By Staff
What does success look like for you?
The more I hear the word success the less I like it. Like so many words, its meaning has been contourted into something that sometimes puts us at odds with what actually makes sense for our lives. So for me, it’s important to say what success isn’t– it isn’t striving in a way that puts my overall wellbeing at risk, it isn’t competing in the marketplace in a way that suggests there isn’t room and space for my unique gifts, and it isn’t forsaking long-term gain for more immediate pay off. For me, success is: resolve about a decision that may be unpopular but feels right inside. Success is leaving some dishes in the sink a bit longer because my kids want to go on a walk. Success is drinking enough water and getting enough rest. Success is seeing the values we’ve instilled in our children manifest in their day-to-day decisions and relationships. THAT’S success.
What was your experience like at Morehouse College?
In a word… unforgettable. In four words… I’m still having it. I don’t think a day has gone by that hasn’t in some way harkened back to seeds that were planted and cultivated while I was at Morehouse. Morehouse is, in so many ways, a lab. I had permission to explore the contours of my character at Morehouse. For example, I learned to really value punctuality at Morehouse – but not simply for reasons of compliance but because I came to understand that time is valuable and shouldn’t be wasted. What I do with my time is a matter of character, actually. Morehouse taught me that beauty is in all things. As an English major, I came to appreciate the beauty of writing, the beauty of reading– from a book you actually hold and feel in your hands, the beauty of the earth and all forms of weather, the beauty of human relationships and their inherent complications. A mind and heart that rejects limits can find beauty in all things. Morehouse taught me that.
Why are you motivated to fight for diversity, equity and inclusion?
In many ways, there’s no fight at all. Difference exists. It is. The “fight” enters in when questions of equity and inclusion arise. So it’s not our differences that we are fighting to substantiate, it’s the difference those differences make. Will we continue to erect institutions, structures and systems that are only designed for certain groups of people, or will we think more inclusively and expansively in the name of equity? In the name of granting all people equal access to opportunities to learn and grow. My prediction is that people will “force” institutions and organizations to do something more meaningful with equity and inclusion. These structures don’t change on their own– beyond a moral imperative there’s little incentive to. Change happens by and through people. I see my work as facilitating access such that more people are positioned to enact that change.
How have you incorporated faith in your life?
It’s at the center and all around. Everything flows from spirit. Everything. I try to understand my life as a spiritual experience taking place in a natural realm. But I extract value and meaning from a place of faith and supernatural grounding. Let’s take work, for example. I understand the place of education and credentials and I’ve done my due diligence in those areas. But my faith equips me with the wisdom to understand my “work” as a calling– an assignment, of sorts. My faith then also allows me to rest on the fact that I’m sent to do the jobs God has assigned me to do, to be connected to the people He’s predestined me to connect with. As I get older I believe, more and more, that most answers are inside of me, not outside of me. I move through the world from the inside out and not the opposite. My faith is my compass. I know when I’m off track and I know when I’m aligned. My faith also teaches me to embrace wisdom– a wisdom that reminds me that what I leave behind is only as valuable as what I invest now. So I choose to invest in people, experiences, and relationships. “Things” are nice but what people hold onto after you’re gone is the value you brought into their life– those kinds of assets can never be monetized.
Tell us about your most proud accomplishment.
My most proud accomplishment is me. The fact that I’m able to even say that is pretty huge. It took me almost 50 years to learn that lesson but I am the greatest asset I’ll ever own. And I do mean “own” because what I do in this life is largely up to me. Much like “success” I see accomplishments in a very different way than I once did. I feel accomplished when I learn something new, or when I get constructive feedback, or when I close my exercise rings. I feel accomplished when I eat a new flavor of ice cream or when my wife and kids laugh at one of my corny jokes. Accomplishment is dropping your shoulders because you gave it your best shot and maybe even had fun doing it.
What would you like for people to learn from your contribution to the book, “Mannish Water”?
My essay is really about self-discovery as an endeavor in lifelong learning. The longer you live the more you realize the interconnectedness of all things. Once you begin living from a more connected place you become more and more discriminant as to what matters and what doesn’t. That’s the journey I’m on and it’s a privilege to talk about it. More black men need to share their journeys of self-discovery and self-mastery.
Given your tremendous success, what else can people look forward to from your journey called life?
More writing. More entrepreneurial experimentation. And more “No’s” because I’m learning what really matters!
About
Norm J. Jones, Ph.D., is President & CEO of Integrated Diversity, LLC and Strategic Solutions Group International, LLC. He works with leaders to ensure the sustainability of organizational systems by using the lens of equity and justice. A nationally recognized leader in higher education and organization development, Dr. Jones has served as Special Assistant to the Superintendent of Harrisburg Schools, Associate Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Institutional Diversity at Dickinson College, Associate Chief Diversity Officer and Deputy Director at Harvard University, and Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Amherst College.
Since 2000, Dr. Jones has consulted with organizations such as Ahold USA, Inc., VentureWell, Payne Theological Seminary, University of Maryland Global Campus, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Carlisle Regional Medical Center, Institute for East African Councils on Higher Education, International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, Harambee Cameroon Community Group Initiative, JetBlue Airlines, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, UMass Donahue Institute, Amherst Survival Center, and the American School of Bombay.
A member of Pi Alpha Alpha and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Societies, he earned his B.A. in English from Morehouse College, and a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) and Ph.D. in Workforce Education and Development from Pennsylvania State University. He also completed the Harvard Institute for Educational Leadership, the Tavistock Institute’s Leicester Conference on Group Relations in London, and served as a delegate to the Aspen Ideas Festival as a Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Fellow.
His professional and civic contributions include membership in and service to the Organization Development Network, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and Beta Sigma Boule. He is a reviewer for the Mellon Foundation’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal, the Journal of African American Males in Education (JAAME) and an Associate Editor of the Organization Development Review. He also serves on the Corporation of Haverford College and is Board Chair-Elect of the Solihten Institute, a nationwide network of over 40 outpatient behavioral health Centers dedicated spiritually-integrated psychotherapy.
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