Hello, and welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections. Welcome back to the show,
folks. I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and you're
listening to the podcast where networking is
more than just awkward handshakes and bad coffee.
It's an art and a talent. But here's the twist.
It's an art and talent you can actually learn.
Yes, even if you're the person hiding in the
corner at every event, pretending to check emails.
Networking isn't just a nice skill to have, it's
a game changer. And when you get good at it,
you'll wonder why you didn't start sooner. More
connections, more opportunities, more profits.
It's like unlocking a cheat code for life. So
whether you're the life of the party or the just
let me stay at home and text type, we've got
something for you. So stick around and let's
turn those awkward small talk moments into big
wins. Now, I've got a special guest. As everybody
knows, I am a graduate of the Speaker Lab, and
I have Dr. Reggie Wright. He likes to be called
Reggie with his vast background, but he was integral
in getting me started in my speaking career.
So I would like to first, let me just give you
a little bit about his background. Dr. Reggie
Wright Jr. is a former professional basketball
player and highly sought after motivational speaker,
educator, and coach. He's been featured on CNN
for his work on empowering educators and students
to overcome adversity and excel in both academic
and personal development. So I'd like to bring
on Reggie. And if you just tell us a bit more
about your background, that'd be great. But hey,
Reggie, what's going on? Hey, Mike. Listen, thank
you for having me, first and foremost, man. Happy
to be on your show. I feel honored. I feel like
I've made it, like I arrived. So thank you. I
appreciate it. Yep. I'll give a little bit of
background as you asked me to go into. You pretty
much summarized it. I'm from Trenton, New Jersey.
So that's where I'm originally born and raised
in the city of Trenton, New Jersey. It's a small
area. It's about seven square miles by 85 ,000
people. And I was raised by my grandmother. So
my grandmother migrated up north from Mississippi
back in 1960. And my mother got pregnant with
me at the age of 19 and gave birth to me at 20.
And then my grandmother stepped in and she raised
me all the way throughout high school and college.
That's where I was born and raised. That's my
background in terms of my adolescent years and
childhood years. And then I went to college and
I got an undergrad in computer science. Went
overseas and played professional basketball for
a number of years, like you mentioned. Then I
graduated and I came back home and pursued a
master's degree. So I have a master's in arts
and religion. And then I actually went back to
school and got my doctorate in educational leadership.
And here I am now today as a paid professional
speaker and coach. Also have my own coaching
program as well right now. That's great. Listen,
you are. It's true that you. came from almost
nothing. And I understand you, you grew up, you
actually became a police officer before you became
a professional speaker. So you really have quite
the background, but so I won't go into everything.
I won't go into everything, but okay. So how
did your academic background influence your approach
to networking in the education sector? Yeah,
I learned this. I'll summarize it this way. Dr.
King has an article called The Purpose of Education.
And when he summarized that article, The Purpose
of Education, he said it comes down to two components.
It's intelligence plus character. So one of the
things I believe is that if I'm going to be successful
as a paid professional speaker, but also successful
as a speaker coach, then I need to network with
the right group of people who exemplify intelligence
and a high level of character. Right. Because
I think Grant actually said it. said who you
are is more important than what you do, right?
So you want to be around some people that their
morals and ethics and values align with your
morals, ethics, and values. Because as we say
in a public figure space, all money is not good
money. So we want to profit, right? We want to
generate revenue, but we want to make sure that
we're aligned with people that have a high value
of character and integrity is one of their greatest
assets. Great. And I firmly believe that as well.
Can you share a story about a pivotal connection
that significantly impacted your career in education?
Yeah, absolutely. There's a few. As a speaker
or just in terms of my impact I've had with students
or educators themselves? Give me your student
impact. Yeah, 100%. So one of the stories I talk
about when I come in and do my keynote presentations
at schools, a lot of convocations they have me
come in and do, or professional development workshops,
I always talk about there was a particular student
that seemed to be disengaged, right? Didn't seem
to have any heart, passion, desire for school,
right? We call that student apathy, right? So
I was made aware that this student wasn't really
going to be disruptive, wasn't really going to
interrupt my class. But he just wasn't going
to do anything. He wasn't going to raise his
hand. He wasn't going to do his homework. He
wasn't going to participate. And I understood
that. So one of the things I try to do, Mike,
is I try to affirm the students when I go into
the class on a day -to -day basis. I always try
to find something to say to let them know that
they have worth and value, that they're intelligent,
they're gifted, and that they can and they will
be successful in life. And that an education
is one of the greatest tools that can help them
maximize their potential. And that's what I did
with this student. I came in day after day, week
after week, and I would just affirm him. And
he never really responded. But then it was one
particular day when I went in after Halloween.
And when I went in this one particular day after
Halloween, I pretty much just asked the students,
hey, who would like to volunteer and share with
me, you know, what you were for Halloween? What
was your Halloween costume? And as you can imagine,
kids like, oh, call me. And as I pan and scan
the room to see who I was going to choose on
initially, believe it or not, this student that
had never raised his hand, never did his homework,
was always disengaged, head was always pointed
down towards the floor. His head was down, but
his hand actually went up. And when his hand
went up, I couldn't believe it. I was shocked.
He had never said a word. So I had to call him.
So I looked over and I said, go ahead. What were
you for Halloween? And he took a pause. His head
never came up. His head remained down the entire
time. But while his head was down, he said this.
He said, Mr. Wright, I was you. And that it like
it broke me like I was standing there and tears
were coming down my face because I'm like, I'm
thinking I'm confused, but it was so powerful.
I'm like, so now I asked him, why would you be
me for Halloween? And he said. Literally, Mike,
he said, because you had the biggest impact in
my life. And I said, how have I had the biggest
impact in your life? I've only been in here in
the last seven or eight weeks. He said, literally,
a fifth grader said, he said, you shifted my
perspective. Really? Yeah. So think about as
professionals, as adults even, it's hard to shift
someone's perspective. If you can shift someone's
perspective, you can change their attitude. And
if you change the attitude, you can change the
outcome. Absolutely. That's fantastic. That's
a great story. What unique networking strategies
have you found most effective in the academic
and speaking worlds? Yeah. So in a speaking world,
so you said academic and speaking, I started
in speaking space. So speaking, I would say one
of the things that I've done is make sure that
I've been intentional about getting into certain
circles with other speakers that align with my
value system. Right. So we share a similar mindset,
passion for what we do, who we are, our families,
you know, how we carry and conduct ourselves.
Excuse me. And I'm very intentional about spending
time with them in person. So not just virtually,
but actually getting together in person as I'm
down in the Atlanta based area myself. And one
of the reasons why I make that commute and go
back and forth is because I really value the
relationships with other speakers that I'm in
community with. And I believe that's helped me
tremendously because they say you are who you
spend time with, right? They say your friends
are a reflection of who you are and who you want
to become. If my friends are a reflection of
who I am and who I want to become, I need to
make sure that I'm spending time with the right
group of people as a professional speaker. Academically,
I just try to make sure I go to the conferences
that are going to have educators. in the building
that I know could benefit off of my message,
my heart, my passion for the work that I do?
And more importantly, it's service -based. I
want to know how I can serve them, right? Because
that's what's the most important thing to me.
How can I help them help these students? Because
that's where my heart really lies. Okay. And
on that same level, on that same line, how does
networking play a role in fostering the character
development among students? Yeah, I think it's
everything, right? Networking in terms of fostering
an environment for character development, because
I feel like for students and educators themselves,
right? Peer influence, right? As my pastor, Dr.
Darius Daniels said, whoever has your ear has
your heart. So I want to make sure that the students
are spending time with other students that can
influence them in the right direction. The same
thing to educators, like teacher burnout is real.
And I speak to that all the time. I want to make
sure that teachers are spending time with other
educators that, you know, can motivate them,
can influence them in a positive way to help
them reignite their passion for why they do what
they do, because it's necessary, right? We all
face opposition adversity. Now it's a matter
of are you around the right people that can help
you get to the other side of it? Because we're
all going to experience it, but we need a community
of people around us that can help us overcome
it. Absolutely. My daughter -in -law is a teacher
and she is very close to burning out almost every
day. So I know. OK, so in what ways can networking
contribute to building resilience in aspiring
speakers, inspiring educators? Yeah, great question.
I think, again, when you're in community with
people that are resilient, I think it helps you
understand and see what it looks like. Because,
listen, we all are either going through a storm,
we're in a storm, right? Or we just got out of
a storm, right? So if you're in community with
people, they're in the same situation. If you're
walking with another educator in academia and
you see this, listen, they just went through
this. They didn't give up. They were resilient.
Then you too can be resilient. Like I shared
a story. It's hard for me to talk about it. But
when I was young, my grandmother. was in a relationship
with my biological grandfather, and he was physically
abusive to her, right? And I remember one day,
I was eating breakfast at the table when I was
young. I was in elementary school. And I remember
that my grandfather got upset with my grandmother,
and he struck her in the face, right? He struck
her in the face. And when he struck her in the
face, Mike, her tooth came out. Her tooth came
out, and it slid under the radiator in the kitchen.
I'll never forget this. And she was crying. I'm
sure you can imagine the emotions that she felt.
She definitely didn't deserve to be struck, to
be hit, no matter how upset he was. But I remember
this, Mike. I remember my grandmother going upstairs.
And surely I thought to myself, she's going to
go upstairs and she's not going to come back
down. She went upstairs. She gathered herself
and composed herself. And she got dressed and
she came back downstairs. And she went to that
school to actually teach those children. And
it was because of her level of commitment and
resiliency. That was amazing to me. That's amazing.
It really is. And no, first of all, no child
should have to go through that watching their
parents, grandparents or whatever, because there's
no reason in the world why one should strike
the other. But it must have had such an effect
on you being that you were so young and that
you had so much respect for your grandmother.
Yeah. OK, how have you leveraged your network
to promote academic success in your programs?
Yeah, how have I leveraged my network? Yes. One
of the things I do is so obviously I have a coaching
program now. So obviously that gives me an opportunity
to network with speakers that come through my
program that are aspiring speakers. And one of
the things that we try to do is we try to often
go into different schools or after school programs,
different nonprofits. And we really try to share
our message collectively at times, right, as
a network of individuals. Everybody has their
own unique story, right? Mike, your story is
your story. My story is my story. You're one
of one. I don't have the same story that you
have. But if we can collaborate and if we can
go into schools together and share our stories,
then think about the power of that. These students,
you can have 400 or 500 students. They don't
just get to see me. They get to see me. They
get to see you plus our colleagues. So networking
is powerful. Because it really gives students
an opportunity to be exposed to not just one
person, but a multitude of people. Listen, you
know me and what I speak about and how important
I feel that networking is. Because if you walk
into a room or if you're meeting somebody one
-on -one, you're picking up a vibe from the person
or a vibe from the room. And it's so very important.
I've walked into rooms and I've had such a bad
vibe, I walked out. because I don't want to get
involved with something distasteful, to be honest
about it. But it's so very important. How do
you measure the impact that you've had with the
students, with the educational students? Yeah,
I think the way that I measure the impact with
students is simply this. Students are real, Mike.
Like, they are real. You're going to know if
you have an impact in their lives or not immediately
right thereafter, for the most part. They're
going to come up to you afterwards and thank
you, ask questions. They'll want to interact
with you, engage with you. And if they don't,
then they'll probably, they'll just leave. Right.
So I think the two things that I get is feedback
right away after I'm done speaking. And then
believe it or not, there's a lot of students
that will, they may not, they may be a little
shy. That's the best way to put it. A little
shy, a little timid. And they don't want to say
anything to me afterwards. But then on social
media. They'll reach out to me and DM me and
say, thank you so much. That was powerful. That
impacted me. I admire you for what you do. You're
a role model. You name it. Those types of things.
Have you heard from that student when he had
his head down and just raised his hand and wanted
to be about you? Yeah, I went back and checked
on him a few years after. And yeah, he's doing
extremely well. He's doing extremely well. Yeah,
he's in high school now. Good. Good. It just
shows what kind of an impact you can have. This
is nowhere close to the success that you've had
with him. But when I coached baseball for about
16 years and the interaction that I had with
the children, because I had them from ages 5
through 16, and I saw an impact that I had in
school, out of school. just about the way that
they go on with their daily lives. And I've had
a few of them come back up to me afterwards and
thank me and so on and so forth. So it's that
it has a really good feeling when you change
their life. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So how about technology?
How has technology changed networking in education
and how did you adapt to it? How has technology
changed networking and education? One of the
things is the Zoom call, right? Zoom platform,
Microsoft Teams, Google Meets. It just gives
you an opportunity to connect with people. It
truly does. It gives you the opportunity to connect
with people that don't live close to you geographically,
where you still can build relationships with
them. You can understand how you can best serve
them and their community, even their students,
and do it from afar. I'll give you a quick example.
There's an educator in Connecticut. I went and
did a convocation there last year in 2024. And
it was positive feedback. They seemed to really
appreciate me coming in and sharing my story
and pouring into them. But they want me to, like,
at different times, just to, like, record something
virtually and send it to the students. Just to,
like, really to build rapport with them and let
them know, to affirm that, hey, you can become
successful in life and education is a tool. that
you're really going to need to rely on to be
successful so that's what i do periodically i'll
send them a zoom recording just encouraging them
right like literally a two to three minute video
i wouldn't be able to do that without technology
right i'm not in connecticut i'm not able to
be there but By technology, by me being able
to use technology, I'm able to not just connect
and build with those students, but that educator
has also put me in contact with other schools
in Connecticut where I virtually can impact those
scholars and be impactful with those educators
as well. So technology has served me well. It
really has. Good. Technology is what brought
us together. I'm all for it. What are the biggest
challenges? in networking within the education
sector, and how did you overcome it? What's your
biggest challenge? Yeah, what are the biggest
challenges in networking and education? I would
say really just as a professional speaker in
the educational space, the biggest challenge
is there are schools that have challenges, obstacles,
pain points that need to be addressed. I have
solutions to those problems, but they don't know
who I am. So that's where marketing comes in
place. So it's ability for me to figure out how
do I market myself using technology, right? To
market myself to them and then get myself in
certain rooms and spaces where I can network
with them, right? Because people are only going
to give you an opportunity to typically share
your message if they know you, like you, and
trust you. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. I profess
that all the time. I say that they have to know
you, like you, and trust you, then they'll do
business with you. But here's how I break it
down. If they know you, look, everybody knows
you. You're a nice guy. You're a good looking
guy. Hey, everybody knows you. Like you, that
really narrows down just a little bit because
everybody's not going to like you. But trust
you, that's a major factor. That's a major, that's
crucial. And so they know you and like you, but
they trust you. And once you gain their trust,
the world opens up to you. 100%. Yeah. Yeah,
100%. Give me your top piece of advice for listeners
to build profitable connections in education.
I'll give you some top ways to build some profitable
connections in education. All right. So I'll
say it this way. So the first thing I would say
is this. You yourself have to become a person
of value. Number one. So how does the person,
the question has been in Dr. Wright, how do I
become a person of value? You need to read and
be obsessed with mastering whatever the content
is that you want to produce to that particular
market. So if you're talking about imposter syndrome,
let's just say that, for example, you need to
be an expert in regards to imposter syndrome.
You need to master the content so that when you
speak about imposter syndrome, whoever you're
speaking to, they know that you're an expert
because they know you know what you're talking
about. All right. So if you want to network and
build, you need to be in these rooms and spaces,
but you need to know what you're talking about.
So you need to master in terms of your subject
matter expertise. That's number one. Number two,
you need to be willing to get out and go to different
places where you can actually network with people
so they can get to know you. So like we just
talked about, you have to be, you got to go to
conferences, local conferences. I'm not saying
you got to travel and fly places and spend a
bunch of money, but most states have some type
of educational conference that you can go to
and you can attend. It's fairly reasonable where
you can get in these rooms and mix and mingle
with people. So I would say that's number two.
And then the third thing I would say is you got
to have confidence in your own ability. You got
to have the confidence and the courage to be
resilient and know, like you just said, not everyone's
going to like you, but giving up is not an option.
Right. So you have to be resilient because I
think one of the things even with myself right
now, people reach out to me on a day to day basis.
Mike, honestly, there's someone always reaching
out to me on LinkedIn, Instagram for some type
of advice because they see what I'm doing right
now. But I'm like, you're looking at where I'm
currently at. Look at where I started. It's a
process and there's different levels to it. But
the quote is true. An expert at anything was
once a beginner. So we all have an origin. We
all had a starting point. It's just like a track
meet. Everybody started somewhere. So you just
can't give up. But you got to be willing to be
obsessed with learning. your craft so that when
you open your mouth and you speak, you have something
valuable to add to help out the audience, whether
that's students or educators themselves in my
space. Good. So just wrapping things up, do you
have any last words that you want to tell everybody?
Not about how to contact you or anything, just
last words regarding networking within the education
field or speaking field? Yeah. The last thing
I would say is this. If I had to say one thing,
I would say what I find to be extremely valuable,
and I know I say this to people often, and sometimes
people think you're just fluffing, Mike, but
I'm not. This is not lip service. This is from
the heart. If you really want to be successful,
in addition to the things that I spoke about,
you need to have a good mentor or coach. You
really do. And I know there's a lot of group
coaching, and that's good. Group coaching is
cool. There's nothing wrong with it. But to me,
there's a lot of value in being able to work
with someone one -on -one who can understand
you. understand what your struggles are, what
your pain points are and how they can help customize
or give, you know, the necessary advice that
you need to accelerate the process for you as
an individual. Right. And I think oftentimes
when people are starting out, they're not like
you, Mike, because I know you, I know you off
camera. I know how you think and how you function.
Most people don't do that. Most people, they
want success, but they don't want to invest in
themselves. Right. So I would say the greatest
investment you can make is investing in yourself.
Right. And we invest in so many other things
in life. We invest in cars, clothes, concerts,
vacations, but we won't invest in ourselves.
I got somebody close to me, Mike. I ain't gonna
say no names. I'm not getting in trouble. I have
somebody close to me, Mike. And she was like,
I don't have 5 ,000 or whatever it was, 8 ,000
to invest in a coaching program. I'm like, really?
But I'm like, yeah, handbags. Like you got designer
handbags. that equal $15 ,000 between the three
of them. They're like $5 ,000 a piece. And the
designer handbag can do nothing for you. How
can a bag cost more than the money you have in
the bag? It's fascinating to me. But then you
want a level of success, but you're not willing
to invest in yourself because then people go,
there's no guarantees. I guarantee you one thing.
If you keep walking around with these designer
bags, you're going to be in the same situation
you was in yesterday. Absolutely. Absolutely.
I can guarantee you that much. That's great.
That's great. Okay. Okay. Reggie, listen, if
somebody wants to contact you, either to be coached
by you or to listen to you or to know about you,
learn about you, but they just want to say hi,
how do they do it? Yeah. Yeah. Great question.
So you can find me on all social media platforms
at Dr. Reggie Wright Jr. That's Dr. Reggie Wright
Jr. That's on social media. So that's Facebook,
Instagram, and LinkedIn. My website is ReggieWrightJr
.com. ReggieWrightJr .com. And then for coaching,
please feel free to reach out to me. That's DrWrightCoaching
.com. DrWrightCoaching .com. So that's DrWrightCoaching
.com. That's great. Reggie, I can't tell you
what kind of a thrill this was for me to have
you because. Listen, you and I got together when
I first started in the business. And really,
there was a number of different avenues I could
have taken. But I felt a kinship with you, with
your background, with my background. And we came
together and I wound up here. Again, I can't
thank you enough. I can't thank you, Mike. And
listen, if there's anything that your listeners
and your viewers should take from you, and they
probably don't know this, I'm going to tell them,
is your resiliency. From day one, Your ability
to stay committed to the task because everything
in life has ebbs and flows, ups and downs. But
through it all, the one thing I can say about
you personally is I know that you have never
wavered in your commitment to continue to progress,
evolve and get better. And that's going to serve
you well, because that speaks to your character,
Mike. That speaks to your character, brother.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Reggie. All right.
And listen, I'll talk to you soon. All right.
Thanks, Mike. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go
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-E -V -V -E -D -U -P -K -I -D -S dot org. Well,
that's a wrap, folks. A huge thank you to our
special guests for sharing such incredible insights
today. And of course, a big shout out to you,
our amazing listeners, for tuning in and spending
your time with us. Remember, networking isn't
about being perfect. It's about being present.
So take what you've learned today, get out there
and make some meaningful connections. If you
enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe,
leave us a review, and share it with someone
who could use a little networking inspiration.
Let's keep the conversation going. You can find
me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or my website,
michaelaforman. Remember, until next time, keep
practicing, keep connecting, and keep building
those relationships. This is Michael A. Foreman
signing off. Take care and happy networking.