[Top Black Business Leader Series] Racial Inequality and Appalling Silence with Robert Wallace of BITHGROUP Technologies

Robert Wallace is a speaker, author, and a consultant with over 40 years of business experience spanning engineering, energy, and IT. He has a true rags-to-riches story that began in the Baltimore Projects amidst poverty and racial segregation before overcoming obstacles to establish three companies: BITHGROUP Technologies, Bithenergy, and EntreTeach.

Robert shares his innovative strategies for success in his books and workshops, which includes one of his books, Black Wealth: Your Road to Small Business Success. He partners with many different types of clients across a range of industries and some of his clients include Bank of America, Dartmouth College, IBM, Salvation Army, NIH, Toyota, Verizon, University of Pennsylvania, and many more.

 

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• Robert Wallace talks about what it was like to be in Washington DC when rioters overran the Capitol Building and how it made him feel compared to the way he felt when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated 
• What Robert’s father taught him about racism and how it put things to perspective for him
• Robert talks about his early influences in business and the best pieces of advice that he received from his mentors 
• Robert shares what it was like growing up in the Baltimore Projects and the first time he experienced racial inequality 
• A favorite story from Robert’s book, Black Wealth: Your Road to Small Business Success 
• The mindset that shaped Robert’s educational and entrepreneurial choices
• Robert talks about the work he did for Toyota and the CIA

In this episode…

“Why does America hate us so much?” That was the depressing question young Robert Wallace asked his father when he watched the news about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. As an adult and as a parent today, how do you answer that question? Robert’s father was able to talk to him and his siblings about racial inequality which shaped his perspective about it and made him see that not everyone was truly bad. But sadly, many years later, racial inequality still persists, and the recent events at the Capitol Building lend credence to it.

But what impact does racial inequality have in you as a person and in your business? And how can addressing the appalling silence on racial inequality help you determine the direction that might want to have for your business? And more importantly, what can you learn from Robert’s experiences of racial inequality and how he turned it around to succeed in life and business?

Listen to this episode of Inspired Insider as Dr. Jeremy Weisz talks to Robert Wallace, Founder of BITHGROUP Technologies, about the appalling silence on racial inequality. Robert talks about his experiences of racial inequality in the United States and how he has seen it persist through the years. He also shares the lessons he’s learned and the mindset that shaped his success in education and entrepreneurship, and his favorite story from his book, Black Wealth: Your Road to Small Business Success.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• Robert Wallace’s Personal Website
• BITHGROUP Technologies
• Bithenergy
• EntreTeach
• Robert Wallace on LinkedIn

Special Mentions:

• Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington Speech
• Rabbi Joachim Prinz’s Speech March on Washington

Books Mentioned: 

• Strategic Partnerships: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Joint Ventures and Alliances by Robert Wallace
• Black Wealth: Your Road to Small Business Success by Robert Wallace

Related Episodes:

• Shantay Robinson of Chase on Inspired Insider
• John and Dr. Denitra Griffin on Inspired Insider
• Wanda James of Simply Pure Dispensary on Inspired Insider
• Chris Gandy of Midwest Legacy Group on Inspired Insider

 

Episode Transcript

Jeremy Weisz

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here Founder of inspiredInsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. And I’m going to introduce today’s guest, Robert Wallace. And you know, when we first got started in we’re talking you were saying, Robert, by the way, I was at the Capitol Building yesterday when it got stormed. So I’m like, well, we should we need to definitely talk about that, because this is unprecedented times we’re living in. I’m going to introduce Robert properly in a second, but we’re going to talk about his experience there. And just to let you know, everyone should check out other episodes of Inspired Insider, I was talking to Shantay Robinson with Chase and we were talking about how black CEOs and leaders and founders are underrepresented. And she introduced me to John and Dr. Denitra Griffin, the largest black owned security firm Wanda James I had on of Simply Pure who became among the first black owned dispensaries in the nation owners. And then Chris Gandy went from NBA to running Midwest Legacy Group. So I’m excited and Robert has an amazing book, and we’ll talk about that as well, before we do this episode is brought to you by Rise25, which I co founded with John Corcoran. And you know, it’s funny Robert, John Corcoran was a speechwriter at the White House under Bill Clinton. So he this really hit him hard. We’re on the phone yesterday. And I was like, not that didn’t everyone hard, but I think it just he worked there. Right. And it worked in the in the White House in government. And he just I could tell this was really hit him to heart, you know, took took a hit on him. And I didn’t watch the footage or anything like that at the time. And he had and, and, you know, after watching it last night, I just was it’s just appalling, you know, but at Rise25 we help businesses connect to their dream relationships by helping you run your podcast. That’s what we do. And because for me, Robert, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at a way to give to my best relationships profile those people that people I admire and want to learn from, and spread the word like people like you. And I do that by having them on my podcast and spreading the message of what they do to everyone I know. So if you are a business and you’ve thought of launching a podcast, it’s so much more than just content, it’s business development, its relationships, its content marketing, so you can go to Rise25.com and find out more, or email us [email protected] I’m excited to introduce today’s guests Robert Wallace. As I mentioned, he has over more than 40 years of business experience spanning engineering, energy, and IT. He has a rag a true rags to riches story that begins in the Baltimore projects amidst prop poverty and racial segregation, before overcoming obstacles to establish three companies BITHGROUP Technologies, Bithenergy and EntreTeach and he shared his innovative strategies for success. In his books, and workshops. One of his books is called Black Wealth. It’s on Amazon, check it out. And a few of his clients include Bank of America, Dartmouth College, IBM, Salvation Army, NIH, Toyota, Verizon, University of Pennsylvania and many more. Robert, thanks for joining me.

Robert Wallace

Thank you. Nice to be here. Jeremy.

Jeremy Weisz

This is when I stopped talking and this is your show. So I’m your Why are you at the Capitol building? And what what happened there? So

Robert Wallace

I wasn’t at the Capitol Building per se. I was in Washington, DC. Oh, God. Okay. Yeah. And I’m in DC, a lot of business. We do a lot of work with the government. And so I was there. And it was a chilling experience, to say the least. You know, I’m old enough to remember 1968 and our nation, right, that year with a assassinate Dr. King, they assassinated Bobby, Bobby Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. You know, I’m old enough to remember those events and that time in our nation’s history, and I remember how I felt in 1968. Well, what I felt yesterday, Washington, surpassed that. This is something that our country needs to pay attention to. I think we’ve got an element and our nation who is prepared to use violence and hate to gain back whatever power or control they thought they may have. have lost. And this is a wake up call for this nation. And I and many others feel very compelled to get that message out to people. I mean, it was really there were many many feelings Jeremy around this but the one that really struck me the deepest was when I was when my children called me said Daddy, you okay your mom, okay? And my one of my children, I have five children, four boys and one girl, no adult adult children. And they said, and they said, Dad, you know what, what struck me was how different the reaction is from the police is a here here a men who are starting an insurrection who are physically overpowering. The the Capitol, the center about democracy, and physically and violently taking it over walking into the capitals going into the offices of our leaders, right, and then walking out and high fiving one another and no one, no one’s getting arrested. Yet, you know, black and brown and young kids can protest, you know, the mistreatment of people in America and get locked up by the droves, and it just the contrast. And he has my children today, why do they treat us so differently? and so on. So I think that this, there’s a lot of pieces here, Jeremy, I think we need to pay attention to as a nation.

Jeremy Weisz

It’s really sad. Robbert, I was watching the news last night. And even one of the correspondents was basically asking the people that were on site and saying the same thing you just said in saying, you know, there’s people they’re taking selfies with the police. Right? And would that happen if this was a Black Lives Matter protest? Or you know, you know, in the same, right, and they asked the correspondent that right.

Robert Wallace

So absolutely, I mean, I mean, I mean, Jeremy, this is a this is This, to me and others like me, this was the epitome of white privilege, right? I mean, you can physically overtake our Capitol, our Congress, right? By with violence, right? And not pay a price. Right? How can this be? Yet when kids go out, I was winning doors, Floyd protests were occurring. I was out there were probably many older people out there marching with these young people. And I saw how the police dealt with us in that regard. And we weren’t even violent. We were just marching and protesting. These are men, primarily men, men and women, but who violently overpowering the police, a taking hope with the Congress, and nobody gets arrested. I mean, there were a few people who were arrested to the top people. And I’ve been in and nonviolent protests when people are locked in, put in buses handcuffed and taken away. It’s just just the hypocrisy, starting with the president, like to hypocrisy and the Republican Party, the law, supposedly law and order party, right? To see this and then to say nothing and do nothing. I think it’s a wake up call for our nation. And I don’t think it’s going to end here. Jeremy. Unfortunately, I think the President Trump has set in motion a force in our society that genies out the bottle, and he can’t even he wanted to, and he doesn’t. But even even if he did, he can’t put it back in the bottle. So we as a nation, need to wake up and bit and pay attention.

Jeremy Weisz

There’s been too many Wake Up Calls. That’s true. You know.

Robert Wallace

And this is one Jeremy Did you know, I thought, if the republican party and these and these people, if this is not a wake up call for them? If this doesn’t make them pause and say, wait a minute, wait a minute, this is out of control. this President has taken us down a wrong path. And I’m not trying to be politically Jeremy. Because I you know, I’ve been I’ve been Republican. Now. I’m an independent. I know republicans democrats are one thing, but this is about people. This is about leadership. This is about morality. This is about decency. If this is not a wake up call for Republican Party, then that party is dead. They’re done. They have shown us who they are. My father used to say, you know, when a man or woman when they show you who they are, believe them, believe them.