Dr. Jerry, you got the whole world waiting.
Been ready for you to start the conversation.
No point of view, we got the haters confused.
Leave it up to you to bring us all the good news.
Positive vibes and the sex appeal to Dr. Andre Jerry.
Can I get an interview?
You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you.
Hello, everybody.
Good evening, and thank you for tuning in
to a brand new episode of Live with Dr. Andre Jerry.
I'm excited to return to the show after a two-month hiatus,
and I appreciate you hanging in there with me
and supporting this show.
I'm currently broadcasting live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
where the local time is 3.05 a.m.
I want to wish all of my Arabic friends
a Happy Eid al-Adha,
which is a religious holiday here in Saudi Arabia,
but is celebrated and observed by Muslims throughout the world.
So Eid Mubarak.
Special shout out to my family and friends
who are tuning in from stateside and abroad,
and congratulations to my friend Ed Narvaez,
who recently graduated and completed his residency
in anesthesiology at Downstate Health Sciences University.
Ed, I'm so proud of you, and again, congratulations.
Lastly, but certainly not least,
shout out to Oscar and Mary and my extended family
in Oweri, Nigeria.
I love you guys and support,
I appreciate your support for the show.
Now listen, we have another fantastic show
in store for you this evening.
Tonight's episode features a gentleman
that I recently became familiar with over the past year or so
via social media,
and recently we were able to connect,
learn about each other,
and discover that there were some common interests
and parallels in our career trajectory
in both the public sector and the private sector,
and also our entrepreneurial activities as well.
So I mean, you wanna talk about someone
who is a wealth of knowledge
and has a myriad of experiences
over the course of their career to glean from,
and certainly this gentleman.
So I was extremely excited
when he accepted my invitation to the show
to talk about his life and experiences
and give us some valuable insights
into personal and professional development.
And so I promised I wouldn't do a long bio for this episode,
so let me just touch on some of the highlights.
Tonight's guest is a former military officer,
published author, executive leadership coach,
keynote speaker, martial arts instructor,
and a self-described nature enthusiast.
His life work has been dedicated to helping others
in their journey to become the best version of themselves.
Please help me welcome to the show,
my mentor, Mr. Reggie Bullock.
Reggie, welcome to the show.
Shukran Siddique, Assalamualaikum Wa Aalikom,
Assalamualaikum Wa Aalikom,
Wa Aalikom to you, to you, to you.
Thank you very much, Dr. Jerry.
Yes, sir, and thank you for helping me appreciate
the effectiveness of a short bio.
I think all of my listeners are thanking you right now
because I didn't spend 10 minutes of the show on your bio.
So thanks for that,
and I will definitely use the short bio approach
for future shows.
Appreciate it.
Yes, sir, so let's go ahead and get started.
So tonight's show is intended to, of course,
introduce you and your work to our audience
and discuss leadership development
and personal development,
and provide some encouragement and inspiration
to our listeners that can help them achieve
their version of success.
But first, if you don't mind,
start by sharing with our listeners
a little bit about yourself and your background.
Well, I've come from Philadelphia,
from the hood, the projects, Richard Allen projects,
and a single parent mom, latchkey kid.
You know, we were that family on welfare at times
and struggled with my brother,
and I was able to see opportunities
and go after opportunities.
And so at age six, I started watching car windows,
and years later, I started to develop other talents,
sewing and DJing and other things to make money.
And then finally, I ended up in the Air Force,
and the trajectory just took off
because I was excited about learning.
And I was enlisted, and I was an officer.
I retired from the Air Force after 30 years,
went to KPMG and retired from there,
went to the Department of Commerce,
and left there to go into consulting
or back into consulting,
and then I decided to hang my own shingle.
So it's kind of a thumbnail
without going into all of the education and everything else.
Wow, well, you've certainly had an impressive career,
especially military career.
Was it always your plan to enlist in the military,
or how did that come about?
My mother and the recruiter pulled a coup on me.
I was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology
in New York, came home for Thanksgiving,
and she said, you should take this test.
So I took a test and then went back to school,
came home for the Christmas holiday,
and said, you passed the test.
And the recruiter was asking me what I want to do
if I came in, and I said weapons.
And so he said, we could do that.
And meanwhile, my grades were not good in college,
and my mother needed me to come home to help her with,
you know, she was having a history record with me.
So it was just timing.
I said yes, and I came back home
and was in the delayed enlistment program,
and later went into the Air Force.
And so it kind of happened by accident.
Wow.
So that's a little similar to my story.
I enlisted in the Air Force as well,
right after high school.
And I was just so not a leader during that time.
And I was being a follower and wanted to be like my friends
who were going in different branches
of the military, army, and so forth.
So I enlisted trying to be like them.
And I remember taking that ASVAB.
I'm not sure if that's what they still call it,
but I took the ASVAB and I scored relatively high in there.
And so they wanted to put me in an admin position
once I graduated from basic training.
So, you know, I'm familiar with that test
and that whole process.
So one of the things that I mentioned in our,
sorry, I lost my thought,
but one of the things I mentioned in is
that we have some parallels in our career trajectory.
You mentioned that you spent some time in Saudi Arabia
on an assignment as well.
How long were you here?
And did you like living in the Middle East at all?
Yes, I got out of the Air Force after I received my degree
because the grand rutting bill said
I could not become an office.
So I took a contract with McDonald Douglas
to go teach the Royal Air Force,
the weapon systems of the F-15 aircraft.
I took my wife and two children with me.
We lived on a compound in Khamishmishay.
And we were there for three years.
And I had a ball.
I had so many friends over there.
I learned Arabic, I learned how to read and write it
and speak it.
And I lived amongst them in many respects
because I didn't have the rules that the military had
that restricted me.
So I could go wherever I want, do whatever I want.
And I loved it.
The food was great, the people were friendly,
and I made a lot of money.
Then I came back home.
Yeah.
Yeah, same here.
I love it in Saudi Arabia.
I love the structure.
I love the climate.
I really love the hot weather.
The only thing I don't like about being out here
is that I can't get alcohol.
But you'll get over that after a while.
One thing I wanted to ask you is do you...
I wanted to go over to the other country.
I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.
I said you can easily go over to the other countries
that are very close by the Middle Eastern countries.
I can't do that myself.
Yeah, you can, you can.
I prefer easy access for my alcohol.
But yeah, if you definitely that hard up for a drink,
you definitely can take a short trip.
It's not that big of a deal.
But do you still feel like enlisting in the military
is a great career path for young adults?
Or would you sort of steer them in a different direction?
Well, it depends on what you come to the table with.
So many of my friends, we had nothing.
I mean, I was illiterate to be honest with you,
and dyslexic.
So my social circle, we were excited to get anything.
And enlisting was an opportunity,
a big opportunity to get out of Philadelphia
and go see the world and experience
so many different things,
as well as get trained and mentored.
And so it was just incredible to be able to have
those opportunities.
And going back to Philadelphia and seeing friends
who I grew up with,
who did not take advantage of any of those types
of opportunities, they didn't move as fast.
Their trajectory was not there.
And to some extent, they're still kind of in that time warp.
So I think even now, many young people
who don't have any other options
can still enlist in the military and do well.
I mean, I became an officer after I got my degree
and some other things.
And so the opportunities are great.
I still think so.
Yeah, it's just a matter of what you make of it
and your mindset once you get into the military
is definitely gonna make a big difference.
So yeah, I still think it's a great career path,
particularly if you're not 100% sure what your vocation
or your interest is vocationally.
So it's just something to always encourage
for young people if they're not quite sure
what they wanna do, it's a great way to get some structure
and get some discipline.
Now, given the generational gap that exists
between yourself and some of the younger audiences
that you speak with, what is your mechanism
for connecting with young people?
So for one, I've been DJing since 1974
and I've kept up with the music and I still DJ.
So I am a little familiar with the culture
and I listen to them and I listen to many of them.
I tell people on Capitol Hill,
26 year olds were on Capitol Hill.
So often as we get older, we have a tendency
to not listen as much to those who we feel we're senior to.
But they have experiences as well
and they have walked their journey,
even if they're only 15 years old,
they have seen and done things
that I have never seen done.
So I have to give them the courtesy
to at least listen to them.
And while listening to them, I'm learning from them.
And therein lies how I'm able to connect with them
because I do have a lot of experience
and there are parallels to some of the things
that I've done and at some point in the career path,
and at some point in the communication, we connect.
Understood.
Is that the demographic that you enjoy speaking to the most
or do you enjoy speaking more to your peers
or what's your preference?
Humans, it doesn't matter.
Humans.
I will speak to eighth graders.
I will speak to military.
I do speak to CEOs and directors and presidents and SESs,
military officers, strategic planners, IT,
environment, medical, legal, it doesn't matter.
At the end of the day, they're just human beings
like everybody else.
And to the extent that I'm able to help them,
particularly as an executive leadership coach,
I can help them navigate their journey
to becoming the best version of themselves.
So I don't have a preference.
I mean, they're human.
I understand.
So I wanna ask you about your martial arts.
How long have you been involved in that?
Has it been since a teenager or young adult
or when did you start that?
Yeah, I started when I was around 12.
I was one of those Bruce Lee disciples, right?
So 45 years of martial arts, six different styles.
I'm a fourth degree black belt,
heavyweight champion of Maryland twice.
So I still do it.
I'm still current.
I still teach and maintain my capabilities.
Wow, I wanted to get involved with martial arts
and karate when I was younger,
but my parents wouldn't allow it.
We were, I grew up Jehovah's Witness.
So everything was not wrong,
but worldly is the word that we use.
So I wasn't able to participate.
I just pretended in my room to be a martial artist,
but definitely something that I kind of wish
I got involved in in the early age.
Cause I think it would have got me a lot more disciplined
because the discipline came later when I joined the military
and then also when I got in college.
But growing up, I was a little bit wild.
So I think that would have helped
to calm me down a great bit.
Did it do the same for you?
Well, I needed it, right?
I lived amongst gangsters and drug dealers and all of that.
So martial arts to me was a necessity.
You were gonna fight on.
It's just a matter of whether you're gonna lose or win.
So the more martial arts I learned
and the more confidence I had in my abilities,
you know, the less I would lose.
But in terms of the discipline and the focus
and all of those elements that go along
with learning martial arts,
that's a journey for anyone.
And that journey did happen for me.
It's still happening for me.
And I have promoted so many students
that it's happened for them.
And I've seen tremendous growth in many people
to include myself in terms of discipline.
I mean, as a fourth degree black belt now,
I've reached a mindset in my chi
where it's the art of not fighting.
Just because I can punch through five or six boards
and break concrete slabs,
now the art is to not do it, right?
And to just have that sense of calm
and control over my energy.
And emotions, yeah.
Yes.
So you've written several books,
Father to Son is I think your first book
and then you have two books
in the Pursuit of Greatness series
and then your latest,
Becoming the Best Version of Yourself.
And you know, as a published author myself,
I understand how it is with your first book.
You know, that's the one that's nearest
and dearest to your heart.
Can you talk about the impetus
behind your first book, Father to Son?
I just started on Audible yesterday.
And really have been enjoying it so far.
Yes, ironically, I wrote it while I was in Saudi Arabia.
And there were-
Oh, wow.
Several, I wanna say incidences
that I might have lost my life.
And I wanted to write a letter to my son
in the event I was no longer on the planet.
That he would at least have words from his father
and he would be able to be raised
vicariously by a man and not just a woman,
you know, because I had a single parent mother
and never met my dad.
So I wanted to make sure he at least had that.
So 56,000 words later,
a few people who helped me to edit it
convinced me to turn it into a book.
But in that book,
it initially just had its name all in the book
because I was talking directly to him.
So I changed all of that.
And the book took on a life of its own.
But that's the impetus of the book.
It was a letter, not a book.
Wow.
Well, I mean, I'm not really into it.
I would probably like maybe the first or second chapter,
but so far it's a great read.
And also the person that you have reading,
you're not reading it yourself,
but the narrator is doing a great job with it.
I think I've heard him on some other books as well
that I've listened to on Audible.
So I definitely would recommend Father to Son
is a great read so far.
How did that kind of lead into your other books?
Did this kind of whet your appetite for becoming an author
and, you know, the books just poured out from that point?
So, yes, the books poured out,
but it didn't whet my appetite.
But it didn't whet my appetite at that point.
The Horn and the Halo, my brother actually wrote it.
My brother, he was one of those geniuses
who read the encyclopedia from A to Z
by the time he finished elementary school
and ended up in MIT.
Well, throughout high school and into college,
he was writing this book called The Horn and the Halo,
a fascinating story.
It's fictional characters in it.
And in his third semester,
he hung himself in his dorm room.
And in his letter, he wrote that he left his book behind
and it was pretty good.
So I made an unspoken promise that one day,
if I could, I would finish the book.
And that was basically take it and give it an ending.
And as time moved on, my mother passed away,
so I figured it won't be so emotional to her
if I were to take up the project.
And I did and decided I was going to publish this book.
And I did.
And so that's kind of how that book came to be.
Your last book becoming the best version of yourself.
No, that's The Horn and the Halo.
And then after that, I had already started something
of a book.
You're an author, so you start writing.
And the titles may change a couple of times.
The chapters start to take on a life of their own.
And you're just going through that whole messy process
of trying to find your zone.
And I ended up locking in on it's all about the hustle.
And that was because I wanted to write another book called
Father the Son, kind of part two to that,
because years had passed.
But I also have a daughter.
And I didn't want to just be so biased that it's
for a young man or for my son or for males.
I wanted it to be for everybody to include my daughter.
So that book was the type of book
that without proper guidance, I had to figure out
how to make money and feed myself.
I had to hustle to earn everything
that I've ever achieved.
And so all of those experiences, philosophies, and how to grow,
I put into that book because so many people need that.
So that's how that book came to be.
Now becoming the best version of yourself.
So I am a keynote speaker.
And my agent and I were talking.
And we have weekly meetings.
And somehow I said that.
And she wrote it down.
And she said, that's good.
I said, what do you mean?
I said, what?
She said, becoming, not becoming,
I think we called it something else.
But anyway, becoming the best version of yourself.
And I thought about it and thought about it.
And then one night at 3 AM, I woke up
thinking about writing it as a speech as opposed to a book.
And then as I started writing out the top tracks for a speech,
that's when it hit me that this is powerful.
I need to think through many chapters
and then turn it into a book.
And that's kind of how I got started.
So I was able to publish two books in one year.
Wow.
Wow, wow.
So when you're writing your books, because what I do
is I have several concepts for books.
And then I write on a little bit of it.
And then I'll go to another idea.
Do you stay with one concept before you
move on to the next one?
Or do you kind of toggle back and forth?
What's your process when you're writing?
I'm all over the place because I don't really
understand all of the things in my head yet.
So I just get them out.
And to some extent, I'm not even really
thinking about writing a book.
I'm thinking about communicating a thought.
And so I just communicate thoughts.
And then those thoughts end up becoming chapters.
And then at some point, I decide to put energy
into organizing the chapters.
And I may write down 30-plus headings
and then try to start writing specifically
to those subheadings of the chapters.
And then, of course, start looping and grouping them.
And some of the things that sound familiar,
I'll start merging them.
And then that's how the book starts to really evolve.
And then at some point, when I'm able to see it,
because the book starts to speak to you,
it starts to reveal itself to you.
And at some point, when that really happens
and I'm able to see the bigness of it,
and to some extent, the end, then I get serious.
And now I want to write for 10 hours a day
and just get it done.
And so that's when I'm writing seven days a week
and all hours of the night, early in the morning,
because all of the thoughts are in my head.
And I got to get them out.
Right, I understand.
I understand.
My process with writing, normally, I
come up with the title first.
And then sort of the chapter headings title pop in my head.
And I kind of jot down ideas from there.
So I'm very methodical in my approach to writing books.
And if it's poetry, I'll get a title in my head
or something based off of emotion, usually.
And then I'll kind of write it from there.
So it's typically the same methodical process with me.
But with all of the things that you
are involved with, with your books and your keynote speaking
and your other entrepreneurial activity,
what is your approach to maintaining a balanced lifestyle
with this demanding career of yours
and your variety of interests?
And how does it impact your ability to stay effective?
So my approach is joy, peace, and happiness.
Every day, I must have joy, peace, and happiness.
And anything gets in the way of that, I get it out of the way.
So it's more than an approach, really.
It's requiring my joy, peace, and happiness.
And therefore, I try to do things I enjoy
and weed out the things I don't enjoy.
So while doing the things that I enjoy, I end up mastering them.
And they become that varied interest that people talk about.
And so I'm able to do a lot of things because I like it.
And I do it to the level that I can master it.
And I will say, I do cheat, right?
And here's how I cheat.
Outlook.
I put everything on the calendar because there's
so many things I got going on that I cannot remember.
And so I have various tactics, techniques, and procedures.
I throw everything into Outlook.
And in the notes section, it's full, too.
So I don't forget anything.
The other thing is I maximize my 1,440 minutes.
So every day, we get 1,140 minutes.
And so some of it, we sleep through, right?
So regardless, that's all we get.
But we get it every day.
So I try to maximize it.
And therefore, I'm just extremely effective personally.
And I have fun while I'm doing it.
And that's the other part.
The things that I do, I have fun.
I enjoy it.
So I don't look at it as a mess or as busy
as some people may see it.
Because to me, it's just having fun.
Understood.
And in your requirement for joy, peace, and happiness,
how do you maintain that?
Is it meditation?
What's your practice?
For one, I've reached a certain level of awareness
and understanding of the environment, people, energy,
life, the world, politics, all of that.
And I am able to see things for what they really are.
Sometimes.
And I don't know if you're familiar with the magic eye
picture where you look at it and it's 2D.
And then you look even more.
And all of a sudden, you look into a three-dimensional.
And it's hard to do.
And so I can see that kind of stuff.
And therefore, I choose to not engage when I don't need to.
I choose to control my energy.
I choose to allow folks in my life or not.
I choose to listen to positive and not the negatives.
So the power of choice, and I talk about that in my book,
is one of our most powerful powers.
But we don't know we have it.
And the part that I said I've reached
a certain level of awareness, part of that
is discovering the fact that one of my most powerful powers
is my power of choice.
And so to that extent, I'm able to maintain my joy, peace,
and happiness because I'm in control of myself
and nobody else is.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Well, I definitely agree with that.
For me, I have to use meditation.
I'm not quite there yet with making sure
that I'm keeping all of my energy clear.
But meditation definitely sets me on the right path
if I start my day out with that.
I find if I go straight to my email or even look at my phone
before I do meditation, then it's going to throw me off.
I have to get that meditation piece in first.
So I definitely understand what you mean with that.
But listen, we're going to take a quick break
so we can get into the next segment.
But when we return, we're going to continue
this enlightening conversation with our guest, Reggie Bullock.
Everyone stay tuned.
We'll be right back.
Waves of sadness from out of nowhere.
Instantly, you feel a weight of despair,
a subtle heaviness that leaves you drained,
and a lingering loneliness that remains.
Suddenly, there is no reason to smile.
And then you become angry for a while,
lashing out at anyone near, especially the ones
you hold dear, imprisoned by your own emotions,
unsettled by the lack of control.
Trying to make sense of it all, meanwhile, it takes its toll.
Distancing yourself from family, pushing your friends away,
knowing in your heart that maybe you'll
need their support one day.
As your despondency becomes palpable and more real,
you find it difficult to express how you feel.
So you become quiet and do your best to disguise it.
But there is no denying it.
There is something wrong, because nothing you do feels right.
The sadness is overwhelming.
But you're too angry to cry.
Deep into the pit of self-pity, you're hurled,
where you realize you're not depressed.
You're mad at the world.
This poem, written by Dr. Andre Jerry,
is entitled Mad at the World, from his literary debut,
Write or Die, Expressions of Life, Love, and Loss, Volume 1,
available exclusively on Amazon and Kindle.
Write or Die is more than just a collection of poetry.
It's a lifestyle, a call to action to its readers,
to consider expressive writing, such as poetry,
as a catalyst for healing, growth, and change.
Write or Die assists the reader in a way
that's relative to them and helps
to identify their own emotions.
Each expression is poetically written in an eloquent style
that's helpful to the reader.
For each expressed title motivates in a personal way,
providing pure insight and introspection.
Having triumphed over his own trauma and adversity,
Dr. Andre Jerry has proven how powerful expressive writing
can be to the healing process.
If you're feeling stuck in an emotional state that's
keeping you from achieving your highest potential,
consider expressive writing as a tool
to help identify and release negative thoughts.
Purchase your copy of Write or Die, Expressions of Life, Love,
and Loss, Volume 1, by Dr. Andre Jerry,
available exclusively on Amazon and Kindle.
["I'M GOING BACK TO SOTTY, SOTTY, SOTTY"]
Can't take it, taking me a break from all the Tito's I've been drinking
Spending all my dimes on that black box wine
Cause I'm tryna keep these hatin' ass niggas off my mind
I'm flying first class, don't need a buddy pass
Just a diplomatic pass, or to get me through the airport
I'm chilling at the lounge, they never keep me waiting
Keep pouring them drinks till I reach my destination
I'm going back to Saudi, Saudi, Saudi
I'm going back to Saudi, baby tell me not to
I'm going back to Saudi, Saudi, Saudi
I'm going back to Saudi, baby tell me not to
I'm going back to Saudi, it's like my second home
The Arabs are exotic, I can't leave them alone
They like the taste of chocolate, sexy, erotic
And if you like the finer things than money, ain't no object
I'm going back to Saudi, Saudi, Saudi
I'm going back to Saudi, baby tell me not to
I'm going back to Saudi, just in the nick of time
I'll party with the Saudis at the end of Ramadan
And when they own that shisha, it's nice to meet ya
So let's go do our thing while we sip Saudi champagne
I'm going back to Saudi, Saudi, Saudi
I'm going back to Saudi, baby tell me not to
If I meet a sheik, I may never come home
Just give me a week, I just might show my camel toe
I'm going back to Saudi, Saudi, Saudi
I'm going back to Saudi, baby tell me not to
I'm going back to Saudi, Saudi, Saudi
I'm going back to Saudi.
Baby, I'm in Saudi.
You're back live with Dr. Andre Giri.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the show.
So if you're just joining us, we've been talking to keynote speaker and published author Reggie Bullock.
And before the break, we were talking a little bit about meditation.
And even during the break, we were talking a little bit about meditation as well and how it's not always just sitting in silence in a chair.
You know, there are active meditations that we can do like hiking and fishing.
And Reggie, can you touch on that a little bit for our audience, please?
Certainly.
There are so many mindfulness or mindful moments that a person can do to just be present in the moment.
And sometimes meditation helps you to just be present in the moment.
And when we as coaches coach our clients, we often do something to allow them to be present in the moment before and after the session.
And so hiking allows you to be with Mother Nature and fresh air and it just allows nature to help you to just get centered.
And fishing, right?
Fishing is a single act in many respects.
You're not thinking about television or laptops or business or work.
You're just tossing that line in and hoping you get something on it.
And so there are so many different things, you know, climbing and even skiing, right?
You know, it is so quiet sometimes when you're on the ski lift or when you're skiing down the slope.
And it's just you with yourself.
So meditation can take on so many different forms.
And as a martial artist before and after class, we often meditate and breathe.
And I tell people it's nothing like a fresh breath of oxygen to settle you down.
So part of it is definitely breathing.
Yes. Yes.
And to your point about fishing, I talked with you about this during the break a little bit.
But the last time I tried fishing, I was probably about 15 or 16 years old.
My dad took me out on a I think it was Lake Lanier or something like that.
I don't know.
But I just remember just being miserable.
Fishing was just I was just too antsy at that time and it just wasn't enjoyable.
I think, you know, at 43, I think I could appreciate it a little bit more.
But back then I was just antsy.
I was skipping rocks.
The other guys that were fishing were fussing at my dad.
Hey, your son is gearing to fish away.
So it was just not a good experience.
But I'm open to trying it again.
And the hiking.
Yeah, I've tried that once or twice.
I do like that.
I like the aerobic challenge to it.
But I never considered that to be a form of meditation.
But if you're because I went with a group of people, so you're going to be talking the whole time.
But if you're out there, you know, on your own or even with someone else and they are using it as a form of meditation as well,
I can see how that could be, you know, something that's useful in terms of meditation.
So open to trying that out and seeing how that how that helps.
But I'm going to switch over and talk about your career a little bit more.
You do have a background in strategic intelligence.
Can you just talk about or have you talk about how this kind of plays into your approach to coaching and to leadership development?
OK, so strategic intelligence, it's interesting because it's a master's degree.
So with that, my background has a lot to do with the big picture, deep thinking, top secret military environment, right?
On a global scale.
And so that's my master's degree training to the extent that I'm a coach that I coach military leaders and commanders and other people in that space.
I help them to strategize a mission plan and compartmentalize and see themselves and all that kind of stuff.
But for CEOs, directors, business owners, managers and other leaders who do not operate in that space, they still receive a similar approach.
And from a strategic element, you know, in the military, we talk about strategic, operational and tactical.
And so strategy is the vision and it's coming up with a plan and it's being able to come up with a realistic plan that you can actually execute.
So when I'm talking about strategic intelligence, it's how deep can they think about their plan to go after the bigness of the vision that they can actually execute an area in my book.
I always talk about doing the doing right. So many people want to stay at the high level in the government. Everybody's in need.
You know, this is at the high level. You hear that word like overused 100 times a day. High level.
Yeah. But from a strategic perspective, they're still not getting anything done. Right.
And so I'm about doing the doing. So when I deal with strategy, especially with an intelligence background, what's the action we're going to do and what's the timeline to complete the action so that we achieve the strategy?
So as a coach, that's where I hone in on with my clients so that they can accomplish something other than rhetoric. And, you know, that happens a lot. People talk a lot.
But where is the results? So and when I talk with my sales folks, because I coach a lot of folks in sales, I'm actually coaching a team that's a global sales team for AWS.
And, you know, I get pretty aggressive with them because they have large targets to go after. And, you know, they'll talk and talk and talk. But I'm like, okay, you know, what's the strategy and how you going to execute it?
So that's that's where I focus on with my clients in that space.
With your sales clients, what are some of the issues that you're seeing with those types of clients that are causing them to not be so successful in their sales career?
I hate to say this, but a lot of them don't know what you're doing. Right. So they got the job however they got it, but they're not achieving anything because the environment of sales or consulting or business capture or business development.
I mean, it's a context for it. It's not what you see from the outside looking in. And so it's a cool title and they make a lot of money. But to close deals, that's real work. And that's what it really comes down to. And a lot of people just don't know how to do it.
They don't have the experience to do it. They thought that because they had the gift of gab that they can sell. But that's that's two different things.
Being able to talk and being able to close deals are two different things. And so what I coach them in is first come into reality that the skill sets that they need to close deals each quarter needs to be developed.
And also their leaders, their managers and their directors, I tell them you need to be training these folks because a lot of times their leadership doesn't even know what they're doing.
Right. And so they got in that position. But however they got there, but you should be able to coach, develop and train and educate your support and just to do the things you need them to do if you're good at.
So the first step is to level set the reality of what they know how to do and what they don't know how to do and then start filling in the gaps.
Right. I've always admired anyone that's in the sales profession because I'm an introvert. I shared this with you when we spoke a couple of weeks ago.
But it isn't sales is not for the faint of heart. You really have to engage in an aggressive way if you're a salesman.
So, you know, I admire that. I wish I had that that skill set. But, you know, it's just it's something I would have to work extremely hard at to perfect.
I want to ask you about this, this whole theory of what do you feel about working on a person's weakness?
Are you one of the people that think that you can turn a weakness into a strength or do you think that you can only mitigate your weakness to an extent?
What are your thoughts on that?
Well, I mean, I think that human beings have so much more capacity than we realize, but it all starts with your desire.
So, in many cases, what we consider a weakness may just be inexperienced and not necessarily a weakness. They've never experienced it before.
Right. You know, they've never been in that environment. They never lived in Saudi Arabia. They did not work on Capitol Hill.
And so their interactions with high level people, I hate using that word, actually with people in leadership positions may have been few.
And as a result, they don't know certain things. So what we call weaknesses is not always a weakness.
And so as a coach, I help to identify, first of all, what are your gaps? It's not a weakness. It's just not a strength.
And we have a tendency to think that if you're not strong in something, then the polar opposite is you're weak in it.
That's not true. It's just you're not strong. So it's just like going to the gym. All right.
I know people who can bench press 250 and 350 pounds, but there are other people that can go in there can't even bench press 150.
That doesn't make them weak. They've not trained as long as that other person to achieve those goals and objectives.
If they train and do all the things they supposed to do and eat right within a year or so, they will be bench pressing 250, 350.
And so what they did was they put the work in to achieve the objectives. Right.
It's kind of like the big huge guys I see in the gym. I've been doing like pull ups basically since basic training.
So I can I can do 20 or more without stopping. And sometimes they come over to me, man, I wish I could do that.
I can barely get to 10 or I can barely get to five. I'm thinking I'm looking at them. They're like huge.
I mean, I'm more of a slender bill. So but to your point, it's all of what you work. You know, they do a lot of powerlifting.
But for them to try to do a pull up is a completely different set of muscles. So I definitely understand your point about that.
You talked about Capitol Hill a lot in your time there. You spent some considerable time in the in the political arena.
How have the experiences at Capitol Hill kind of change your understanding or informed your understanding of leadership and in the work that you do today?
Yeah, my time on the Hill was so much fun. I worked so hard and I have respect for everybody up there.
I mean, you know, CNN and C-SPAN doesn't do justice to the work ethic behind everybody,
no matter what their political party is, because they come to work sometimes at 5 a.m. and they don't leave until 1 a.m.
And they work there for their constituents. And so I was a congressional fellow and Congressman Trent Franks's office of Phoenix, Arizona for one year,
while also going to Georgetown for my certification in legislative affairs.
And during that time, I learned a lot about leadership and I watched him. I sat in almost every hearing for the House Armed Services Committee
and got a chance to be in the back rooms with many leaders. I was part of the team that helped to stand up the Congressional Missile Caucus.
So I got a chance to see leaders work. And then I transitioned to be the Air Force Senate legislative liaison, basically the middleman between the Air Force and the Senate.
And I did that for two and a half years after. And doing CODELS, which is a congressional delegation where I may take 10 or 15 Congress people all over the country or the world,
I'm on private jets with them and I'm there. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I traveled back and forth to California with her as her escort on an Air Force jet,
where she and I were the only ones on the aircraft as opposed to, you know, we had the pilots. But you get to see, you get to hear, you get to talk to them.
Senator Obama, I had the opportunity to show him some things we had out there in Colorado at NORAD and Peterson Air Force Base and talk with him and learn from him and just really one on one, man to man, have that experience.
So the opportunity, you know, I grew up in the projects and I never saw anything. I mean, we barely had a television, let alone the ability to go beyond our neighborhood.
So I wasn't exposed to anything like that. And now I'm on Capitol Hill and I'm traveling the world regularly and being exposed to world leaders in the room.
You get to study them. And one of the things that I learned and it kind of hit me when when I escorted Muhammad Ali during the inauguration onto the dais, here's the greatest man, the goat. Right.
And, you know, now, you know, he is doing so much work, even though medically, you know, he has challenges mentally. He was still there.
And so, you know, what? We're just humans. You know, I was privileged to be around these leaders. But as I became a coach, I learned in hindsight, 2020, just because you are in a leadership position doesn't mean you are near.
And so now that's absolutely true.
And so a lot of that is my reflection on so many experiences on the Hill and the Air Force around the general officers.
You know, they're still human beings at the end of the day, and they have the same challenges that most human beings have.
And just because they're in a leadership position, you know, to include four stars, right, doesn't mean that they're real leaders.
And to me, and one of the things I tell all of my clients is people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. That's leadership.
If you don't care about your people, and they don't know that you care about them, then what are you doing? And so anyway, the tangent, but that's my thought on my experience, not just in on Capitol Hill, but leadership.
No, that's good stuff. And on the topic of leadership, do you feel like servant leadership is still something that's important or, you know, because we see different books and theories and things of leadership.
And I remember late 90s, early 2000s, servant leadership was one of the big trends that everyone was jumping on.
Do you feel that's something that's still beneficial or do you think we've moved past or beyond that whole servant leadership theory?
So the short answer is yes, it's still beneficial. I also went to Liberty University for a few semesters, working on my PhD in leadership until I decided to stop.
There are, you know, servant leadership is one authoritarian, you know, there's seven of them. And then, you know, by now, maybe 11. So these are titles. These are titles.
And people write books to your point, and they'll come up with a term or title, and then they'll fill it in with a lot of words, you know, kind of like we do chat.
So servant leadership is one of the words or titles that they've come up with. But people have been doing service leadership for a long time. And just because it's a title doesn't mean other people are going to do it.
I think all types of styles of leadership are necessary at different times. It depends on the situation. You cannot be a servant leader 24 7.
And the situation doesn't call for that, and they call for something else. And so it requires you to be a whole leader, not just a servant leader, but a leader.
I understand that. I understand that. I want to talk about something else. You have a certification in emotional intelligence and the Myers-Briggs type indicator.
What insights can you share from these methodologies that might be beneficial to those listening in this evening?
Well, MBTI, Myers-Briggs talks about the 16 different types of people. You know, I'm an ENTJ.
And for anyone out there who understands Myers-Briggs or have had the test, you know, you have four different letters, and I don't want to go too deep into that.
But what it does, it allows you to understand how different people are to yourself.
So, you know, we don't always appreciate the diversity of others because we think we're the smartest, we're the best.
And, you know, because, you know, I'm loud and I like to talk and I like to, you know, be on stage.
That means that anybody that's not like me is less than me. Well, that's not true. It's how we process information.
So, Myers-Briggs helps people to understand themselves and it helps them to understand others.
And it helps them to understand the benefit of the diversity that other people bring who brings things to the table that are nothing like you.
And so there's so many different scenarios and workshops that I've done with Myers-Briggs.
It's always interesting to see how we pair different types up.
The EQ piece that you had mentioned, which is the emotional intelligence,
I like that because it allows you to understand the areas that you are strong in.
And but then there's the yin and the yang to it. There's a balance.
And sometimes you may be tipping the scale of how strong you are in one area,
but as a result, you might create a deficiency in its polar opposite.
So when I as a coach using the EQI, I help the clients to balance that scale.
Right. You can be very aggressive and intimidating. And that person, right.
I coach, you know, Green Beret, 82nd Airborne, Rocketson commanders, you know,
and they are very aggressive and love being out in the field to do the things they do.
But that comes at a cost when they need to have their softer side. Right.
And they need to communicate to the room and not to the combat troops in the field.
And it becomes a challenge for them. So the EQI helps them to see themselves.
And it allows them to see which areas could they work on to balance out their emotional dichotomies.
And it's an interesting journey for everyone because they actually see it.
They get it. And to that end, those who want to work on themselves, you know, it's a beautiful journey.
So that's the EQI. Using both together.
I mean, it just gives me a lot more insights to help people.
All right. Well, thank you for explaining that. And we're coming up at the end of this hour.
But before we break, I just want to have you share some last minute tips or strategies with our listeners
who might be looking to advance their career or, you know, their leadership skills or their personal growth.
What last minute advice would you give to them before we close up the show tonight?
One, what got you there is not going to get you further. You know, you need to do something different.
If you always do what you always done, you'll always get what you always got.
But when you're transitioning, you got to do something different, like significantly different,
starting with being honest with yourself about what you're not and what you want to be.
Look at your resume, have people talk to you and get a coach. Right.
Get somebody that's going to help evaluate yourself.
And then after that, when you look at the different options for the careers, do your due diligence.
Just don't go after one thing. Look at it all and see what, you know, appeals to you.
Just don't go after something because there's a lot of money because you won't stay there.
Go after something that you're excited about.
So I could talk about that all day long, but I know we're at the top of the hour.
Yes, sir. Will said, we'll see it. So this was a published author and keynote speaker, Reggie Bullock.
Where can we find you online, Mr. Bullock?
Google my name, Reginald L. Bullock. You'll see my books. You'll see my LinkedIn. You'll see my website.
You'll see a lot of things. And so that's the easiest way to reach out to me.
And each one of those types of social media is have a message.
So if you want to get to me directly, just message me and I'll get back to you.
Absolutely. Well, I want to thank you for your time this evening.
This was a wonderful conversation which we had longer to talk about some more things, but I enjoyed this quite a deal.
And I'm sure our audience did as well. Well, everyone, that is our show for tonight.
Be sure to tune in next Wednesday and we'll be here right on the artist's first radio network.
Thank you for tuning in from wherever part of the world you are tonight.
And I appreciate your listenership very much. Good night, everybody. Take care.
Wow.