2011 An Evening with Dr. Dennis Kimbro
by Jacquinette D. Murphy, Presence Communications
“The opposite of success is not failure, it is conformity,” stated Dr. Dennis Kimbro, the author of “What Makes the Great GREAT?”, “Think and Grow Rich - a Black Choice” and more recently “What Black Millionaires Know That Others Do Not.” Dr. Kimbro, a nationally known motivational speaker and lecturer, served as the guest speaker for the launch event of the 2011 Wealth Creation Series event of the DFW Chapter of the National Black MBA Association.
During the presentation, Dr. Kimbro focused on the qualities, characterstics and actions of "the great” vs. "the rest." Specifically, he encouraged the attendees to become leaders in their own circles. More importantly, he asked the guests to take notice on how they lead. “The poor lead by clothes and cars, the middle class lead by degrees and titles, the rich lead by bank accounts,” said Dr. Kimbro. According to Dr. Kimbro, there is a disparity of African American leadership in this country when compared to other ethnicites. “When Martin Luther King was alive, there were 5 millionaires in Black America, today there are 3,500.” The content of Dr. Kimbro's presentation aligned with the belief that there is nothing to fear but fear itself and that we can be the barrier that impede our own success.
In his discussion of the pursuit of greatness, Kimbro shared what he felt to be one of the keys to greatness - faith and personal belief. “You must have faith in God, faith in yourself, be able to see with your mind's eye and you must believe in yourself when no one else will.” Dr. Kimbro also detailed useful strategies to help one determine whether to live in acceptance or seek to change a situation. “You have two choices: You can accept things to be the way that they are or you can take the steps to change it,” said Dr. Kimbro. How does one make the decision? Here are Dr. Kimbro's four strategy plan options: 1.) Find the best strategy 2.) Find the worst strategy 3.) Decide the most probable approach and 4.) Choose to answer the following question: Are you willing to tolerate the worst before you achieve the best? This exercise will give one the tools to balance the outcomes of the decisions that we make.
At the close of his presentation, Dr. Kimbro shared the conclusions of some of his celebrity interviews during his quest around the country to find the key to greatness. He noticed that all of the people he spoke with did not maintain normalcy. Instead, they were innovative and created a norm. Dr. Kimbro stated, “Does the great become successful by creating new innovations or do they run with a trend?”
Approximately 200 people attended this headliner event sponsored by Comerica Bank and hosted at Southern Methodist University's Crum Auditorium. Other contributing sponsors were the National Association of Black Accountants, National Sales Network and 100 Black Men.
