Bossman on Leadership — Conclave Lecture Series
At last year's Conclave lecture series, Craig "Bossman" Muhammad — Detroit Graduate Chapter, by way of Grambling State University's Tiger 5 chapter — sat on a leadership panel of past and present chapter presidents and delivered a masterclass on what leadership actually is: succession, introspection, consistency, and keeping the mission out front.
A few moments worth listening for: the torch light on the shield as the image of leadership ("the bearer of the torch light... is guiding, he is inspiring, he is more importantly empowering"), the charge that a leader's first job is to find their successor, the story of honoring the very people who tried to sabotage his banquet, and the closing challenge to every older member: adopt a young Groove.
Transcript
Lightly edited for readability — timestamps and crosstalk removed; multiple panelists speak. The wording is as spoken.
These are the past and present. There are leadership concepts that are important, that are key to any organization — and quite frankly, the older you are, the more of the concepts that you run and create, that we currently utilize today. It really becomes part of who and what leadership is. So I've always talked about change — but for him, that was a concept that was on the ground running. For me, that was something I learned in graduate school years later. And so if you're in that role and you're not doing change management, you're not right. But for him, he was there in the very, very beginning.
— So what I'm going to ask first, a question of each gentleman — a past president, a vice president, and myself as current president: What is leadership?
— Well, first let me offer my apologies right away. If I'm up here yawning, I'm very tired this morning — and it's not disrespectful. I had a late night preventing prostate cancer. So, you know, I thank you all.
So the question is: what is a leader, or leadership? Leadership is the process of leadering — in my humble opinion, leadership is the idea of moving forward through inspiration. If we look at our shield, at the top of our shield is a torch light. What does the torch light represent? A torch light illuminates darkness. And the bearer of the torch light — he is the one who is leading. He is guiding. He is inspiring. He is, more importantly, empowering.
And that is a part of what leadership is. But to do that, I firmly believe you have to be secure in who you are as an individual. Because my training has been: when you are in a position of authority, your first job is to look for your successor. In order to do that, I have to be secure in who I am — secure in the fact that I am developing someone to take my place. And I can do that because, in developing that individual, we understand that it is the mission that is out front and not the individual. That succession of leadership is necessary to maintain the vision and continue to push the vision forward. It doesn't matter who is in the seat when the mission remains out front.
When my ability to understand who I am comes through the process of introspection, ego is not at play. And I'm more confident in helping this young brother and that young brother be who God made them to be. So for me, leadership is the one who is guiding by example, leading by example — vision, strategy, and understanding — who can see the end result.
[A recorded appeal from Bossman, played during the session:]
Happy New Year, fellows. I'm your brother Craig "Bossman" Muhammad, member of the Detroit Graduate Chapter by way of Grambling State University's Tiger 5 chapter. For those of you who know me, you know that I love Groove Phi Groove. You also know that for me, Groove is not something that I just did, but is absolutely who I am. I have been blessed to serve our organization successfully in every capacity but one. I am a lifetime member. I have supported brothers, causes, and vendors. I'd like to believe that I have repped my G's well. I lay all this before you because I'm about to ask you to donate to the Detroit Graduate Chapter's fundraising campaign to help us fund repair and renovation costs. I am asking you to donate generously and often to this, the first of many fundraising efforts to come. This house, which is centrally located in a prime empowerment zone, will serve as a beacon of hope in this community. We plan to have it serve as a resource center where we will work to match community needs with the proper resources. From this house, we plan to engage the community — residents, churches, schools, and businesses — by organizing and mobilizing our collective efforts to ensure that resources are properly allocated and services are effective and impactful. From this house, that may serve as the Great Lakes Regional Headquarters, we plan to facilitate neighborhood cleanups, food giveaways, voter registration, entrepreneurial workshops, group counseling, roundtables for youth, and much, much more. I can't tell you enough how proud I am of my chapter for staying the course and overcoming obstacles to bring this vision into reality. But we also want to make our nation proud. When we look at our shield, the top center pearl is the international headquarters. The Detroit Graduate Chapter Great Lakes Regional Headquarters is the pearl to the right — leaving us twelve other pearls to claim in the next twenty years. Brothers, know for certain: we've come this far by faith. And by faith, we will see this vision through to completion. Brothers, please let me remind you that all donations are tax-deductible, as the Detroit Graduate Chapter is in fact a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. With that, I leave you with thanks in advance, and God bless.
— So now we're going to talk a little bit about succession — perspectives from each one of the gentlemen.
— I really could have sat over there. And I say that to say: Ahmad has regurgitated everything I've been saying to him and others for the last thirty years. Succession of leadership is critical for the life and longevity of any organization. As I said before, when you are either elected or appointed to leadership, your first obligation is to look for your successor.
So the question becomes: how do you build leaders? Because there's a debate — are leaders born or made? I believe that it is a combination of both. I think every one of us has leadership potential in us at birth. Our first leader — we're leading ourselves. How do you do that? You have to grow to understand who you are. You have to engage in the process of introspection so that you can know self. When I do introspection — and it's a lifelong exercise — I'm looking to see what are my innate qualities. What did God birth me with? Who is the real Bossman? Not the physical manifestation of who I am, but what moves me. And I found out that I am, in fact, compassionate. I'm responsible. I'm accountable. I'm reliable. I'm dedicated. I'm a protector. All of these things are in me. But then what has to happen? I have to not just discover them — I have to decide that that's who I am, and I'm going to walk this earth accordingly.
Now, we're talking about consistency — consistency of self. If you ask Darryl who Bossman is and he says one word, and I ask Rodney the same thing and he says one word, and those words are congruent, that means I'm walking a consistent life. He shouldn't see me one way while Ahmad sees me another. If I'm consistent in my walk, then I can gain the trust of those I'm attempting to influence.
So why is it that when we have positions available — gaps to be filled — and we are a group that says we build leaders, why are people running unopposed, or no one willing to stand up? I think we have to be an organization where we should be fighting each other to run for that position. Where are the leaders? If the leaders are in the room, what's the demonstration of your leadership? Who are you leading? Who are you influencing? And in what direction are you leading?
See, there are leaders that have qualities, but they don't have the character. So when we talk about leadership, what are we talking about? We're talking about character. We're talking about integrity, honesty, transparency.
Let me tell you something about this administration that I love so much. If y'all can recall the State of the Fellowship that he just did — when it was over, my chapter, we watched it together. But what they didn't see — they saw the effect. They didn't see the cause. And you have to be in the process of leading to understand the cause. That was strategic planning. Proper execution. That was having a sound understanding of who you're working with and placing them in the best position to be successful. What we saw and celebrated was the effect — but it's the cause that we have to pay more attention to.
So I ask all of you in here: who are you leading, and how are you leading yourselves? It's easy to criticize leadership. But before you open your mouth to criticize leadership, again I ask you: how are you leading yourself? Are you financial ahead of time, or do you wait till the last minute? Do you come to meetings? When you come to meetings, are you on time — and being on time means being early? Do you come early, leave late? Do you ever take responsibility, a position of accountability? Do you never have anything positive to say? Or are you in agreement with everything that's being said, but then go home and do nothing? Who are you leading? What kind of leader are you?
Our ability to influence comes because we lead by example. And for that, you have to have a leadership style — and depending on who you're leading, your leadership style shall change. I had to lead from the front more times than not. Then as I began to gain the respect and the confidence of those I was leading, I could fall to the middle. Then as we grew, and I began to witness the ones I was trying to help develop their leadership stand up, now I can fall to the back — and my role in the leadership process becomes different.
I'm critical of my own leadership, because as leaders we're continuously growing. And the naysayers — I thank you. Anybody here remember G2K? It was a vision. So we're talking about leadership: vision. Vision is broad. Vision says that I can't do it by myself. Vision makes you understand that you need help. Vision makes you understand who you need, what you need them for, how long the duration of their necessity is. Vision ensures that you are not overworking yourself. Vision ensures that you move from one spot to the next incrementally until you reach the final goal. Vision understands everything that could possibly go wrong and has a counterpoint to that end. And when you have vision, now you can enact it in a way that facilitates the leadership of those you're pulling up.
I can remember speaking to G2K at the time. I'm in Detroit, I'm Great Lakes Regional Director, but I've got their ear. When we talk about leaders — a leader is not all the time the person that's elected or appointed. The leader is the one that the people go to with their questions and concerns. I was that person. So since I'm that person: let's do this. I put together a plan from Detroit, and because they respected me, they enacted that plan flawlessly. However — I had people, even some older members of my chapter, who did not like the fact that I had that kind of influence. So we had a banquet. And what do you do when you're a leader? At the banquet, I sat them right next to me. Not only did they not help — they all but tried to sabotage it. So what I did: I gave them honors. "Thank you for all you've done to help make this a success." And they looked at each other. But I made a point — because with everything they tried to do to make it not be good, it made me dig deeper. They were sent by God. I understood who sent them, because I know who I am. And as a result of that, the next thing I stepped up to attempt to do — "what you need? I got you."
That's what leaders do. You have to understand who you're working with. You've got to be very wise in negotiating and navigating the terrain of different people's personalities. I used to tell them: it's easy to lead when everybody's following. But how do you get a man to do what he doesn't want to do, or doesn't think he can do? How do you handle that? And I thank God for him, because now I've got to dig in deep. You don't have a ride? Okay, I'll pick you up. You don't want to do this alone? I'll go with you — we do this together. You eliminate the excuses.
Why would one accept another person's excuse? Because down the line, I'm going to want you to accept mine. But when we accept each other's excuses, then we never reach the bar of excellence. We always remain mediocre. And what do we say in our motto? Through loyalty and integrity, we shall achieve greatness. And you cannot achieve greatness accepting excuses and making excuses.
Our job as leaders, though, is to help those coming behind us develop so that they never offer excuses. You put them in positions so that they understand what's required for leadership. You excel their abilities to be themselves. You allow them to make mistakes, charge them for it, and then encourage them and build them back up, to allow them to move forward with confidence. Now, that's work — because it isn't just one person you've got to do that with. You've got to do that with everybody, and keep yourself sustained. But when you love the mission — which has got to be out front — then it's all worth it.
See, Groove is not what is in the room today. Groove is what's going to be in the room ten, fifteen, twenty years from now. And that's what we're trying to do: plant that tree understanding that we may never be around to enjoy its shade. That's what we do. So it's incumbent upon us as older men to understand this whole process of succession of leadership. And the reason I'm making this particular point is because what we have had in our organization — and other organizations I've been in — is that older men don't want to relinquish. But it is scripture that says: young men for war, old men for counsel. The old man has got to know when to sit down and be ready to advise — and be patient enough to allow the new vanguard to make mistakes.
My chapter — we just had a conversation at dinner last night. I'm telling them: I'm looking for somebody to take my spot. I've been doing this for a minute. Whether you know it or not, God willing, October 16th I'll be three years heart-transplant recovery. I'm at a second stage in my life where I want to really do some things. So I'm looking for that person — but I can't leave yet, because I haven't found him yet. And I'm dedicated to Groove. Detroit. Tiger 5.
That's another thing, before I pass this mic, that I'm going to encourage all of us to understand. You have to be mindful of what comes out of your mouth when we're representing Groove — because you don't know who's listening. Some of what's in his mind, I didn't say to him directly. I was saying it probably to some other brother, but he was on the side listening. And the brother I was talking to probably didn't get any of it. So we have to be mindful of what comes out of our mouths, not recognizing who may be listening.
When we are representing Groove, we have to be upright. We have to be good citizens. We have to be good human beings, for that matter. We have to be able to do good for goodness' sake. If we say that God rules over our victorious existence, then we've got to be able to exhibit God — or stop saying it. Can't have it both ways. If God rules over our victorious existence, then we have to represent God while representing Groove. And that just means being good humanitarians. We are a service organization — serve. By that I mean your first obligation is to serve your chapter. Serve one another. Serve yourself. Then we move into the community. Because if we're not settled, if we're not secure, if we're not whole, we cannot be of any assistance to the community that we wish to impact. Our first fellowship, our first obligation, is to each other — as men, as brothers. And if we can do that more, then we can be better qualified — and more excited — to concertedly bring up the next generation.
See, some of us, this weekend, we walked by these young brothers and didn't say nothing. We can't do that. At the very least, speak. What's up, Groove? Give him the Groove. We've got two more days — Friday and Saturday — to get it in. Adopt a young Groove. Adopt one. I adopted one just yesterday — Jaylen. He walked up to me, and that's my man now. I'm going to mentor him. We are all duty bound. I love this organization.
Before we close out, I just wanted to thank Ahmad and Smoke and this administration. I get emotional, because I've been in this thing from day one. I came in loving this thing flat out. And to see where we are today is just remarkable. But what it does is it opens my eyes to what we will become — and I'm so excited and honored about that.
But I want to share with the older brothers the importance of taking on these minors. I know I spoke on it, but I meant it for real. We are duty bound. There are African proverbs that say our elderly are the wells from which we should drink. We have this wisdom that we don't take advantage of — particularly young folks. Come on, talk to us. Ask us questions. And while we have them, we have to honor them — because there's another proverb that says: when an elder dies, a library closes. So we have to make sure that we honor our elders, that we are really interacting with one another.
A young man walked up to me, and we kept having a conversation, and I gave him my name. I said, you know, "Fellow Craig Muhammad — everybody calls me Bossman." "Oh, you're Bossman!" I get that so often. Do you know how that makes me feel? The question is: who is saying "oh, you're such-and-such" about you? Who have you influenced? Who have you put your stamp on? If you're not getting that — work to get it. I'm telling you, it keeps me.
I love this organization. And if you don't love it like I love it, I'm sorry — because they told me day one, everybody's not going to love it like you. And it's proven true.
And I'm going to leave you with one other thing that I was told day one. It should not reflect on any of you, but I would like for you to pass this on to anybody that comes up underneath you. I was told that every brother with a G might be a Groove — but every Groove ain't a brother. And I was told that because when that Groove that ain't a brother finds you — and he will — don't paint the organization by what he's giving you. We have brothers who have fallen out because they've had one bad interaction, and they're done with all of Groove as if we've done nothing. So keep that in mind, brothers. I love everybody in this room, and everybody who's not in it.
— This particular session is the lecture series, so we're going to conclude it now and take a break. We'll come back for the open organizational forum. Let's give the presenters a round of applause.