In this upcoming transcript, David Robinson (2-time NBA Champion & co-founder of $250 million Admiral Capital Group) talks with business coach Clay Clark (Founder of Thrive15.com) about customer service training and leadership principles on Thrive15.com.
David Robinson: But if they don’t get a lot of attention they still will hope for the best. They will hope for you. If they see you doing the things you are supposed to be doing, that love and that respect will still be there. I would tell that dad just keep doing the right things. You know, keep working hard. Understand that what you are froviding for them is a legacy. What you are providing for them is character and purpose and passion and love, example. I mean, the things that when you love your wife you will be setting a tone for them. And even in the hard times because your children will face hard times, I don’t care who you are, your children will be challenged, they will know how to act because they saw it in their dad. And that means everything in the world. My grandfather is kind of the paternal guy that I looked to in my family and he worked in the Post Office. He was enlisted in the army, worked in the Post Office for like 50 years.
Clay Clark: Wow.
David Robinson: He lived in Little Rock Arkansas. Didn’t get any promotions and ended up having to sue the Post Office for discrimination. But I saw him as a guy. He had tremendous character. And he raised all of his children to play music and they were all beautiful musicians. They played all kinds of classical music, every one of them. They were all very smart children because my grandfather thought it was important and did those things. Now here we are two generations later, I have a sister that is getting her PhD. I have been able to go get my masters. My brother is a pastor and our family has flourished because of his sacrifice for us.
Clay Clark: You know one thing too I will tell you if you are watching this and you are struggling to provide financially, I know that I did. I remember my friend Josh, Josh if you are watching, Josh came by one time and commented that we didn’t have air conditioning. He is like you are married, why don’t you have any air conditioning? He was kind of joking with me. He didn’t realize I just couldn’t afford it. Josh asking that question is sort of what prompted me to go, you know if I study successful people and do what they do, I wonder if I could become successful. I can tell you that anybody here, just like George Washington Carver talked about how you can basically just start with what you have. If you are willing to commit yourself to studying successful people and doing those right things, over time you will become successful. But in the meantime we need to stand for the right things so our kids have a good example to look at there.
David Robinson: Absolutely.
Clay Clark: Now Tony Dungy said this, he says “We have a number of difficulties facing our nation. But I believe fatherlessness is right at the top of the list.” Not Al-Qaeda. Not border patrol. He says at the top of the list or near the top of the list is fatherlessness. Now you started a school that helped kids who are fatherless. A lot of them. Not all of them but a lot of them were.
David Robinson: Yes there is a good number of families that really don’t have a father present.
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Clay Clark: What happens when they don’t have a father present? What sort of break down did you see first hand there when you started Carver? Did you see in the community?
David Robinson: I see kids who are reaching for answers and who are finding answers in friends. Which is babies teaching babies. And they are finding answers in media, on television. They are finding answers in their communities and maybe not always the right examples. So you have a lot of confused kids. They don’t know what manhood looks like. They don’t know what success really looks like. And so they just need an example. They need some hope. Some direction. Some guidance. And so that was what we tried to provide. We tried to say look you have a father in heaven and it’s very clear how you are supposed to walk. Let’s give you that and at least you know what to look for.
Clay Clark: Did you teach that at Carver? That you have a father in heaven, your heavenly business coach.
David Robinson: Oh yeah absolutely. We were a private school so we were able to pray with the kids. We started every day with chapel. We started with you know, 55 essentials. Carver’s sons always say yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am. Always makes eye contact. So we go through all of the… The 55 essentials were started by another gentleman, off the top of my head I forget his name.
Clay Clark: Sure.
David Robinson: But wonderful business coach concepts. So we taught those things and we started with our six pillars each day. Leadership, initiative, integrity, faith, service and discipline. And they were all supported by a scripture and we would teach those kids that every day.