Black Excellence: 20 Stories about Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary

By Jeff Shafer

How often do you wake up and ask yourself "How can I be better today than I was yesterday?"

Black Excellence: 20 Stories about Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary will inspire you to expand and broaden the range of phenomenal goals you want to achieve in life. Author L. Jeff Shafer II celebrates Black culture through

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: Aug 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636768854

Book preview

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New Degree Press

Copyright © 2021 L. Jeff Shafer II

All rights reserved.

Black Excellence:

20 Stories about Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary

ISBN 978-1-63676-883-0 Paperback

ISBN 978-1-63676-884-7 Kindle Ebook

ISBN 978-1-63676-885-4 Ebook

Your life is a project of what you can become if you put in the work.

—Lynnewood Jeffrey Shafer II

Inspired by Kobe Mamba Bryant (1978-2020)—your life is your greatest work—it’s your masterpiece. It is not what a man professes, but how he lives, that shows what he truly believes. You lived and breathed the Mamba Mentality.

Dedicated to Uncle Ricky (1948–2021)—I can still hear your voice saying, Get it done, CPA. I finished this book. I got it done.

Motivated by Little Jeff—I held you in my arms as I wrote this dedication. I held you in my heart as I wrote this book. You are Black Excellence.

Contents

Introduction

Part 1

Chapter 1 What Is Black Excellence?

Chapter 2 Be A Continual Learner

Chapter 3 Strive for Servant Leadership

Chapter 4 Thrive with an Indomitable Will

Chapter 5 Prosper With a Purpose

Part 2

Chapter 6 Prioritize and Manage Time

Chapter 7 Get it Done!

Chapter 8 Develop Grit

Chapter 9 Dare to Take Risks

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Introduction

I hadn’t been paying attention to the grown-up chitchat swirling above my head until I heard the words University of Pennsylvania Law School. My ears instantly perked up as I listened to the owner of a bagel shop my mom and I occasionally visited. She was a kind-looking Indian woman with hair pulled into a messy bun, and she was gushing about her daughter to my mother.

From the age of seven, I had fantasized about going to that school and becoming a lawyer. It held a mystical place in my mind, reserved only for the elite. I figured you needed superpowers to get accepted. But I also estimated my chances were as good as the next guy.

My voice crackled as I ventured, Your daughter goes to the University of Pennsylvania Law School?

The lady diverted her gaze downward to meet my eager eyes.

You have to be a good student to go there, she said bluntly as she handed me the bag of bagels.

As we left the shop, my mom asked, Jeff, why didn’t you tell that lady that you are a good student?

A perplexed look took over my mother’s face. My mother was as proud of me as the bagel lady was of her daughter. So, she was curious why I didn’t set the record straight.

It doesn’t matter whether she knows I am a good student, I said.

Little did the bagel lady know I was as confident then as an eleven-year-old in my ability to graduate from The University of Pennsylvania Law School, as I am today, as a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Thankfully, my parents convinced me of my abilities. What that lady thought about me did not matter, yet, I still felt a bit dejected knowing there were people in the world who could take just one look at me and decide I wasn’t smart enough to even dream of attending an elite law school. How could she be so convinced I couldn’t when I was so convinced I would?

Seven years later, when I was a freshman at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, I planned to pursue my interests and either study business or computer science. But a conversation with my second cousin, Charles Brummell, a Wharton Master of Business Administration (MBA) alum and a successful retired bank executive, convinced me to concentrate on accounting. That decision has been foundational to my career.

The interesting thing about Cousin Charles is that although I had only recently met him, he was a pivotal marker in the trajectory of my story. It made me wonder how my life might have been different if I had met him earlier, as a child, or if I hadn’t met him at all.

At an all-too-infrequent family gathering, my uncle told me that the problem with our folk is how scattered we are. We gather only during funerals and weddings, and I feared my family might be indicative of other Black families. If we’re not in contact with each other, we lack the opportunity to build bonds, network, support each other, and transfer the institutional knowledge that is needed to achieve excellence in high-level educational and professional settings.

North Carolina State University Professor and education scholar Anna J. Egalite strengthened this sentiment when she wrote about the benefits highly educated parents and their social networks can offer their kids. It can also transmit cultural capital by teaching children the specific behaviors, patterns of speech, and cultural references that are valued by the educational and professional elite. (Education Next, 2016).

As African Americans, we are still fighting an unfair battle in under-representation across professions and in wealth inequality. According to the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, the typical White household has a net worth eight times that of the typical Black household. Although it might appear that our society is meritocratic, it is decidedly imperfect, unfair, and ripe with prejudicial exclusion.

Merit exists, but it’s not the full story. Access to adequate resources is often the difference between good and great social outcomes.

The system actually functions on merit and access to resources—relationships and finances. I used to think that a herculean effort was all that mattered but asking someone without access to the same resources to rise is like asking them to be a magician.

My adult education has been a case study in those requirements. For undergraduate studies, I attended Drexel University (Drexel), a selective school. I then attended the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), an Ivy League school. Drexel and Penn are steps away from each other in Philadelphia; their students frequently live like neighbors, shopping at the same grocer, frequenting the same bars and restaurants. Yet, the worlds differ from each other, and as someone who attended both, I can say that it comes down to access. My peers at both schools have been stellar. I received precisely the education I paid for at each university. I have been able to thrive with ambition and perform well. However, the Ivy League experience has offered unique benefits, such as access to elite decision makers—elected officials, multimillionaires, and executives.

Career success depends on relationships and knowledge. Not just who you know, but who knows you and who will open up their network to you. The tapestry of personal connections is difficult to replicate.

For instance, if your parents are highly educated professionals, you are likely to have access to networks that can perpetuate your family’s success. Unfortunately, African Americans have less representation in the most elite circles and professions and thus are underrepresented in these powerful structures.

If your father or mother is a partner at a law firm, a rarity given that only 2.1 percent of law firm partners are Black, according to the 2020 National Association of Law Placement Diversity Report, you have an implicit advantage if you become a lawyer. That’s because your parents can make calls to help you get an internship, and they can also speak to you about the unwritten rules of legal or corporate culture. You can start your career knowing the importance of face time in traditional firms and how to navigate the social and political aspects of progressing in a firm because you grew up interacting with law firm partners and corporate executives at social gatherings. Because of these interactions, you have the confidence in these professional settings that typically precede long-term professional success.

Yes, we can overcome these initial obstacles, and professionals regularly do. However, overcoming requires diligence and intentionality. Getting, documenting, and sharing knowledge that is necessary for progress is key.

And that is the premise for writing and sharing Black Excellence. The chaos of the year 2020 made me reflect on the brevity of life and forced me to think about how I could effectively use my time to make a constructive contribution to humanity. My wife and I discussed having a baby, and I thought about the lessons that I would instill in him considering the troubled environment the world is. It was in the fertile soil of 2020 that Black Excellence was born.

Why This Book Matters

Black children and families have missed out on valuable financial and career advice, and we’re playing catch-up. I’m working to change that.

When playing catch-up, we cannot waste opportunities to gain knowledge. Plus, when we accumulate that data, we then have an obligation to share it. It is a common refrain in Black households that we are blessed to be a blessing. If you discover a piece of valuable information, you must pay it forward. The motto of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), an organization I have been involved with since college, sums it up well: Lifting as We Climb (NABA Inc. 2020). Black Excellence is how I pay it forward.

In this book, I’ve codified the lessons of some of the most accomplished among us in the spirit of transferring institutional knowledge. This is how one generation improves upon the work of the previous one. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and set the precedent. They walked so we could run.

In the pages that follow, you will read and find out about many personal success stories. Some examples of these include how a woman rose from humble Detroit roots to become an executive at McDonald’s, how a Rwandan immigrant became a highly respected corporate lawyer in Philadelphia, and how an Ivy League educated Black woman found her voice and fought back against impostor syndrome.

You will meet individuals who have wrestled with fears, doubts, and failures during their journey to success. You’ll find them in boardrooms, courtrooms, classrooms, conference rooms, living rooms, and other places where they have a seat at the table. We will discuss impostor syndrome, failure, challenges, being the only one in the room, mediocrity, confidence, lack of effort, apathy, anger, resolve, grit, commitment, belief, improvement, performance, accolades, history, and more.

Stories from my own life are also sprinkled throughout this book. I started off as a quiet kid who hoped great things were possible. I learned while I was a teenager that if I want to accomplish something, I must develop a plan and work hard. The person who sets the goal and the person who accomplishes the goal is never the same person. You evolve during the journey.

People have doubted my abilities along the way and questioned my methods, but I have accomplished every goal I set by age thirty: got into an Ivy League law school and a top MBA program, purchased my first house and my initial investment property, and got married. Now I have written a book to share why you can do whatever you put your mind to, a phrase my parents constantly told me growing up.

I believe in you, like my parents believed in me.

This Book Is for You

This book is for anyone with a desire to succeed and to access the best insights from some of the world’s most exceptional achievers. It is for anyone who wants to be the best possible version of themselves and who doesn’t want to waste their life. If you’re going to aim at a worthy target and hit it, and you need help and guidance along the way, this book is for you. This book is that guidance. If you want to make something of yourself but don’t know where to start, this book can illuminate a path.

If you read these insights and put these lessons into consistent practice, you will improve your performance. Success doesn’t need to be elusive; we can attain it. This book is the curriculum I plan on teaching my children when that time comes. I hope you will do the same so we can collectively take our performance to the next level.

As we progress through the book, I want you to ask yourself:

•What is success to me, and how do I achieve it?

•How do I balance competing priorities in my life?

•How can I maximize my impact in life?

My philosophy is simple: You are capable of more than you ever imagined. Researchers have attributed one of my favorite quotes to Henry Ford: The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right. Which one are you? That is why I also ask that you make two commitments to yourself:

•I will pay it forward and share what I know with others so they can flourish as well.

•I will work toward success now, rather than waiting until I reach some arbitrary point in life. Others are depending on me.

Unlocking your power requires a combination of changing your mindset, adjusting your actions, and being committed