494: Mayor Eric Adams - Authenticity, Honesty, & Changing From Within... A Conversation With The Mayor Of New York City

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

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Mayor Eric Adams has served the people of New York City as an NYPD officer, State Senator, Brooklyn Borough President, and now as the 110th Mayor of the City of New York.

Notes:

• When Eric was 15, he was beaten by a police officer.
  • “Instead of saying woe is me, I said why not me?” He became a police officer...
• Mentor, Reverend, and Civil Rights Leader, Herbert Daughtry, encouraged him to change the system from within.
• If you have a problem with a system, try to change it from within. Instead of complaining about it, do something about it. Take action.
• A mindset shift: “There is something I’m supposed to learn from this.” – Shifting our minds from blaming and complaining to asking ourselves, “What can I learn from this?”
• Mayor Adams became President of a Black officers association before founding his own group, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.
• The New York Times has called Mayor Adams, “The mayor who never sleeps.” - He's known to be up early working and go out late at night… Including going to clubs like Zero Bond (a private club) and not being afraid to take pictures with fellow New Yorkers while holding a vodka/soda in hand…
  • Being perfectly imperfect. Authenticity, being genuine. Mayor Adams goes out to clubs and drinks with his fellow New Yorkers. He doesn’t hide it. So many politicians put up a facade. An image that isn’t real. Part of his appeal is that he’s real, he’s human… We all want that.
• Cleaning up his diet – After 9/11, he relied on comfort food (quarter pounder or a bucket of KFC). One day in 2016, he woke up blind in his left eye and suffered nerve damage in his feed, which could have led to amputation. His diabetes was killing him. He switched to a plant-based diet and lost 35 pounds. (and wrote a book about it)
• “I would rather be a person that is authentic and make mistakes than robotic and be a fake,” Adams says, sitting on the couch in his office. “Folks are tired of just these terrible fake leaders. They’re always trying to live up to someone. Always."
• What does Mayor Adams think about those who use the phrase, "Defund the Police?"
  • "They don't get it."
• • "After protests, you must do something to protect. You cannot simply protest, you have to protect."
• “All I can say, have your haters become your waiters when you sit down at the table of success."