadership is not about where you start, Leadership is about what you choose to do with the opportunity before you. As a young Seaman Recruit entering boot camp 21 years ago, I never imagined that one day I would wear the rank of Commander. There were obstacles, failures, moments of doubt, for sure, moments when quitting would have been easier, but every promotion, every command opportunity, every accomplishment was built upon the sacrifices of those who came before me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. People like the Golden Thirteen, people like the Tuskegee Airmen, people like the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, guardians, and Coast Guardsmen who served a nation that did not always fully recognize their humanity. They embraced the impossible so that we could pursue our dreams with fewer barriers. And now the responsibility belongs to us, you and me. Our mission is not simply to succeed, Our mission is to leave the door wide open, wider than we found it, to mentors, to sponsors, to develop future leaders, to create opportunities for others, to ensure that the next generation does not inherit our limitation, but our possibility. Maya Angelou said, "I am the dream of the slaves." Wow. Isn't that something? Because leadership is legacy. And right here on June 10th, we celebrate freedom. We are our ancestors' wildest continuation. We are our ancestors' wildest dream. Think about that for a minute. Because leadership is legacy. And legacy is service extended beyond ourselves. And I believe if you, if you are African American serving in the most powerful military in the world today in the US, you are not just serving for yourself. You are serving for everybody else who looks like you and who's going to come after you because leadership is legacy. So today I ask each of you, what impossible dream have you abandoned because someone told you it could not be done? What would you attempt if you knew that failure was not possible? Who will benefit if you refuse to quit? As we celebrate Juneteenth, may we honor those who endured. May we remember those who sacrificed. May we become the leaders our communities need right now. And may we continue embracing the impossible. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. Again, freedom. Free at last, free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last. All right, now let me move to the next slide. We're gonna be talking about every impossible victory in American history, which was once just a dream, from the Revolution all the way to today, right? So this slide here, I think, is really the art of today's message. When we look back at history, we often see inevitability. Beatability, right? We assume that progress was always going to happen, but history tells us something completely different. Every major breakthrough in American history was once considered impossible by someone. Every victory we now celebrate was once dismissed as unrealistic, dangerous, or unattainable. Let's look at a few examples. Breaking chains. For more than 246 years, slavery was woven into the political, social, and economic fabric of America. Many of those in position of power believed slavery would exist forever from the very foundation of this country. Actually, even before, back to 1619, when the first slave came on the shores of the US and the Virginia colony. That was August 20th, 1619. The reason why I know that date so well is because a member from my tribe, from the Congo Kingdom, the very first slaves that came, they came from my original tribe. They were my kin ancestors, and they were enslaved in chains in this country, which was supposed to represent freedom and democracy. What a shame. So the idea that millions of slaves, men, women, and children, would one day be free Citizens was considered unimaginable. So yet generations of courageous people, abolitionists, freedom fighters, enslaved people themselves, and ordinary citizens refused to accept the status quo. So Juneteenth reminds us that what once seemed impossible ultimately became a reality. Freedom prevailed. So let's talk about forging unity. For much of our nation's history, the armed forces were segregated. Many believed that Black Americans could not lead, could not command, and could not serve alongside white service members as equals. The integration of the armed forces challenged deeply entrenched assumptions and defied the conventions of an entire era. Leaders like the Golden Thirteen, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines, and countless others, they demonstrated through excellence, courage, and sacrifice that leadership knows no color. In 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the US military and the federal government. What once seemed impossible became policy and ultimately became culture. So let's talk through rising through the ranks for just a minute. There was a time when a Black admiral in the US Navy seemed impossible. A Black chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff seemed impossible. A Black 4-star general, a Black woman fighter pilot, or a Black commanding officer of a major warfighting command seemed impossible. Yet today we stand on the shoulders of pioneers like Vice Admiral Samuel Gravely, General Colin Powell, Admiral Michelle Howard, and thousands of senior enlisted leaders and officers who shattered ceilings for those who followed. As someone who began my own Navy journey as a seaman recruit and eventually had the privilege of serving as a commanding officer and commander in the most powerful Navy in the world, I know personally that dreams once considered impossible can become a reality. So now let me talk about your victory. I want to make this personal, right? If you look around the room, every single person here has already achieved something that once seemed impossible. Maybe you were the first in your family to graduate from college. Maybe the first to start a business, maybe the first to serve in the military, the first to become an executive entrepreneur or a community leader. You may have overcome poverty, discrimination, illness, doubt, or personal adversity. Each of you has your own impossible story. You are living proof that obstacles do not have the final word. Okay, let me now mention about the Juneteenth legacy. Because I believe that Juneteenth is living proof that the impossible can become inevitable when courageous people refuse to give up. It teaches us that progress may be delayed, but it need not be denied. It reminds us that history is not something that simply happens to us, but history is something we create. And now it is our turn. The next impossible dream is waiting for someone in this room to pursue right now. The question is, what impossible dream will you embrace? And whose life will be changed because you refuse to quit. All right. That's powerful. Now let's talk about impossible not being a fact, okay? Because what's impossible is really someone else's prediction about your future. It is not a fact at all, because this slide really captures one of the most important lessons I have learned throughout my life and career. Impossible is not a fact. Somebody please type in the chat, impossible is not a fact. Impossible is not a fact. On YouTube, on LinkedIn, please let me know you are listening. Impossible is not a fact. If you don't get anything else from this presentation today, I want you to remember, impossible is not a fact. It is often nothing more than someone else's prediction about your future. It is the conclusion reached by people who cannot see your vision. They cannot match your determination, and they cannot fully appreciate your willingness to persevere. History teaches us that many of humanity's greatest achievements began with someone being told, "That can't be done." But leaders understand something different. Leaders, they recognize that impossible is often simply an invitation to innovate, to persevere, and overcome. I know myself, when someone tells me I can't do something, it can't be done, then I am more determined to get it done just to prove them wrong. That's just my nature, right? Then let's talk about, uh, the beginning of the journey for me. I was born in the Republic of Congo, as many of you know, uh, a young boy growing up there. Becoming an officer in the US Navy seemed impossible. Becoming a US citizen seemed impossible. Commanding sailors in the world's most powerful navy seemed impossible. There were no examples in my immediate environment suggesting that such a journey was even possible, only in America. Yet dreams do not require a precedence, they require courage. And one day I made the decision not to allow geography, circumstances, or expectations of others to define my future. Let me talk about breaking barriers, right? Later in life, Leading cybersecurity organizations at the highest level also seemed impossible for me. I began my Navy career as a seaman recruit, E-1. That's the lowest rank in the military. And today I am a commander, O-5, a senior officer in the most powerful military in the world. I immigrated to this country. English was not my first language. I did not come from wealth or privilege. There were many moments when others questioned whether I belonged in certain rooms. Perhaps some of you have experienced that same feeling. But leadership is not about waiting for permission to pursue your dream. Leadership is about preparing relentlessly, showing up consistently, and delivering results repeatedly. Eventually, impossible becomes possible. So let me talk about June 10th really being the proof that perseverance outlasts oppression always, 'cause this slide really captures the very essence of June 10th, in my opinion. Because Juneteenth is not simply a historical commemoration, but it is a leadership lesson. It is evidence. It is proof that perseverance can outlast oppression always. Because if history teaches us anything, it is this: oppression may endure for a season, right? Weeping may endure for a night, but joy, joy, joy, joy comes in the morning. Injustice may persist for a generation, but progress may be delayed, but determined people United by hope and purpose can bend the arc of history. They endure. For more than 246 years, generations of African Americans endure unimaginable hardship. They endured slavery. They endured family separation. They endured violence, discrimination, exclusion, and systemic injustice. And they endured all of this without any guarantee that freedom would come in their lifetime. Think about that for a moment. Many labored, they sacrificed, they suffered without ever seeing the fruit of their struggle. Even Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement, he says, "I've been to the mountaintop. I've seen it. I've seen the promised land, but I may not go there with you." That is leadership. Yet they continued. They persevered. As leaders, this reminds us that we may not always see the immediate result of our effort, Sometimes leadership requires planting trees under whose shade we may never sit. And then they dreamed. Perhaps even more remarkable, they dreamed. They dreamed of freedom while living in bondage. Can you understand this? These are slaves now in America. They read the Declaration of Independence, they read our Constitution, and they believed our founding document more than the white supremacists who were in charge of the government. They believe in America more than the white Americans who helped establish this country because they read that all men are created equal and they believed it. Wow, isn't that amazing? They dreamed, they dreamed, they dreamed of freedom while living in bondage. They dreamed of citizenship when they were denied humanity. They dreamed of opportunity when society denied their potential. In many ways, simply daring to dream was itself an act of resistance because that was an act of defiance and an act of leadership. Oppressive systems often seek not only to control people physically, but also to limit what they believe is possible. The first victory, therefore, is often won in the mind. Leaders protect their dreams, especially when circumstances suggest they should abandon them. And then they believed. They believed. They believed when there was little evidence to support that belief. They believed despite setback, despite disappointment, despite generations of injustice. Hope itself became an act of courage. Belief itself became resistance. Faith itself became leadership. And because they believed, they persevered. Because they persevered, change eventually came. June 10th is proof concept, right? June 10th is in many ways a proof concept. It demonstrates that what appears impossible today may become inevitable tomorrow. There was a time when emancipation seemed impossible. There was a time in this country when voting rights seemed impossible. There was a time when integrated schools, integrated armed forces, Black general, admiral, executive, entrepreneur, and even a Black president of the United States seemed impossible. Yet here we are. The lesson for us is quite simple: do not confuse delay with denial. Do not mistake today's obstacle for tomorrow's outcome, and never underestimate what determined people can accomplish over time. As Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Our responsibility as leaders is to keep Never stop standing, keep building, keep believing, keep moving forward because someone somewhere is depending on our perseverance today to make their impossible dream possible tomorrow. Just like even when the first man, it was for a long time, it was thought impossible to run a mile in shorter than 4 minutes. 4-minute mile, that was just impossible. They used to say with the science at the time, it's just not physically possible One man did it. And once the first man was able to run a mile in 4 minutes, before that, it's been repeated over and over and over again. And today we know that's, you know, perfect sense. No, human being can absolutely do it. But there was a time when that was not possible. There was a time where it was impossible for people to get on the airplane and fly. But today, here we are. There was a time where it was impossible to imagine the internet connecting the entire world. But today, We are born with the internet, with the technology, we have artificial intelligence. All of those things seem to be impossible at one point, but today they are reality. So what I ask you is, what are you persevering toward? And who will benefit because you refuse to quit? All right. All right, let's talk about the timeline from the Civil War to today, right? A century of service before recognition for our African-American service member. This slide really tells a profound story about our country, about America. It is the story of men and women who chose to serve a nation that did not always fully recognize their citizenship, their humanity, or equal worth. It is a story of patriotism, a story of sacrifice, a story of perseverance, and ultimately it is a story of hope. If you can type hope in the comment, please, on LinkedIn and YouTube.

Hope.

Because for more than a century, generation after generation of African Americans, they answered the call to serve, not because America was perfect, it wasn't, but because they believed America could become better. Hope. From 1863 to 1865, the United States Colored Troops, let's talk about them. During the Civil War, nearly 180,000 African Americans soldiers served in the United States Colored Troops. Many were formerly enslaved. They fought not only to preserve the Union, but also to secure freedom itself. Think about the extraordinary courage this required. These men were willing to fight and die for a nation that had not yet recognized their full humanity. Think about that. Wow. And thank you so much, WGTOU, for giving me the energy to continue speaking. I really do appreciate that very much. Let me take just a quick break. Daniel is a very active member of this community, says, "On Juneteenth, we do more than remember history. We reflect on the ongoing damage slavery has caused in our laws, economies, and institutions. Reparatory justice is about more than payment. It's about redesigning systems so Black communities are no longer forced to carry the "of centuries of exploitation." I could not agree more. Thank you so much for sharing that, Daniel. So many formerly enslaved fought not only to preserve the Union, but they also fought to secure freedom itself. I like what Patrick Henry says during the Revolutionary War. He says, "Give me liberty or give me death." I think that's exactly why we were alive. As human, we cannot be slaves to anyone. That's not how God created us. I was created in the image and the likeness of God. I cannot be anybody's slave. Absolutely not. If you're gonna make me a slave, you'd rather kill me than me becoming a slave. Give me liberty or give me death. That is the cry for the human spirit everywhere—black, white, yellow, whatever, it doesn't matter. That is how we were made, Asian or Hispanic. We were meant to be free. God created human to be free. That is our heritage. Now we're talking about the United States colored troops. Think about the extraordinary courage that was required of them. These men were willing to fight and die for a nation that had not yet recognized their full humanity. Many received unequal pay. If captured by Confederate forces, they often faced execution or re-enslavement rather than treatment as prisoners of war. Yet they served, and their sacrifice helped save the Union and end slavery. So the leadership lesson here is you do not need perfect conditions to make a profound contribution. Now let's talk from 1866 to 1944, the Buffalo Soldiers. After the Civil War came The Buffalo Soldiers. They served on the American frontier. These soldiers distinguished themselves through extraordinary courage, discipline, and professionalism. They protected settlers, they built infrastructure, they served in multiple conflicts around the world. Yet they performed this duty while enduring segregation, discrimination, and limited opportunity for advancement just because they were Black. Despite systemic barriers, they developed a legacy of excellence so strong that it still inspires military leaders today. The leadership lesson here is excellence is often the most powerful response to prejudice. Now let's talk about World War I, the Harlem Hellfighters from 1917 to 1919. The Harlem Hellfighters entered World War I under conditions of inequality, denied many opportunities within the US Army. They ultimately fought under French command. White American didn't want to fight with them, so they sent them away to France, let French deal with them, but they excelled. The air fighters spent more time in continuous combat than any other American unit during the war. They earned widespread recognition from the French military for their valor and fighting spirit. They demonstrated extraordinary courage while serving a nation that still denied them equal rights at home. The leadership lesson here is courage is not the absence of adversity, but courage is advancing despite adversity. And I will encourage you, if you go to France, I go to France quite often, there is an American cemetery there for those who fell during World War I and World War II. You absolutely need to go visit that. It is quite a sacred place. I went there, I couldn't stop crying. You are going to see young American from all across the country. I saw people from my former state in Alabama, people from California, white, black, Jewish, Hispanic, Asian, it didn't matter. Those young people, they died in France, on French soil, in order to protect our freedom.

Wow.

Wow. Now let's talk from 1941 to 1946, the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen, they confronted one of the most destructive myths in American history, the belief that African Americans lacked the capability to excel in complex military roles. Given the opportunity, they shattered that myth, right? Through discipline, preparation, performance, they proved beyond any doubt that talent is universal even when opportunity is not. Their success transformed military aviation and accelerated broader social change. The leadership lesson here is performance and excellence have the power to dismantle prejudice. I call it Black excellence, Black excellence, Black excellence. That is who we are. That is where we come from. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Now let's talk from 1942 to 1949, the Montford Point Marines. The Montford Point Marines entered the segregated Marine Corps that did not initially want them, yet they persevered, they trained, they excelled. And through sustained excellence, they helped transform one of America's most tradition-bound institutions. Their service paved the way for future generations of Marines of every background. The leadership lesson here is institutional barriers can be broken through sustained excellence, Black excellence, resilience, and collective determination. So I think the broader story here is, if you notice the pattern across all of these groups, every generation inherited obstacles. Every generation encountered barriers, and every generation left the institution better than they found it. They expanded opportunity not only for themselves, but for those who would follow after them. As someone who entered the US Navy as a seaman recruit 21 years ago, and later had the privilege to serve as a commanding officer and a commander, I know that my journey was only possible because these pioneers refused to quit. I stand on the shoulders of giants. Their legacy lives in every diverse information serving today. And now the responsibility passes to us, to you and to me. The question for all of us is, what barriers will our generation remove for those who come after us? Because leadership is not measured solely by what we achieve personally, but leadership is measured by the opportunity we create for others. All right, now let me talk about African Americans serving before they were fully recognized, right? And because of that, I believe they changed our history. This— my opinion— for much of our nation's history, African Americans were asked to defend freedom abroad that they themselves did not fully enjoy at home. Think about that. Going to Europe, going to Germany, going to England, going to France, and fighting for the freedom of European when you yourself at home do not enjoy civil rights or voting rights. You don't even have a right to sit on a bus that you paid for. Wow. And yet they served again and again and again, generation after generation, not because America had already fulfilled its promise, but because they believed in the promise of what America could become. Their service did more than defend the nation. It transformed the nation. Hmm. They served before they could vote. There was a time in American history when many African Americans wore the uniform of the US while being denied the simple constitutional right to vote. Think about that. They were trusted to defend democracy on foreign battlefields, yet were denied full participation in that democracy here at home. The mission preceded rights that many Americans today take for granted. Despite this contradiction, they continued to answer the nation's call. So the leadership lesson here is true leadership often requires serving a cause larger than yourself, even when the system is imperfect. They fought before they were fully accepted. For many African American servicemembers, receiving a uniform did not automatically confer dignity, respect or equal treatment. As a matter of fact, many of them, when they came back from the World War, they were being pursued and lynched and really discriminated against because they were wearing the uniform. I even remember, I have a book here from the first 4-star admiral, right? This man here, my hero, Admiral Samuel Gravely Jr. He talked of a story where, as an admiral, he went on a base, a Navy base, and they thought he was an imposter. They didn't believe a Black admiral existed. And it's crazy. And this happened right here in our country, the home of the brave, right? The land of the free, the home of the brave, America. Wow. No dignity, no respect, and no equal treatment, even though they were willing to die for their country. Segregation remained the norm. Promotions were often restricted, assignments limited, recognition was delayed, and yet they wore the uniform with pride. One of the RML fighters didn't receive his military honors until almost 100 years after the war. Think about that. But yet they wore this uniform with pride. They served with distinction and honor. They demonstrated through their actions that patriotism is not dependent upon perfect acceptance. The leadership lesson here is you do not need universal acceptance to make an extraordinary contribution. And finally, sacrifice before they received equal treatment. African Americans fought and died in every major American conflict, from the Revolutionary War to today. Many earned decorations for valor, Many made the ultimate sacrifice. They died for their country, yet equal treatment often lagged decades behind their service. World War II veterans returned home after defeating fascism overseas only to encounter segregation, discrimination, racial violence, and in many cases, barriers to receiving benefits they had earned through their service. As a matter of fact, the only reason why we did get the— one of the main reasons why we got the executive order to desegregate the military was because President Truman was very, very touched when a sergeant, a Black sergeant who came back from war, was mistreated, beaten, imprisoned, actually blinded just for being Black and just for riding the bus in his proud uniform. That's when President Truman said, enough is enough, we need to desegregate this United States arm forces. This is just not right. It's not right. Recognition did not always come immediately, but their sacrifice changed the nation. The leadership lesson here is recognition may be delayed, but meaningful service always, always leaves a legacy. So carrying the torch forward, perhaps the most inspiring aspect of this history is that many pioneers understood they might never personally experience the full benefit of their sacrifice. The United States colored troops fought so future generations could live free. That includes me. The Buffalo Soldiers served knowing advancement opportunities were limited. The Golden Thirteen broke barriers that others would walk through. I am one of those people who walked through that. The Montford Point Marines and Tuskegee Airmen transformed institutions for generations they would never meet, and that includes me. They carried the torch forward. And because they did, people like me And many in this room have had opportunities that previous generations simply could not even imagine. So the leadership lesson here is great leaders plant seeds knowing others may harvest the fruit. This is why Juneteenth matters. Juneteenth reminds us that progress is often intergenerational. Freedom is often cumulative, and leadership is ultimately about stewardship. We inherit opportunities from those who came before us, and we have an obligation to expand and expand those opportunities for those who will come after us. I stand on the shoulders of giants. The question for us today is simple: what torch have we inherited? And perhaps more importantly, who will inherit the torch from us? Because leadership is not merely about making history, it is about ensuring that future generations inherit a better history because we served. Will future generations say that? About you. Now let's talk about every significant achievement moves through the same 4 stages of impossible. This slide may be the most practical framework I share today because whether we are talking about personal growth, entrepreneurship, military leadership, social change, or national transformation, almost every significant achievement in my opinion follows the same pattern, right? History repeats this pattern over and over again. Organization repeat this pattern, leaders repeat this pattern, and many of you probably living somewhere within these 4 stages right now. Stage number 1, impossible. It cannot be done. This is where every transformational idea begins. Someone will say, you can't do that. People like you don't do that. No one has ever done that before. That's unrealistic. I'm reminded of a story of, Steve, right? He wanted to be on TV since he was a little boy. He said when he was, I guess, in primary school, and the teacher was asking, hey, what do you guys want to be when you grow up? And he's like, I want to be on television. And his teacher told her, that's not possible. No, stop dreaming. Give me something realistic. Blacks cannot be on TV. And today Steve is on more TV than anybody else in our history. I mean, he's done movies, he's done shows. I mean, time after time after time after time, he has really lived above and beyond his wildest imagination when he was a child. Someone told him he couldn't be on TV, and today he's one of the biggest TV stars in the world. Impossible, impossible. They will say it is unrealistic. No, think about our history, the one I just shared, right? Ending slavery was once considered impossible. Disintegrating the military was considered impossible. A Black president of the United States, considered impossible. The world often rejects new possibilities because human beings are naturally more comfortable with the familiar than transformation. Leaders see what others cannot yet see. Leadership begins with The question is, can you see possibility before there is evidence? Then we move to stage 2, uncomfortable. This is harder than expected. This is the valley of adversity. Most people, they think about quitting in stage 2. This is where most dreams die, not because they were impossible, but because they become uncomfortable. This is where entrepreneurs run out of money. Where students struggle academically, where military leaders encounter setback. This is where promotions do not come, where business fail, where relationships are tested, and where people begin asking, hmm, maybe they were right. But the truth is this: every meaningful journey eventually becomes difficult. The Golden 13 experienced this stage. The Tuskegee Airmen experienced this stage. The civil rights movement experienced this stage. So I experienced this stage many, many times in my own life too, from immigrating to America learning to navigate a new culture, earning my commission, and eventually assuming command. But what separates successful people from those who are not is not talent, in my opinion, it's endurance. Most people quit in stage 2. And you're going to see a picture of General Colin Powell on my wall there. Really, and again, I only met him once, 2015, when he was going around the country promoting his book, It Worked for Me. But this man, from a distance, I read his book and I read about all of his achievement. Every time I wanted to quit, I would look at him. I say, if a Black man can be a 4-star general and the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff of the most powerful military in the world, then I can do it too. Then there is room at the top for me as well. I think representation really, really truly matter. Seeing someone who looks like you in position of power and leadership, that matters. Wow. Now let's talk about stage number 3. That's where things become possible. This is where you start saying, okay, maybe this can actually work, right? Something changes. Small victories begin to accumulate. You get momentum, progress become visible, and confidence goes, momentum builds. The impossible begins to look achievable. But here's a critical lesson: you only reach stage 3 if you survive stage 2. The people who endure long enough eventually begin seeing results. Like Elon Musk, I call him my African-American brother from another mother. When he tried his venture with SpaceX, and everybody was saying, no, that's not possible, it is never going to work or not, but he persisted. And this week he was able to take SpaceX publicly and now he's the first trillionaire in the world. What people said was impossible, he has made achievable, right? Because if you endure long enough, eventually you will begin to see result. You're gonna see the first successful mission, first promotion, first client, first breakthrough, the first person whose life is changed because you refuse to quit. This stage rewards perseverance. So it reminds us that persistence often precedes progress. And then you move to stage 4. This is where it becomes inevitable. And at this stage, it's like, oh, of course it happened. History has an interesting habit, right? Once something has been achieved, people often forget how controversial, how difficult or improbable it once seemed. Today, many people look at integrated military formation, black admirals, women commanding combat units and diverse leadership teams. And they assumed this progress was inevitable, but it absolutely wasn't. Someone paid the price for that. Someone endured criticism. Someone persevered when success wasn't certain. Someone refused to quit. And because they did, what once seemed impossible eventually became inevitable. And what usually happens at stage 4 too, the same people at stage 1 who told you not possible, you can't do it, now gonna say, oh, I knew you would always make it. Oh, they wanna take credit for what you now accomplish. I think it was JFK who said, right? Success has many favors, but failure is an orphan. That's just human nature, right? So the leadership lesson here is the challenge for all of us is this. When you find yourself in stage 2 and you really remember that discomfort, it's not evidence of failure. But yesterday I interviewed someone, he told me he doesn't like the word failure at all. What he used is shortcoming. So he has never failed, he's had a lot of shortcomings which he was able to overcome. Many times when you think of failure, you feel like it's terminal, there's nothing I can do. He's like, no, no, no, that's not a failure, it's a shortcoming. I like that. Just a change of word, it really changes your perspective. Because if you have a shortcoming, you can fix that. Maybe you need to read another book, you need to take a lesson, you need to go back to school, get a degree. You need to learn something and you can learn. But if it's a failure, that seems like there is nothing I can do about it. Powerful, powerful. That was CSM Zucker. I interviewed him yesterday. You can catch the show on your favorite podcast platform. Wow. Your current struggle may simply be the price of future significance. Think about that. So I ask you, what stage are you currently living in? Are you standing at the edge of an impossible dream? Are you in the valley of adversity and the shadow of death? It's not death itself, but it is the shadow of death. That's in Psalm 23. Are you beginning to see progress? Are you beginning to see progress? Or are you now living a dream that once seemed impossible? And perhaps most importantly, what would happen if you simply refuse to quit? Think about that for a minute. Now let's talk about the valley That's where no leaders are defeated, but it's precisely where they are forged. I think this is very important because things are not always easy. Sometimes things are going to get tough, but the idea is do not give up, right? It was Sir Winston Churchill during World War II, he says, "Never, never, never, never, never give up." Because I want to spend a few moments now talking about the valley, because every leader in this room either has been in the valley is currently in a valley or will eventually enter one. Well, it's just part of life. The valley is unavoidable. And depending, for example, when I came to the US as a teenager, I didn't have any money, any fame or name or anything. Today I am a lot more wealthier than I used to be there. But even now I still face some valleys too. Not the same valleys as I faced when I was a teenager, but I face some valleys as well. You can be rich, you can be poor, You can be a millionaire or a billionaire, you're still gonna have to face valleys. It's gonna be at a different level, but you're still gonna have to face them, right? In fact, I would argue that the valley is one of leadership's greatest classrooms. As I often say, the valley is not where leaders are defeated, but the valley is where leaders are forged. Steel is forged in fire, diamonds are formed under pressure, and leaders are developed in adversity. Gold is purified in fire. The valley takes many forms, right? The crucible. For some of us, the valley looks like a failed promotion, Bob. You prepared, you sacrificed, you gave your very best, and then the answer came back, not selected. For others, the valley is a grueling deployment, months away from family, missed birthdays, missed anniversary. I know all about that. Missed your children's milestone. Some valleys are deeply, deeply personal. Medical setback, mental health challenges, combat trauma, unable to get out of bed for 2 or 3 days because your back is injured, the valley. PTSD, the valley. Anxiety, depression, the valley. Career disappointment, financial struggle, the unexpected loss of a loved one. Many of you know that after years of service, I experienced my own valleys, physical injury, health challenges and setbacks, disappointments, and moments when I questioned what came next. Perhaps some of you are walking through your own valley right now. If so, I want you to hear me very, very, very clearly. Your valley is not your destination. Again, Psalm 23, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't stay there and camp and stay there forever. I am walking through it. Walk through it, right? Don't stop. Because every great leader has spent time in the valley. When we study great leaders, we often focus on the victories, right? And I love this concept, even when I interview great people, one side says failure, the other side says success. We always focus on success, but success and failures are two sides of the same coin, or I should say success and setbacks, two sides of the very same coin. So we celebrate promotion, we celebrate command, the world, successful businesses, and nothing wrong with that, historic achievement. But we are aware we rarely see the valley and embrace that. We rarely see the failure, the disappointment, the setback, the lonely nights. Yet every great leader has spent extended time in the valley. Nelson Mandela, for example, spent 27 years in prison. 27. Wow. Dr. Martin Luther King endured imprisonment, threats, and constant opposition. The Golden 13 endured segregation and discrimination. Pioneers we celebrate today all spent time in very difficult places. The valley is not evidence that you are failing. Often it is evidence that you are growing. Right? So defining variable. The defining variable, I believe, is never whether a leader enters the valley. Everyone will enter the valley. I can guarantee you that. If you haven't yet, you haven't lived long enough. Okay? The defining variable is whether they choose to remain there. At some point, every leader must make a decision. Will this experience define me or will it develop me? Will I become bitter or will I become better? Will I quit or will I continue moving forward one step at a time? Because resilience is not the absence of hardship. Resilience is the decision to continue despite hardship. So my own reflection, there were moments in my own journey when becoming a commander seemed absolutely impossible. There were moments when command seemed out of reach. Like I remember when I was a lieutenant commander, I had a back injury. I was supposed to go to deployment, but it was canceled because I was no longer physically fit. So the Navy pretty much technically, they kicked me out of the service. They said, okay, either you retire early, no, 14 years, you can get medical retirement or goodbye, you are no longer physically qualified to serve. I was like, no, no, no, no, I am not a commander yet. I still have a lot more to give. That's when another thing my mentor General Powell used to say, don't let your ego be so close to your value. Because what's going to happen once that is broken, you won't have a sense of self, of who you are. I must tell you, for a few months where I was technically out of the Navy, but I tried to come back in, I really didn't know who I was. I really missed being in uniform and serving my country in that capacity. I really, I knew I hadn't done everything I was supposed to do yet. And thank God I fought through the process. It took almost 6 to 8 months, but eventually the Navy reinstated me. And now that I am a commander, I've lived above and beyond my wildest dream. I am absolutely okay to retire right now. I have nothing else to prove. Okay, but back then when I was Lieutenant Commander, no way, I wasn't ready for that yet. Okay, so there were moments when command seemed completely out of reach, moments when setback appeared larger than the dream, but I discovered something very important: the valley does not last forever. If you keep moving, if you keep learning, if you keep growing, if you keep serving, eventually you will climb. As one day, you may look back and realize that the very experience you wanted to avoid was that experience that prepared you for the greatest leadership opportunity of your life. So I want to ask each of you, what valley are you currently walking through right now? Perhaps more importantly, what is the valley trying to teach you? Because the valley may not be punishing you, but it may be preparing you for what's ahead, right? The leader you are becoming on the other side may be exactly the leader your family, your organization, and your community or your nation needs. Let me read one more comment from Daniel on YouTube. He says, if iron sharpens iron, do you agree that leadership is not about comfort? It's about truth, honoring service, and repairing systems so that arm of the past stop being paid by the next generation. I couldn't agree more. And somebody else says, uh, it is evidence that you are not willing to give up. Amen to that. And they say, wow, uh, powerful statement: impossible is not a fact. Again, keep typing in the comment, please, on YouTube and, uh, LinkedIn, because you really, uh, encourage me. Because right now I'm talking to myself, I don't have any feedback. I really love giving this presentation when I am in a room full of people, I can feed off their energy. So I really, really appreciate that on YouTube and on LinkedIn. All right, we are almost coming to the end here, but let me talk about the mission being hard, okay? But self-limiting belief is really the true enemy of leadership in my opinion. Because I think the greatest obstacle most leaders will ever face Many people believe that the greatest obstacles are external. I really don't think so. And certainly external challenges are real, right? I don't want to minimize that. Deployments, long hours, resources, family separation, uncertainty, all of that, that is real. But I have learned something through my life, my military career, and my leadership journey. External obstacles rarely defeat leaders. What defeats leaders, in my opinion, are the obstacles they carry inside themselves. External challenges. As military members and veterans, we understand hardship. We absolutely do. We understand sacrifice. Many of us have endured long deployments, difficult assignments, combat tours, missed family milestones, and moments of profound uncertainty. But they are something— they share something important in common. In my view, they are all temporary. Deployment will eventually end, assignments will change, organizations will evolve, and markets will recover. The storm will pass, right? You may be in the storm right now, but eventually the storm will pass. History demonstrates that human beings are extraordinarily resilient. So we are often capable of far more than we initially believe. So that's why I think the true enemy of leadership is really self-limiting belief. The far greater threat, I believe, is self-limiting belief. Self-limiting belief is dangerous because it is invisible. No one else can see it. And it quietly whispers, you are not qualified. Have you ever had what they call the imposter syndrome? You are not smart enough. People like you don't become leaders. Someone else is better suited. Like this morning, again, I should have her on my podcast soon, but he or she is Lieutenant Colonel JJ Conway, retired from the Air Force. She's the first physicist in the US Air Force and the US military. But when she went to the academy, they told her that she couldn't be a physicist because she was Black, because she was a woman. But she proved them wrong. The very, very first— she's a historic figure, the first physicist in the US military. Wow. So you need to learn how to deal with self-limiting belief. It will whisper someone else is better suited than you. You don't belong in that room. You should not even try. And if you leave that unchallenged, self-limiting belief becomes permanent. The world may impose barriers, but self-limiting belief convinces us to build our own prison. So as an immigrant from the Congo, like I said, I could have easily accepted many, many limiting narratives. That becoming a US Navy commander was unrealistic, that leading cybersecurity organization was beyond my reach. Like, who do you think you are? Standing on stages around the world was reserved for someone else. And maybe our leadership begins when we challenge the stories that seek to diminish our own potential. So the most dangerous words in leadership, I believe, are "someone else should lead." And what I am challenging you for now is you need to begin, because the moment you raise your hand and you volunteer, that's really when leadership begins. The moment we accept responsibility rather than waiting for someone else, that's when leadership begins. Many of history's greatest leaders did not initially believe they were qualified. Even Moses in the Bible, he doubted himself. He says, "No, no, God, don't send me. I can't even speak. I stuttered." But no, he was the one that God has chosen to free the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. Harriet Tubman was born a slave. The Golden 13 served in navies that questioned their very existence as officers. Yet they accepted responsibility, and history changed because they did. So what I am saying here is leadership is not reserved for the fearless. Leadership belongs to those who are willing to act, act, act, action despite fear. So I want to leave you with two questions. What self-limiting belief are you carrying today? And more importantly, what would become possible if you stopped believing it? Because the greatest barrier standing between many leaders and their future is not the mission, It's the story they continue telling themselves about who they cannot become. All right, we are coming toward the end here. Let me talk about history, not just a collection of events. I think this is important. Too often we treat history as a collection of dates, names, and events. I think it's much more than that. I would suggest something quite different. History, I think, is a leadership lab. Again, follow me on LinkedIn. I've written a whole bunch of leadership article about our shared history, and I learned a lot from history. I love to read, and I was a Lieutenant JG, a junior officer, when my commanding officer— I don't know if he's listening right now— Commander Scott Olson, he's the one who taught me to view everything through the lenses of leadership. If you watch a movie, what did that teach you? What did you learn from it? Right? I think history is one of the greatest leadership classrooms ever created. History allows us to study how ordinary people responded to extraordinary circumstances. It teaches us how leaders navigated uncertainty, adversity, discrimination, failure, sacrifice, and change. And if we pay attention, history offers timeless lessons that remain profoundly relevant today. Let me talk about very, very few. We already talked about the United States, colored troops, right? Sacrifice before recognition. Nearly 180,000 African-American soldiers served in the United States Army. Colored troops during the Civil War. Now we talk about the Buffalo Soldiers. They were excellent despite discrimination. The Buffalo Soldiers operated in an environment shaped by systemic discrimination and limited opportunity, yet they prevailed. Let's talk about the Harlem Hellfighters, right? 1913, 1917. They were courageous despite unequal treatment. They served under conditions of profound inequality, yet they prevail. Let's talk about the Tuskegee Airmen in 1941. Performance defeats prejudice. The Tuskegee Airmen shattered one of the most destructive assumptions of their era. Through exceptional preparation, discipline, performance, Black excellence, they demonstrated that talent exists everywhere, even when opportunity does not. The leadership lesson is consistent excellence erodes the argument of those who would limit you. Notice the word consistent. But excellence is not a one-time event, but it's a habit, it's a discipline, it's a standard. And over time, sustained excellence transforms organization, culture, and society. I must say I am allergic to mediocrity. I am not a mediocre man. I am not a mediocre person. Either I am going to do it in an excellent fashion or I'm not gonna do it at all, okay? So the broader leadership lesson here is when we study these pioneers collectively, a pattern emerges. Every one of this group faced barrier. And you will too. Every one of this group encountered adversity. Every one of this group could have chosen bitterness, resignation, or despair. Instead, they chose service. They chose excellence. They chose perseverance. And because they did, history changed. As leaders, our challenge is not merely to admire this story. Our challenge is to apply them. So I ask you, what leadership lesson from history do you most need right now? Where do you need to demonstrate greater excellence, courage, perseverance, or sacrifice? What future generations might benefit if you refuse to quit? Because history is not merely something we study, history is something we continue to write. So let's talk really quickly about the 5 leadership imperatives. I think the Juneteenth challenge for every service members and veterans is displayed on the screen here. As we begin to bring this conversation toward a close, I want to briefly leave you with 5 leadership imperatives. These are not simply historical observations. I think these are action items. Somebody say action. Can someone type action on LinkedIn or YouTube, please? Action, action. Because many times you can have great, great, great ideas, but if you don't put them into action, you are wasting your time. Even the Bible, it talks about those who hear the word only, but who do not practice it. It's not in just hearing it and understanding it. It's about doing it. One of my mentors used to tell me, I can't tell you what you know by what you do. Don't tell me that you know something. Show me, show me, do it. And then I know that you know it. Unless you do it, you really don't know it. All right. Because Juneteenth is not merely about remembering history, I think it's about deciding what will we do with the opportunity that history has given us. The generation that came before us paid an extraordinary price. So the question now is, what will we do with the inheritance they left behind. I believe every service member, every veteran, every leader should embrace these 5 imperatives. Somebody says 5, 5 imperatives. Number 1, you have to serve. Serve with absolute excellence in every assignment, rank, and role you occupy. Too many people postpone excellence. They say, I will give it my best when I'm a chief. I will give it my best when I am a commander. I will give it my best when I become a CEO. That is not true. Leadership does not begin with promotion. Leadership begins with stewardship. The pioneers we discussed today, the USCT, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the Montford Point Marines, and the Golden Thirteen, they served with excellence long before they received recognition for what they did. Your current assignment deserves your very best effort. Black excellence. Whether you are an E-1 like I used to be, or you become an O-10 or an O-5 like I am now, a new employee, an entrepreneur, or a retiree serving your community, Excellence is always your assignment. Somebody type on LinkedIn and YouTube, please, Blackcellence, Blackcellence, excellence. Number 2, you have to lead, right? Lead where you are right now, not where you hope to be. One of the biggest myths in leadership is that leadership begins with a rank. It doesn't, right? Rank is rented. Eventually you are going to no longer be in that position. You're gonna retire, you're gonna get fired, you're gonna resign or whatever. You will not always have that rank. Right? But trust, trust is earned. Okay? Leadership begins with influence, not with rank, not with title. You do not need a title to mentor. You do not need positional authority to encourage somebody else. Leadership is influence. My primary mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell, says, leadership is influence, nothing less, nothing more. You do not need permission to demonstrate integrity. Some of the most influential leaders I have ever met held no formal leadership title. Leadership begins the moment you decide, I will improve the people and the environment around me. Lead now. Do not wait. Lead now and do it with excellence. Number 3, mentor. Actively leave someone walking the path behind you. None of us arrived here alone. Every person in this room stands on the shoulder of somebody else, a teacher, a parent, a mentor, a coach. So pay it forward, okay? Number 4, you have to persevere. Stay in the fight through every valley and setback. You will experience valley. You will experience disappointment, you will experience setback, you will fail. Every leader does, but do not give up, persevere. Please type in the comment on LinkedIn and YouTube, persevere, persevere, persevere. I am looking for Winston Churchill. This guy really, really inspired me. During World War II, where England was in despair, they really thought this was the end. The Nazis were going to take over. This is what Winston Churchill told these people. They used the technology of the time, which was the radio. This is what he said. I'm going to read a portion of that, if I may. He said, I am addressing myself to the school. Surely from this period of 10 months, this is the lesson. Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to conviction of honor and good sense. Never yield to force, never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all along a year ago And to many countries, it seems that our account was closed. We were finished. And this tradition of ours, our songs, our school history, this part of the history of this country, we are gone and finished and liquidated. He says, "Never, never, never." Wow. Are you going to give up? And then finally, you do have to leave a legacy, okay? Make the path measurably easier for those who follow you. This may be the most important imperative at all. You got through the room, now I want you to keep that door wide, wide open for a lot of people behind you. Okay, that's really what leadership is all about. Leadership is stewardship. We inherit institution, we improve them, and then we pass those institution to the next generation better than we found them. The pioneers we honor today made my own journey possible. From immigrant to seaman recruit to commander in the most powerful navy of the world. They made it possible. My responsibility is to leave a path easier for those who follow, and so is yours. So ask yourself, who will have opportunities tomorrow because of what I do today? Wow. Now let's talk about every generation is handed the torch and no generation lights it alone or carries it, uh, forever, right? As we come to The end of this conversation, I want to leave you with this one final image, right? Imagine a torch, a torch that has been passed from end to end, from generation after generation, kind of like a relay race, right? No generation lights this torch alone and no generation carries it forever, right? That is the story of Juneteenth. That is the story of our country, our beloved America. That is the story of leadership. They lit the torch, The heroes of Juneteenth lit that torch. Enslaved men and women who endured unimaginable hardship, they lit that torch. People who dreamed of freedom when dreaming itself was an act of resistance, they lit that torch. People who believed in a better future when all visible evidence suggested otherwise, they lit that torch. Think about the extraordinary courage required simply to believe to believe that freedom is possible, to believe that their children or their grandchildren might inherit opportunities they themselves would never, never experience. They lit the torch. They endured. They dreamed. They believed. And because they did, the torch remained lit. I stand on the shoulders of giants. They carried it forward. Subsequent generations carried that torch forward. The United States Colored Troops, the Buffalo Soldiers, Harlem Hellfighters, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines, the Golden Thirteen. Without the Golden Thirteen, there is no Commander Bob Fabien Zinga. Each generation inherited unfinished work. Each generation encountered barriers. Each generation could have decided that the struggle was too difficult, but they chose service. They lit the torch. They chose excellence. They lit the torch. They chose perseverance. They lit the torch. And with each generation, the reach of the torch expanded. The light traveled farther. More doors opened. More possibilities emerged. Progress was not always fast. It was not always linear. Sometimes you move one step forward and you take two steps back, but they lit the torch. They didn't give up. They lit the torch. They continued. They persevered because someone kept carrying the torch. That's why my story in America is even possible. We inherited that great legacy. Today, we are the beneficiaries of sacrifices we did not personally make. We inherit opportunities that previous generations fought to create Just the simple, simple constitutional right to vote. How many African Americans died for that? How many were killed and drowned in the Mississippi River? How many were lynched for the simple, simple right to vote? I know many senior officers, I know some, some I know, they decide not to vote because they don't wanna get pulled, political. So during election, they just do not vote. They think by doing so, right, they are apolitical. But if you are Black, I'm telling you, you have to vote. Too many people died to give you that privilege. That's why I vote every election, not just every 4 years, every single election, whether it's an election, municipal, local government, state, every single election, I'm gonna be there in person and I am going to vote. That's my right, that's my privilege. Too many Black people have died for the opportunity, the privilege for me to have that right in this country.

Wow.

We have inherited a great legacy. We have inherited opportunities that previous generations fought to create for us. We have inherited their courage, their resilience, their patriotism, their willingness to sacrifice. Many of those pioneers never fully experienced the freedoms, opportunity, or recognition that that later generations would enjoy, yet they pressed forward anyway, they lit the torch. As someone who immigrated to this country, entered the Navy as a seaman recruit, and eventually had the privilege of serving as a commander in the United States Navy, I know personally that my journey did not begin with me. It began long, long before me. It was made possible by countless individuals whose names I know and many whose names history may never, never recall. I stand on their shoulders. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and so do all of us. So now it is your turn. It is my turn. It is our turn. Now the torch has been placed in our hand, and with that inheritance comes responsibility. Our responsibility is not merely to preserve the torch. Our responsibility is to carry it further, to serve, to lead, to mentor, —to persevere, to build, to create opportunity, to remove barriers, to leave our organization, our community, our Navy, our armed forces, our nation stronger than we found them. Future generations are watching us just as we look back upon those who came before us. One day they will ask, what did our generation do with the torch we inherited? Did we shrink from the challenge or did we carry it forward? I believe each of us was shaped for a purpose. Each of us has a unique contribution to make. Each of us has someone to mentor, someone to encourage, someone to inspire. And perhaps that is the greatest leadership lesson of all: leadership is not about the legacy we inherit; it is about the legacy we leave behind. So I leave you with this final challenge: carry the torch well. Because one day, someone you may never meet will walk farther because you chose not to put it down. Thank you. Thank you so much. So this is the end of the presentation. I know it was a little bit long, but I felt like this was really important because the impossible is simply the next chapter waiting to be written. The future belongs to those who dare. As we conclude, I want to leave you not with answers, but with questions, because leadership is not ultimately about information. Leadership is about decision and transformation. History does not change because people learn something new. History changes because people decide to act. And every person in this room is one decision away, one, one decision away from changing the trajectory of their life and perhaps the lives of countless others. So what impossible challenge stands before you in this season of your life and leadership right now? Every one of us is facing an impossible challenge. For some, it may be professional. Perhaps you are considering a new leadership role. Or starting a business, pursuing a promotion, returning to school. For others, it may be personal, healing a relationship, overcoming setback, recovering from a loss, or rediscovering your purpose. Whatever your challenge may be, remember this: the impossible is not unique to you. Every generation before us confronted its own impossible, and somehow they found a way forward. So can you. What leadership role have you been called to but have not yet fully stepped into. Many people spend years waiting, waiting until they feel ready, waiting until they have another credential, waiting until they have more confidence, waiting until the fear will disappear. How many more degrees are you going to have? But leadership really announces itself with perfect timing. Leadership often arrives disguised as responsibility. Start right here, start right now with what you've got and build upon that, right? A problem that needs solving, a person who needs mentoring, a team that needs direction, A community that needs service, a challenge that no one else seems willing to accept. I want to challenge you to accept the challenge. The question is not whether you are fully prepared. The question is whether you are willing. Are you willing? Are you willing? Because throughout our history, ordinary people have accomplished extraordinary things simply because they answered the call. Think about Harriet Tubman. She's Black, she's a woman, she's just one person. How many people did she set free from slavery? Because she was willing. Not because she had a lot of money or resources, because she was willing. So what impact remains unmade, waiting for you to decide, for you to act? There are people whose lives you have not yet changed, conversations you have not yet had, organizations you have not yet improved, ideas you have not yet launched, dreams you have not yet pursued, books you have not yet written, Businesses you have not yet built, lives you have not yet mentored. The future is filled with unrealized impact, and much of that impact is waiting on one thing: your decision to begin. This one, another one of my mentors used to say all the time, the wealthiest place in every city is the cemetery, because that's where people go to die with their dream. They have a lot of dreams completely unrealized. Don't let that happen to you. What legacy remains unbuilt, waiting for your courage to start to work. At the end of our lives, very few of us will regret taking courageous action. More often, we regret the opportunity we never pursued, the risk we never took, right? The people we never mentored, the dreams we abandoned. I'm gonna challenge you. No, if you try something new, it's like, okay, what if I fail? Well, what if you succeed? But I must tell you, you will never, never, never succeed unless you take action, right? The only way for you Like if you play basketball, if you want to score, you have to take the ball and you have to throw it. If you don't do that, you are never, never going to score. Now maybe you will not be able to score, but at least you have an opportunity. There is a possibility that you might. So I am challenging you to take action because every generation represented in today's presentation, they understood this thing. The heroes of Juneteenth, they understood it. The United States colored troops understood it. The Buffalo Soldiers understood it. The Tuskegee Airmen, Montford Point Marines, and Golden 13, they understood it. They built legacies they themselves would never fully experience. And because they did, we are here. So the final lesson: history teaches us something remarkable. The impossible is not a wall, it is a door. A door standing between what is and what could be. Most people stop at the door. Leaders walk through it. So I leave you with this final challenge. When you leave this room today, refuse to allow fear, doubt, uncertainty to have the final word. Choose courage, choose service, choose leadership, choose action, action, action, because the future does not belong to the most talented, the future does not belong to the most privileged, the future belongs to those who dare. And perhaps years from now, someone else will look back at your life and say, because they dared, my impossible became possible. Thank you. God bless you. And may you continue embracing the impossible. Thank you so much. This is the end of the podcast today. Before I go, I'm gonna read very quickly from YouTube. Freedom fighters of the past are not revered because they died, because we all will die. They are revered because they made the world a Amen to that. And again from YouTube, "Persevere goes so good with your earlier point of having to be uncomfortable at times because persevere has severe in the word, and that is to severe the comfort that gets in the way of freedom." I never thought of that like that before. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Somebody else on YouTube says, "Love it, so good." And someone else on YouTube, "It's about action. Thank you, Coach Bizzy. This was a great lesson." Okay, this is really the honor of my life. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me today. Oh, one more comment from our friend Daniel Young, a very active member of our community. "From 1863 to today, the colored troops gave everything. 180,000 men, more than 10% of the Union Army, 38,000 killed in action." Yet their service was vital and often underrecognized. Juneteenth is not about comfort. It is about truth, remembrance, and the unfinished work of justice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The replay will be available on YouTube and LinkedIn, and by tonight it should be available on all of the podcast platforms out there. Please continue to comment. Let me know 3 to 5 takeaways from today's lesson. This really has been my privilege to talk to you today. Today is Juneteenth, and I am proud to be a US citizen. I love America, the America that is described in the Constitution, in the Declaration of Independence. That is the America we want for the next generation. And I am going to make my life count, and I hope you are going to join me. Good luck, God bless you, and thank you so much for today. Bye for now.

Thank you for tuning in to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If today's episode added value to your leadership journey, be sure to subscribe, share, and join us again for more wisdom nuggets on how to lead better and achieve greater success. Remember, leadership is the most critical skill of our time. The world will always need leaders to inspire others, drive innovation, and execute meaningful strategy. So why not count yourself among the bold leaders shaping the 21st century? Until next time, stay inspired, stay committed, and keep leading with excellence.