June 2022 was jam packed. I returned from a work trip to Southeast Asia, traveled cross country to Philadelphia for a family member’s 75th birthday party, and got engaged. That was all within the first 4 days of this month.
I encountered many bits of wisdom and inspiration as I moved through time and space. My closest friends have experienced the bombarding of an video, article, note, quote, or song that moved me. In an act of service to their inboxes and to share with a wider group, here’s my new monthly piece: The Four Tops.
The Four Tops serves as my dumping ground for the bits and pieces of joy that crossed my path the last month. As a lover of knowledge, a philomath if you will, I want to invite you into my world with 4 bits. I will share a book, an article, a video, a music album, and a thought that have impacted me in a meaningful way.
Here’s my guarantee: none of this is meant to be practical. I will never sell you on information that is meant to make you a better employee. I don’t want you to be inspired to start your own newsletter. I don’t want to start thinking like me. No. None of that. I simply want to share bits of the gumbo that swirls around in my head in an effort to have better conversations. So off we go.
Book of the Month
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
Revisiting this book in the run up to Juneteenth was important for me. I now live in Phoenix, AZ and encounter passive racism with the same regularity with which I fuel my car. Though we celebrate this day with a cookout and family gatherings, we must recall how recent slavery and Jim Crow were. Barack Obama was in elementary school when Black Americans were fully given the right to vote.
Smith’s book masterfully shares stories about how place, nostalgia, and remembering actively work together to hide the sins of this nation with respectability politics.
Article of the Month
I first met one of my best friends, Will Roberts, in high school doing a live case study exercise with our local elementary school. Will was selected mayor of this fictional town and I was a developer working to get my nuclear power plant built. There were a handful of other students in the activity. Some where parents, activists, business owners, etc. and we were charged with deciding if the power plant got built. There’s a great story about how this encouraged he and I both to get involved in local politics, but that’s for a later time.
This acronym NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) has stayed with me since that cold November Day for over 23 years. I’ve thought about it regularly as my community in Philadelphia has morphed into something unrecognizable. How communities have chosen priorities that oppose the things they say they value.
Video of the Month
Who is the most Grammy nominated artist of all time? Quincy Jones. 80 nominations
Looking at his life, you wouldn’t expect a man like him to be real. He’s lived enough lives for 4 people, but continues to reinvent himself at critical junctures in his life and the world has benefited from the beauty he creates.
Not only has he arranged music for huge artists and movie productions, but he’s also mentored countless BIPOC creatives to get to the next level of their vocations.
Personally, he produced the soundtrack of my life with Michael Jackson’s albums and one of the most formative shows of my pre-teens years, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Music Album of the Month
Released randomly in mid-June, Drake gave us a very different album than he’s produced in the past. I won’t say to much beyond this: it was a spark of joy in the midst of a very emotionally confusing time in our country. We all know Beyoncé released a track in a similar music style that was also as free and joyous, but “Massive” on this album has a special place on my summer playlist.
Drake - Honestly, Nevermind [Apple Music]
My Thought of the Month:
“You are what you eat.”
What you read, who you know, and what you value will inform everything about your life. If you only watch the news, you will only agree with the “facts” presented on that station, never see past the edge of your anger and fear and form a community, and cling to that source as a deity. If you only read books by white men about business, you will come to value only the opinions of white men in business and think that they are the keepers of all good things. If you only spend your time with folks that aren’t going anywhere, you will value staying put and think of their space as one of safety.
As a servant-leader, I believe you are required to go beyond your comfort zone and hear from those you serve and understand what they are carrying. The easiest way to do that is by learning about your privilege and humbling yourself. Next, start learning all that you can about their experience and learn ways to support by picking up a book, listening to stories from them and their community, and after doing tons of listening and processing, having honest conversations about ways to be ally for them.
See ya later!
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26