Introduction and Connecting via SpeakerHub
Taryell Simmons: Welcome to another episode of the Rise Urban Nation podcast. Today we have a special guest, Rodney Lawson. I met him through SpeakerHub. Rodney, how did you get introduced to SpeakerHub?
Rodney Lawson: Ron reached out to me on LinkedIn and invited me to a free conference. I saw that it aligned directly with my work and offered a tool that could help me, which is how we connected.
Taryell Simmons: From the moment you entered the call, your charisma and message stood out. You transitioned from leading multimillion-dollar corporate operations to making meaningful community impact. Today, we will explore how you leveraged your experience, overcame challenges, and built opportunities for others.
Early Athletic Dreams and Corporate Beginnings
Rodney Lawson: Throughout high school in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, I believed I was headed to the NFL. We won a championship, and I was selected for the Pennsylvania-Ohio all-star game, but then I tore my knee. Before that, my first discipline was martial arts; I earned black belts in Shotokan and Isshin-ryu, competing in about 400 tournaments. When the knee injury ended both football and competitive karate, I brought that competitive drive directly into the corporate world at a young age.
Rodney Lawson: Starting out was not easy. I spoke with broken English and slang, deeply rooted in hip-hop culture. During my first job as a telephone sales representative at a Fortune 100 telecommunications company, my supervisor asked us to write down a short-term and long-term goal. I wrote down that I wanted to become a vice president. She called me into her office and told me I might want to choose something more realistic.
Rodney Lawson: That was a pivotal moment where you either lose confidence or fight back. I told her that she asked for my goals, and while she could do whatever she wanted with the paper, she would never get me to change a single word. Over the next 14 years at that company, I was promoted 14 times in 12 years, rising from sales rep to director over their most complex international location, managing 687 employees from over 50 countries operating in 10 languages.
Keys to Rapid Career Progression
Rodney Lawson: Two fundamental principles drove that success. First, keep an open mind for personal development. Second, maintain a burning purpose. In the beginning, I only owned one suit. I dedicated 10% of every paycheck to my wardrobe, buying affordable suits from discount stores and spending an extra fifty dollars to have them custom tailored so they looked like thousand-dollar suits. When I became a supervisor, the company required two training classes per year; I took 11 classes in my first year, mastering frontline leadership, performance management, and coaching.
Rodney Lawson: A burning purpose is necessary because people and circumstances will always test you. People project their own fears onto you. For example, a week after September 11, when I accepted an assignment to commute and run a call center in Guyana, South America, my mother warned me against it. Had I operated from her fears, I would never have grown. You must keep moving forward regardless of circumstances.
Overcoming Adversity and Discovering Purpose
Taryell Simmons: That tenacity and grit is remarkable, especially achieving that level of leadership with a high school diploma before your higher education. How did your family background shape your views on success?
Rodney Lawson: I grew up in Buffalo, New York, in a household with an alcoholic and abusive father. There were winters when our utilities were shut off because he gambled away the bill money. That environment taught me exactly what I did not want to become. I established a personal rule never to drink alcohol or do drugs. Being sober in corporate environments allowed me to observe, listen, and learn while others let their guard down.
Rodney Lawson: Through therapy, I discovered my core passion is being an injustice equalizer—striving for fairness, equity, and respect. In over 30 years of management, I have never treated an employee without dignity, even when terminating individuals. My therapist helped me realize that this commitment was a gift born from my father's negative example. It was not just what he did to me, but what he did for me.
Navigating Corporate Politics and Setbacks
Rodney Lawson: Corporate leadership brings distinct challenges, particularly for Black professionals where accountability is scrutinized heavily. Earlier in my career, as a senior manager, I built an operation from scratch, hiring nine managers, 55 supervisors, and 1,000 sales agents in 90 days. Despite exceeding all metrics, I was passed over for director three separate times.
Rodney Lawson: Instead of resigning in anger, I met with the Senior Vice President, committed my full support, and asked for the exact guidance needed to reach the next tier. The external director who was brought in taught me how to master corporate politics and visibility—skills I previously lacked. Five months later, I earned my promotion to director, leading that complex office from the bottom ranking to the top in the company within four months.
Transition to Entrepreneurship and Public Speaking
Rodney Lawson: Although I excelled in corporate roles, I realized I was an entrepreneur at heart. Three times I left corporate America to start my consulting and coaching practice, but lucrative compensation packages lured me back. In April, after hearing a sermon at Fort Bend Church urging not to keep returning to the past, I committed fully to my purpose. Shortly after, an executive recruiter offered me a high-paying Chief Compliance Officer role, but I turned it down to focus on helping people directly.
Rodney Lawson: I also pursued public speaking persistently. After facing rejections since 2008—including from my alma mater, Nova Southeastern University—I submitted 43 applications in one year and secured two TEDx speaking engagements at TEDx Greenhouse and TEDx Punta Gorda, alongside delivering a DisruptHR presentation in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Four Core Values of Leadership
Taryell Simmons: In the green room, you mentioned four essential values that underpin true leadership. Can you break down that framework?
Rodney Lawson: True leadership influence does not come from a title; title-based influence disappears when the title is removed. Influence rests upon loyalty, and loyalty is built upon four foundational values: love, trust, honesty, and respect. Back in 1984, I evaluated supervisors on these four traits and found that fear-based managers who hit numeric targets were universally despised, while values-driven leaders inspired genuine dedication.
Rodney Lawson: Trust is an ongoing assessment based on three pillars: sincerity, knowledge of the situation, and reliability. If any of these three are compromised, trust collapses. Leaders must communicate transparently rather than relying on insincere corporate clichés.
Taryell Simmons: How can listeners connect with you and follow your work?
Rodney Lawson: Listeners can join my network and receive regular leadership updates by texting the word MAGNET to 55444.
Taryell Simmons: Thank you, Rodney, for sharing your journey and wisdom with Rise Urban Nation.
