← The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club
INTERVIEW: Derek Lewis Talks 'Survive and Advance,' Corporate America, Entrepreneurship, PepsiCo + More
00:32:52
Loading summary
Transcript106 lines
- [00:01]
Charlamagne tha God
Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is the second term we can all get behind.
- [00:18]
Derrick Lewis
Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition.
- [00:21]
Charlamagne tha God
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all.
- [00:29]
Derrick Lewis
Nimini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, the Story Pirates and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through Hip hop, Smash, slam, Another one gone. Bash bam. Another one gone. The cracker, the bat and another one gone. A tip of the cap cause another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15 year old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know? Did you know I wouldn't give up my seat? Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to historical records on the Ice Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Laurie Santos and to welcome the new year, my podcast, the Happiness Lab is releasing a series of happiness how to guides to help you in 2025. I'll distill the wisdom of world class experts into easy to digest actionable tips. Struggling with tough emotions? We have a How to Guide. Worried that you're not enough? We got you self obsessed and want to get over yourself. There's a guide for that too. The Happiness Lab's how to season starts. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. The forces shaping markets and the economy.
- [02:12]
Charlamagne tha God
Are often hiding behind a blur of numbers.
- [02:15]
Derrick Lewis
So that's why we created the Big Take from Bloomberg Podcasts to give you the context you need to make sense of it all.
- [02:22]
Charlamagne tha God
Every day in just 15 minutes, we dive into one global business story that matters.
- [02:26]
Derrick Lewis
You'll hear from Bloomberg journalists like Matt Levine.
- [02:29]
Charlamagne tha God
A lot of this meme stock stuff is, I think embarrassing to the SEC.
- [02:33]
Derrick Lewis
Follow the Big Take podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy Jess Hilarious. Charlemagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Jess is out, Lauren LaRosa filling in. And we got a special guest in the building. We got the good brother, Derek Looser Lewis. Welcome brother.
- [02:57]
Charlamagne tha God
Good morning my brothers. How y'all doing? How you doing now? Good, I'm doing great. Excellent, excellent man.
- [03:01]
Derrick Lewis
Now for people that don't know who Derrick Lewis is, besides going to the greatest university and college in the world. Oh, which one is that? Del State? Definitely not. Delaware State, Hampton University, Real aq. That's right. Break down who Derrick Lewis is.
- [03:14]
Charlamagne tha God
Derrick Lewis is inspirational leader. Grew up in Chocolate City back in the 60s and 70s. Single parent, familyhood lifestyle. Decided I wanted to be something different. I wanna dream big for myself despite the circumstances I was under in the Chocolate City back at that time and was inspired by getting a great education, inspired by joining a big company, inspired by putting that work in to become who I wanted to be. My best version of myself. To lead others, be not only a go getter but also a go giver and strive for excellence. And I was able to do that over a 35 year career at Pepsi. Since then. I've retired now and I keep doing my work. I'm obviously releasing a book that launches tomorrow. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about that today. And also I'm launching cheesesteak restaurants in Orlando. Big Dave's Cheesesteak. So you know brother Derek Hayes, I love him. Who owns those. Yeah, I love him too. So I was his first franchisee. I'm bringing 10 units to Central Florida. I've already opened up four locations, two in the Kia center and two in Camberwell Stadium. We're off and running. I got two brick and mortars that open up at the end of March, beginning of April and the sky's the limit. I'm also obviously serving on boards. I'm back in my alma mater, serving as a trustee and putting in the work there more nonprofit boards, doing the family thing. So life has been great. But I'm also maybe still contribute in the ways that satisfy me and my family.
- [04:33]
Derrick Lewis
Well, let's go back a little bit the way you got your job at Pepsi. Break that down and explain that a little bit how you got that job and how you grew from starting off there to damn near running what you did at Pepsi.
- [04:46]
Charlamagne tha God
Well look, it was back in the late 80s, job market was pretty good. I was interviewing my second semester, interesting enough, I had Pepsi had come down, I had interviewed, I stayed up late the night before kind of partying.
- [04:55]
Derrick Lewis
It came to career fair it came.
- [04:56]
Charlamagne tha God
To career fair and I failed the interview. I basically got a rejection letter, I want to say, a week or so later in the mail. That was one of the most disappointing days of my life.
- [05:03]
Derrick Lewis
Why did they decide not to go with you at the time?
- [05:06]
Charlamagne tha God
Well, I think I was not my best in interview. And I think for people having a lesson when you're going in for an interview, you need to be at your best. And I was at my best. I took it for granted. I took it as though I can stay up all night and party and not do all the research and just not be buttoned up, you know. And so I went in probably at a, you know, one to 10, probably went in there to five or six, and guess what? That's just not good enough. Not gonna be good enough for anybody, much less even a Pepsi. So I sort of retooled. They were coming back down. A different sort of area was coming down from Baltimore. I hunkered down very disciplined, studied my butt off that night, made sure I was as sharp as I could be, went in and nailed that interview. Got subsequent follow up interviews and got the job offer to start in Baltimore, Maryland. Three weeks out of college. I was a management trainee. Got out the car going into my first day of the office and prayed to God and said, God, I'd like for this to be the first day of my next 40 years. Because at the time you're thinking to retire when you're 62, mid-60s, whatever. And I prayed in that parking lot. I got on my maximum, my new maximum. I bought my advance and the rest was history. And the day I felt, the first day, I felt like I belonged there. I felt like this was the place for me. I learned a lot, I stumbled a lot. But also, if you read the book, you'll learn how being a pace setter mattered in that company. And showing early on that I'm willing to be a pace setter. I have the courage to be a pace that I'm not worried about circumstances surrounding me, I'm going after it. That was a catalyst for me to really embrace the growth that came along the way throughout the entire journey.
- [06:28]
Derrick Lewis
And you said you want, you said you set a prayer to God to be there for the next 40 years.
- [06:33]
Charlamagne tha God
Were you there for 40?
- [06:34]
Derrick Lewis
You weren't there for 40?
- [06:35]
Charlamagne tha God
I was at 35.
- [06:36]
Derrick Lewis
35, wow. So, so what made you find, what made you say, you know what, let me, for Goldie's last five, like what, pivoted?
- [06:42]
Charlamagne tha God
Well, I mean, I was at that point 55 was the normal number. A lot of the guys I came in with, the campus program was really strong, robust at the company throughout the 80s and early 90s. A really strong program in the company. So a lot of us that were there, my peers, 55 was the number. Because the grind of the business is a very intense business, hyper competitive, you know, going against our primary competitors and other competitors. And so there is some wear and tear. We traveled a lot. We moved eight times. It gets to a point where you have a next chapter. I read the book Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks and it opened my eyes to say there is life beyond the 35 years of the years, the time you spend at Pepsi. And so I wanted to always be an entrepreneur. I was talking about my book Being an Entrepreneur when I was a kid selling Dorito chips to school, selling Jolly Ranches and gum, right. As a side hustle, right. I needed to do that because I need to put money in my pocket, right? And so always had this itch to be an entrepreneur. The authorship piece just came from me retiring and kids and colleagues asking me, you can't leave without, you know, so you're going to bottle this up and take it away. You have to leave us with some, with some insight. You have to leave us with perspective on your journey. And so that's when I considered doing the book was really that January of 2023 and got with a ghostwriter and page two publishing company. And the rest is history. And here I am today.
- [07:52]
Derrick Lewis
What was your title at Pepsi right before you left?
- [07:54]
Charlamagne tha God
The last title? I was president of PepsiCo Multicultural North America. So for an entire corporation now, when it's basically dei before dei, it wasn't dei. So I want to clarify the D. And I think it was D. And I had its own department. I was all about focusing on consumer culture and community. And so I was primarily throughout my career, I was an operating executive. So I ran the P and L. I had billions of dollars of responsibility. At one point I was running North America. And then we did a restructuring and I went. I assumed the south. The south responsibilities, President. And then at the tail end of that run, which is about three years, we delivered fantastic results. And we developed such a good playbook at the time because Covid was involved and George Floyd situation involved. And we had developed such a good model on, you know, culture, community and company, that the company asked me to step in and create this big role for the entire corporation using the best practices that we develop in sort of the Southern United States and be able to start to implement that. So that was the last role that I had had to come in. Primarily throughout my career. I was opera, I was all putting sales and driving profit, driving market share. It was getting after it in the trenches each and every single day.
- [08:54]
Derrick Lewis
You were one of the first people, you know, corporate wise. Right? I graduated from Hampton a long time ago, so I would go to all these different homecomings. But you were probably one of the first to bring huge corporations to all the HBCUs, right? Not just the big ones because, you know, it's easy to just to go to the big ones. Where North Carolina A and T, which is the biggest university as far as students are, you know, concerned, or famu, which is a big university. Why was it so important to you to do that HBCU run and to show up at those HBCU schools when other corporations weren't, but they started following after you did?
- [09:25]
Charlamagne tha God
Absolutely. It's all about legacy, right? And so my HBCU experience at Hampton was absolutely fascinating. Incredible. And so to be able to take that experience, build that, you know, sort of legacy not only through the corporate side investing, not only just events activation on campus, but also recruitment. I recruited heavily on HBCU campuses. I pushed hard to have recruitment centers go down to these schools. Not just in called mid Atlantic area, but also down throughout the Southwest. I was responsible for setting up the SWAC partnership that we still enjoy today. That has been now a long term partnership and agreement based on the schools that are in swag. Great schools, great campuses. Certainly the activation mainly revolves around sports, but I took that and extended that to recruitment and also community effort. Right. And so me, it's a whole sort of end to end proposition. Not just about the parties and social sides, also about jobs. It's also about what we're doing in the community. It's also about setting up legacy for the future.
- [10:20]
Derrick Lewis
When you, in the opening of your book, you talk about going through like all of the pandemic and the riots that happened after George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and you realizing like, I'm not an activist but I do want to do something because I know what it's like to not know what's going to happen tomorrow. When did you get to a point in your career where you felt empowered to be like, my activism is in the boardroom and this is what I'm going to do. Because being like only or like one of few in a big corporation like a Pepsi, it's not easy to be like, you know what y'all Listen to me. This is what we need to do. This is how we should get back. This is how we should help.
- [10:48]
Charlamagne tha God
That's a great question. I think mid career I felt that responsibility now because I was starting to really move up in the organization and there weren't many people at the top. And so a lot of the younger associates look for me for guidance, direction. And so I just started creating networks across. I moved around a lot. So, you know, when I ended up in the west coast, I would, we would be at a national meeting and it would not be uncommon for me to call all the black associates to a hospitality event at the end of the night. And we would have like 100 people in the suite. I just go run up, go run a suite, go and get everybody together and just talk to them about their journey, what's going on, how I see the future of the company. I'm a historian of the culture at Pepsi. Going Back to the 40s, I had a relationship with Alan McKellar Jr. He was the first person hired in corporate America as an intern in 1942 along with Jeanette Mount. She went to Hampton, he went to South Carolina State. So first two interns of corporate America. I had a relationship with him up until he passed away in 2018. I spoke at his homegoing service, which I was very honored to do. A lot of his family didn't even know the impact he had, not only just the company, but in corporate America. And so you got to think for generation after generation, the legacy of impact and evolution of the movement from the forties of the fifties to the civil rights era, you started seeing more and more investment in advertising. The company did leaning and heavily. Wasn't all received well because there was a lot of tension back then. And you get to the 80s, you saw the Michael Jackson endorsement. That was obviously a big breakthrough for pop culture and the company really saying entertainment, music matters us, you know, the African cohort is a priority cohort. You got to the 90s, they elevated into hip hop, it started transforming. Then you get to 22,000, 2010. It became a core principle inside the company, that it flowed through all the businesses. So anybody, any functional leader or any leader around the world basically had to embrace diversity as a core party and principle. Then you got to 2020. I was right in the middle of all that because I was the top, you know, executive at the time to really sort of lead that and guide that, ensuring that one, I'm looking after the company, I'm also looking at the associates. I'm Also looking after the community. Right. That takes a hell of a lot of courage because at own time, I'm worried. I have my own concerns in my own life about what's happening, but the time when someone leadership is needed, it was time for me to step in and step up. And I did that. I did it honorably and gracefully, humbly. And I was excited to do that. I was excited. The company gave me the platform to do that. And I think it turned out very, very well for everybody.
- [13:06]
Derrick Lewis
Question. Did Michael Jackson, I guess you would call it a controversy when he got his head set on fire from the commercial? Did that hurt or help Pepsi?
- [13:14]
Charlamagne tha God
I don't know if it did. One another certainly brought a lot of attention. You know, brought a lot of attention. And sometimes, you know, when you get attention, that's. That's really what matters. But I can think about all the iconic commercials and media that he did. When I think about, you know, choice of new generation, Pepsi generation, I think about him a lot with that. And so that's what resonates for me. That incident, while it does get talked about, I don't think certainly overshadow the, the, the. The brilliance and sort of the scale of his awareness and what he brought to the company into one of obviously our biggest brand at the time.
- [13:47]
Derrick Lewis
The reason I asked is random as hell. That's why when you brought up, I was like, damn. Me and my guy Glasses from Alone. We were having this discussion. We were having it in a group chat. My guy, Silas, DJ Head, all of us, we were talking about Michael Jackson and DJ Head was. I mean, I had glasses was saying how after that commercial, after his head caught on fire and everything, that's when Thriller really started to take off. And that's true. Right. So I wonder if it was the Pepsi campaign or was it that controversy, like, what was it? I know it helped Michael. I just wonder how did it.
- [14:14]
Charlamagne tha God
I think it was all the above. I mean, obviously he got a ride, we got a ride for it because we were one of the first ones to really, really get behind pop star of that magnitude. Right. We signaled that that's our thing. Again, he was black and all the other cultural things that went around that surrounded that were starting to become beneficial to the company as well. So there was just a series of statements made in the evolution going back to the 40s. That's deep, that's rich history that I felt like I had to carry that on. So answer your question. I felt from guys like Alan, hey, the torch got handed to you. It's your time now to step up like he did and others did back in the 40s.
- [14:45]
Derrick Lewis
I wanted to go back to the DEI conversation Charlemagne mentioned with companies taking DEI off the table. How will that affect a company like Pepsi? How would that affect those big companies? Since you've been there and you've seen whether they hired African Americans or minorities, how does that affect that? And do you think it's a good idea?
- [15:02]
Charlamagne tha God
I think they'll be fine because again they're going back to the history. The history is so strong and the torch passing from CEO to CEO has been really strong and solid. So it's like runs relay race that, that never stops. Right. So I feel like they'll be in good shape I think for what I'm seeing now. It's, it's not obviously it's unfortunate, but at the same time as I talk about my book a lot, it's an opportunity. Right. So while there, you know, looks appear to be a setback, there's times for now, leaders, companies, cultures to step up to the plate. I do think it's weak that when you know, there's bandwagoning and the student body, student body left, student body right. I think all the knee jerk reactions I think is not good, it's not healthy. I think it's not the ideal leadership you need now in this era of time. So I do think that while companies are pulling back in my mind haven't articulated what they're doing with that. Right. So yes, I agree that D and I E I playbook needs to have evolved. I think it was dated. I think the circumstances in the 60s, 70s are very different. The circumstances now back then we obviously had extreme tension, unlawful things happening, social norms were accelerating very rapidly and different. We're in a different era now. Not that those things don't still don't exist, but not certainly at the intensity level they did back in 1670. So this agenda should have evolved from where it is. It's a 60 year old playbook. This playbook needs to be more comprehensive. So it needs to account for the greater good because that's how the world is moving now. It needs to be more collaborative. People need to work together more. Yes. Okay. So comprehensive collaborative needs to be compassionate. You need to have an agenda where you are, it's about people. And so even in this case where you're telling a cohort that we're deemphasizing something deprioritizing, you haven't necessarily come back with something that you're doing to offset that something again, that revolves greater good, more collaboration, sort of more sensitivity around things that are going on. That's how you treat people and. Right. So that lack of sort of compassion that is being shown in the. We're cutting it and we're not talking about really anything else, I think is just not good. So I think this is a time for leadership to step up to the plate. It's not hard to write this new playbook, by the way, should have been written a long time ago, at least like myself could have done it. I saw, I could almost feel in 2020 what was happening. It was a more of an in your face moment. Everybody was going to get on board because no one wanted to be left behind or deal with the rash of being sort of on the outside looking in. And then obviously what happens as time moves on? Things move on. There really, really weren't any, call it scorecard metrics or calibration against what you said and what you were going to go do to now. Can anybody go back and even remember what people said back in 2020? Right. So there was always a question around sustainability of that effort.
- [17:35]
Derrick Lewis
I can't remember. I can remember them pledging all that money to them corporations and not delivering.
- [17:39]
Charlamagne tha God
Right?
- [17:39]
Derrick Lewis
Yeah, right.
- [17:40]
Charlamagne tha God
There was a lot of money, a lot of checks written. Yeah, a ton of checks written. But where are we?
- [17:44]
Derrick Lewis
And a lot of pledges, but no checks were.
- [17:46]
Charlamagne tha God
Exactly, exactly, exactly. You had that. You had to happen too. Right. And so you had people, you know, in a quiet way resisting or just reacting instead of really reimagining what the new playbook be. So we actually took the time to reimagine the old DEI and I into something more modern that focused again on being more comprehensive, certainly being more collaborative and being more compassionate. We can get there. That's not hard to do, by the way. It's not hard also to execute that plan. What's hard is getting everybody on board.
- [18:17]
Derrick Lewis
But, you know, I always said that the problem I had with corporate dei, it didn't feel for us, by us, like it should have been more. It should have been black people, right. Telling these corporations what is needed.
- [18:27]
Charlamagne tha God
Right.
- [18:27]
Derrick Lewis
Not these corporations saying, okay, here, this is what we're going to do.
- [18:29]
Charlamagne tha God
Well, that's the difference with Pepsi is that we were always at the table, you know, throughout the history of time, whether it was a black sales force back in the, back in the 40s, up until modern era, I was at the table when these programs were being developed and had a point of view and have perspective and I give all the cities credit to all the CEOs who listened, who adapted, who empowered the executives take charge. And I would do the same thing. I would ask the employees. Instead of putting your head down with all this, now you're empowered to do something about it. I believe in the structure of ERGs, Employee Resource Groups. And I believe you have to have places to be safe where if you feel isolated in the company, no matter where you come from, you have to have a place to go and should go. And so those things should structurally stay in place. But it's up also incumbent upon those groups to lead a new agenda for the future. Not keep looking up, going, where are we going? Where we going? Guess up. You're looking up. There's nobody. There's nobody looks like you up at the top, right? Okay, think about it. CEOs right now, Fortune 500, less than 2%. So how much progress is that really from the 1960s and now we have 2%, less than 2% of people running the top 500 companies in the world. They're qualified people out there. There's no doubt about. I'm one of those qualified people that can run a Fortune 500 company. So I'm not trying to do that now. But I'm out here and there's hundreds, if not thousands of people like me that are qualified but are not getting the opportunity. So in some. Some regard you can look at, did the DI structure actually hurt progress from people because of this perceived. You're getting an express card. Check the box, you know, fast mover, you know, without sort of having the merit and having the credentials do that. I think there were a lot of concerns, and hell, it actually held a lot of people back. So let's reimagine this. Let's rebuild it. Let's not. While we respect the grounded nature of how it was built, let's evolve it to a way that is more comprehensive, more collaborative and more compassionate. And we get there. Everybody wins. You can't have winners and losers in the space. You can't have mandates in the space. I was there, I mentored.
- [20:19]
Derrick Lewis
Know what you just said is true. It can't just be a mandate like, right. Because a lot of it was just PR for these. These corporations all was.
- [20:25]
Charlamagne tha God
Check the box. Yeah, check the box. I mentor just as many call it Caucasian executives that I do, black executives or other executives for that matter, because they want to really learn how to get this done. And so my teachings were always more open to the greater good because I realize as you teach People, especially where there's majority representation, they're likely going to affect, they're going to be able to help change and they feel like they're part of the process. But when you're alienated and told you have to do this man, that resistance is high. People go, man, I ain't doing that. I ain't doing that. I don't have to do it, I'm not going to go do it. It's the wrong thing to do. It should always be about best talent. So what are you doing? My book is all about what are you doing to one bettering yourself. What are you doing to believe in yourself and what are you doing to be yourself? Right? That's been my mantra my whole life. I'm investing myself. I have to get better. I have to take risk. I have to invest in myself to get better. I have to have discipline, I have to have commitment. I have to dream big and I have to be authentic and stay authentic. And that's what I try to roll model myself my entire life. And that all that book tells you about the lessons on maintaining those disciplines and those principles.
- [21:30]
Derrick Lewis
I want to ask you this right? The world is constantly changing. It's up to you to decide how to respond. Choose to be bold. To try something new. Choose to reinvent yourself. That's what Nissan did with the all new, totally reimagined Kicks. The dynamic new exterior styling immediately announces that Nissan isn't messing around. The interior, a completely redesigned cabin with premium features like wireless Apple Carplay and a panoramic moonroof make driving a Kicks immersive and exciting. And with new performance and safety features like intelligent all wheel drive, the Kicks is both fun and safer to drive than ever before. It is the dawning of a brand new era for the Nissan Kicks. Only one question remains. Is it a new era for you as well? Drive the all new reimagined Nissan Kicks today.
- [22:12]
Charlamagne tha God
Available Features Compatible device service and consumer activation of Nissan Connect Services package. Required use only when safe and legal.
- [22:17]
Derrick Lewis
Subject to third party service availability.
- [22:19]
Charlamagne tha God
For more information, see nissanusa.com connect legal Apple CarPlay is a trademark of Apple Inc. Intelligent all wheel drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic and weather conditions.
- [22:30]
Derrick Lewis
Hey y'all, this is Reed from the God's Country Podcast. We had the one and only Bobby Bones in the studio this week and we cover everything from his upbringing to his outdoor experiences with a stepdad, Arkansas Keith to the state of country music. We may even end the episode with a little jam session led by Bobby himself. Y'all be sure and listen to this episode of God's country with Bobby bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Don't go shopping at Target with khaki pants and a red shirt on. Don't go shopping at Target with khaki pants and a red polo shirt on.
- [23:09]
Charlamagne tha God
I switch up song.
- [23:13]
Derrick Lewis
An old lady came up to me. She said, how much for this cream of wheat? The forces shaping markets and the economy.
- [23:21]
Charlamagne tha God
Are often hiding behind a blur of numbers.
- [23:24]
Derrick Lewis
So that's why we created the Big Take from Bloomberg Podcasts to give you the context you need to make sense of it all.
- [23:30]
Charlamagne tha God
Every day in just 15 minutes, we dive into one global business story that matters.
- [23:35]
Derrick Lewis
You'll hear from Bloomberg journalists like Matt Levine.
- [23:38]
Charlamagne tha God
A lot of this meme stock stuff is, I think, embarrassing to the Sec.
- [23:42]
Derrick Lewis
Amanda Mull, who writes our BusinessWeek Buying Power column. Very few companies who go viral are, like, totally prepared for what that means. And Zoe Tillman, senior legal reporter, Courts are not supposed to decide elections. Courts are not really supposed to play a big role in choosing our elected leaders. It's for the voters to decide. Follow the Big Take podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Hi, I'm Arturo Castro, and I've been lucky enough to do stuff like Broad City and Narcos and Roadhouse and so many commercials about back pain. And now I'm starting a podcast because honestly, guys, I don't feel the space crowded enough. Get ready for Greatest Escapes, a new comedy podcast about the wildest true escape stories in history. Each week I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians to tell them a buck wild tale from across history and time. People like Ed Helms, Diane Guerrero, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Soy Chow, Titanic, Charles.
- [24:43]
Charlamagne tha God
Manson, Alcatraz, Assata Shakur, a sketchy guy named Steve.
- [24:47]
Derrick Lewis
It's giving funny true crime. I love storytelling and I love you.
- [24:51]
Charlamagne tha God
So I can't wait.
- [24:52]
Derrick Lewis
Listen and subscribe to Greatest escapes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Because I love the title of the book, Survive in Advance lessons on living a Life Without Compromising. It's rooted in the DEI thing. Right now you have a lot of people saying they want to boycott Target, right? Because they rolled back their DEI initiatives, which I don't get it. You know, it's a lot of different companies that roll back di this year, so why just Target? But what they're saying is they want to make an example out of this one company. But then now people are saying, hey, let's meet, let's do a compromise, let's support the black brands in Target but boycott everything else. What do you, what do you think the best course of action?
- [25:34]
Charlamagne tha God
I think the best course of action again is I think, I think leaders around the space, people who have experience, people who have, you know, dealt with struggle in their life like I have, who've been through a journey, I've been through HBCUs. You know, I have this experience. I serve a trustee at hbcu. So people that have the experience out there need to lead a new agenda, need to lead a more modern agenda. That again, I go back to these same three Cs, right, that is absolutely more comprehensive. Going this, this boycott angle and only supporting this support and that. That's not the answer either. That's not the answer. It's very short term. Yeah, it drives a lot of engagement, but it's not the right answer. You're going to increase, even increase polarization to even a greater extent when you do that. Our time is now to look at this as a positive in terms of change and creating new change for the culture and do it in the right way. That's going to create sustainment. Doing these sort of side hustles and taking these tactics that are abrupt, abrasive, temporary. Don't solve the long term problems. I'm into solving the long term problem. Let's solve the long term problem. Let's get people, leaders together with the corporations, say, hey, we want to take a different cut at this. Looking at, again, looking at all your cohorts, looking at all the people that matter, looking at all the things that you're going to do. Look at the money you spent before and giving you opportunities and ideas of how to spend that money a little bit differently. Maybe to create programs that everybody can win, to create programs. Everybody's working together. Our uniqueness is the one thing that we actually all have in common. Our uniqueness is the one. Everybody brings that to the table. If we use that to our advantage, the teamwork will be unparalleled in this entire country. But instead we look at it only on the basis of really gender and race. That's how we sort of measure uniqueness. Really. We need to look at across the spectrum. Everybody has different lived experiences, everybody has different backgrounds, everybody thinks differently. We need to celebrate that in a very different way. Where everybody at the table is being represented. That's going to give you a greatest output, that's going to give your greatest culture, that's going to give you the best results. It's proven when you have people that celebrate uniqueness or really value uniqueness at the table, it drives the best business results. So you have this triangle where you got consumer. If you're a brand company, you got solely consumer, you sort of got the company and you got community, right? That's the sort of three legged stool inside that is culture. Get your culture right, you focus, you spend the right money against the consumer to drive the behaviors you need, the sales you need. You focus on company, you're getting representation, right? You just look like the market. There's some markets are going to look like every market. Every market's not going to look the same, but you're looking like the market you operate in and you represent, right? And that's going to be different. And then you obviously have the community. We want to lift all the communities up. We don't want to just be sort of separate and discreet and carve out and say we only care about these communities. We only care about these black brands in these stores. We want to make sure we are evolving the greater good and everybody just go along for the ride. That takes real courage, that takes real strategic leadership. That takes real sort of collaboration and maturity to pull this off and not look at it with your head down, but look at it with your head up on. What's the future look like in the space and having people at the table to do that will get us to the right space.
- [28:28]
Derrick Lewis
Absolutely. You know, I wanted to talk about your first paying job for people that don't know what was your first paying job and who gave you that job.
- [28:34]
Charlamagne tha God
My first paying job was under leadership of Mayor Marion Barry.
- [28:37]
Derrick Lewis
The legend.
- [28:38]
Charlamagne tha God
The legend.
- [28:40]
Derrick Lewis
You know, my daddy was in rehab with Marion Barry.
- [28:42]
Charlamagne tha God
Was he?
- [28:42]
Derrick Lewis
Jesus. Back in the day in South Carolina. Okay.
- [28:50]
Charlamagne tha God
So many struggles, mad respect. That guy is a, is a legend for the DC culture. Legend. He's a legend to me. I realized it's not about the mistakes he made. We all make mistakes. But he cared about people, man. He cared about kids. He knew the risk of kids venturing off and not having time filled in throughout the day. So he created this sort of summer program. Every kid 14 and up guaranteed a summer job. All you just gotta fill out the paperwork. So I had my first paying job at 14. I was making 335 an hour. I was getting on the subway. I was excited every day. I got to go up and go To I'm going to work every day, get on the subway and go to Brooklyn. And I was going to a school or administrative place and filing papers. I mean, it wasn't like I was doing a lot of, you know, strategic and heavy lifting work, but I had a job I was taught to be. I was already responsible going there, by the way. So it wasn't a matter of Derrick Lewis understanding the role of having a job. I was already like the dad of the house and the big brother of the house, you know, when I was 10 years old. But this was important to me now because it really defined and started elevating the sort of professional lens. You're going to be working with other people, you'll be working for people. This isn't just a side hustle. You cutting grass, washing cars, cleaning houses, selling Doritos at school like you were. This is now a professional job. And sort of really shaped my mindset around what I wanted to go do. I thought I was going to be a government worker up until I went to Hampton. And then obviously I was able to dream bigger when I got to school saying all these companies come down here and they offer these kind of monies. And because my all my family was government jobs, right? So I thought that was my path. I dreamt I was going to one day make $100,000, live in a single family home and be a happy guy. And that was at my age. Now, you know, guess what? Life took a very different circumstance. God had my back. The circumstances were very, very different. As a child growing up, I knew I want to be have a different life for myself. I put a lot of faith in him and took that journey. And here I am today and still now, you know, much more into go giver mode than go getter mode. For years I was go getter. I mean, hyper go getter because we didn't have much. So I was never going to let something go by because of performance. And now my mindset has really shifted as I've aged and matured and grown to paying it forward. So I was in pay it now mode for many, many years. Now I'm in pay it forward mode and I'm having the time of my life doing that. Hopefully this book will inspire many others. You know, whether you're a child going through the struggle as I did, if you read the book, a lot of struggles, a lot of dark days there, a lot of days where I didn't know if I was gonna make it out to becoming one of the highest ranking executives in Corporate America in a very recognizable organization that had my back, I had their back. It was a great run. Created a lot of.
- [31:15]
Derrick Lewis
I wanna talk about you. Come up with your wife as well.
- [31:19]
Charlamagne tha God
Yeah. Okay.
- [31:20]
Derrick Lewis
How long you been married?
- [31:21]
Charlamagne tha God
We've married 32 years now.
- [31:23]
Derrick Lewis
Explain how that is having the right partner by your side.
- [31:27]
Charlamagne tha God
It's meant everything.
- [31:28]
Derrick Lewis
Me and Charlamagne talk about it all the time. With the right partner that keeps you out of trouble, keeps you from doing foolish. And sometimes you gotta smack in the back of your head. So talk about that journey, about having that right partner on your side to make sure that you stay there.
- [31:38]
Charlamagne tha God
I mean, it really has been the key to the success I've had. And I talk about this a lot. Especially recently. We've been talking about this a lot. Is our line, shared vision on how we wanted to live our lives. Now, the story at Hampton was volatile. I was a senior, she was a freshman. Things didn't work out. They worked out great at the beginning, but as you know, those things are temporary down there. Didn't work out. I moved on. I wanted to be this. Go get my job, go establish some income, go buy my first house. Before I started taking relationships seriously. It was a big mistake that I'm glad didn't cost me because I wouldn't be here now if she wasn't part of my life. But we reunited. Time takes, time heals. I matured. I came back. I saw the value, true value she brought to the table. And I knew all along that our vision on family, our vision on career, our vision on community, our vision on faith were so aligned that it was. It was obvious for me to say, hey, we need. I need to lock this down. Right? Because I knew that the place I wanted to go, go. I absolutely had to have a partner that was willing to go along with that ride and. And that that ride wasn't going to have lumps to it. The ride has had lumps to it. But we've been there for each other the whole time because we never wavered on the shared vision. You know, she had to quit her job when we had our third child. That was not a easy time for her to do that. I talked into doing that, but it was. Again, it was a tough time. We adjusted to it. Obviously have come out fine with that, but that was the time where I had to really sort of lean in with her. There's times she had to lean in with me. We moved around a lot. New communities. Can imagine how sisters are going to places like Portland, Oregon, where it's 2% black and trying to find a place to get your hair done. You know, you get to town, okay, we're here now, where do I get my hair cut? Where do we get our hair done? Where do we get nails done? Where do we socialize? What do we do to sort of relax and become ourselves in the culture? We found ways, we found places. We eventually would make our way around it. But then by the time we got comfortable, it was time to move again and again and again and again. So a lot of sacrifice that we had, but we've built the family that we wanted to build. We call ourselves Team Lewis. She's the co captain, or she's actually the chief household officers. I would tell, would say to her and been an integral part of all that. But shared vision has been. Has been the absolute focal point of our success. Leaning on each other, trusting each other, grinding each other. She's made me better. I would like to say I've made her better, but she certainly has made me better in this whole journey.
- [33:49]
Derrick Lewis
There's a point in the book. There's a point in the book, not the statistic. And this point in the book, just talking about your wife and leaning on her. You talk about, like, your journey with, like, finding out that you had a cancerous mass and just things you overlooked because you were working and just, you know, just in Day to Day. And the title of the book, survive in advance. You talked about feeling like you survived and you got away from a lot of things. You didn't have to worry about what was going to happen next in your life. And then you're super successful, and then cancer comes and your wife is there and your family's there. Like, can you talk to me about, like, what that journey was like for you? Yeah, you're still. I see you kind of get emotional, right?
- [34:22]
Charlamagne tha God
Yeah. And that was a great. That was. It was a tough time, Right. I mean, I'm retired now. I'm playing a lot of golf, and I'm having the time of my life. And then I started seeing blood in my stool. And again, sloppy for me, undisciplined for me. I never had a colonoscopy, you know, and so here I am, 56, and every year I go get my executive physical check in the box, and doctor's like, hey, Derek, It's. You're over 50 now. It's time to get your colonoscope. I'm like, I got you, I got you, I got you. But I'm going back to the grind. I'm going back to the grind. I'm focusing on people.
- [34:50]
Derrick Lewis
Are we scared to go?
- [34:51]
Charlamagne tha God
I wasn't scared. I just ignored. I deprioritized it. I. I made it feel like my executive physical was good. I'm feeling good. The boxes were checked.
- [34:58]
Derrick Lewis
You said you had all the best doctors. Yeah.
- [34:59]
Charlamagne tha God
Your cognitive skills were good. Your motor skills are the highest they've ever been. You know, your blood comes back fine. You're good. So I'm like, I'm good, man. I gotta get. I gotta get back to the grind. And I ignored. It was. It was a terrible, terrible decision. I don't want anybody out there that is 50 or over and has not had a colonoscopy. Now, matter of fact, you start getting younger now. Starting to get a lot younger.
- [35:19]
Derrick Lewis
I think I went down to 45.
- [35:22]
Charlamagne tha God
Depending on your family history. A lot of has to do with your family history. But the earlier the better. So there's no, there's no such thing as an early start with checking out your. Checking out yourself in that regard. And so it was a. It was a terrible decision. It would have cost my life, Would have cost my life. But the beauty came out at all my relationship. We sat in the car. This was the story. I found. I had the tumor. We got in the car and we're looking for like, the. Basically, the doctor was basically very stoic, is like, hey, you have cancers, a cancerous tumor. I suggest that you look into an oncologist. Now, you may need surgery, may need radiation. Here's a recommendation we give you guys down the street. You know, you pop in there, here's your paperwork. I hope to see you a year from now. That was really the conversation.
- [36:03]
Derrick Lewis
That's how it is.
- [36:04]
Charlamagne tha God
So we get out of there and we go walk down the block to go see the guy because obviously, like, hey, I need to, like, set something up. My urgency is, is, you know, high right now. And it's closed. Okay, it's like 3:00 close. We get in the car and I can feel that moment where, like, it's silenced for like a minute or two, trying to collect everything, check ourselves, like, what's going on here? And so I, I thought call a friend. I had a friend phone a friend who I know had gone through cancer, and boy, she bailed me out. And by that time, three or four hours later, I was on the phone with chief medical officer of the Advent Health Network, my eventual surgeon and oncologist, all within hours to talk about my problem. Get them the paperwork. They died. They did an early diagnosis over the phone, it said, hey, it's serious, but it's not like we can fix this. So you need to have the faith. We got you, we got your back. And so I never, like, got scared. I never had that moment when like, okay, it's like, is this a six month thing? Is it, am I on the clock now? Like, really I'm on the clock because I had so much in front of me. God has sent me a lot of signals about what I was going to do in my next chapter. And I feel like you're not going to, you're not going to show me all to take that away from me. But this is a chance to reset your life, reset your health, prioritize your health the way your health needs to be prioritized, because I didn't prioritize it the way I needed to. And I would tell everybody, everybody, make sure your health is the number one thing. If you can't be the best version of yourself, you can't be there for everybody else. That's right. So how in the hell can I. I'm a hypocrite. I'm out there saying I'm out here for everybody, but I'm not here for myself. And so self care is really elevated in my life in a big, big way. And obviously the health part of that, not only the physical part, but the mental part, the emotional part, very important for me now. And it's given me the foundation now to do things I actually haven't done before in many, many years. So. But my wife was fully behind me. She took it actually harder than I did. We talked about that a lot. You know, she's like, derek, I'm going through this too. You know, when I would get short with her, I'd say, hey, it's okay. Try not to make it a big deal. But it was a big deal. It needed to be talked about. But she was a rock of strength for me in ways that I would never, ever forget. You know, I know if it was reversed, I'd be there the same way for her. And God forbid it gets that way. So let me take all that pain for the family, to keep the family going. But she was the rock in this whole thing and wouldn't have got through it at that level if it wasn't for her and her support. She came through big time and my network came through big time. And it was one of the most incredible experience. I say, I say in the same breath, it was the hardest lesson I learned. It's also the greatest lesson I learned at the same time because I got a lot of Runway left and that you just motivated me now for the next 30 some odd years of my life to go after in ways that I haven't gone before refueled me. It re energized me. It put me in a different space. And again, this whole notion of going, being a go giver, man, I'm in that space and I see the vision of what the future holds for that. That's right.
- [38:44]
Derrick Lewis
All right, well pick up the book, his memoir, survive and advance lessons on living a life without compromise. It's out right now. Derek Lewis. Derek Lewis, we appreciate you.
- [38:52]
Charlamagne tha God
Thank you for having me.
- [38:53]
Derrick Lewis
Thank you.
- [38:54]
Charlamagne tha God
Thank you for what y'all do, man.
- [38:55]
Derrick Lewis
It's the Breakfast Club.
- [38:56]
Charlamagne tha God
God bless.
- [38:56]
Derrick Lewis
Good morning. Wake that ass up early in the morning.
- [38:59]
Charlamagne tha God
The Breakfast Club.
- [39:05]
Derrick Lewis
Listen to me. This is Charlamagne tha God talking. If you're not on prime, you're missing out. Prime's not just fast free delivery, although that is definitely a big perk. It's a collection of excellent services that help you get more out of whatever passions you're into are getting into. Like right now I am really getting into past life regression therapy. And there's so many books about it on Prime. So you can order books with prime or even listen to content on Amazon music. Whether you're binge watching the latest on prime video, listening to music on Amazon music, or getting those last minute gifts dropped at your door with prime, same day free delivery with prime, customers get closer to what they care about. Whatever you're into, it's all on Prime. Visit Amazon.com prime now Jon Stewart is.
- [39:44]
Charlamagne tha God
Back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is a second term we can all get behind.
- [40:01]
Derrick Lewis
Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition.
- [40:04]
Charlamagne tha God
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
- [40:11]
Derrick Lewis
Hey y'all, Nimini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, the Story Pirates and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop, Flash, Slam, Another One Gone. Bash Bam. Another One Gone. The Cracker, the bat and Another One Gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15 year old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to historical records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to historical records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Laurie Santos and to welcome the new year, my podcast, the Happiness Lab is releasing a series of happiness how to guides to help you in 2025. I'll distill the wisdom of world class experts into easy to digest actionable tips. Struggling with tough emotions? We have a How to guide. Worried that you're not enough? We got you self obsessed and want to get over yourself? There's a guide for that too. The Happiness Lab's How to season starts January 1st. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.