Young Man, Are You Listening To Me?

I really enjoyed reading about your personal history, your long association with the YMCA. You credit the Y for keeping you out of trouble as a kid in South Philadelphia. Can you talk about that, and especially how did that experience help you discover what you wanted to do with your life?

Well, thank you for the question. Now, I say the YMCA found me at the school in Philadelphia, I was 10 years old at the time in the fourth grade. A gentleman by the name of Bill Morton, we used to call him big bad Bill because he was about six-foot-five.

That's imposing. I got to admit, I was reading through your website and I saw the five things that identified as the playbook, so to speak. My personal playbook, there's a couple of things that I think standout not much different than what you've identified. I believe you have to have a strong team, a diverse strong team in today's needs to be successful. Secondarily, you have to be a good listener. Your ability to listen to others, particularly if you got a really diverse team, they hear those opportunities, and what people's perspectives are, makes all decisions that you can make better. I think you have to be bold. I used to talk about BHAG, big hairy audacious goals, you want to have a big hairy audacious goal that you want to achieve and use it as a North Star. You may not get there, but you're really talking about what's possible, what's possible if you work at high levels, you're contributing from our perspective what's possible. Last thing I'll say is, be fearless. Don't be afraid to take on challenges, because you know what, I learned. I saw that in one of you, but I've learned more how to fail than I've ever had of any successes. I've learned a lot from failure. So you can't be afraid to fail. Those are one of the things that I would say is part of my playbook.

He came to the school to form what we call clubs, and that was the acronym was GRADEY, and the acronym meant grade school at the Y. And we were 10 years old. He would come to the school once a week to have a dialogue with us. And then the other times we would meet and engage in other kinds of activities at the YMCA, which was about a 10 to 15 minute walk from my home. But it was that Y, that one's relationships, Bill more than in particular and others that helped keep Kevin Washington and many, many other individuals like me out of trouble in Philadelphia, but also created a pathway for us to say, as I like to say, help cross that bridge from adolescence to adulthood.

Oh, yeah, the Y has played a role in my life, too. I came here as a refugee from Vietnam. I grew up Duluth, Minnesota of all places, family didn't have a lot of money for recreational activities, then the Y in my neighborhood accepted girls. And so that's kind of where I went sometimes after school, just to have some camaraderie, have some guidance, and it helps keep me out of trouble, too. So I wanted to ask you, that experience with the Y, what role did that play in your decision to later on become a program director and now you hit the thing?

Yeah, it's been a journey. But that journey, you know, every journey starts with the first step. But the Y showed me that there was an opportunity to help shape their future, help them see and I understand there was something significant that they could contribute to. So when I got the opportunity, and it was Bill Morton who offered me my first job as a program director, when I got that opportunity I wanted to do for others what the Y did for me. Y helped me get to school. I got a basketball scholarship through the YMCA because I was able to play basketball. So I felt a very strong calling, so to speak, to use my talents and effort through the Y to provide opportunities for other young boys and girls and others to ensure that they were able to reach their full potential. So that's what it did for me, gave me that opportunity to do that. It's been fun.

You look like you're still having a lot of fun.

Yes, I am. Sometimes the fun is in a different way. I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the job. It's a great opportunity to work for one of the most well-known organizations in the world and for what they do for youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.