Is there anyone who would have beaten Bill Clinton in 1996 besides Dole?
Colin Powell could have definitely given President Clinton a run for his money in 1996, and Clinton was very worried that Powell might make a bid for the Republican nomination. I think General Powell would have done better against Clinton than Dole, but oddly enough, he might have had trouble defeating Dole for the GOP nomination. As popular and respected as Powell was in 1996, he wasn't in the same situation as he had been in 1991 immediately after the Gulf War, and Dole was not only more Conservative but had been working hard to lay the groundwork for the '96 race since almost immediately after George H.W. Bush had been defeated for re-election.
General Powell went back-and-forth about running in 1996, but it ultimately came down to what he felt was best for his family, and his wife was known to be strongly opposed to a Presidential candidacy and his daughters weren't thrilled by the idea either. If Powell had won the nomination, I think he could very well have beaten Clinton in the 1996 general election. But Powell was a Black, pro-choice, moderate/liberal Republican (in fact, it wasn't even known for sure that he was a registered Republican until he announced that he wasn't running) at the height of Newt Gingrich's takeover of the national conservative movement (Gingrich had been elected Speaker of the House after the 1994 midterm massacre by Republicans with the "Contract with America"), so he would have faced a tough race in the GOP primaries. Even though he was a soldier, Powell was not a politician, and that would have been a particularly brutal campaign just to win the nomination and he just didn't have the stomach for it.
6. “DON’T LET ADVERSE FACTS STAND IN THE WAY OF A GOOD DECISION.”
I’m going to pull directly from General Powell’s book for this one. For this rule, he ends by saying: “Whenever I’m faced with a difficult choice, my approach has always been to make an estimate of the situation — a familiar military process: What’s the situation? What’s the mission? What are the different courses of action? How do they compare with one another? Which looks most likely to succeed? Now, follow your informed instinct, decide, and execute forcefully; throw the mass of your forces and energy behind the choice. Then take a deep breath and hope it works, remembering that ‘hope is a bad supper, but makes a good breakfast.’” Excerpt From: Colin Powell. “It Worked for Me.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/it-worked-for-me/id487138181
I’m going to keep it short in sweet, but all in all, I’ve followed this to a T throughout my entire life. I recently made a decision, which I’m excited to share with you all at some point, and I know it was the best one based on “informed instinct.” Now it’s time to execute — with excellence.
Short and sweet. Let’s reevaluate for a longer and more reflective part two in three years. :-)
As privileged as my upbringing was, my journey still started from humble beginnings. As an army brat [[that means one of my parents, in this case, my dad, was in the army]] whose parents worked really hard…my dad, who dedicated his life to service of this country and humanity blazed a trail from grade 01 to beyond a number rank [[IYKYK]]. Mom supported and raised us with her empathy for humanity and brilliance in understanding the nuances of the world.
We moved a bunch…like 14 times or some wild number before I had the opportunity to go to university. Before and throughout High School, I ended up in a small town on the side of a mountain next to a river — seriously lol — in upstate New York — with a fire and drive to ESCAPE…lol..no, but seriously.
Oh yeah, and if you couldn’t tell — I’m Black 🖤. Seriously, if another person asks, “what are you?” 😒 Pop’s family is from the South. Mom’s family is from the Bronx by way of Puerto Rico. I was able to see what access and opportunity could do and see firsthand what it looked like when you didn’t have it. Regardless of it all, I knew that I’d have to fight and push through and take the hits — and I did that — no matter how exhausting it felt. But to this day, I’m so proud of my ENTIRE family and their individual and collective journeys. My grandmother and grandfather came from the Deep South. There are so many happy and empowering stories that I’d like to share at some point…but there are even sadder and angering and troubling ones that they had to overcome just because of the color of their skin. And they worked their butts off and created a standard of excellence that would permeate for generations…literally. They both met and graduated from an HBCU called Virginia State University. My grandfather, of my name, served in the army — fought a couple of wars for this country [[he transitioned earlier this year 😢]] — my grandmother was an English teacher, and one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known — her command of the English language and knowledge of music is unmatched. Similarly, mi Abuela — grandmother in Spanish — had her own journey [[she was diagnosed with breast cancer 🎗 a few months ago…it looks like we caught it early]]. She made her way to the American mainland by way of Ponce [[did you know that the Median Household Income for this town is $16,561? Probably not. This is what we call perspective.]] with her siblings to chase the American Dream — many of them working labor/cleaning jobs, including mi Titi Eva [[who cleaned rich people’s houses — she transitioned a few months ago 😢]]. Mi Abuela still, to this day, speaks zero English. She worked in factories in the mid-1900s, amongst other jobs. She worked HARD — and I saw firsthand that welfare and food stamps were just a means of survival and support, not a handout like a bunch of privileged people like to say. It gets me pretty upset when people say this handout bullshit.
Of course, these are small pieces to my family and by no means the larger picture. Family/Familia (Gordon, Antonetty, Davis, and Pacheco alike) — I think that’s one of the most important things that this life has shown me — I can point to my family and say that they worked together through all odds as a unit. They individually and collectively made their way through IMPOSSIBLE situations…phew…if I could tell you stories…and maybe I will one day. And the LOVE and SUPPORT that they had around them…sprinkled with some LUCK…that’s also meaningful and important and a lesson in itself. I can say with all humility and gratitude that my grandparents and my parents are my heroes who built a LEGACY that I hope to build upon. As a kid from a town on the side of a mountain next to a river in upstate New York, I look at them all and say that I’m proud of where they came from and where they elevated and that it can be done.
And I love them all here and beyond, always and forever.
3. “AVOID HAVING YOUR EGO SO CLOSE TO YOUR POSITION THAT WHEN YOUR POSITION FALLS, YOUR EGO GOES WITH IT.”
We found so much insight and success on the campaign trail in my early 20’s that you couldn’t tell me a damn thing about New Media Marketing — I cracked the code. In reality, a bunch of us did. And because I was part of that equation, my ego took that moment and made the next all about ME. Ugh…what an asshole.
My first company was supposed to be this great marketing shop developing a cutting-edge app that would merge TheFacebook and Twitter worlds together with incredible insights. And we’d sell this to the biggest names and companies in the world. A CRM for the New Media, now Social Media, world. Sound familiar? Because there’s literally a gazillion of them now. And they are all far better and more efficient than anything I was building. The I, Me, My in this post is 100% intentional. I forget about the “Why” and the “We.” I find myself circling back to this moment often nowadays. I was focused on the wrong thing. I attached myself to the success — and made it all about ME ME ME! I should have focused on the people, who were likely horrified to witness my ego trip. I should have focused on building THEM up. Collaborating with them. Connecting…with them. But because it was ME instead of THEM, MY house of cards fell…HARD.
The people who sacrificed their time and energy suffered because of it — and that’s what makes me so disappointed nowadays. The product blew away like dust. And all that money was just gone…in an instant. Granted, this is an over-implication of what happened, but it happened. And I was out on the street. A grown man — sleeping on the same pullout couch w/ my little brother — maybe we can touch on more about that in another time — but back to focus…I failed the people who trusted me — wholeheartedly. For what? Smh. I’m sorry.
I’d go on to commit the rest of my life trying to fix this mistake…focusing on others. Focusing on lifting as I climbed. Focusing on building rather than pushing. Focused on leadership over dictating. Focused on WE over me.
I was so pissed. A lifetime ago, my CEO punted on a strategy we both agreed on. “Why was I even here if you’re not going to listen to me????” I asked. “Right idea. Wrong time” they said. It’s funny because I laugh at this moment now, but you couldn’t tell me then that this was the biggest mistake in the last 2000 or so years of humanity. Cringe… The next day, we were on our way to solving even more pressing problems.
What I realize now is that they were absolutely right. I was too focused on the smaller win at the moment (stupid ego) and not the bigger vision. Pshhh…amateur hour. I’m glad I got over it…eventually. Upon further reflection, that became a catalyst for me to think even deeper into the “why” of the work and embrace tough calls…even if I have conviction. Know which hill you want to make your stand on…and make it worth it. In addition, my tech roles over the last decade+ have taught me that pivoting and getting over it quickly is key to survival, success, serenity.
Glad I learned this humbling lesson…and quickly. That hill DEFINITELY WASN’T worth it. Onwards and upwards.
“IT AIN’T AS BAD AS YOU THINK. IT WILL LOOK BETTER IN THE MORNING.”
As my heart raced, I thought I’d killed the deal. Maybe I said the wrong thing; maybe I didn’t respond in time. Maybe I just wasn’t as smart or talented as I thought I was. Maybe I didn’t see around the corner in the right way. Perhaps I was just a fraud. I looked at the email, and it ended with, “But we want to thank you and your team for all the time and effort.”
The reality of it — I was thinking short and not long. I wasn’t focused on the bigger picture. And I didn’t realize that the email just meant “Not now.” Shit, nearly ten years later, I would realize that this email was the beginning of an incredible relationship and journey, but at that moment, I was shook!
It wasn’t the end of the world. Not only was it better in the morning, but ten years after that “Not now” email, I closed Comcast. Woah…maybe I should have listened to your wisdom a little earlier. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.
