I start of this post remember the acts of my late father. He was a professor, spiritual leader, and African elder who took the responsibility of passing down history and culture seriously. I am a better servant and businessman because of the life principles he shared with me every day. As a professor of geography and sociology, he taught me about how human society developed and evolved and as the world evolved I had deep recognition of different countries and cultures of the world. So I begin my post as he began his prayers: recognizing our ancestors and their contributions, praying for those who've left us but still watch over us, and a principled message to all, but in particular the youth who will carry the torch in the future. After Christmas, this principled message was about the teaching of Kwanzaa.
Umoja | Unity
My parents were and are the depiction Umoja. They believed so much in unity that for over 20+ years they held a multi-cultural New Year's Eve party that would pack our tiny 3 bedroom 1 bathroom ranch home with over 50,75, 100+ people each year. The goal was to bring Africans from entire diaspora, Americans, and anyone that needed a safe place to ring in the New Years. People would travel from all parts of the US to be at this party. And each year it started the same way:
Prayer - We prayed for Unity, Love, Good Heath, and so much more
Libation - We poured libation and remembered our ancestors and loved ones that have past. This is critical is a year marred by COVID-19. Don't forget
Lighting of Kwanzaa Candles - Finally after teaching the youth about the principles of Kwanzaa (yes Africans bring their kids to a party), a young person from the crowd would light the Kwanzaa candles.
Today is first day of Kwanzaa and I want to remind everyone of the importance of UNITY. We are a village and your actions or inactions can have collateral damage to your network. For example, you have a right to not wear a mask, but if you are the reason why some contracts COVID-19, have you no responsibility in their outcome? I remind people that I have billionaire buddies (not really but you get the point) that most people outside of the business community have no clue who they are:
Bill Ackman, Seth Klarman, Paul Singer, Mario Gabelli, Carl Icahn, Reid Hoffman, Jack Dorsey, Marc Lasry, Steve Cohen, Robert F. Smith. (I held off naming: Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk to make my point)
I say this on a day of Unity --- You are not my competition. Truss...so when I or someone asks for a vendor referral, ask for advice on a new investment, help you increase your net worth I implore you to be principled in helping others. This mentality that you did it on your own, you got that great mortgage, house, job, investment on your own is flawed. Everyone has had help along the way. So many where influential in helping me, and yes I did the heavy lifting but the key they gave me to opening that door was so important. We will need to be unified to play in the Big Leagues against my buddies I mentioned above...and truss they believe in herd mentality. Many invest together, donate together, and influence politics together because they realize their is strength in numbers. There is a reason why most of my buddies own sports teams, outside of the countries that own a majority of the oil deposits around the world, sports is the last known cartel. The price NEVER goes down, need proof: just from the list above Marc Lasry (owner of Milwaukee Bucks), Steve Cohen (owner of NY Mets), Tillman F (owner of Houston Rockets)...the list goes on. They partner and invest together often through knowledge sharing and compensating each other when they've truly been helped. I haven't even mentioned my Asset Management and hedge fund billionaire buddies at Blackstone, KKR, The Carlyle Group, and Apollo who often collect 2% of all assets they manage annually and 20% of any profits they make for their uber wealthy clients. We call this 2 and 20 in the industry and the wealthy across the world line up to invest in their funds...not for a hook up or for free...but so that they continue to collectively win.
It's time for us to collectively win...Umoja
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