This morning BRINGS ME TO THE TOPIC OF RACE IN AMERICA.

As a professor of marketing, and a still struggling student of being a better sales professional, one thing I know is never to talk about race, religion or sex, but unfortunately, I need to to break that rule.  

Enough is enough!

The cover story on the 6:30 nightly news, week after week, month after month, should not be about killings on either side of the color bar.  I understand the issues and the frustration, but the reality is that "All Lives Matter", and most importantly, many of the answers to the problem rest in our ability as business managers to create better jobs and better technology education for the younger men and women in this country.

I have the privilege of working for numbers of years with the Boston Police Department as their strategic adviser.  There is simply no better big city police department in America!  (by the way, Boston was the first police department in the country).  Under the prior leadership of Ed Davis, and now the dynamically strong management of Bill Evans, this group of highly diverse men and women has dramatically decreased crime in the city surpassing their objectives both last year, and so far during the first six months of 2016. 

These women and men, both black and white, at the most senior levels of command, have only one common goal: make the neighborhoods safer, which they have achieved; however, to a manager, they constantly push themselves to do even better.  Bill Evans, the Commissioner,  and Will Gross, the Chief, both grew up poor in tough neighborhoods in racially separate sections of the city.  Bill is from South Boston, and Will is from Roxbury, and their joint leadership in Boston, along with an absolutely superb management team, is an excellent example of where we should be focusing our time, our checkbooks and our outspoken thanks.  

Today, is no longer a time for protests; it's for getting involved in our companies and in our communities, as individual business leaders and making a difference.

The only thing that should be separated by color is laundry

I'm a child of the '60's and marched in Selma with Dr. King. I've chained myself to the gates of the capital building during the civil rights marches. I've been tear gassed and handcuffed.  I've fought for freedom, and I abhor the killings. It's now time for all of us to take a stand, to get personally involved and stop this insanity before it becomes worse-fueled by more hatred, more bad publicity and eventually becomes a breeding pool for terrorism. 

THERE IS A TIME TO COME TOGETHER, AND THAT TIME IS NOW!

• Some of us need to take a stand and move beyond the violence and the protests
• Protesting in the streets is good for TV, but it doesn't solve one thing after the cameras go off
• Talking about the problem is better than nothing, but not by much
• Focusing on roots causes, which are job creation and basic education skills are the answers, and this is where we many of us can take a stand and make at least one small step toward improvement.

Not to embarrass him, but I will, my friend, Jamie Grant has done this, by leaving his job as one of the founders of Mirus Capital Advisers, a well known and highly respected investment banking firm, and taking on the task of leadership at Year Up.  Check it out, and if you're really interested, call Jamie up and volunteer as an instructor just for one session.  Not only will you find it personally rewarding, but the takeaways by the students is an exceptional experience that you will not forget.  

Have a great day selling stuff today...but do try to take 30 minutes this weekend to think about what you can do in your profession as a Sales or a Marketing professional to make a difference so that we can move forward and make this country great again. Let's also not wait for either Donald or Hillary, since at the end game, it's you and me and our teammates out on the field making a personal difference by selling more stuff, creating more jobs and providing better skills training. 

Have a great weekend!

  
Head Coach