CEO FOR LIFE Experience #50 The Importance Of Sharing Your Genius with Kevin Jackson
Robert Barber 0:10
everybody, thanks for coming back to the CEO for life experience, podcast, blog, whatever they're calling it these days. And I am, as we always almost is it, Kevin, at every podcast, it's like, I'm so excited about my guests, right?
Kevin Jackson 0:27
It's Trump sometimes it sounds kind of fake. But in reality, on the I'm on podcasts on every guest, I learned so much about not just the person about but about myself and about life and about society. So every time I'm really excited, but I digress.
Robert Barber 0:47
But seriously, just like Kevin said, this is going to be an exceptional 3035 minutes. So we get to spend with Kevin Jackson. So just real quick, you know, Kevin Jackson, I'm going to link all the information on how to get in touch with Kevin either above or below. But if you go through his LinkedIn profile, which I stalked heavily, tremendous career accomplishments, done a ton, part of Wall Street Journal, and in New York Times best selling book, countless, I mean, just accolades after accolades, and I was like, I've got to get to hear this guy's story. And he's also a part of a, an effort that we both are a part of, which is called social movements. So Kevin, thanks for being on here. Appreciate it.
Unknown Speaker 1:26
No, thank you very much. I appreciate the invitation.
Robert Barber 1:30
This is cool. So maybe we just start with just a little bit of context, like, okay, who's Kevin? So?
Unknown Speaker 1:36
Well, um, you know, they always say, we'll start at the beginning. But so, you know, I was a child growing up in the 60s on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And, you know, as all of us are, I guess my original passion was to become an astronaut, and to go into space, you know, yes. Or no, that, you know, have also had a real passion for reading. So, so I read everything I could about the new possibility of going into space, and you know, what the future would be with us to be like living on Mars right now, and in going to Saturn, right. But we didn't quite make it there. But, but doing so I learned that all the astronauts were military test pilots, so and I deduced by reading that, that those pilots that had to land on these big ships in the middle of the ocean, had to be the best pilots in the world. And they were one of the best pilots. They did to be the best astronauts. So so I really set my goal to becoming a naval aviator. So if you, if you fast forward a few years, I did well in school, just because you need to be a aerospace engineer, to become an astronaut. So I did good school math. I did well went to the Naval Academy, majored in aerospace engineering, and actually received my wings as a aircraft carrier pilot. And after getting the required experience, I submitted my application to fly under space shuttle, because that was going to space at that time. But in the end, I was actually didn't make the program because of hypertension. But you know what, I didn't really put a damper on my space ambitions. So I started working with the Navy Space Technology Program, putting military satellites up. And I actually, when I left, the military started working with the NASA and the shuttle program, developing some some systems. And while I was doing all this, I found that I had an even stronger passion for advanced technology. So that's really how I transitioned from the military into business. And that that led I was a CTO for a while I worked with JPMorgan Chase with global deployment of their home banking app. But to get this, this was back in 1999. And in order to have home banking, you had to have a net worth of $10 million in the bank. It sounds laughable now, right, everybody?
Unknown Speaker 4:32
I need Robinhood account.
Unknown Speaker 4:37
Right? Absolutely. That's how things have changed. But so went through why 2k and everything. So that led to computer engineering and work on the early internet and cloud computing and noun digital transformation is where I am right now.
Robert Barber 4:54
You know, what I mean? What an amazing story and it's interesting because you and I are kind of alike to that same point. I'm a Top Gun kid, right? So I was coming out of high school when Top Gun came out, right? And so I was like, oh, yeah, all my friends were like, Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. And then, and as you can see this, this can't be from, from pursuing any of those, you know, at the time, my eyes weren't good enough. And so that kind of, you know, walked me out of that. But, you know, what an interesting thing you know. So, you had this level of self awareness. And this is where I opened up in the book and CEO for life is, you had this level of self awareness that, you know, but then you began to put a plan in place, talk a little bit about, you know, anyone that's listening right now, if they, if they're feeling like a calling to do something? How do you go through that self awareness process to determine if you're even good enough? Or should you just try? I mean, walk me through some of you know, that that process?
Unknown Speaker 5:52
Well, actually, it all begins with stablishing faith in yourself, I believe, right? You have to believe in yourself, believe in your worth, as an individual, and whatever vision you have for yourself, but more importantly, if you don't have a vision, you have to establish one, you have to look into yourself, and what makes you happy? What makes you feel good? What, what do you value in your own life? And how do you how do you believe you can best contribute to increasing society and in a lot of ways, so whatever that vision is, you certainly need to sort of understand it and, and know that it's going to change, just like everything else in life, you know, your vision of yourself may change. So you will review it, update, or even change your own self vision, periodically. But whenever you reset your vision, make sure you also set out a roadmap of relevant and time measured goals for yourself, that would indicate progress towards that vision. So it sort of builds on itself, okay, if you're doing something that you believe in for yourself, then you, you you sort of do research onto what would make you that that will make you what you want to be. And as you lay out the plans, then when you accomplished those, you feel good, you feel good about it. And it's sort of a self becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Robert Barber 8:02
You know, you mentioned you mentioned the word change, and in that process, and so you being a business leader, as well, as you know, I mean, boy, I mean, flying and doing all the things that you've done, nothing is linear, right? I mean, you you can lay out a good plan. Right?
Unknown Speaker 8:17
Right, right, exactly, though, is that it's not about change, but it's the speed and the acceleration of change, that you have to accept, and the fact that it's the actual everything in our life is built around change, and change is becoming faster and faster and faster.
Robert Barber 8:45
Yeah, I think, well, what do you think? So let's run down this rabbit hole for a second. So, so as as as change happens faster? I mean, you know, you been the engineer? Does the magnitude of the change also happen? are we feeling the magnitude of changes a lot more? And? And how do you how would you advise people to go about dealing with change? I mean, you know, sometimes it's a big punch in the mouth. Right. So what would What's your advice on dealing with that change the scale and the magnitude?
Unknown Speaker 9:13
Well, I think one of the first things that you have to realize is that our society has changed. So this is something that we've probably seen in in the past year, in fact, that we, we have learned that we are indeed a global society. This is different than earlier times in history. Today, we have these massive interdependencies upon each other these really require collaboration and cooperation on a global scale. But this is being driven by the information that we have access to. And it's it's that information that data that things that you learn that drive change. So the more information you're exposed to, the more cultures, the more problems, the more things you see around you, the more you your experience, the change because your awareness is as is right, risen, right. It's not that things are actually changing faster, they've always changed fast. It's just that our awareness of the change has been magnified by by technology. We've also learned how technology can be used to effectively improve society, you think about what happened this year with, you know, information technology, you know, we're down into zoom society, right, where every day, you're sitting in front and collaborating with someone on the other side of the world, just like we're doing right now. Yeah, the, the, this technology has been sitting on the shelf for years, right. And people didn't use it, because they were kind of afraid of change. Look at what they've done with the vaccines, okay. This is the first time in history, man has been able to create such an effective response to pathogen, okay. So, this awareness of what's going on, is really a heightened awareness of what's going on within this noun global society is, is really emphasize change. I think 2020 was a first time that everyone in the world went through the exact same experience at the exact same time. And we were able to talk about it in real time. I mean, that's, that's amazing.
Robert Barber 12:14
Yeah, that's something to think about, too, is, you know, we all did experience the same thing. At the same time, you know, getting back the initial, you gave me something to really think about in this in this term. Because, you, you mentioned, the fact that, you know, that we're all experiencing this at the same time, and you were talking about technology, here, we're talking about awareness. So this level of awareness and information that we all have now at our fingertips, you know, someone that's out there that's wanting to set their vision and their roadmap and go forward. You know, you mentioned reading books, you know, what, what, what would be a limiting factor, so we have all of this. So here's what I'm trying to get at what is what in your mind limits someone from going after being the CEO for their life?
Unknown Speaker 13:02
So it's really about everyone has challenges in their life, right. And from a personal point of view, the most external challenges that I faced were based on foundational differences in worldview with others, right. So as a black man growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the 1960s, doing Jim Crow in the segregation of South, that was one of the earliest challenge challenges that I faced in my life. I personally had a belief that all people were equal in worth, but that was opposed to those that valued a person's worth, based upon their race, national origin agenda. You know, while there has been significant progress, unfortunately, that difference is still present in today's society. But no matter what your background is, when your inner acting with others, they may have a different worldview. So your challenges are, that that difference may be in a business model, that difference may be about a particular location. But what I find is that it's always important to understand that other worldview that other points of view, and that actually enables you to overcome the challenges and it sort of goes along with that believe, having belief in yourself. Belief in your own vision. Now, you and what I said before, that everyone has worth, even someone with a different view. There may be value in understanding that different view. And oftentimes, I find that collaboration, understanding the exchange of information actually helps both sides in addressing the challenges and moving forward.
Robert Barber 15:21
So yeah, I'm just like, you just made my week. No, it's so good. Because, you know, here's, here's what I, here's what I heard, and correct me if I'm wrong. So anyone listening, I hope you go back and take these last three minutes and just listen to what Kevin just taught us. Because we may have moved lightyears ahead with technology, we have so much available to us to do so many things. But no matter what, it still comes back to people. And it comes back to who you are and who the people are that you're interacting with. And I talked in the book about shareholders, and shareholders are the people you're investing in people in investing you and, and you brought us all the way back, you know, I mean, obviously, you're a very technical high, high brow, high thought person, but still, you recognize that it comes down to people person's worth and what they're able to do. And so often what I see now through social media, and so many things, we talk about, oh, in 30 days, I can be a millionaire, right? Or I can just go invest in some crypto and take my 10 bucks and make 10 million, you know, but still, it involves who you are, what you're capable of doing, what your worth is, and how you interact with other people is, I mean, that's what I heard.
Unknown Speaker 16:29
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you have to have value in yourself. And the, the most powerful thing in in the world is your network. It's the people that you interact with the people that you work with the people that you know, that's the real value of society. And you need to leverage that value. In both your business and your personal life, they always say that the most important thing in your in your life is family. That's true. But that's a network, right is the network of relationships that you establish and build, nurture value. And even within your own family, there will be different worldviews that you will have to understand.
Robert Barber 17:22
Yeah, that's yo, boy, you just triggered me on this one. So you know, a lot of times what I run into in people that I work with, and stuff like that, you know, and you talked about family, and we talked about shareholders, a lot of time, the people closest to us, that love us the most can sometimes be a huge obstacle to what we're trying to accomplish, right? Did you experience any of that? I mean, you decided, hey, listen, I'm gonna go fly jets, I'm gonna land on aircraft carriers, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go to the moon. Did you have people that loved you? They were like, I don't know, Kevin, you know, how do you how do you work through those love relationships that are like that?
Unknown Speaker 17:57
Well, a lot of times, so the answer is, yes. A lot of people will tell you Oh, no, that's too hard. Or, oh, no, you're being too ambitious. Or no, no one, like you could ever do something like that. And, and while they may be coming from a, a good point in their heart, you know, oftentimes, it's because they don't want you to experience failure, or they don't want you to be hurt. But there's also realize that failure is, it's a school, it teaches you, okay? The most successful people in life fail multiple times before they're successful, hurt pain, that also teaches you, you have to know how to endure pain, how to endure failures, before you can leverage the opportunity for success. So you need to have both sides of the coin. What's the way I look at it?
Robert Barber 19:16
That's amazing. Yeah, you know, such a good lesson there. And again, those that are listening and watching please go back and, and take take to heart what Kevin just said, because we all have those people that care about us that may not see our vision or where we're going in, you know, but still respected. Like you said worth everyone's got worth in our families in everyone's gonna worth period. We just got to think about it in different terms at times. So let's talk about so man time is flying by. And I want to do something I wanted to get from you as as we were talking was, I mean, you have this amazing career, you've done a zillion things, but you've been laser focused on really what you want to do. So one of the things I'm trying to learn a lot from people is the ability to say No, because people that I see that are very successful, they're able to say no to the things that they need to say no to so they can stay focused. How do you look at the things that you need to say no to in order to remain focus? Is that easy? Do you have a process? Maybe guide us a little bit on No?
Unknown Speaker 20:16
Well, again, it starts with yourself to work if you know what's important to yourself. And you've laid out your your vision of yourself, and you have sort of stepping stones of accomplishments that you want to attain. When someone asks you to do A or B, you have to evaluate it within that, that plan you have for yourself, does it provide progress for you? Does it provide progress for the network that you interact with? Is it valuable to overall society? If the answer to those are yes, yes, yes, then it's an easy answer. Okay. If it's no, no, no, it's an easy answer. You go. Right. Okay. Now, sometimes there may be something that may, you know, may get a couple of yeses in the know, or a couple of noes, and a yes, and, and that's when you need to do update, and maybe even change your own personal goals. But those are, those are checks. You know, everything in life is, you know, you have to be the check and balance on your own self. So these opportunities come up. And, you know, maybe it is, you know, a split decision, right? Review your own goals, review your own roadmap, and update it, and maybe even change it based upon what, you know, the different environment, the different opportunities, I mean, that that opportunity to come out of left field, and you say, Wow, that's No, I never expected to do something like that. But, you know, evaluate your life within context.
Robert Barber 22:22
I love it. Well, we may we just run up against our time. So I have one last question for you. Okay. So, when Ilan, or basil starts selling tickets, are you going to buy one?
Unknown Speaker 22:34
I wish I had the money. I'll be on that loan job right now. I knew it.
Robert Barber 22:44
A Kevin, thank you for the time. I mean, we've learned so much today, we learned about self awareness and vision, we learned about obstacles and shareholders. We learned about technology, we learned about self reliance, we learned about worth and others. And we just wrapped it all up with we got to be our own self audit. I love it. Man. I love all of that.
Unknown Speaker 23:03
Okay, but you're gonna talk about the social movement. Right?
Robert Barber 23:07
Well, let's Well, let's jump into it then. So, you know,
Unknown Speaker 23:10
I would say that I gave you a little hint right here. But
Robert Barber 23:16
it's one of those things where it's like, you know, yeah, so let's talk about it. So the social movement, so four days, in, this is the one thing I love about it four days to share your genius, right? Yeah, what I love about that concept and expand on this with me, we all have this gift within us if we just act on it right? And so you know, what attracted you to social movement? And what are your thoughts on it?
Unknown Speaker 23:41
Well, it's really a lot of what we've already talked about, okay, that over the past year in 2020, we realize that this is really a global society. And we had a massive independent to dependencies that require collaboration and cooperation on a global scale, we also have learned that technology can be used to improve society. So now it's time to learn how to manage and govern the use of these powerful technologies for global good. And that's why I've been so excited about the social movement, okay, the ethos of the social movement is to impact humanity at scale and to make a real difference in the world and to inspire this real social movement. So the season one is going to be released in this fall on you and out part of season two filming in Miami. I'm looking forward to actually meeting with you IRL, right in real life. But this challenge to unleash our genius, I'm into technology into society. So I think this is a real way of no stepping up and impacting humanity at scale. And like you said, I mean, I've never really seen myself as being on television, or, you know, doing anything in this way. And the opportunity is sort of jumped up and said, Hey, and I looked at my own self values and my roadmap and I said, hey, it aligns. Yes, yes, yes.
Robert Barber 25:28
No, it's exactly right. It's, you know, this is, you know, what I love about about the social movement, at least for me is, and I am at a, so I went to military school for a little while. So we'll have to talk about that offline for a second that Kevin so so I had a good friend of mine. He was from he was from and he was he was my bunkmate. His name was Belle Nanda. And he used to say his grandmother used to always tell him reach, reach for the stars. If you ever fall short, you'll still end up on the moon, right? And I've always remembered that into and that's what I love about, about what what's happening with the social movement. And what I think more of us are beginning to realize is, why not, why not at least try? Dream, the biggest dream you possibly can and let's make the biggest impact because what's the worst thing that could happen? We you know, you have you have an impact.
Unknown Speaker 26:19
Yeah, you have an impact. You learn, alright, and you'll grow your network. Why not? That's,
Robert Barber 26:25
that's exactly right. That's exactly right. Hey, anyone that's listening and watching, we're gonna link up information for the social movement and for Kevin either above or below. You know, like Kevin mentioned, season one's coming out in the fall. We're going to be filming Season Two in Miami here in June. tickets are booked rooms booked ready to go. But thank you for sharing your genius with us today on the snow for life. Or inviting me. Yeah, did you are Yeah, I knew this was gonna be a great day. No, thank you. I will see you all on the next episode of the CEO for life experience in podcast. Thanks, everybody.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
