Ed reveals a truth first ridiculed, now resisted, yet becoming more self-evident
In this Ed Talk, Edward Dugger III talks about one of his many champions who stood with him to advance a novel idea. Ed is the President of Reinventure Capital and an impact investing pioneer.
There are three steps in the revelation of any truth: in the first, it is ridiculed; in the second, resisted; in the third, it is considered self-evident.
-Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher
He was impeccable. In dress, in manner, and in speech. His greetings always began with an inquiry about family, their well being and yours. His smile set you at ease and made you feel a bit more confident. Every time I saw him at one of my board meetings, I said to myself, “That’s what I want to be like when I grow up.”
Fred Wilkinson’s refined exterior spoke volumes of his successful corporate career. A 1948 honors graduate of Harvard Business School, he was one of only a handful of African Americans who could claim such a degree as he entered corporate America. His rise through the ranks at Macy’s from assistant buyer to overseeing buying in Europe and Asia to becoming the retailer’s first black vice president would have been historic in its own right. Yet Fred went on to serve in the public sector as the executive officer for transit service for the New York City Transit Authority overseeing 13,000 employees before returning to the private sector at American Express. There he pioneered for 16 years reaching the position of senior vice president for worldwide communications.
Fred was my mentor, a role shared with all the directors of my board at UNC Ventures. A valued member of my Inner Circle, he wore many hats as fiduciary, wise counselor and bridge between corporate America and the truths confronting Black America. He was my champion. In spite of his personal success, he knew as well as anyone the inequities faced by black professionals and entrepreneurs alike and understood the difficulties we were facing. He was my champion even more so because he stood up with me to take on these challenges and create the ripple effects that would ultimately characterize our success.
Along with other members of my board, Fred stood by me as we confronted the first reaction to any novel thesis: ridicule. Particularly ours. We believed that inequities in the availability of growth capital to entrepreneurs of color was not simply an issue of social injustice, but ultimately an economic impediment to our nation’s prosperity. Except for a few, the rest of the world did not agree. We believed that given the inevitability of demographic trends, the contributions of people of color would be among our most important future assets. The rest of the world scoffed at the very idea. We believed that we could make investments in founders of color, that their businesses could scale and we would not lose our shirts. In fact, we had the audacity to believe that impacting favorably this inequity and generating a strong return on investment were compatible. The rest of the world was amazed by our naïvety.
In his UNC board role, as in his own career, Fred was all about demonstrating that the “ridiculous” could be done. And then that the inevitable second-stage “resistance” could be overcome. So when there came a point in my tenure as UNC CEO when I was worried that we were in danger of proving the nay-sayers right, I turned to Fred for guidance. I explained the situation to him as I saw it: a combination of missteps involving investment strategy, management team and focus. Recognizing the very hands-on role the board had so far played in the affairs of the venture fund, Fred asked this simple question: “What would you do if you had no board?”
It was characteristic of Fred, simultaneously simple, direct and profoundly challenging.
Fred’s question acknowledged that sometimes resistance is self-imposed, a result of our own reliance on what was done before rather than what changing circumstances demand now. Referencing the time when I was selected as CEO of UNC Ventures, Fred said, “You’re not 27 anymore. We need you to show us the way.” I shared with Fred what I would do, outlining a major departure from our business model, current practices, responsibilities and accountability. “Then do it,” Fred said. So with the approval of my board and the blessing of investors, I did.
The next decade our investments helped produce some of the largest businesses with black founders and two of the largest IPOs. We extended the reach of black founders into industries in which they had barely been seen before, in ways never imagined. We insisted that the management teams and employees of our portfolio companies reflect the diversity of America, setting a goal of 30% for folks of color, and we hit it. We wanted to demonstrate that companies of founders of color were not only scalable but bankable, so we helped them attract over $2 billion of mezzanine and senior financing to prove it. For our efforts, this portfolio rewarded us with a return of 32%, and evidence for our truth.
A few years after Fred retired from American Express and the board of UNC Ventures, he died. But before he did, we had one last game-changing conversation that both haunts and inspires me. Befitting his characteristic wisdom and insight, Fred said to me, “Ed, what would you do if it were impossible for you to fail?”
Well, Fred, this is it: Reinventure Capital.
We still have nay-sayers out there who want to ridicule what we believe, although there are not as many. But there are plenty of folks stubbornly resisting, resisting, and resisting. In founding Reinventure, I have re-engaged to marshal capital, talent and champions, like Fred, to once again prove them wrong. We still have lots of good work to do before what we see so clearly becomes self-evident to all.
We can’t do all that good work on our own, and we don’t wish to. We invite new champions like Fred to come forth. We invite latter-day champions from Corporate America, Wall Street, Main Street, government and beyond, to step forward. We invite courageous men and women who will be advocates for this long-overdue epiphany and open doors, minds and hearts we cannot. Champions who will lend their treasure, voices and wisdom to reinventing the way we think, the way we invest, and the way we measure success. We invite you.
You can help make this truth self-evident. We encourage you to do so, and we invite you to come do it with us. As a start, please bring your voice to the conversation by dropping me a note at ed@reinventurecapital.com.