What The World Needs Now...

Today we celebrate the life of the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech" has positively impacted millions of lives including mine. I think about MLK every day and anybody who has ever visited me in my office has seen his picture on my wall along with other heroes of mine. 

Going back to when I was a young kid in Minnesota, I was taught by my Dad that judging somebody by the color of their skin was reprehensible. There wasn't a more vile word than “the ‘N’ word.”

Minneapolis wasn't very diverse when I was growing up (it was mainly Swedes and Norwegians) but I was fortunate to get to spend time around some of Dad's friends and former teammates like Carl Eller, Bobby Bell, Judge Dickson and Sandy Stephens. When I was in middle school, Ahmad Rashid became a frequent tennis foe of Dad's so I got to spend time with him which was the best.

Three Gopher Legends… Bobby Bell, Tony Dungy, and Carl Eller

While we certainly never went hungry, and I was never told I couldn't do something that was important to me, I thought we were poor. My parents were divorced, there were seven kids. We never went on fancy vacations. I thought you needed a passport to get to Wisconsin. I remember one Christmas, my present was a beige, button down shirt.

Then I went to the University of Minnesota and was on the football TEAM. My teammates came from everywhere....Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Florida, Texas, the Iron Range. Learning of their circumstances and where they came from, all the sudden I felt like I was a Rockefeller.

One of the great things about playing sports and being on a team is it's not about the color of your skin, or who your parents were, or where you came from, what matters was were you a good teammate and were you contributing to the team’s goal of winning. Do you share the values of the team or not? Is it about WE or ME?

My social network in college was my teammates, and 50% of them were black. We were all brothers. Truly all for one and one for all. While the times that I actually saw or experienced racism against my brothers was rare, I know that they lived with it day to day. The times when it did occur, it enraged me and everybody else. You don't mess with any of my brothers. That experience has profoundly influenced me ever since.

In the business world, I was lucky enough to stumble into the investment business and after getting lucky with some stocks early in my career, I was recruited to Lehman Brothers in New York City. As I was charged with building a team to work for me, there were only a handful of schools I was able to hire from....and Minnesota wasn’t one of them. I remember thinking how crazy it was that I couldn't hire a person to work for me who had the same background I had.

Around the same time, I was checking out the first private management company for public schools...Education Alternatives. They had secured a contract with the Baltimore Public Schools to run a few of their campuses, which had a 90% minority population.

I arrived at one of the schools and in the courtyard, there were dead animals the neighbors had shot for sport. No partitions in the bathrooms. Chaos in the classroom. I couldn't believe schools like this existed in the United States of America. It wasn't a mystery that over 50% of the students were dropping out.

What became clear to me was the system that existed was both unfair and at odds with how we reach full potential as a society. Some of the impediments to this are historical, some of it is attitudinal, some of it is structural, and all of it is unconscionable.

Accordingly, I've spent much of the past 30 years with an overriding North Star to give everybody an equal opportunity to participate in the future, the foundation of which is access to quality education.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a quick Substack response to former Harvard President Claudine Gay's resignation and had it attached to Bill Ackman's inflammatory Tweet.

I unintentionally hurt some people and for that, I'm truly sorry. I also left some people confused about who I am and what I stand for...and for some, my hastily written brief seemed contrary to the North Star of giving everybody an equal opportunity to participate in the future.

Truth be told, I missed the mark in articulating what I really wanted to convey. Some of it was clumsily written vulnerable to misinterpretation. Some of it was unnecessarily mean, and glib...and not reflective of who I am. Some of it showed unintended ignorance of appropriate aspirations. All of it was poor judgement on timing and forum.

I'm of the belief that nothing happens by accident. On a very positive note, I got to hear from a number of you and had really great conversations. I learned a lot. What is for sure, we have a lot more that brings us together than tears us apart.

Unfortunately, when I wrote to get rid of the "phony DEI", it was misunderstood by some that I was saying that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is bad.

No, it's foundational. I’ve been a proponent for both moral and economic reasons for a long time. What I resent greatly are grifters and charlatans that have taken advantage of DEI for their own selfish purposes.

Frankly, a lot of the times it’s white people that I see as the greatest abusers. Similarly, I’m all for ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) and have been for many years.

In fact, I wrote a book called The Mission Corp which is about authentic ESG. Done right, ESG creates better businesses and a better society. But similarly, some unscrupulous actors have taken advantage of this movement for their own benefit.

Here’s what I believe:

*We are ALL God's children and God wants us to thrive.

*Since we are ALL God's children, we are ALL brothers and sisters.

*All people are created equal with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

*We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves.

*Not only is racism evil....it's stupid.  

*Sexism is evil and stupid.

*Talent is everywhere....opportunity is not.

*Your future shouldn't be determined by how well you selected your parents.

*Access to quality education is a fundamental human right.

*All people are flawed and need grace.

*Elite needs to equal excellence.

*Content of your character is the determinant of your future.

*We invest in Hearts and Smarts...can't tell race, gender, or religion solely looking at somebody's heart or brain.

*People want to be part of something much bigger than themselves.

*Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy...but you aren't allowed to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater or call for the genocide of a group.

*Racism exists in America and it's not OK until it's gone.

*Having Diversity in an organization, in a group or on a TEAM makes it better.  

*Equity as promoting opportunity, fairness and equality is morally and economically right.

*Having an Inclusive culture promotes greater effectiveness.  

Moreover, I believe the vast majority of us believe and want the same things...we just might have slightly different opinions on how to get there. So let's encourage open, vibrant, diverse conversation with the same ultimate objective.

We are all imperfect people in an imperfect world. As Abraham Lincoln said, "I don't like that man. I must get to know him better." In Martin Luther King Jr.’s book “Strength to Love,” he wrote “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

What the world needs now, is love sweet love. Love is the Silver Bullet.

-MM