They Think You're Stupid (21 page)

I believe Dr. King would be appalled at the pessimism some of his followers have instilled in tens of millions of Blacks. He would be appalled that instead of conveying a new dream to the next generation of Black voters, the dream of economic freedom and self-determination, these self-appointed leaders are mired in the self-serving business of keeping all Blacks on the Democrat plantation.

When Dr. King said, "Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children," he meant more than just the doors of segregation and voting rights. Dr. King knew that no citizen, regardless of race, is truly free to access life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness until they have the opportunity to pursue economic freedom.

In his speech titled "I've Been to the Mountaintop" Dr. King said, "Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation." With these ringing words of inspiration Dr. King challenged all Americans to believe in themselves and their abilities to determine their own futures. I believe he would be disappointed in the actions and rhetoric some of his followers and the Democratic Party have employed to discourage, not inspire, Blacks from achieving educational and economic success through their own self-determination.

Dr. King understood that it is the issues that are important, not which party pays lip service to them. That is why Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and former Atlanta mayor and U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young supported President Eisenhower's 1956 reelection campaign. President Eisenhower supported positive civil rights legislation and appointed federal judges who protected the civil rights of all citizens.

Dr. King would not want Blacks beholden to a political party simply for the sake of tradition, especially when that party supports policies that hinder Blacks' prospects for educational and economic success. I believe today Dr. King would tell his followers and the Democratic Party, "Our issues transcend politics. You can no longer take our votes for granted; they now come with a price, and that price is called accountability." As Ambassador Young told me during my own campaign, "We do not have a permanent party--we have permanent issues."

The Reagan Revolution of the 1980s occurred when millions of inspired citizens, including many former Democratic voters, were reenergized about their possibilities to achieve economic freedom and their American Dreams. Through his words and policies President Ronald Reagan gave his country inspired hope and opportunity. President Reagan was himself a former Democrat who saw that party's leaders grow the power and influence of the federal government and rob the nation of its collective spirit and belief in individual achievement through hard work and self-determination.

President Reagan understood that our nation's greatness comes from its citizens, not from politicians and bureaucrats squirreled away in Washington, D.C. He knew that to change the policies of the past he would have to inspire the people to make their voices heard. Reagan's passion and policies reinvigorated the American entrepreneurial spirit, produced economic freedom for millions, and showed a new generation that conservative fiscal policies and smaller federal government can provide the greatest opportunity for economic success.

What would President Reagan think of today's Republican Party, which seems to have lost the hope for changing the status quo in Washington through aggressive policy solutions? President Reagan did not have the luxury of Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. Through his leadership and ability to communicate his message directly to the people, however, he showed that change in the status quo was possible.

Like President Reagan before him, President George W. Bush believes that for people to control their own destinies and achieve their dreams they must have the opportunity to control "the fruits of their labor." President Bush shares Reagan's faith in God and in the American people and, better yet, has a Congress controlled by fellow Republicans. President Bush has demonstrated a passion for change and an ability to lead on enacting solutions to the big issues.

Congressional Republicans, however, are not unified behind their current president. Many of today's congressional Republicans are mired in the doubt that change is possible. They are too wrapped up in the politics of politics and protecting their own sandboxes. They are too concerned with their own political careers and not the economic futures they will leave our children and our grandchildren. Instead of a twenty-first-century vision of securing and protecting our economic infrastructure, they have a two- or six-year vision of securing their reelection.

I believe President Reagan would be disappointed that many of today's Republican leaders, many of whom became involved in the political arena because of Reagan's inspiration, have decided to place themselves before policy solutions. He would question their reasons for publicly questioning the need for aggressive policy changes. President Reagan did not view aggressive tax policy changes as "tilting at windmills," as a senior senator expressed. President Reagan correctly saw these aggressive changes as required policy to save our country from long-term economic misery.

Today's congressional Republicans, from the leaders to the rank-and-file, must summon the courage and passion of President Reagan, Dr. King, John F. Kennedy, and Abraham Lincoln to believe that aggressive change is possible. They must then have the courage and provide the leadership necessary to restore the economic freedom we once had. President Bush cannot do it all by himself. He has chosen to lead aggressively, but he needs the assistance of those in his party who must place the interests of the nation before their own political careers.

President Reagan knew that we are blessed with only a scarce few opportunities to succeed and achieve our dreams in whatever endeavors we pursue. Our nation is now blessed with one of those rare opportunities to secure our economic foundations for future generations. Congressional Republicans must not squander the opportunity.

This is a unique opportunity to restore the "new nation" Abraham Lincoln referred to in his address at Gettysburg in 1863: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." This is a unique opportunity to inspire that "fierce urgency of now" that Dr. King talked about while speaking in Washington, D.C. in 1963: "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."

We have put the names of Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, King, Reagan, and many of our other founders and greatest leaders on schools, streets, federal buildings, our money, and even declared holidays in their honor. Are those actions enough to truly honor their lives?
No
! In addition to the schools and buildings and streets we must also honor their lives by meeting and exceeding the ideals they fought and, at times, died for.

Our greatest act to honor their memories and preserve their shared vision is never to end the struggle to achieve their shared beliefs in self-government, accountability to the people, economic freedom for all citizens, faith in the spirit of the American people, and faith in God. Above all else, we must never allow a nation built on hope and optimism to lose its ability to dream and to achieve great things.

• When our Founding Fathers boldly declared "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as the foundation of what has become the greatest nation in the world, they also required us to "alter or abolish any form of government" that becomes destructive of those ideals.

•
A New Voice
is the voice of those voters who are tired of politics and politicians as usual. It is a voice of common sense and urgency. It is the voice of aggressive solutions to solve our nations' most pressing economic issues and to liberate working people from what has become economic slavery.

•
A New Voice
is not a political party; it's a purpose. That purpose is to inform, educate, and inspire self-motivated voters to leverage their collective voices to bring about more aggressive congressional action on the "big" issues.

• The strategy of
A New Voice
is simple. Stay focused on a few big issues. Establish a highly self-motivated and mobilized base of voters. Make our voices heard in Congress clearly, swiftly, and consistently.

• The mission of
A New Voice
is to leverage its members and those of its strategic alliances into a more focused and inspired grassroots movement.

A New Nation

• Most people do not object to providing assistance to their fellow citizens either directly or by way of efficient government assistance programs, but no one is entitled to the fruits of another man's labor.

• Our current economic infrastructure, the tax code and Social Security system, punishes everybody because of progressive tax rates on what people earn and massive government inefficiency.

• Our nation is now blessed with one of those rare opportunities to secure our economic foundations for future generations. Congressional Republicans must not squander the opportunity.

Chapter Seven

If you do not believe in God, you will not believe this chapter. I believe that my decision to run for the U.S. Senate, which subsequently led to writing this book and now the next phase of my life's journey, was divinely inspired. Indeed, this has been the case for every major career decision I have made in my life. Being on a God-inspired fast track of success and surviving the many things that could have gone wrong was no accident.

The concept of having a dream or "decade goal" for each decade of my life was also God-inspired, because most twenty-three-year-olds do not think in decades as I did when I realized I needed to get a master's degree to get my promotions on time. Decade goals have the added benefit of helping avoid the biological clock blues experienced when some people reach their thirties, forties, or fifties. I'm not sixty yet, but I'll let you know what happens
when I get there.

$20,000 a Year

Like most economically-challenged kids growing up, I learned to appreciate the value of a dollar early in life. To earn a little spending money when I was about thirteen years old, I used to go with my Dad to help him with his third job as a janitor between midnight and 4:00 a.m. on Friday nights since there was no school the next day. Dad would also let me go with him one night during the week if I completed all of my homework and my grades were still good. Having a few dollars that were all mine was a great feeling, especially since I worked for them.

As soon as I turned sixteen, I was able to drive, which opened up a lot more opportunities for odd jobs to make money for things Mom and Dad could not afford to buy us. One such job was working at a neighborhood grocery store after school and on Saturdays. I can still remember driving home one day from the store when I consciously thought about my first dream in life. Having gotten a taste for earning money, I thought to myself how great it would be to have a good job making $20,000 a year. I even said it out loud. I had heard that with $10,000 a year in income you could qualify for the then prestigious American Express credit card, and I dreamed of having two of them.

I did not know how or when I would achieve such a goal, but that became my dream. Plus, I thought $20,000 a year in income would probably provide a comfortable lifestyle in 1961 dollars, one where I would not have to work three jobs like my Dad did to live comfortably.

After graduating from Morehouse College in 1967, I started my first good job with the Department of the Navy in Dahlgren, Virginia. I had no idea where Dahlgren was located other than somewhere in Virginia, but my starting salary was $7,729 a year.

My performance was consistently rated outstanding, but each year my promotion was delayed one month longer than someone who had started there at the same time I did. When my boss at the Department of the Navy finally told me that my promotion had been delayed each year because I lacked a graduate degree, I decided to earn a master's before I was thirty years old. I was twenty-three when I made that decision, and it was, in a sense, not an easy one to make. College had been hard for me, and upon graduating I made a pledge to myself never to set foot in another classroom again. But, when I thought about it, my dream of making $20,000 a year was clearly far more important than staying out of the classroom forever.

I decided to get a degree in computer science because it was one of the fastest growing professions in business in the 1960s and 1970s. A fast growing profession meant a lot of career opportunities and, presumably, a lot of compensation. I still had this "make a lot of money" idea in my head.

Purdue University was one of the schools to which I applied because I had read somewhere that it was one of the top five (also most difficult) computer science schools in the country. Even though I had found college work difficult, I was determined
to attend a top graduate school because I had not only learned that I needed a master's degree, but it needed to be from a school with a well-respected reputation. I did not want to do all that work to get a master's degree and then be told later in my career that the degree was from a weak school or program
.

Although I applied to several graduate computer science programs, the one I really wanted to attend was Purdue's. My boss didn't think I would get accepted at Purdue and,
if
I did, he did not think I would be able to complete the program. One of the program's toughest requirements was to maintain a B average throughout all courses (3.0 out of a possible 4.0).

I did get admitted to Purdue, and I always remembered what Mr. C. S. Johnson, my high school math teacher, had told me:
You might have to work a little harder and a little longer to succeed.
At Purdue I had to work a lot harder and a lot longer every night I was there. As a result, I finished the program in twelve months with a 3.4 grade point average and received my master's degree in 1971.

When I returned to my work unit at the Department of the Navy, working for the same boss who did not believe I could complete the requirements, I was promoted to a GS-13 supervisory mathematician with an annual salary of $20,001. I had turned my dream into various en-route goals and accomplished my decade goal (earn $20,000 a year) at age twenty-six instead of thirty. I was now four years ahead of schedule.

Vice President

My father worked most of his career at the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta. As Dad moved up in the chauffeur's ranks at the company, he was eventually asked to be the full-time chauffeur and personal assistant to the chairman and CEO of the company, R. W. Woodruff. This was a coveted position among Dad's fellow workers, even though it was a 24/7 job most of the time.

My image of a corporate executive came mostly from my dad's experiences, from magazines, and from television. I did not personally know anyone who was CEO, president, or vice president of
anything
, though I imagined that such CEOs made a lot of money and enjoyed both social prestige and a nice lifestyle. One day, this image became my dream and I said it out loud. "I want to be vice president of something for somebody, somewhere, someday." This meant that I had to leave my job with the government, because vice president of the United States was not what I had in mind. I needed to be working for a corporation if I wanted to climb the corporate ladder.

 I put together my résumé and, as a courtesy to Dad, I was given an interview with the Coca-Cola Company. Bob Copper, who headed a corporate analysis group in Atlanta, conducted the interview, but he informed me right from the start that no jobs were available. I thanked him for his honesty, and we had a great talk anyway.

About two weeks later, Bob called me and asked if I would return for a visit with his boss and a couple of other people. When I asked why, he said I had exceeded his expectations during our meeting, and he was trying to convince his boss to create a position for me. He succeeded, and I came aboard.

After nearly four years of working at Coca-Cola in Atlanta, I started to suspect that a vice presidency was not in my future there. I enjoyed the company while working on some great projects, but I felt like I was stuck in neutral. I knew I had to make some changes because I observed how Coke's then-current vice presidents had ascended to such prestigious levels in the company.

If I wanted a chance at becoming a vice president at the Coca-Cola Company, I could remain with the company for a long time, get a position in fountain sales or marketing, and
then
work my way up, or I could go to another company. I chose to go to another company if the opportunity came along, because just as there were low expectations of the "chauffeur's son" prior to the interview with Bob Copper, my suspicion was that the same attitude would persist during my climb at Coca-Cola no matter how well I performed.

Sensing limited opportunity at Coca-Cola, I happened to read an article on the front page of the
Wall Street Journal
about Bill Spoor, the chairman and CEO of the Pillsbury Company (TPC). Spoor boldly stated that in five years TPC would grow from $1.5 billion in revenue to $5 billion. This objective seemed extremely aggressive to me, since it had taken TPC 107 years to get to its then-current sales level. Even without knowing how he was going to turn this dream into reality, I could envision the potential opportunities presented, and problems caused, by such a rapid growth rate.

Ironically, Bob Copper, my boss at the Coca-Cola Company, resigned about two weeks after I saw that article and joined TPC. I thought Bob either had impeccable timing, or he was just one smart dude. A few months later, Bob made me an offer to join his group at Pillsbury. I chose to join Pillsbury to put myself in a better position to get to corporate vice president, since I had already concluded from reading the
Wall Street Journal
article that my chances might be better there than at Coca-Cola.

When I joined Pillsbury, I was thirty-two years old. My next decade goal was to reach vice-president by the time I turned forty. I was not sure if it was going to happen at Pillsbury, but at least I would be in a better position if I were there. I chose forty as my objective because forty-five was a typical age for corporate vice presidents, and I had hoped I would at least be within shouting distance of that lofty perch by the time I was forty. And, if I were not close by that time, I would have to consider changing my deadline. But I
never
considered changing the dream itself.

My hunch about Pillsbury was right. Bob Copper had hired me to help him establish the Corporate Business Analysis function as a well-respected decision support entity within the company. We did just that, and in the process I learned a lot and gained a lot of exposure to many of the senior executives in the company.

About eighteen months later, Bob was promoted to Vice President of Strategic Planning for Pillsbury. At the same time I was promoted to Director of the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department of Pillsbury's largest division. Today MIS is called information technology in most companies.

As head of the MIS department, I was reporting directly to the president of the Consumer Products Division and reporting functionally to the corporate Vice President of Systems, John Haaland. My biggest leadership and technical test came when Pillsbury acquired the Green Giant Company. I was responsible for integrating its MIS department into the Consumer Products Division's MIS Department. There was obviously a lot of redundancy in systems and positions that had to be eliminated without disrupting the services to the businesses. Many executives, including the chairman and CEO, Bill Spoor, were nervous that if we did not execute the integration smoothly, we could shut down the day-to-day operations of the largest and most profitable division of the company. Gulp!

The integration went as smooth as silk. Less than a year later, John Haaland called to let me know that he was resigning to pursue
his
dream and that I had been selected to replace him as corporate Vice President of Systems. It also happened that the Pillsbury World Headquarters Project was behind schedule and over budget, and administrative services needed a home, so John recommended that those functions report to me as well. Bill Spoor agreed, and I was appointed to be the newly titled Vice President of Systems
and Services
.

When Pillsbury appointed me vice president, I was thirty-four years old, which was six years earlier than I had dreamed. My biggest challenges in the job were to get approval from the Pillsbury Board of Directors for a new multi-million-dollar computer facility, get it built, get the new computer installed, and get all the systems running smoothly. We met all those challenges.

Simultaneously, I was responsible for leading the completion of the Pillsbury World Headquarters Project. This was a decision-making, coordination, communications, and logistical nightmare. My previous boss, John Haaland, had told me that the new computer project was well-planned and well-staffed and, because it was moving along smoothly, it would require little of my time. But he also told me that the World Headquarters Project was a mess and would require all of my time and more.

It took about two years to complete the new computer facility and to complete the World Headquarters Project. The World Headquarters Project was completed ahead of schedule
and
below budget. Two years later, I was presented a Symbol of Excellence in Leadership Award by the Pillsbury Company. Mr. Spoor himself made the presentation.

Things were now running so smoothly that I started to get bored. I needed a new dream.

Vice President Again!

One day while in my office on the thirty-first floor of the Pillsbury World Headquarters building, I started to reflect on what I had enjoyed the most over the previous two years. It was the excitement of making decisions that made things happen.

I also started to imagine the excitement of being in charge of a business instead of being in charge of a project or large functional area. I knew I was not afraid to be in charge, nor was I afraid to take charge when I had to do so. I also thought about my father's failing health and how, starting from nowhere, he had touched so many lives in a positive way. I started to imagine the chauffeur's son as president of something. I said the words out loud, and my new dream was born.

Once again, though, I had to put myself in position to turn that dream into a series of goals. This led to the bumpy Burger King fast track program. It was bumpy because I had to survive resentment from within Burger King, sabotage, and a plot to get me fired by some higher-ups who were threatened by my performance and reputation for results.

The resentment came from the fact that, as a former vice president with the parent company, Pillsbury, I was going to deny a Burger King veteran one of the coveted regional vice president positions. Never mind the fact that Burger King's top management wanted to broaden the experience base of its regional vice presidents or that tenure alone was no guarantee for success.