Emmanuel Acho on Uncomfortable Conversations
The Chase Jarvis LIVE Show
Chase Jarvis
4.8 • 641 Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020, Emmanuel Acho recognized that Black and White people simply do not understand each other in America and he wanted to use his voice to do something about it. So he launched a video series, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. His goal? Open a dialog on topics we've been afraid to talk about: racism, privilege, cultural appropriation, and more. That show exploded with over 70 millions views, widespread media coverage, and led to his must-read NYT best-selling book by the same name.
Emmanuel studied sports management and was drafted into the NFL while earning his masters in Sports Psychology in the off-season. Not long after retiring from the NFL, Emmanuel started his broadcasting career at ESPN where he was the youngest national football analyst, and named a 2018 Forbes Under 30 selection.
In this episode we get into:
- Emmanuel's upbringing from growing up as a first generation American to Nigerian immigrant parents, to attending an all white affluent grade school, to his career as a pro NFL football player to today.
- How to start with what you have
- Building and developing an idea through exploration
- How conversation leads to understanding, and understanding can break down barriers between cultural differences
- Insights from his conversations so far, including answers to tough questions that stuck with him
Enjoy!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Rarely on this show do I use the words taking the world by storm, but in this case, |
| 0:11.2 | I'm going to, and I'm referring to my next guest, Emmanuel Acho. |
| 0:15.1 | And if you are not familiar with his web series or his now number three New York Times best-selling |
| 0:20.7 | book called |
| 0:21.3 | Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. You have now been put on notice. This is required |
| 0:29.6 | reading slash washing and it was such a privilege to have Emmanuel on the show. He had a fantastic |
| 0:36.8 | conversation. Now, if you |
| 0:38.5 | don't know Emmanuel, he went to school for sports management and in college, that is, |
| 0:45.2 | and then was drafted into the NFL. So after a number of seasons, I think, I don't know, |
| 0:51.3 | five or six seasons in the NFL, played for the Eagles, |
| 0:55.5 | the Browns. He left football, but then went to becoming an announcer. And you'll see why, |
| 1:04.2 | as soon as you, or you hear, you hear why, whether you're watching or listening, because he's |
| 1:08.8 | incredibly charismatic. But all that was really in, |
| 1:12.2 | you know, the way that I'm looking at his work right now was just a setup for the amazing |
| 1:18.0 | work that he's doing right now to facilitate conversations that are aimed to create a safe |
| 1:24.2 | space and to bridge the, I think as to his word, cultural divide between black |
| 1:31.3 | culture and white culture. In uncomfortable conversations with the black man, he takes on the |
| 1:38.4 | questions huge and small, insensitive and taboo that a lot of white Americans are free to ask. And yet those questions are |
| 1:48.9 | questions in his words that all Americans need answers to now more than ever. So this, |
| 1:56.6 | you know, his process to speak to the creator and the entrepreneur who are listening right now, |
| 2:01.8 | his process is phenomenal. He gets started without having all of the stuff. We recount how he went |
| 2:08.6 | from zero to one in his world of creativity and specifically creating the work that he's working on |
... |
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