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< | Reginald Lewis' Affect on My Life and Career |
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> | Reginald Lewis' Affect on My Life and Career
This should be "effect."
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| | -- By PierceHeard - 15 Apr 2024
Overview |
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< | Reginald F. Lewis was a revolutionary. He was the first African American to build a billion dollar company, and he paved a path for many more behind him. Witnessing the heights Lewis was able to reach inspired a generation of Black men and women to bet on themselves and take risks to become today's business leaders. While the job is far from over, Lewis' legacy is far reaching and dramatically pushed the fight for equal representation in the world's elite in the right direction. |
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> | Reginald F. Lewis was a revolutionary. He was the first African American to build a billion dollar company,
"Build" doesn't seem right. Roughly 100 years after Beatrice Foods was founded, he helped to take it apart. He bought the international operations of the business; its domestic business went to KKR, which eventually disgorged it into Conagra.
Perhaps it would make more sense to say that, having worked on leveraged buyouts in the '80s style, he made the transition from lawyering to banking and put this deal together as the foundation of an enormous fortune.
Is it more accurate that Robert Johnson, who "built" in this sense Black Entertainment Television, was the first Africa-American to create a billion-dollar business? But I should think that (in constant dollar terms) there would be other earlier business-people deserving of the honor.
and he paved a path for many more behind him. Witnessing the heights Lewis was able to reach inspired a generation of Black men and women to bet on themselves and take risks to become today's business leaders.
How do we know who "inspires" whom? Does this depend on individual personal testimony of "a generation"?
While the job is far from over,
Technically, it is over, right? You don't mention that he has been dead for more than thirty years.
Lewis' legacy is far reaching and dramatically pushed the fight for equal representation in the world's elite in the right direction. |
| | African American Success Before Reginald Lewis |
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< | Before Reginald Lewis, Black people in America often saw two paths to modern day wealth; they could either be an athlete, or an entertainer. All of the idols that the Black youth looked to for guidance were seemingly extraordinarily gifted and had some special "it" factor that made them famous. Of course these Black pioneers should not be brushed off; they made a huge contribution to society and had a positive impact on the Black community for years. The athletes inspired the youth to practice their sport abilities and become leaders of the field. The entertainers sprouted in the youth a desire to create masterpieces and contributed to some of the most important artistic works the world has ever seen. But without someone in the commercial sphere to inspire young Black kids, and show them that they can create wealth for themselves and their families while making a meaningful change, the idea simply would not blossom. This is the hole Reginald Lewis so effortlessly filled. |
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> | Before Reginald Lewis, Black people in America often saw two paths to modern day wealth; they could either be an athlete, or an entertainer.
Doesn't this rather understate the successes of Black bankers, lawyers, doctors and business owners in the United States? Perhaps "modern" is doing extra work here?
All of the idols that the Black youth looked to for guidance were seemingly extraordinarily gifted and had some special "it" factor that made them famous. Of course these Black pioneers should not be brushed off; they made a huge contribution to society and had a positive impact on the Black community for years. The athletes inspired the youth to practice their sport abilities and become leaders of the field. The entertainers sprouted in the youth a desire to create masterpieces and contributed to some of the most important artistic works the world has ever seen. But without someone in the commercial sphere to inspire young Black kids, and show them that they can create wealth for themselves and their families while making a meaningful change, the idea simply would not blossom. This is the hole Reginald Lewis so effortlessly filled.
Marcus Garvey?
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| | Reginald Lewis' Success |
| | I see my career looking very similar to my Lewis' and I would be grateful to be even a sliver as successful as he was. I now plan to do transactional work at a large firm straight out of law school to hopefully get some of the "experience" that they so proudly claim to provide. But I no longer plan to stay too long. I want to hang my own shingle and be my own boss and pursue matters that interest me. I now want to wake up and do whatever it is that I want to do; and never have to say or do anything unless it aligns with my beliefs and my values. |
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You are not asserting that this was true of Reginald Lewis, I take it, There's no academic biography, so far as I am aware, The sources on Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert in his heyday have also not been fully explored, So it would probably be far in advance of the evidence we have to draw conclusions about the state of Lewis' actual independence.
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| | Conclusion
In conclusion, Reginald Lewis showed me that I can be whoever I want to be in this world. He passed on the torch to the next generation of Black people and taught us to become our own bosses, to become the next titans of industry, and when we reach these mountaintops to ensure that we leave a meaningful impact for those that are next to come. He instilled in me the desire to ensure that the system hears our voice, and to strive to level the playing field by giving us a seat at the table. Luckily, this flame has been fanned by the teachings of a cherished Professor as well. With role models such as these, that teach me to not settle for the low hanging fruit, I have regained the confidence to believe that I can reach any peak I choose to climb. |
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I think the draft could use a tough edit for tightening: it's not economical with its words. Perhaps it would be good to try to get a little further than the Wikipedia article so far as sources are concerned. Did he leave his papers to Harvard or somewhere else?
Aside from the "always a hard worker" cliche, we don't really get any sense of the human being from the Wikipedia treatment. So it's a little hard to estimate what it means to take the man as a personal model. Beyond getting rich and leaving some money to a law school and a museum, to what does "following the example of Reginald Lewis" commit one?
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