What is your personal story and what led you to where you are now?
I grew up living between the farm and projects in Bossier City Louisiana. Both parents were blue-collar workers. My father, a mechanic, and mother, a school cook. My father did not make it out of high school, yet they remain the two smartest people I have ever known. They provided me with the foundation to be successful in life. My father had the amazing talent of being able to talk with anyone of any social-economic status, I saw him speak with ease with mayors, wealthy businessmen, and the like. He broke everyone down into just being human. My mother was persistent in telling all her eight children that we could be whatever we wanted to be. She taught us to surround ourselves with people we are inspired by. These are people who can lift you up. My mother would say, “People will form their mouths to say what they believe you want to hear, but they will only do what they believe.” Believe what people do not what they say. This nugget of wisdom gave me tools to assess character and find a common interest with people who were different from me.
I joined the Navy after High School and retired in 2005 after 24 years. During my first enlistment, I decided to give college a try. I remember taking the college entrance assessment. When the results came back, I had not met the bar for entry into freshman-level Math or English yet I was not deterred. I spent a year taking remedial level courses to prepare for my freshman year. Once over that hurdle, I went on to get a Bachelor’s in Organizational Management and a Master's in Business Administration.
I spent seven years as a defense contractor. During that time, I dreamed of starting my own business. The challenge was no one who looked like me owned an aerospace and defense company. In 2011, I stepped out in faith, resigned from my position, and started DeNOVO Solutions. Today the company is thriving and operates in five states and two countries. The lesson here is that it is not where you start but where you end up.
How did your military service influence your career path and professional goals?
I would like to say that I thoughtfully laid out my military career and everything I wanted to do but that could not be further from the truth. I joined the military as an undesignated Seaman with a desire to be a Fireman. I give credit to the Navy for recognizing my talents before I did, and they re-assigned me to be a Cryptologic Technician. Here I was a young man from Bossier City Louisiana who had never even seen heard of a computer let alone seen one. Suddenly I was being trained on how to maintain and run the Navy’s most complex computer systems. I excelled at it graduating at the top of my class. This was the beginning of the change in my life.
The military gave me critical hard skills. I have to say that it was the soft skills that provided me with the greatest advantage in business and life, like how to embrace chaos. It was here I learned that a leader’s job is to bring calm to chaos. Second to that is how to deal with people different from yourself. These experiences helps me rise to the highest enlisted rank in the Navy and lead hundreds of service members successfully. I unknowingly became a trailblazer and did not recognize it until I retired from the military. I became the first black male to rise to the rank of Master Chief as a Cryptologic Technician Technical. One of the proudest moments in my life was leading the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.
You are a generous leader and community member. How does the Business Roundtable allow you to further contribute to the goals and values you care so much about?
Human capital is a scarce commodity. Businesses must endeavor to invest in each member of the community and business leaders need to lend their leadership to their communities. Colorado Business Roundtable (COBRT) gives a voice to business in Colorado and provides a strategic bridge for State and Business Leaders to work collaboratively to ensure the success of the road to recovery. When business is profitable, those profits support philanthropy that feeds, educates, and enables the pursuit of dreams along with churches and local government. What we do in concert with one another makes our communities stronger and a strong village cares for everyone in that village.
What do you most want to say to young people based on your stellar path and career achievements?
I am a big fan of quotes by Abraham Lincoln. He said, “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” I am disheartened and saddened by the number of young people who give up on life and their goals before they even get started. Even with the best start life is hard and requires the work of the individual. To be successful in life and business you must have a short memory and learn to quickly forget about the things that went wrong. My mantra is to “Focus on what can be done!” By doing so you spend your energy on impacting the things you can change, not those you have no power over. Every individual has the power to create their future, regardless of where they are at today. First, speak it, and then do it. Next, spend time figuring out what your principles are. Principles are like pillars that support your house, which is your life. They guide you in decision-making and prevent you from being unduly influenced. Mine are fairness, due process, freedom, and self-determination. I stand for anything that supports these principles and against anything that threatens them. Work each day towards your goals and aspirations. Do not waste time on things or people that do not move you forward in life.
As a black entrepreneur, what advice do you have for young people who aspire to be as successful as you?
I could write an entire book on this. First, learn to say “Yes” to opportunities. Yes does not guarantee success, but “no” guarantees nothing will happen. You will gain nothing if you continue to say no. Business success is determined by part knowledge, part experience, and part luck. The biggest factor in determining success is luck. The good news is that you can create your own luck. Someone once said, “The only counter to hard luck is hard work.” Second, learn to GRIND! Here what I mean about learning how to grind:
Get going! The first step is taking the first step. Create that business name. Get started failing and learning.
Remove negative thoughts! Do not focus on what can go wrong. Let it happen and learn from it. Never be deterred by those who do not support you. Take your energy from those who do.
Invest in yourself! Spend time learning and training yourself. Learn everything you can about running a business. In the beginning, you must be the smartest person in the room.
No is just a word! Train yourself to have no physiological response to the word “No.” No has to become in your mind, “Come back and see me later.” Be persistent!
Dig in for the long run! Be determined and never deterred. Look for every opportunity to grow your business's success. Often what you want to do is not what your customer needs. Learn to pivot to meet their needs and your business will grow and be successful. If not you, then who? That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” –Abraham Lincoln.
