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00:00We're going to move on now to our next guest.
00:04Dr. McMorris is a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of business, justice, and social impact.
00:11He's the author of a new book, and it's been on the bestsellers list across the country,
00:15The Power to Persist, Eight Simple Habits to Build Lifelong Resilience.
00:20Now, he comes from the south side of Chicago initially, and of course, he's moved to the national stage.
00:29He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Society from Morehouse College, a Morehouse man.
00:34Now, you all know what they say about a Morehouse man.
00:36You can tell a Morehouse man, but you can't tell him much.
00:39He has a Master of Divinity in Social Ethics and Public Policy from Princeton Theological Seminary
00:45and a Doctorate of Law and Policy from Northeastern University.
00:51Dr. McMorris, the Mildred Gadda Show, welcomes you to the airwaves.
00:54How are you this morning?
00:55I am just great and very honored to be with you this morning, Ms. Gadda.
01:02And it's really an honor because I celebrate your long career of telling it like it is,
01:09giving good information to our community, and being a beacon of light and hope for our people.
01:15So thank you very much for your voice.
01:17I thank you.
01:18I want you to know that I was scrolling last Saturday over the airwaves, and I caught you
01:25in New York at the National Action Network speaking.
01:29And I said, we've got to track this brother down and have a little chat with him.
01:32So thank you for accepting our invitation.
01:37How are you feeling about your America these days?
01:42You know, I remain hopeful in spite of the tumultuous times that we face.
01:54You know, I believe that we have been a resilient people, a resilient nation, and a resilient community.
02:05We're clearly in a time of uncertainty and change socially, economically, politically.
02:13But my goal is for people from young students to seniors to adopt a resilient mindset, not just in the hard times, but also in the good times, too.
02:21You know, I believe that resilience isn't an option.
02:25It's actually essential.
02:27And it's easy to coach when things are going well, but real resilience is built when we stay grounded, we stay grateful, and prepared no matter what life brings, no matter what head winds come to us right now in this country.
02:42You know, there are some who say we've been here before.
02:45That we've been at a place in America when things looked extremely dim and unbearable, but somehow we track through it all.
03:00What is it from your perspective that have an unacceptable number of members of our society and of our race who feel that the game is over?
03:14It's almost over, that it's time to go and hide or do whatever.
03:17So, resilience, you know, for me, you know, has been a constant in my own journey.
03:29As you mentioned, I grew up on the south side of Chicago, working alongside leaders from across the nation.
03:37The challenges that I've faced along the way taught me that resilience is not something you call upon only when life gets hard.
03:45It's a habit to be built early, a mindset, actually, to be carried daily.
03:51I've had doors closed, plans fall apart, I've been fired, I've lost businesses, and have moments that, frankly, tested my faith as we are facing now.
04:03But every setback shaped my perspective, and that is that persistence is the bridge between where you are and where we're meant to be.
04:15You know, it was Henry David Thoreau who said, who talked about man's, that many men live lives of quiet desperation.
04:30And that's, you know, hopelessness.
04:35They're hope, they're just hopeful.
04:37And some of that, I think we have to own.
04:40I think we have to own those, some of those who are here now, specifically those, a baby boomer generation, who stopped telling the story.
04:49We're the first generation of black Americans to have some level of access to opportunity in this country.
04:55And we became so intoxicated, if you will, with our achievements and the fact that we had a limited level of access that we stopped telling the story.
05:09Because the thing about knowing your own history energizes you to continue to move forward.
05:16And for those folk who are in that state, because they're at a different level, if you process what I'm talking about here, they need some hope.
05:27They need some reason to believe again.
05:29They need to know that we come from people who are the creators of entrepreneurship at a time when we had limited access to anything in America.
05:43One habit I talk about often, you know, as you mentioned earlier, I wrote this book, The Power to Persist.
05:52I have a podcast, and it lifts up eight habits that help us on our resilient journey.
05:59But one habit I talk about often is attitude.
06:03It's actually the foundation for everything else.
06:07I talk about attitude, work ethic, agility, vulnerability, network, focus, dogged determination, and faith.
06:13But attitude, you can't always control your circumstances, but you can control your mindset.
06:20Every challenge is an invitation to grow, to learn, and to show up differently.
06:27That's where resilience starts.
06:29One of the habits that means the most to me right now in this moment as I talk to you, actually speaking to you this morning from Atlanta, Georgia,
06:37I always tell people that your network is your network.
06:42This weekend, I'm here at Morehouse Homecoming.
06:46This is our homecoming weekend, and yesterday, as I was on the yard, I can't tell you how much gratitude I have for my alma mater and my fellow alumni.
06:57Everyone I ran into, classmates, friends, mentors, congratulated me on the successes of the book and immediately asked how they could help move this resilience movement forward.
07:08Some offered to host book signings and made introductions.
07:11And this is what we have to do for each other, and I try to do the same for them because resilience isn't just an individual strength.
07:20It's something that we have to build together.
07:22When your network, when the people around you in your community believe in you and you believe in them, you're reminded that persistence is never a solo act.
07:32We've got to move again, as you state, as a community.
07:35You talk to a lot of college students.
07:43Where are they today?
07:45And I ask that question.
07:47We tend not to know where they are because there's so much talk about a whole lot of other things.
07:52And some people are operating from the mindset that they just don't care anymore, that they're a group of selfish, privileged beings.
08:03What are you hearing from them?
08:04Yeah, I had, so this weekend I was here for a homecoming in Morehouse, but I had the privilege to sit before 1,500 young black men who are students at Morehouse College last week.
08:19So I've been here twice in the last couple of weeks.
08:22And I'll tell you, you know, it's one thing to talk to you this morning and your listeners, but it's another thing to sit in front of that young demographic that you just mentioned, where people think they don't care, they're not concerned.
08:36They were so interested in this notion of resilience and wanted to know how they can become.
08:44It was one of the most moving experiences I've had on this journey.
08:50And my goal is for people from young students to seniors to adopt a resilient mindset.
08:57Again, not just in the hard times, but in the good times, too.
09:01What is a clarion call?
09:08The clarion call is that anyone and everyone can join this movement.
09:14It doesn't matter your age, your background, or your profession.
09:17Resilience belongs to all of us.
09:20It starts with a simple choice to keep showing up, to keep believing, and to keep building, even when the odds feel heavy.
09:28One of those eight habits from your resilience code is faith.
09:40Faith.
09:41And I see faith here at the bottom.
09:45You know, it's not a popular thing to talk about faith publicly.
09:51And I know you know that some institutions and some corporations will ask you not to mention God in your presentation.
10:02I don't know if you've had that experience, but I know that it exists.
10:08What?
10:09So for those who believe they know, I know they know.
10:13But for those who don't, tell them the story.
10:18Why it's necessary.
10:20So, you know, I deliberately, and I'm glad you called that out, intentionally list faith as the last habit I talk about among the eight resilient habits that I talk about in the power to persist.
10:35As I look at, as I look at my journey, as I look at our people's journey, as I look at the journey of this nation, it's undergirded, whether we like it or not, by faith.
10:49Not necessarily in the religious, although for me, faith is defined as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
11:04Ms. Gaddis, what I'm trying to suggest to folks by making this an essential habit on the road to resilience is that when you and I determine that we are the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, not that this is just some concept out there, but that we are the walking, living embodiment of things that our ancestors never could have dreamed.
11:29And that gives us an attitude that emboldens and the confidence to help us move through the headwinds and the challenges of this world.
11:40The book, ladies and gentlemen, is The Power to Persist and Simple Habits to Building Lifelong Resilience.
11:49And as Dr. McMorris has shared with us, this is a mission.
11:55And he contends that we're not going to get there unless we understand this, this, this mission and we adopt these particular, I think it's much more than habits to call them habits.
12:10I really, I really do, but I can't think of another word right now.
12:13OK, so that's part two to be continued.
12:18We'll come back on that.
12:19OK, but I think the main thing is you don't want people.
12:27One of the main things is you don't want them to stop working.
12:32Stop.
12:33I don't want them to stop working.
12:34I don't want people to give up.
12:35I want people to persist and recognize.
12:39We just celebrated last week.
12:40Reverend Jackson's 84th birthday.
12:42Yes.
12:43And he told us that the ground is no place for a champion.
12:46Ms. Gattis, he told us that if you were to knock me down this morning, that would be on you.
12:52But if you came back next week and I was still on the ground, that would be on me.
12:56If we can look up, we can get up.
12:59I want to thank you so much for joining us.
13:02Once again, people, the book is The Power to Persist and Eight Simple Habits to Build Lifelong Resilience.
13:10Thank you so much for joining us here on the Mildred Gattis Show.
13:13Dr. LaMail McMorris.
13:14Thank you so much for having me.
13:17It's my pleasure to be with such an icon in our community.
13:22Thank you so much.
13:23I'm Mildred Gattis and you're listening to The Mildred Gattis Show.
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