May 16, 2016
Shawn Dove serves as the CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA), a national membership organization dedicated to ensuring the growth, sustainability and impact of leaders and organizations focused on improving the life outcomes of America’s Black men and boys. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or TuneIn In this episode, we discussed: 05:45 - Shawn's dream as a young black child 08:05 - Who Shawn describes as his most valuable mentor growing up in New York 10:30 - CBMA's back story and what he does in his day to day role 15:35 - The biggest lessons he learned about himself in the process of growing CBMA 20:00 - How great leaders can continue to have vision and be successful 24:00 - Shawn's blind spots as a leader 26:00 - Why it's so important to lead with generosity in your relationships 29:00 - What to do when speaking publicly, to make ourselves unforgettable 32:30 - What he'd do if he were the head of our nation's educational system 36:40 - The effects of being a husband and father of 4 children on his career journey 47:00 - Shawn's inspiring poem: "Discover your G-Spot and Become a Gold Digger" Links and resources mentioned: Campaign for Black Male Achievement Shawn on Twitter Shawn's Fav App: Apple's Podcast App Shawn's Fav Book: Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice - Dennis Kimbro Shawn's Bio Shawn Dove serves as the CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA), a national membership organization dedicated to ensuring the growth, sustainability and impact of leaders and organizations focused on improving the life outcomes of America’s Black men and boys. Started by the Open Society Foundations in 2008 as the nation’s largest philanthropic initiative on this issue, Dove’s leadership has propelled CBMA into becoming an independent entity, growing its membership to more than 4,000 leaders representing over 2,000 organizations nation-wide. For more than a decade, Dove has demonstrated catalytic leadership in helping to establish and develop the field of Black Male Achievement. He has served as a lead organizer of the Executives’ Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys & Young Men of Color; brokered a partnership between Open Society Foundations, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the City of New York to launch the NYC Young Men’s Initiative; and helped seed the launch of the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative. Under Dove’s direction, CBMA’s efforts led to the creation of the nation’s first-ever Black Male Achievement fellowship for social entrepreneurs in partnership with Echoing Green, and he played a key role in the formation of Cities United, a national strategy that facilitates partnerships between mayors, municipal leaders and community-based organizations to eliminate violent deaths of Black men and boys in over 70 cities. Prior to heading up the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Dove held over 20 years of leadership experience as a youth development professional, community-builder and advocate for children and families. He began his professional career as Executive Director of The DOME Project, a NYC-based youth development organization, then went on to become Director of Youth Ministries for First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, NJ, where he managed the 7,000-member institution’s youth development initiatives, strategic partnerships and cross-ministry collaborations. Dove also served as the New York Vice President for MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, during which time he successfully doubled the organization’s membership of mentoring programs and created The Male Mentoring Project, a city-wide public awareness and recruitment strategy to grow more African American and Latino male mentors in New York City. As Creative Communities Director for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, Dove led and managed the technical assistance,