Leadership Live - Leadership in Action: Building Resilience and Legacy

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Welcome to Leadership Live. My name is Steve Loewes. I'm the founder of the guide Don't Drive Leadership framework as well as the host of this video cast where we ask the real questions about leadership. The kind that gets you stop to stop and think about not only how you lead, but why you lead. And today we've got a special guest with us. I've got Fred Hunter. Fred is the CEO of Detroit Pal, an organization that is doing wonderful things in our community, influencing our youth through programs designed to build character, inspire leadership and build skills that will last our youth for the rest of their lives. Fred, thank you for joining us today.

Yeah, thank you, Steve. Very glad to be here, sir.

So tell us a little bit about. So people that aren't familiar with Detroit Pal, a little bit about Detroit Pal because of the impact you're having, but also your journey with Detroit Pal.

Yeah. So Detroit Pal is a 55 year old organization started in 1969 really to bridge the gap between the police and the community. And the way that was done was by investing in young people. So our mission's helping youth find their greatness. And we do athletic programs, but everything is guided around youth development. How do we help young people see themselves, see their best and move forward in their best in their journey? So it's a wonderful work. You know, over 300,000 kids have been.

The impact is huge.

Yeah. And it's, it's a joy, you know, for me growing up in Detroit, familiar with Detroit Power, and now the opportunity to be a part of the team and lead the team is great.

Well, talk a little bit more about your actual journey because you've been there a long time. You've, you've recently last couple years became CEO.

Correct.

So tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, it started with high school friends of mine. So I was at a local school, UD Jesuit, which actually has a model men for others. And two of my classmates that I graduated with, you know, had this amazing idea to start this organization called Think Detroit, you know, where they were helping to use sports but really focus on building character. So they were three years into that journey, they reached out to me and said we need an athletic director. So I came on a board and the three of us were really, you know, helping to run things. You know, we grew from 720 participants to 5,000 in about four and a half years. So it was through friends through there believing in me, seeing that this would be an excellent fit for me and then been on that journey for 24 years. The last two and a half as.

CEO and what has changed since becoming CEO for you? Then we'll get into some more in depth questions.

It's the perspective. So, you know, in my mind, I always saw the opportunity to lead the organization. And what's been wonderful is over those 22 years before, you know, all the experience with the different aspects, but even the relationships, you know, I think about now on the team, everybody that is on the team, you know, I was there and able to build those relationships. So when I shifted to CEO, you know, it was nice because I had those relationships. And now it's just, you know, how do I approach in terms of leading the team, bringing new people onto the team, and really moving forward with the vision that I see for the organization?

So the impact you guys have because you're dealing with youth is, Is significant. But at the same time, you've got to run an organization that has to deliver on its mission every single day. How do you balance the two? How do you get people, even on their toughest days, Fred, to continue with the mission? That's. That's a leadership challenge for anybody, whether you're in a nonprofit or in a for profit.

Yeah, the. The key for me is how I come across just in terms my own personal vision and passion. You know, I remember one of my colleagues, when I was taking the CEO position, she says, I don't know how you're going do it because you're so busy and committed already. So what was great is she saw the adjustment for me in terms of changing how I did things, how I approach things, and really the seriousness not only of my approach, but what I felt about the mission and the passion for the mission and how we're going to do things. And really it's the same thing. How do I communicate to people what we can accomplish and then also lead and help them to become their best in the team and in the strategy that we're creating that we're implementing.

Yeah, that's. That's a. It's a good way of looking at it, because getting people to buy into a mission consistently is not the easiest thing in the world on an ongoing basis because people have different interests, people have different perspectives. Everybody comes in saying, yes, I buy into the mission, but things get tough. Sometimes it's tough to keep them along that same path.

Yeah. And I realize that I have to. Even though it's very strong in me, I have to make sure I'm communicating outwardly. You know, that vision, those reminders about why we're Doing what we do, you know, we've got a nice thing we say all the time, what's your why, pal? And it reminds people of the reason that they're doing it. So then when those obstacles come and they're going to come, you can focus in on the reason that I'm personally doing it and also the reason that the organization is so important, you know, to the community and to the city that we serve.

Now, some people would say, well, that's great to have that purpose and mission for a nonprofit though, Fred, but how does it, in your experience and your thoughts and dealing with all the corporations that you deal with that support Detroit, pal? This idea of mission isn't just for nonprofits.

No, it's for everyone. You have to have clarity about your future. You know, it starts with why. So why do you exist as a corporation? Why are you as an individual, you know, at the corporation, in terms of what you want to accomplish? But mission is essential for everyone because it gives that galvanizing point for everyone to rally around, to move toward. So with what you're doing, your actions, there's strength because you're moving towards a specific area and a specific focus.

What would you say to people, though, that leaders in particular, especially those that have been around a long time, that would say, well, mission's too altruistic, it's not practical enough.

Mission is actually essential to efficiency and effectiveness because what it does, it brings people together. You know, when you don't have mission, you have mission drift, you know, naturally, because everyone may be doing things for different reasons, but, you know, it's like building a team. If you're going to build a team, you got to have a goal. Is our goal to win a championship or to accomplish that? And that goal that you establish, which is your mission, really brings people together on that ultimate focus that you're trying to accomplish. And in accomplishing that goal and that focus, you actually can be more productive, more efficient, more, you know, generate more, more dollars for a for profit organization as well.

Now you're, you're tall. They used to play basketball.

Yes.

Where did you play basketball? And I'm going to relate that back to what you just said here in a second.

Yeah, I played two years at the University of Michigan, so I was able to walk on my junior year and then senior year, I was able to be a captain of 1992 semi or finalist team, you know, for the University of Michigan basketball.

The reason I bring that up is what is based on what you were just saying. You, you mentioned Whether sports or any other organization. And I use this analogy all the time. What's the purpose of playing sports? What's the purpose of when you played basketball? What was the purpose?

Yeah, the purpose is to win.

And everybody knew it. Everybody on the team, no matter their role, no matter their position, was focused on winning.

Correct.

But they knew what it meant to win.

Yes.

That's not always easy to translate that clearly to an organization that's not about a team sport or to a corporation or so have so on. It's. You've got to get a little more creative with what it. What defines winning. So based on that, what does winning look like for a Detroit Bell?

Winning for us relates back to our mission. So the mission's helping youth find their greatness. So for us, winning is knowing that we're filling an essential gap and we have to help. We have to succeed as an organization to help young people succeed. So for us, winning. And what I look back at this past year was a championship season, you know, was us having impact in all the areas, you know, the programs, the quality of the programs, programs, the growth, and knowing that those essentials that we're doing are. Are having that impact and. And winning for kids and winning for the community.

All those things that you just mentioned. Which one is the scoreboard? Like, the score. Because think about it. In basketball, it was. You knew it was to win, and you had a scoreboard that told you you were winning, even though you. You tracked all kinds of other metrics that supported that. What's that main score in your mind for Detroit, pal?

It's a. It's multifaceted. You know, I would say so one aspect is the number of kids that we're serving. You know, so for us, if we are serving 2,000 kids or 5,000 kids or 8,000 kids, you know, the difference? Those 6,000 kids that can't be impacted by programs. You know, number of kids that we're serving is actually a goal, but for us as an organization, it's really the impact and the outcomes that we're having in children. So if young people are in our programs where they're not developing the character, developing the skills that they need to succeed, you can have the number of kids, kids that, you know, a large number of kids that you have the.

Volume, but not necessarily the result, but not the result.

So it's the impact and the outcome for us and being able to measure that, you know, just based on what parents are saying, what kids are saying, and what's wonderful about the organization is we're able to talk to youth that have been in the program five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and see how the experience in that program has impacted them and affected them. So, you know, it's nice. We can see, we can look back, you know what Monday morning quarterback, you know, you can look back at the previous game.

Hindsight's 20 20.

Yeah, hindsight 2020 was. It's great because we can look 20 years back and then see how we've impacted young people. So it really gives us immediacy and urgency now, you know, in terms of how we deliver because we know with the programs, with the quality, with the mentorship, how we train the coaches, how we develop those aspects to make the organization successful, that we're winning now and helping young people become better.

Well, and you bring up something that's really important and it's part of our guide, don't try philosophy is it can't. The mission can't be all about money, not even for you. You've got to raise funds, you've got all of that. But the work you're doing allows the credibility to receive those funds where people want to give you those dollars. Corporations are the exact same way. Our primary for profit focus can't be just on the dollars because then you stop missing, you start missing some of those things. You've got to be focused on what the mission actually is, the purpose and more of a practical sense. Because everything you just described isn't altruistic, it's actually practical. It is in the impact you're making with kids. And you've showed me the pictures in your facility of professional sports athletes that are PAL kids, they went through that program. So you can see the practical impact of everything that you guys have done.

Absolutely, yeah. It's the alumni or those that have been through the program. You know, it's visual. So you know, through conversations, what's nice, just recognition of the logo people see and I'm able to hear the stories and hear the impact. But it is practical. You know, having kids in the program doesn't matter. Unless those kids know that because they were touched by my organization and made better, then we're succeeding. So it's, you know, the impact, impact of what does my company do for the clients that we serve and are the clients better based on the services, based on what we deliver to those clients. And that's for us is the measure.

And that would get even in a for profit organization. That's what gets the team aligned with the organization. It's not how, just how much money we're making. Of course we have to stay, we have to stay profitable in order to continue investing in our services and so on. But they'll buy into why you're doing what you're doing versus just the result of the dollars that are coming, but the result of the impact on your client, in your case, the impact on the kids and as by extension the community and everything around it. And really your impact has been across the country because of where some of these previous kids have gone to. The alumni from your program, correct?

Across the board, yeah. We've got, you know, just this present year of football, there's 20 NFL players that were pal kids. So when you talk about from the San Francisco 49ers to the, the New England Patriots, you know, for east to west, you know, they're young people that were impacted in the program to learn skills to succeed in their sport. But also for us, it's those character skills. You know, we have a model called the great Model where we're teaching goal setting, resilience, embracing a healthy lifestyle, accountability and teamwork. So we know these principles that it takes to succeed on the field or on the diam are the same principles that it takes to succeed in education, in college, in careers and in life as well.

I was just going to say all those things that you just described are things that we should be teaching in every one of our corporations to get our younger or more experienced leaders set up to lead appropriately. Those are the exact same skill sets, same competencies, whatever you want to call them.

Yeah, sports is a beautiful microcosm of life because the things that you do in sports in terms of the preparation to win, the execution, the resiliency, knowing that the goal is a championship. But teams don't go undefeated often. So how do you handle losing? How do you handle winning? How do you stay focused on what the goals are for the team in that long term picture? Not just looking at the success you have short term, but understanding if our goal is to win a championship, how are we preparing ourselves to be the best at that time? There's so many things that sports teaches that we're able to translate to young people, but it's the same principles, you know, in business and in life. You know, that goal setting, that resilience, that accountability and that teamwork, those things are essential for success.

The experience of losing, the resiliency that comes with it is something that's talked about in the corporate world a ton, that too many of our incoming employees, incoming team members, Just aren't. They don't have that experience. They struggle with what it means to lose, whether it's their parents or the environment they grew up in or what have you. So how do you, I mean, I get the sports thing, they're playing ball and they lose a game, but how do you really instill that piece, that resiliency in what you're doing with these kids in Detroit?

Bell yeah, it's a lot of it is looking at the long term picture because what happens for resiliency is based on hope and knowing that there's going to be success in the future. And if you focus just on the immediate and just on this short term obstacle that you're having, you'll get lost in that as opposed to understanding this is just a roadblock. This is just something that I have to overcome. So if you have that long term perspective and can help people to stay focused on the long term, then the short term challenges that come, you're able to have the right attitude and the right approach to it. But if you get lost in this short term obstacle or challenge, then you won't have that resiliency. So you have it in you. It's a matter of just looking at that longer perspective and being able to coach and help people to see that longer perspective and know this is something you have to get through. And I just think so many stories, you know, the stories, the movies we like to, you know, watch, the books we like to read, there's usually a lot of challenges, but it's that resilience that that individual has which inspires us. So it's understanding that resilience is in you and you have to bring it out to be able to have your own inspirational successes and stories.

Every organization that's watching this needs to pay attention to that piece in particular because we've, when we, when we get those younger members of our teams, we've got to remember that we've got to continue training them, continue educating them on that issue of resilience and that, look, loss is just a stepping stone.

It is.

You don't lose technically till you give up. And let's teach them not to give up, right?

Most definitely.

So there's a, I want to switch gears a little bit. There's a philosophy that we teach in our.