I can always tell that when there's a riot or protest, there are three types of people that show up. There are protesters who are sincerely protesting. There are the rioters who are mad and want to burn down, tear down, and do something. There are looters. The looters couldn't care less about the protests. All they’re there for is economic opportunity. They are thieves and all they want to do is steal, rummage, and pillage. With my dad, the riots ablaze so that Thursday, to see from my home the plumes of smoke in the air. My dad said, “Let's take a walk, boys,” my brother and I. We walked down 14th Street in Washington DC and we got to a giant grocery and it was being looted.
We threw up our hands. The police have said, “Have at it.” Once I saw the police who said, “Have at it,” I said to my dad, “Dad, can we go and get some groceries? Can we go get some goodies? Can we get cookies?” He said, “No.” I said, “They're giving it.” He said, “No.” I said, “No one will know.” He said, “Your integrity and character are never for sale. There's no price on that. I don't care what. If you did not buy it, it's not yours because of your character and your integrity, never compromise it. It's not for sale.” I've never forgotten that lesson, that's been over 50 years.
This is the first leader I've heard saying this. Loneliness, when you focus on your north star and integrity, by worldly standards, you are not going to march with the crowd of chasing the almighty dollar or everybody's doing it. You are going to stand alone as a leader and not follow the mass behavior because everybody else is doing it.
It's about doing the right thing and it’s about your principles. Your principles are not compromised. I believe it's important that people make money. I believe people may need to make money and I believe as a person of faith that our giving is what supports the church or mission so we've got to have income. Where does it come in my priorities? That's the key. I was on a call and someone said something about money. I said, “The Bible said, ‘Money make all things well,’” that's good, but it must be in its priority. God is first in my life. My family is second. My dear friends are third. My business, making money, economic survival, and security is fourth. I don't take it out of priority or my life gets out of balance. A leader must be committed to doing the right thing, even when you're wrong.
Let's go back to Dr. King. He said that you must be willing to be excellent and make a commitment. He said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets like Michelangelo painted, like Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.” He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven will say, “There lives a great street sweeper who does his job well.” I encourage you as a leader, wherever you are, that you make a commitment that you are going to make a difference. You're going to do what you do so well that the host of heaven will say, “Look at the commitment. Look at that person leading the band and field by being the one to take the mountain.” Somebody’s got to take them out.
That dovetails into the next point that my dad talked about and that was weariness. He said, “Anytime that you're going to be doing anything worthwhile, you're going to be surrounded by those people that do way more than their share and those that do way less.” To your point about excellence and all we do, it doesn't matter what anybody else is doing. We have the Holy Spirit in us, we read the Bible and we have wonderful people around us, but it gets tiring sometimes. People are our greatest asset but they also drag us down at times. How do you as a leader stay recharged and how do you handle the weariness? You've been speaking a long time and doing it.
Einstein said, “The greatest visions will always meet opposition and that opposition will always be mediocre minds who want you to lower your standard.” Weariness is a couple of things. First, a couple of things I do is one I have some routines. The first routine is that every day when I wake up, I'm grateful. I open my eyes and I get another shot. I say, “I’ve got another one. This is good.” I think about what God has taught me and I'm trying to learn more every day by reading the scripture, but I always make a point of doing some exercise every day to get my endorphins going, moving, and popping.
I go back to my goals and dreams. Why am I doing what I do? What are the goals that I set to do? I reread them and revisit them so I'll make sure I stay focused on what I'm supposed to do with my life. Once I know that I'm not weary and I always take a day per week to rest. I take Sunday off. It's my family day. I don’t work. I don't come to my office. My friends and all my business friends know when they are working on Sundays and they send out emails they know that you will not hear from Willie on Sunday. He's going to go to church and lunch. We're not going to church during a pandemic, but we have church time, and my wife and I might take a ride. It's our day to regenerate, renew, refresh, and I'm ready to go.
