Tag: Time Magazine

ON HONEST AND RESPONSIBLE DIALOGUE ON RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA (CONCLUSION)

Our Founder and Editor, Mr. Chinedu Ezeocha with former World Bank President, Bob Zoellick at the CATO Institute’s 29th Annual Monetary Conference held at CATO Institute’s Building, Washington DC. November 16, 2011.
Our Founder and Editor, Mr. Chinedu Ezeocha with former World Bank President, Bob Zoellick at the CATO Institute’s 29th Annual Monetary Conference held at CATO Institute’s Building, Washington DC. November 16, 2011.

Selma (2014) the movie is out. Snowstorm barrels into the Northeast. And the U.S. is not expected to fault Darrel Wilson, the Ferguson police officer that killed Michael Brown last August. From the Feds’ decision, it is fair to assume that there could be some similarities in the findings of the Feds and that of the St Louis County, Missouri on what actually happened in the altercation between Michael Brown and Officer Wilson.  At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. That is justice. And that is a closed chapter.

Meanwhile, once upon a time in the animal kingdom, a day came when all animals were reporting to the town hall for a general meeting. But the hen, which felt it had more ‘important’ things to do, absented herself from the meeting but pledged to abide by every decision reached at the meeting by those who attended the meeting. At the meeting, a decision was reached that a ceremony will take place and that the hen and her chicks will be killed to provide the meat for refreshment at the ceremony. The hen wasn’t present to object to that decision because she refused to attend the meeting. And as she pledged, she had to abide by the decision reached by others at the meeting.

Now, when you visit most of the think tanks in the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago, and California, you will discover that the presence of African-Americans are close to non-existent in our country’s apex policy-making institutions where policies that govern this country are hatched. Some pockets of the Black people you will see walking the  ‘corridors of power’ are mostly interns from Africa who are studying government-related courses here in the U.S.

Same goes for all the departments of the federal government at the levels of relevance where folks effect policy decisions. Most workers of African-American derivation you will see at these federal government agencies work administrative and general services jobs. And not top level positions where policies that govern the domestic politics of the United States are formulated. And same also go for state and local governments. And that, my people is a sad and hard fact.

Why so?

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AMBITION: WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED

ambition-tower

Jeffrey Kluger

Senior Editor, TIME Magazine

Originally published on TIME Magazine on Sunday, Nov. 06, 2005.

You don’t get as successful as Gregg and Drew Shipp by accident. Shake hands with the 36-year-old fraternal twins who co-own the sprawling HiFi Personal Fitness club in Chicago, and it’s clear you’re in the presence of people who thrive on their drive. But that wasn’t always the case. The twins’ father founded the Jovan perfume company, a glamorous business that spun off the kinds of glamorous profits that made it possible for the Shipps to amble through high school, coast into college and never much worry about getting the rent paid or keeping the fridge filled. But before they graduated, their sense of drift began to trouble them. At about the same time, their father sold off the company, and with it went the cozy billets in adult life that had always served as an emotional backstop for the boys.

That did it. By the time they got out of school, both Shipps had entirely transformed themselves, changing from boys who might have grown up to live off the family’s wealth to men consumed with going out and creating their own. “At this point,” says Gregg, “I consider myself to be almost maniacally ambitious.”

It shows. In 1998 the brothers went into the gym trade. They spotted a modest health club doing a modest business, bought out the owner and transformed the place into a luxury facility where private trainers could reserve space for top-dollar clients. In the years since, the company has outgrown one building, then another, and the brothers are about to move a third time. Gregg, a communications major at college, manages the club’s clients, while Drew, a business major, oversees the more hardheaded chore of finance and expansion. “We’re not sitting still,” Drew says. “Even now that we’re doing twice the business we did at our old place, there’s a thirst that needs to be quenched.”

Why is that? Why are some people born with a fire in the belly, while others — like the Shipps — need something to get their pilot light lit? And why do others never get the flame of ambition going? Is there a family anywhere that doesn’t have its overachievers and underachievers — its Jimmy Carters and Billy Carters, its Jeb Bushes and Neil Bushes — and find itself wondering how they all could have come splashing out of exactly the same gene pool?

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