You’ll see a great example in this issue of Black Enterprise, where we tell the story of Darrell S. Freeman, who effectively fired himself in order to hire the CEO he believed could take Zycron Inc., the BE100s information technology company he founded, to new levels of growth. An even more powerful example shook the world as we were putting the finishing touches on this issue. Icon Steve Jobs—all but synonymous with Apple, the company he co-founded and led—spent years developing talent and establishing a culture to allow his business to thrive even as he was waging a battle against pancreatic cancer. When disease finally claimed him, Apple continued without missing a beat, introducing the iPhone 4S even as it joined the world in mourning its visionary founder. In fact, that Apple thrives could be the ultimate tribute to Jobs as an entrepreneur.

It takes courage and brutal honesty with yourself to replace yourself as CEO, and even more so to take the steps necessary to ensure that the company you founded will thrive beyond your own lifetime. However, it is our responsibility as business owners to know when to say when, and even more important, to act.

I have personally faced this test of business leadership since launching Black Enterprise as a single-magazine publishing company in 1970. More than 40 years later, the Black Enterprise of today is a totally transformed and still evolving multimedia business, with digital platforms, television shows, and live events added to and integrated with the original print business.

When a business evolves, the founders must evolve, too. You must anticipate that evolution and act accordingly. In the earlier years of Black Enterprise, that meant I had to acquire new skill sets as the business took root, as well as hire and delegate authority to qualified professionals in areas of expertise I neither had nor had a passion for acquiring. As the company began to expand into new areas, it meant building a more diverse management team and operational structure for the company, as well as grooming talent and creating a succession plan. Eventually, it meant replacing myself as CEO, as I did when I named my eldest son, Earl “Butch” Graves Jr., to that position.

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Today, it’s fair to say that if I applied to get a job at Black Enterprise with the skills I had 20 years ago, I would probably not be hired.  The majority of people who work at BE now were not even born when I founded our magazine. I now see my grandchildren’s peers in the halls of the company. (In fact, two of my grandchildren have worked in the business: Earl III with our television group, and Kristin with our digital team.) And I couldn’t be more proud, excited, and encouraged, because they are bringing the new ideas, skill sets, talent, and energy that are necessary for Black Enterprise to move forward and serve our Wealth for Life mission for decades to come.

If you believe in your company and are passionate about the product or service it provides and the market it serves, it is your responsibility to do what’s best for your business, including succession planning. Success breeds change. Your business will evolve, and the top priority as the CEO must be to evolve with it—even if that means becoming the former CEO. When the time comes, you must know when to say when—and have the courage to act.

As underscored in this issue by our feature “Too Young to Think About Retirement? Think Again!” the time to answer that question is now, not 20 years from now. If you’re serious about building wealth, there is no greater financial priority than investing toward your own retirement. And the earlier you start, the more likely it is that you will reach and even exceed your retirement savings goals. True wealth is about options. The more retirement planning and investing you do in your 20s, 30s, and 40s, the more options you’ll have in your 60s, 70s, and 80s. Trust me: It’s nearly impossible to enjoy your “golden years” if you don’t have any gold.

I’m speaking from experience, as I adapt to life as a retiree at the age of 76. Blessed with good health, a sharp mind, and a passion for black enterprise and all that it has come to stand for, I played an active role as an entrepreneur and business leader into my early 70s. Although my wife would say that I haven’t exactly mastered life as a retiree yet (let’s just say that I remain restless), thanks to diligent planning, proactively seeking sound financial advice, and disciplined saving and investing, I have plenty of options in retirement. These include seeing to our creature comforts, health, and security; supporting with our resources the causes we believe in; enjoying time with our children and grandchildren; and traveling to see the wonders of the world.

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As important as it was for me to plan and save for retirement, it is far more critical for you and others of your generation to do so. Unlike many in my generation, you cannot expect to enjoy 30 years of job security with one employer, with a guaranteed pension and gold watch waiting for you at your retirement party. Social Security, assuming it still exists when you reach retirement, will provide only a fraction of your income, at best. The price of procrastination—crushing debt, stress and isolation, the threat of homelessness, unhealthy dependence on others, being forced to work in your later years not by choice but out of necessity—is too high. But even higher is what we all lose, both individually and collectively, when we fail to contribute to our 401(k) accounts, put money into an IRA, or acquire stocks, bonds, insurance, and other investments. What’s lost is a chance to build a foundation of resources for future generations of African Americans—wealth that can pay for educations, capitalize businesses, and finance dreams. It’s called establishing a legacy, and it should be approached with purposeful enthusiasm, not reluctance and dread, especially by those of us who are passionate about Black Enterprise’s Wealth for Life mission.

Today—now—is the time to plan for your retirement. Now is the time to figure out, using any of a number of online calculators, how much money you’ll need to support the retirement you want. Now—not tomorrow, not next year or next decade—is the time to begin saving and investing to achieve your goals. The bottom line: You—not the government, and not your employer—must take responsibility for providing for your retirement. You cannot afford to put this off. You must start today, wherever you are, with whatever you have.

American education is in crisis. And public schools, especially those populated by black and brown children in urban communities, are bearing the brunt of the devastation. Our government and political leaders know this. Our corporate CEOs and business leaders know this. Our teachers know this. And increasingly, students and their parents know this, especially once they enter the job market after graduation, assuming they did not drop out before earning their diploma.

Everyone knows that the K–12 public education system is failing our children. Everyone agrees that education reform is not only desperately needed, but critical to both the economic competitiveness and security of America. We know that the foundation and fuel of American innovation and achievement is a quality education, which leads to opportunity, earning potential, healthier communities, and a stronger nation. And every parent, regardless of race, nationality, or economic status, wants their child to have the best possible education.

Yet, no one wants to do what it takes to make the changes necessary for America to reclaim its position as the best educated nation in the world. No one seems willing to lay it on the line to eliminate race, economic status, and zip codes as determining factors in which American children attend well-funded and equipped schools with the best teachers, and which are sentenced to dilapidated, poorly funded schools with overmatched, underpaid, and mediocre teachers. It boils down to this: It’s long past time that we recognize that the investment required to really fix American public education is being dwarfed by the huge and rapidly escalating costs of not fixing it.

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It was not that long ago when the profession of teaching was considered an honorable pursuit, worthy of respect. This was certainly the case during my wife Barbara’s career as a school teacher. Now, the profession is at best taken for granted and at worst, the option of last resort for average professionals. Teachers’ unions need to stop defending the idea that teacher jobs and promotions should be protected regardless of performance. When seniority and tenure trumps merit, it’s a recipe for mediocrity. And if we want the best and brightest to choose teaching over other professions, we need to pay them accordingly.
We also need to change the way public schools are funded. As long as schools are funded unevenly, we will continue to have the separate and unequal schools that we thought we outlawed with the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling nearly 60 years ago.

And while charter schools may provide clues to how best to reform public schools, they are not solutions in and of themselves. Charter schools are the life rafts of the rapidly sinking Titanic that is public education in poor, predominantly black and Latino urban communities, forcing far too many families to scramble for far too few spots. For example, New York City charter schools educate just 4% of public school students. What about the other 96%? We can’t create enough charter schools fast enough to rescue them. And even if we could, at least one study shows that only 17% of charter schools provide education superior to their local public school peers; 37% deliver significantly worse results. The truth is that the attributes of the best charter schools are the same as the best public schools.

The bottom line is that we must fix our entire public education system, not just bits and pieces of it. It’s long past time for our individual and national priorities—and spending—to truly match our rhetoric regarding the importance of American public education. It will take everyone, including government at every level, leaders regardless of political party, teachers, parents, students, and every member of every community to keep the crisis of public education from becoming a full-fledged national disaster.

We need to establish higher standards for ourselves and our children

Not failure, but low aim is sin.”—Benjamin E. Mays, clergyman, educator, and legendary Morehouse College president

We have an exceptional new bunch of interns at Black Enterprise every summer, and this year was no exception. They are always smart, eager, hard-working students who exemplify the best of their generation. Over the years, we’ve been impressed enough to hire more than a few of them (Small Business Editor Tennille M. Robinson, part of the 2005 internship class, comes to mind) and we’ve happily benefited from their dedication.

But while many of us—young and, like me, less young—continue to celebrate and uphold this universal standard of excellence, too many of us do not. In fact, too many of us have joined in the growing number that actually celebrates ignorance, ill-preparedness, disrespectfulness, and mediocrity. To say that I find this discouraging is a gross understatement. It’s downright shameful and threatens to corrupt all the progress we’ve made over the 40 years since I founded Black Enterprise.

Now, before you dismiss this as a generational issue, let me be clear: a commitment to the pursuit of excellence is not old-school! Excellence is not age-, gender- or race-specific. It has nothing to do with what country or neighborhood you come from, what schools you went to, how much money is in your bank account, or what you do for a living.

Excellence is a personal code of conduct that demands that, every day, you strive to do better, know more, and try harder than you did the day before. It’s a process, not some pinnacle you reach. It’s a way of life that’s guaranteed to breed not just professional success, but the character builders—pride, dignity, knowledge, integrity, self-respect—that engender respect from others, and more importantly, respect for self.

Excellence has little to do with what everybody else seems to be doing and everything to do with who you are today and who you aspire to be tomorrow. It demands that you mature and improve continually, because no matter how high you go, the bar keeps getting higher and it’s you who’s pushing it up.

It’s no exaggeration to note that the pursuit of excellence has fueled the world’s progress since the beginning of time, which is why it’s so distressing to watch us shrink from that goal. What has become of us when we ostracize academic excellence and celebrate ignorant reality TV?

Closer to home, the mediocrity embraced by too many of our young men is equaled only by the willingness of too many of our young women to accept and even reward it. Increasingly, the line between adult and adolescent behavior is blurred; teenagers seem to reach physical maturity more rapidly than ever, while the standard of emotional maturity for adults seems to be falling just as rapidly. One horrifying result: the fundamental understanding of the pursuit of excellence as necessary to our freedom, equality, and empowerment as black Americans seems to have been replaced by a single question: How low can we go?

When did we allow our goals and dreams to become so compromised, so downright twisted? How can we expect to excel as a nation, and as a people, when we increasingly celebrate dysfunctional and anti-social behavior, rather than the many fine models of achievement deserving of the spotlight? The answer is: we can’t. No matter how much it is celebrated by media and the masses, mediocrity—especially for African Americans—just won’t cut it.

We must revere and doggedly pursue high standards in every area of our lives. We must model it for our children, in our business dealings, and professional pursuits. We must demand it of our leaders, of our peers, and our young people. We must celebrate it in our homes, in our schools, in our houses of worship, and corporations. We must re-establish our relationship with true excellence.

Earl G. Graves Sr. is the founder, chairman and publisher of Black Enterprise.

This was the Black Enterprise that Barbara and I brought into being and nurtured into one of the most respected magazines in the country. But now, four decades later, there is the multimedia entity that Black Enterprise has become, and that’s due to the creativity and leadership of my sons, Earl Jr., Johnny, and Michael,  and dedicated staff, who have all contributed to the company’s continued relevance and success, and of whom I am extraordinarily proud.

It’s impossible to write this–my 40th anniversary Publisher’s Page column–and not think about the extraordinary journey we as African Americans have traveled–from slavery to the White House. Even more remarkable to me is how much of that journey I’ve lived to witness.

Just to be clear, I just turned 75 earlier this year. That’s old enough to have made one of my earliest visits to the American South riding a segregated bus. Ironically, I was on my way to ranger and airborne school to serve my country as a U.S. soldier, a full decade before my country saw fit to afford me or anyone who looked like me the full freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the founding fathers.

But here’s what moves me to my core: Having lived through that era, here I stand half a century later and Barack Obama is Commander in Chief. In May, at the 15th annual Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo, we began our 40th anniversary celebration in Atlanta, the flagship city of a New South–a South that is viewed by more and more African Americans not as the home of Jim Crow and fire hoses and attack dogs, but as a place of renewal, opportunity, and advancement.

So what’s responsible for this change? Social scientists and historians will give you different answers, but in my view nothing had a more significant impact on the country’s social progress on matters of racial justice, acceptance, and opportunity than African American entrepreneurship.

During times when opportunities for African Americans in business were limited by racist exclusion, black entrepreneurs managed to carve out financial opportunities for themselves as restaurateurs, funeral home directors, bankers, insurers, auto dealers, and innovators in such industries as cosmetics, entertainment, and agriculture. The profits from those early ventures did not merely line the pockets of their owners; they were invested into the social advancement of African Americans as a group.

Indeed, the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others would not have succeeded to the degree that it did without the financial support of African American business leaders of that period.

As much as anyone, these early entrepreneurs were the architects of the New South. And they are an essential link in the creation of a 21st century United States of America—an America that would freely and overwhelmingly elect a person of African descent to the presidency.

Back in 1970, I saw in Black Enterprise an opportunity to build a successful venture with the potential to serve the broader interests of African Americans. Not everyone shared my vision. We got some pretty big doors shut in our faces. But we persevered and opened those doors. In doing so, we didn’t just document the rise of the African American entrepreneur; we became the uplifting force driving that ascent, showing our readers what could be done and giving them the tools to achieve it.

I’m proud of our history, but I’m even more proud of what Black Enterprise is now—a full-service media entity that uses cutting-edge communication technology to reach our audience wherever they are, however they need us 24/7/365.

Now, I’m the first to admit it; I’m no techie. To me “tweets” are something birds do. And while I have at last mastered sending faxes, my grandchildren tell me there’s no one left alive who still owns a fax machine so I needn’t bother.

Fortunately, I’ve entrusted Black Enterprise to my son, President & CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr., who does get the new technology and is adapting the Black Enterprise brand to formats that haven’t even been invented yet! That’s how you need to think as you go forward.

You have to look for opportunities in trends, technologies, and emerging markets that are on the horizon. I did the same thing when I started Black Enterprise 40 years ago. I sensed that the social progress African Americans had made in the civil rights era were about to bear fruit. And it’s what Butch has done in anticipating the explosion of new media. Soon it will be your turn.

Someone is going to find ways to pick up the pieces and put the world back together again. Someone with vision and tireless entrepreneurial spirit is going to identify the products and services that will make a positive difference in people’s lives and innovate profitable ways to deliver them. So decide now if that someone is going to be you. If so, then make sure that everything you do from now on–be it academic or part-time employment or even recreational–puts you one step closer to your goal.

Finally, keep in mind that this current downturn will end, but you need to do more than sit and wait for it to do so. Leadership begins when you decide to shape your environment rather than letting it shape you. As you look forward and assess the obstacles you face, it will be hard not to succumb to discouragement. Don’t.

Remember that an African American was elected president of the United States–something I never expected to see in my lifetime. Now, it’s time to participate in the change we all seek by bringing your energy and ideas to the table. I want to challenge all the entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs out there to march on. Black Enterprise has reached its 40-year milestone because we have endeavored to serve an audience that is always changing, always searching for the uncharted path for financial success and empowerment.

We could pat ourselves on the back for what we’ve achieved, and maybe we’ve done a little of that in this, our 40th anniversary issue. The truth of the matter, though, is that we are humbled by the achievements of the talented people we report on. We are in awe, still, by the courage it takes to put oneself on the line in an unmerciful marketplace.

During the past four decades, we’ve seen giant careers spring from the most modest beginnings. And that’s why I know that great things are in store for many of you who hold in your hands this landmark issue of black enterprise magazine, or who are reading these words on BlackEnterprise.com, on your social media profile or on your iPad.

I urge you to take the mantle of past achievers and run with it. And remember—you do not run this race alone. black enterprise will be with you every step of the way.

Earl G. Graves Sr. and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

The above scripture was often quoted by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy to his children, to underscore that as a family of privilege, power and fortune, they had a higher obligation to do more to serve humanity than those of lesser means and influence. Indeed, few American families have been entrusted with more or had more demanded of them than the Kennedy family.

In the case of Robert Kennedy and his brother, President John F. Kennedy, the demands of public service cost them their very lives. Likewise, their youngest brother, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, also gave his all — except while his older brothers, including Joseph, killed in World War II, died for our country, he was ultimately blessed to live for it. Sen. Kennedy picked up the torch of social justice for all Americans from his fallen brothers and ran a magnificent race, one that ended for him on Aug. 25, 2009.

Though I did not share the Kennedys’ upbringing of wealth and privilege, the gospel of “to whom much is given, much is required” is a fundamental value shared by the Graves family. My connection to the Kennedys traces back to my years as an aide to Robert Kennedy, an experience that shaped my own ambitions and helped put me on the path to launch Black Enterprise nearly 40 years ago. And though I ultimately chose to make my mark in business, not in politics, the causes and principles that Edward Kennedy devoted his life to civil rights, racial equality, equal access to quality education, and healthcare are the principles I’ve always stood and fought for, as I continue to do today.

During a legislative career spanning five decades, Sen. Kennedy was a powerful, often irresistible, force for change in America. A gifted orator and revered Democratic Party statesman, Kennedy’s legendary effectiveness as a legislator was in large part due to his ability to create alliances with his political opponents. With more than 15,000 Senate votes to his credit, it is impossible to summarize his legislative track record in the space of this column. Kennedy wrote more than 2,500 bills, 500 of which were passed into law. Among his most prominent legislation impacting lives every day are the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Kennedy stood for troops serving our nation in other countries and for improving the quality of life of Americans at home. Kennedy consistently voted against Supreme Court nominees who he saw as hostile toward civil rights, and was a leading voice for human rights, social justice and democracy throughout the world. In 2006, he earned deserved recognition from Time magazine as one of “America’s 10 Best Senators.” Edward Kennedy can also claim the election of America’s first black president, Barack Obama, as part of his vast political legacy.

While the Kennedy political dynasty may have come to an end with Edward Kennedy’s death, the Kennedys’ legacy of public service — the “family business” according to his niece and brother Robert’s oldest child Kathleen Kennedy Townsend — is as strong as ever. Townsend, who as a former lieutenant governor of Maryland created statewide character education and student service programs, established the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and is now the chair of the Institute of Human Virology, which treats AIDS. Her sister Kerry, who I spoke to shortly after their uncle’s passing, is an international human rights activist. Their brother Joe II is founder and chairman of Citizens Energy, which makes heating oil affordable for the poor. Edward Kennedy’s son Patrick is a Rhode Island congressman who advocates on mental health issues. Their cousin Caroline, the daughter of John F. Kennedy, is the author of books on civil liberties and has raised money for New York City schools. Despite their patriarch’s death, the Kennedy family business lives on, as does the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose work will positively impact the lives of millions of Americans for generations to come.

Earl G. Graves, Sr. is the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine.

It’s a fair question. We’ve all read the headlines of the woes facing the Motor City. It was among the cities hardest hit by the epidemic of home foreclosures triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis. And the automotive industry that the city is both named and known for, led by General Motors, a longtime host of the Entrepreneurs Conference, was in a literal life-or death struggle for survival. This led former President Bush to announce a desperately needed $17.4 billion emergency loan to GM and Chrysler on Dec. 20, to be fine-tuned and implemented by President Barack Obama. But in the months leading up to our decision to bring our conference to Detroit, it was far from certain that a bailout plan would be approved in time to save Detroit’s automakers, if agreement on a rescue plan could be reached at all. So, to repeat: Why Detroit?

Our answer is simple: We’re stepping up for Detroit because Detroit has always stepped up for us. It is fashionable now to point out the American auto industry’s long-overdue need to restructure and adapt to the realities of global competition. And the government loan package extended to GM and Chrysler rightly includes stipulations that require them to do just that. But the errors and failures of the industry are beside the point. The fact is Americans have come to rely on the jobs and economic activity that Detroit’s auto industry has provided over the years. According to the Center for Automotive Research, as many as 3 million jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars would be lost from the U.S. economy if General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler were to close shop.

You need only take a brief look at the be 100s, our annual listing of the nation’s largest black-owned companies, to clearly see the potentially devastating impact on black economic progress. At least 15% of the companies on our 2008 listing of the 100 largest industrial/service companies are direct suppliers to the automotive industry. These companies generated nearly $3.7 billion in revenues and employed more than 5,000 people. Add to that the nearly $9 billion generated and more than 11,000 people employed by the 100 largest black-owned auto dealerships. The combined sales of these companies represent nearly half of
the total sales of the nation’s largest black-owned companies in 2007. Now follow the domino effect to black-owned companies in every industry—including the magazine business, which has always looked to Detroit as a reliable sales engine—and you can see what is at stake. It is not a stretch to say that any threat to the economic health of Detroit is also a threat to the growth and vitality of black business. And as a former board member of Chrysler, Daimler Chrysler, and Daimler A.G., I would be remiss if I did not remind you that no industry has done more to advance the cause of corporate diversity than the automotive industry, and GM in particular.

Our decision to bring our Entrepreneurs Conference to Detroit from May 17–20, 2009 (go to blackenterprise.com/events for more information and to register) is both a vote of confidence in the future of the city and consistent with black enterprise’s role as a catalyst for generating business opportunities for African Americans who aspire to wealth and success. Our conference will bring millions of dollars to the city’s economy. And for those displaced by auto industry layoffs, the conference represents an excellent opportunity to explore emerging entrepreneurial opportunities that will reposition them for success as the economy rebounds.

Canadian billionaire Michael Lee-Chin often points out that the Chinese symbol for crisis is also the symbol for opportunity. With that in mind, we believe that the Entrepreneurs Conference represents a chance for thousands of black entrepreneurs and businesses to get in on the ground floor of the rebirth of Detroit.

This election year has culminated in a triumph that belongs to every American, and it must be clearly understood by all of us that Obama was elected to be the president of all the people of our nation, not just black Americans. The challenges awaiting our president-elect—ranging from our critically damaged economy to the security of our nation against the global threat of terrorism—are serious issues that must be resolved for the greater good of all Americans. When Obama takes the oath of office in a few short weeks, he will face expectations above and beyond anything ever demanded of the heroic black leaders—from Frederick Douglass to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—of our history to date.

Nevertheless, few would deny that when Obama is inaugurated it will be an indelible moment made possible by every African American who ever refused to accept the diminished roles once ascribed to us. It belongs to every African American who put asunder the restrictive bonds of racism, injustice, and inequality to defy the odds and achieve something lasting and great. This historic moment belongs to every African American over the centuries who earned recognition and distinction in business and science, in athletics and public service, in law and medicine, in education and the arts, in every area of endeavor—who regarded the limitation established by others not as an impenetrable ceiling but as the next floor, yet another level of achievement upon which to build.

But let us be clear: the presidential inauguration of Obama is not just about one, world-changing moment. For African Americans, it marks the birth of a new movement, one with a simple defining creed: No more excuses. To our young black men, too many of whom have been allowed to embrace the sin of low expectation: No more excuses. To black professionals lamenting racism on the job while worshiping daily at the altar of personal mediocrity: No more excuses. To those obsessed with the trappings of wealth, yet who refuse to invest in their own financial education or to exercise fiscal discipline: No more excuses. To those who complain about the ills of our community, yet who are unwilling to invest their time, money, or energy to bring about solutions: No more excuses.

The election of Obama to the Oval Office proves once and for all that we can achieve anything as African Americans. The question is no longer whether or not anything is possible. The question is only whether or not we are committed to doing what needs to be done to be the best we can be, to achieve our fullest potential as individuals and as a people. No one is saying it will be easy—after all, racism is still alive, even if it’s been dealt a serious setback by the majority of American voters—but we can no longer accept that it cannot be done. Yes, the ceilings on our potential still exist, but we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not impermeable.

The rallying cry of the Obama campaign was not “Yes He Can,” but “Yes We Can.” And now that we’ve done it, now that the impossible has proven possible after all, there is no turning back. There are no more excuses.