C.J. Stewart – Page 82

If L.E.A.D. ceased to exist, Ambassador Reggie would…

November 25, 2013 by C.J. Stewart

When L.E.A.D. wins, Atlanta wins! That’s exactly why I’m sharing this interview of L.E.A.D. Ambassador Reggie Traylor (Freshman, Benjamin E. Mays High School, Atlanta Public Schools). It’s not about L.E.A.D., it’s all about Atlanta.

By the thousands, African-American males are not engaged in school in Atlanta. By the thousands, they are dropping out of school. Ambassador Reggie was on track to doing the same thing before L.E.A.D. I can say with confidence that he will be a difference maker in our country in due time.

C.J.: What’s L.E.A.D.’s mission?

Ambassador Reggie: L.E.A.D.’s mission is to empower an at risk generation to lead and transform their city.

C.J.: What are L.E.A.D.’s core values?

Ambassador Reggie: Excellence, humility, integrity, loyalty, stewardship and teamwork.

C.J.: Which core value are you the best at?

Ambassador Reggie: Humility

C.J.: Which do you struggle with?

Ambassador Reggie: Excellence

C.J.: Describe yourself with one word before L.E.A.D.

Ambassador Reggie: Confused

C.J.: What’s the one word that describes you now?

Ambassador Reggie: Patient

C.J.: In 10 years from today, what will you be doing in life?

Ambassador Reggie: Hopefully somewhere with my own business.

C.J.: Not hope. What will you be doing in 10 years?

Ambassador Reggie: In Puerto Rico with my own business.

C.J.: Cool. What type is business?

Ambassador Reggie: Sporting goods

C.J.: Who is the most important person in your life?

Ambassador Reggie: My sister

C.J.: Why?

Ambassador Reggie: Because if I get into any trouble or not feeling so well, I know that my sister is the first person I can call.

C.J.: If L.E.A.D. didn’t exist tomorrow, you would…

Ambassador Reggie: Do what I need to do in school to make another L.E.A.D. possible.

C.J.: That is an awesome answer!

Ambassador Reggie: Thanks!

C.J.: Your school experience would be better if…

Ambassador Reggie: I focus more with 100% effort.

Left to right: Ambassador Reggie Traylor (Benjamin E. Mays High School), CJ Stewart and Ambassador Tyrelle Wilson (Booker T. Washington High School) at Elizabeth Baptist Church November 2013

The Atlanta Braves Are Moving Forward

November 12, 2013 by C.J. Stewart

So the Braves are moving to Cobb County in 2017? A very interesting move that is causing mixed emotions from fans and members of the Summerhill Community that have called The Braves neighbor for over 45 years.

As a fan and community partner, I have mixed emotions too. The fan side of me would love to have more options surrounding the stadium to add to the game day experience. The community partner side of me wonders how the residents of the Summerhill and surrounding communities will be affected short and long term.

Then there is the leader in me that understands we don’t always get to choose what happens, but we always have a choice in how we react. And here is what I plan to do as we move forward from this decision:

– Continue to work with my colleagues of L.E.A.D. and engage partners to provide opportunities for young people in Atlanta to recognize their future and own it,

– Continue to provide a Pathway To Empowerment so the youth we serve develop into invested, committed members of the Atlanta community, and

– Continue to connect L.E.A.D. Ambassadors to the business community so they can earn positions in leadership where they have a voice at the table of development concerning what happens in their communities.

That’s how I’m deciding to move forward. I’m a son of this City; I love the Braves and I love Atlanta.

How to kill three birds with one stone

November 8, 2013 by C.J. Stewart

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. (Proverbs 11:3 ESV)

Why do people make good decisions? Why do people make bad decisions? I have accepted that strong core values precedes good behavior every time.

For the month of November, the core value that L.E.A.D. is studying is integrity. For our organization, integrity is a positive and consistent way of behaving. This is a simple definition to me that came from the mouths of our L.E.A.D. Ambassadors. It has to be a definition that they can own in order to uphold it.

In my opinion, there are three benefits to being a person with high integrity.

People will respect you
Do you enjoy spending time around people that you don’t respect? Often times a lack of respect for someone is met with disrespect so it’s best not to be in their presence. Respect is earned by positive and consistent behavior.

People will trust you
If I can’t trust you, all that I can do is pray for you. For me, everyone starts with a clean slate of trust. Because we are humans, we will let each other down and I can live with that. It becomes a problem when your negative behavior is consistent and without conscience. If you want to be trusted, be consistent with your positive behavior.

People will follow you
If you have any desire to be a leader in your school, job, community or even in your own home, you have to be consistent with your positive behavior. An occasional crazy day of yours can be written off as you “having a bad day” but if you meet people most days with a bad attitude, late, full of complaints and excuses, know one will follow you because you are headed to destruction any way.

I’m not perfect but I am consistent with positive behavior and therefore I’m claiming to be a man of high integrity. I’m sure that means a lot to you if you are family member and/or friend of mine.

How skipping class today can negatively affect your future

October 30, 2013 by C.J. Stewart

I experienced a great lesson of humility today. We are in the final days of the selection process of the 2014 class of L.E.A.D. Ambassadors. One of our aspiring Ambassadors is now suspended from school for two days because he skipped one of his classes yesterday. Since he can’t attend school for the next two days, I asked his mother to bring him to me. I had to make a choice to handle him with wrath or grace. I prayed about it and chose grace and feel in my heart that he will be a better person for it.

He has been along for the ride with me today experiencing my life for a day. I’m proud of the position of service that God has me in. He uses me to make His appeal to others through some pretty cool activities. I’m prayerful that if I can show him what he will miss out on by making bad decisions, it will cause him to make the right decisions. By no means am I perfect though. I can guarantee that he will see me do several things wrong today. Today is about getting him back on the right path because his coach loves him and is willing to demonstrate it. He will be charged to show grace and love to others in his household, school, team and community. How about that?

Here is his blog detailing how skipping school today can negatively affect your future. Feel free to make comments.

Skipping class can negatively affect my future because I can miss out on important lectures and advice from my teachers that could help me on something that I need help on in the future. If I’m not in class, I won’t be able to hear those lectures and the advice. If I don’t hear them, I will make more mistakes in life than I would’ve if I was in class.

Skipping class is just like skipping breakfast. If you skip class you won’t learn anything and won’t gain any knowledge. In the future you will realize that you should have been in class so you can learn all the things that you can learn in that time period. If you skip breakfast you will be hungry for a long time then you will realize that you should have ate breakfast because now you will be hungry until you can get somewhere to eat.

Another example why you shouldn’t skip class is because when you get older that’s just like you skipping a business meeting that you should have attended so you can get all the information that you need for the next project you’re working on or you might get the wrong information. Those are examples on how skipping class can negatively affect my future and why I shouldn’t do it.

Ten years from today, I will be a major league baseball player. The team that I would like to play for is The Texas Rangers. I want to play for the Rangers because they always have a good team and mostly everybody on the team knows how to hit the ball well. I also want to play for that team because one of my favorite players Josh Hamilton plays for that them. Josh Hamilton is my favorite player because he makes good plays in the field and he also knows how to hit the ball far. Josh Hamilton made a lot of mistakes in his life like doing a lot of different drugs but he took it upon himself to stop and change his ways. Now he’s clean and plays for the Rangers with a high batting average. I also admire Josh for the way that he supports his community through education.

L.E.A.D. Today…Change Tomorrow!

Effective Service

October 24, 2013 by C.J. Stewart

Whether we choose to admit it, we all need help. There is nothing more frustrating than being on the receiving end of “help” only to find that the need hasn’t actually been met. To that degree, I’m proposing there is a right and a wrong way to help people. You can be sincere with serving others yet sincerely wrong. Real help should ultimately yield positive outcomes.

L.E.A.D. supporter Angela King with a LEADers from J. E. Brown Middle School for Hats Off 2013 at GA Tech

In my efforts to help other service minded folks out there, I’m sharing my checklist for authentic service. I hope you find it helpful.

What specific core help does the individual need?
Often times I try to be the answer to the problem only to realize that I’m treating the symptoms and not the illness. In order to treat the illness, establishing a trusting relationship is a must. That obviously doesn’t happen overnight but it needs to happen in order for the right questions to be asked and answered so all can get to the core of the problem. If we can solve the cause, we can surely solve the effect. We spend way too much time solving effects and not causes. That’s a problem for everyone.

Do I have the capacity to help?
An empty glass won’t refresh anyone. Before you can influence others to change, you need to contain something worth offering to others. A skill set combined with an emotional connection is powerful. Without both, the problem can become larger. I have a skill of baseball development that I use everyday to provide hope through my businesses, Diamond Directors and L.E.A.D., Inc. Ever wonder why I don’t have a pilot mentoring program? You guessed it, I don’t know how to fly a plane.

Am I willing to be available for a long period of time?
When we enter into relationships, we enter with our whole self. All of the disappointments and fears that we’ve experienced from the past are along for the ride. In order to effectively help someone, there must be consistent, empowering interaction to break down the walls of failed past relationships. This part of the process is hard and it takes more time for some than others. This is the foundation upon which your future engagement with your mentees will be laid. Be intentional and consistent; set the expectation from the beginning so you won’t join the ranks of do-gooders who’ve let them down before.
Is this about me feeling good or the person in need?
A man always has two reasons for doing anything – a good reason and the real reason. Now it’s time to get all the liars to the table. This point is one of the main reasons why people that need help ALWAYS end up needing help and never reach their next level. If my help is about getting my name/photo in the media or increasing my status in the community then I’m only helping myself. On the flip side, if my help is about moving my mentee from a state of need to a state of self sufficiency then I have to be willing and able to remove my ambition. If not, more harm will be done than good.

Honored to hang out with the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors at the Cobb Galleria for Sports Champions Of Greater Atlanta Awards Banguet

If you want to truly help people, set S.M.A.R.T. goals with them and you will know two very important things: 1) how to measure your impact in their lives and 2) are they even ready to receive help and act on it.

S-Specific Goal…what are we doing?
M-Measurable Goal…what are the steps to doing it?
A-Attainable Goal…can we really do this?
R-Relevant Activities towards the Goal…to do list and a not to do list
T-Time Measured Goal…how long will this take to reap what was sowed?Remember, time is a non-renewable resource. Use it wisely. Be intentional. And for the love of Almighty God – be real.

L.E.A.D., Inc. | L.E.A.D. Center For Youth