When we grow up in a certain environment, it can be so easy to feel trapped into following a predetermined path. But if there is one thing you will learn in this episode, it will be the power you already hold within to pave your own. Join Haseena Shaheed-Jackson as she interviews Dr. Willie Gregory of aXcess incorporated about his remarkable journey and the values that helped shape his life. With duty, honor, and brotherhood as his guiding principles, Dr. Gregory reflects on his upbringing in Chicago and his decision to leave his environment for a better future. He settled in Seattle, where he found new perspectives and opportunities that eventually led him to the world of workforce development through which he helps underprivileged individuals achieve success. Throughout the episode, Dr. Gregory highlights the importance of aligning passion with work, seeking wisdom from a higher power, and making informed choices. He encourages people to embrace their unique paths, work diligently in their genius zone, and embrace change that aligns with their values and goals. By continuously seeking growth, surrounding themselves with positive influences, and seeking mentorship, individuals can pave their own way toward a fulfilling and purposeful life. Allow Dr. Gregory’s journey to inspire you to do the same in today’s conversation.
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Pave The Way: Doing The Work That Inspires And Motivates You With Dr. Willie Gregory
In this episode, I have as my guest Dr. Willie Gregory. He is going to drop some nuggets and help us to get a different perspective. One of the things that Dr. Gregory said to me that sparked my thought was about values and how important values are in your life. He says the values of duty, honor and brotherhood gave him his roots. I’d like him to expand upon that in this episode. What do those values mean and how did you come up with those three core values?
First and foremost, thank you for having me here. I’m humbled and honored to be a guest on your show. Duties, honor and brotherhood are values that guide and I accomplished in my life. There’s that old saying, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” I understand being a veteran is where that word of duty comes from. We all have a job to do. I’ll talk more about that in the latter part of our discussion.
When I speak about duty, I’m speaking about what your calling is. Who are you accountable outside of yourself? We can tend to make things adjust to our desires. When we’re held to a different standard, we have someone else that we’re providing for, duties change or duties should be at a much higher level. That’s what I mean by duty. Who are you accountable outside of yourself? In terms of values, we have to have the ability to believe in something outside of ourselves.
I’ll speak about myself. If I’m locked into my line of thinking, that’s a dangerous place to be. I have to know and put my belief, faith and trust in things that are sound, core and truly altruistic to who I am and where I come from. For me, that’s the Bible. I live my life according to His instructions that He gives me and my interpretation of those as an imperfect being knowing I’m never going to get it perfect. I also know when I’m not doing my best to myself and be true. I admit my shortcomings and make those changes along the way.
For the brotherhood piece, the brotherhood piece is all of us are brothers and sisters regardless of our color, for me, because we come from Him. Regardless of where we at geographically or what shade we are, we’re all brothers and sisters. That’s how I like to approach life and how I interact with others. That’s what that means to me, that phrase.
There’s something I’ve been mulling over in my head. A scripture that I read is in Matthew. I was reading Isaiah. Many different ones come to mind but the Matthew one sticks with me. It says, “Don’t fear the person who can kill the body. Instead, fear the one who kills the body and soul.” That’s what we grapple with because we get so stuck into man and being fearful of what he can do that we lose sight of the one who’s able to do it all. What you said there resonated with me.
One of the other things is that we met not too long ago, me and Dr. Gregory but we immediately hit it off. He is a man on a mission. He has a cause and a purpose. You were raised in the city of Chicago but you moved out because you said your surroundings had an impact on you. You knew that you had to get out of where you were to get to who you are. Can you expand upon that? A lot of times, we allow our environment to contain us and set limits on who and what we can do. You realized that and moved forward. Please elaborate on what you saw and what it meant to you.
I’ll call it for what it is. I escaped. He gave me a new life and a new reason for being. I grew up on the south side of Chicago in Inglewood back in the late ‘80s. As true to most African-American men growing up in that area on that side of town, I did what we all did to survive and thrive. I found myself having to make a choice. I reached that fork in the road. I can continue down that path and become a statistic and not make it to 25 as a lot of us were predicted to do and we were living up to that, unfortunately, or I can make a different choice and give myself a chance. I chose the latter. I went into the military.
The military grew me up. It changed me. It took me to Germany. I got a chance to see the world. I got a chance to see neighborhoods outside of Chicago or Mississippi. I had never seen anything outside of Chicago. I got to see Europe and then all over there, every chance I got, I toured as many views as I can. I got to see their people no matter where you go.
I came to know Him in terms of Him creating and us being made in His image and how we all can relate to one another even when we can’t speak the same language. A smile is a smile. I don’t care what language you speak. A frown is a frown. A tear is a tear. Laughter is laughter. I learned to speak those universal ways of communicating and made some friends whom I still have relationships with. That’s what I mean by I escaped. My eyes were open in terms of possibilities and I had hope.
No matter what language you speak, a smile is a smile; a frown is a frown; a tear is a tear; laughter is laughter. Share on XOne of the things that I’m sure you’re familiar with is that as we grow, we continue to evolve. A lot of people think that when you reach a certain age, that’s it. However, we’re still evolving even at the age that we are. We have to understand that. If you had stayed in your environment, you would’ve set limits on where you are. It’s so vital that we understand that our environment might not be our physical location.
Our environment could be the people that we have in our circle. We might have to change those people out to put in people who can help lift us. Tell me a little bit about the work that you’re doing. You left Chicago and you’re in Wisconsin. What do you do? People are asking probably, “What is he doing? He went on about his values and how he moved but what does Dr. Gregory do?”
I will answer that in detail but I want to come back to the importance of us evolving as we go because that’s a very profound point. There’s also value when things don’t go well. Sometimes, in knowing Him and loving Him, the answer is no. The people that I was around and grew up with gave me my base or foundation. I got core values that are rooted in those early days of growing up on the Southside of Chicago.
There is also value when things don't go well because sometimes, in knowing and loving Him, the answer is no. Share on XNot all bad things came from there. I wanted to clarify that. You didn’t imply that. I wanted to put that out there because we are where we are for a reason. It’s not a coincidence, our meeting and how we grow up. We all have the same experiences in one aspect or another. What separates one aspect from another, I believe, is what we do next. That means it is a choice.
The decisions that you make are so key. The foundation is there but that just sets the foundation. What you do with your life is based on the decisions and choices that you make.
I escaped. I call it for what it is because had I stayed on the Southside of Chicago, I don’t think I’d be here. I’m keeping it 100. I went to Seattle, Washington because while in the military, I met some people from Seattle. They were telling me how beautiful the mountains were. There were three seasons and they rarely got snow and all this. They made it sound so great that I had to check it out and I’m glad I did. Once I got there, it was phenomenal and it still is. I’m still a Seahawk fan.
I learned workforce development, getting back to who I am and what I do. I was looking for a job. I arrived in Seattle on a Sunday. That Monday afternoon, I went into the old unemployment office. Since I was an honorably discharged veteran, I went in there seeking help. They treated me badly. Unfortunately, a lot of people have experienced that when they go into these government offices asking for help.
I felt as someone who served our country honorably, I was owed better treatment than that but I wasn’t discouraged. There were things that I learned in the military. I learned how to survive, improvise, adapt and overcome. I went around the corner to a staffing agency. I interviewed with them, knocked it out, took a few tests and then that Tuesday, I started a new job. I never looked back.
As faith would have it, within about 1.5 years to 2 years, I ended up working in that same office, with God as my witness, who treated me so horribly. That’s where I learned about workforce development. That’s when I learned about all of this money out here, government programs and grants that help people to be self-sustained or go to school at no cost to them.
They receive money and one-on-one help with everything they need under the sun when it comes to workforce development at no cost to them because the grants come from taxpayer dollars. That’s what I’ve been doing my entire life ever since. Fast forward, as you and I talked about a little bit before we got started, I, unfortunately, witnessed several environments where these government dollars were not being used as they were intended. Being a man of faith, I couldn’t have any part of that so I moved around.
Ultimately, over the years, I learned to master a way of having success and working with underprivileged brothers and sisters so that we can achieve success in spite of what the systems were doing. I ultimately created a nonprofit in November of 2022. That’s what we’re looking to do, serve people right here in the Southeast region of Wisconsin, which are Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee and some of the other smaller suburbs. Hopefully, I’ll get back to Chicago at some point. We’ll see.
What you said resonated with me. I was having a discussion with a woman that I mentored. She’s in a business because she saw that there was a need, she thought, for this business. However, it doesn’t speak to what her passion is. What you did was you went into that office, a government agency and they didn’t treat you well. You then went around the corner to another agency where you found a job. What you did was took time to reflect on, “How can I be impactful?”
You searched within yourself and saw what your area is and what your call to duty is. You saw your calling as going in and helping with workforce development. You are helping people find those avenues and resources to pursue careers, jobs or whatever they want to do, instead of taking no and saying, “I’ll find something else.” You followed your passion. What I’m saying here is that we have to learn how to dwell within ourselves to understand where it is that we need to be going.
Don’t settle for something because you say that there’s a need somewhere. There is a need. Don’t get me wrong but the need that you’re satisfying speaks to your gift and talent. It is not what someone else might have but what you have that can add value to the world. It might be someone else out there. There are other people doing workforce development as well but the key is that you are sticking to what’s true to your nature. That’s what people need to find. It is what’s true to them and then follow it.
I love that. It is standing in our lane. That hit me as you were speaking. What I found right away is when I was trying to do the things that I thought were the common thing to do or the trends were, I usually failed. Almost always, I failed because it wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t what He made me do. I’m a nonprofit, which is aXcess Incorporated. We have a very intentional process that we use to help people identify their calling. What are they made to do? It’s based on looking back to go forward.
It’s no magic we perform or any of that. It’s not some religious ritual, trick, scheme or anything of that nature. It is looking back at what they’ve done intentionally. We map out a process to help them identify how to make money off of that. Employers are doing that based on what they’re doing. We create an on-ramp for them to connect with them.
Give the name of your company again. If there’s a website that people can go to, mention it. What you said is so profound. You have to match and connect the dots. If you don’t do that, then what you’re going to do is spin around in circles, wasting time, energy and resources instead of going in the path that you’re supposed to be going. Tell us. How can they contact you?
The name of our company is aXcess Incorporated. aXcess is spelled a little differently. Everything is lowercase except for the X. That’s very intentional. We did that. We believe that the X is us. We’re the X factor. Everything else is inferior as it relates to matching what He has created us to be. It is www.aXcessIncorporated.com. We have a website that’s up and running. We are doing free initial consultations and pro bono workshops to get our name out here.
We are a nonprofit so it’s not about the money. It’s about us giving back. This is how we keep what we have by giving it away because it was so freely given to us. Quickly, I remember so many people that touched my life on the Southside of Chicago. They spared my life. I wouldn’t be here without them. I may never see them again but I can help someone else. That’s why I’m here.
I always say, “Be better than me.” That’s because you can be so much better than me. One thing that I have to ask you because we’ve had this conversation is about the little foxes. Tell me about the little foxes.
The little foxes is a love story in the Bible. They’re in the Song of Solomon. It is based on chapter two. It speaks specifically about the little foxes in Chapter 2:15. In short, how I can relate it to real life is when you find true love or the person that’s the one and the things that you would do to protect it. I’m going to fast forward to why that’s so relevant and why I brought it up to speak on as it relates to changing your view.
We live in what I call a microwave society where we can access information and get statistical data. There are a few clicks of a mouse. That information is not always true. More often than not, it’s not true because it’s all based on statistics and numbers. The number of people that go visit a site, for example, that’s going to make that website rise to the top in terms of its popularity. It doesn’t make it true. It makes it popular.
When we don’t take time to protect our relationships, we allow the things that we’re seeing or exposing on social media. It is the things that we’re telling others about, the intricate details or the things that we used to protect years ago. We’re so freely putting it out there and we’re having so much dysfunction in our relationships. We were created to be beings. It’s a natural thing to want a mate or to seek a mate. When we’re not taking the time to protect that mate once we find that special one, those little foxes will step in and destroy the fruits on that vine.
Have you ever seen a fox? I’m sure you have. They’re not this big, profound animal but they’re this small, powerful cat that can leap over big fences and everything. They can climb into these trees and steal the grapes off the tree. The Bible uses that reference that if we don’t protect those that we love and the relationships and how we establish them, the little foxes will take away all the things that are good and destroy that love. We have to protect what we love.
If we don't protect those that we love, those relationships, and how we establish them, the little foxes will take away all the things that are good and destroy that love we have to protect. Share on XYou said a couple of things though I want to touch upon. That’s the fact that we don’t do our research and that we don’t want to find the answer. The other thing and it leads into what you’re saying, is that if we don’t look for our answers and do the research, that’s how the fox comes in and takes away what we have. It is because you’re listening or feeding into what someone else is telling you. How can you trust that? How do you know it’s honest and true?
Ask the one who is above all to give you that wisdom and knowledge to make the right choice. It is what you said when we first started. It’s all about the choices and decisions that you make when you wake up and find yourself being without because you took the wrong path, allowing someone else to come in and steal the fruit that was for you.
They used to say to me when I was growing up, “Know your history and heritage.” Families are so broken. What is history? I had to break that down. I was one of those smart kids in school. I loved history. When I got to Seattle, I met this Jewish family. They taught me the game of life in terms of business and how to be successful. When you break down history, what is it? It’s his story. When we don’t know our history, somebody else’s idea of who we are becomes our story. It’s so critical to do our research and be founded on facts, not what’s popular.
You said a mouthful there. I can’t say enough. I am finding that there is a wealth of information if we open up our minds instead of taking what someone else is telling us at face value. We have the internet. You can Google anything that you want and 1,000 things will pop up. The other point you raised is popularity. People who go to a certain website will come to the top. You have to learn how to scroll down. Don’t take the first thing that pops up.
Most of the time, it’s an ad anyway to get you to buy something that’s a gimmick. Stop falling for the gimmicks. Instead, take that time to scroll down. It might be a little bit of work but still, it is going to be rewarding because you got to be like, “I didn’t know that.” We are allowing the media and other people to feed us what it is they want us to know instead of searching for what we need to know.
We have to be able to test what is being told to us and not believe what we’re hearing or seeing. We have to test it. It’s not because it worked for someone else that it means it’s going to work for us. It doesn’t make it untrue necessarily but it doesn’t mean that it’s for us. We can become discouraged if we see something work for someone else and then we go and do the same thing but get a different result.
I don’t want our brothers and sisters to lose hope in terms of seeking to identify or change their view or their path when they don’t have that instant success. As the old saying goes, “Anything worth having, you have to work for it.” That hard work will make you protect it. Once you achieve it, you’re not going to let it slip away so easily.
Anything worth having, you have to work for it. Share on XIt is that four-letter word. When people hear the word work, they think, “I’m not doing that. I don’t have the time for that.” Let’s talk about that. I had a conversation with someone. They said to me, “I don’t have time for that. That’s work.” However, you are in control of your time and effort. We get bogged down.
I’m a writer so when I get to writing or I’m starting to write, my phone might ring but I’m not going to answer it. It is because I’m dedicated to doing the tasks that I’m doing. We have to learn how to control our time, not allow others to control our time. Let’s speak about that work and how we need to be all-in to whatever we’re doing. What’s your philosophy on work?
Being all-in to what we are doing, I love how you share that and phrase that. If I take the time to do something, then that’s work. I don’t want to spend time doing things that are not going to produce something of value. I’m very particular about what I choose to spend my time with. We all get the same amount of time in a day or a week. What separates us one from another is what we do with that time.
As it relates to work, my value is that we were made in His image. God was the first worker. If I’m going to model someone in terms of their work, I’m going to model how He worked. He worked tirelessly and worked endlessly for six days but He also knew enough and His infinite wisdom to rest. On that seventh day, he rested. Let me digress. Before I jump into when work changed, the Bible says in Psalms 19 that God revealed Himself by His work. When you meet somebody for the first time, what’s one of the first things you ask? It is, “What do you do?” It’s because that’s how we identify people.
We need to break out of that barrier. I’ll talk about that if we can go back to it.
It’s such a cliché phrase. I do it and I agree with you. I see value in that we need to get out of that theme but that’s what we do. That’s how we associate people based on what they do because God revealed Himself through His work. What I want to touch on is the fall of man and how work became work. Genesis 3 talks about when work became a curse because of sin, as sin that Adam did when he ate from the forbidden tree. Work became attached. It became a burden. That’s why it has such a negative connotation with some people. It doesn’t have to be.
What we teach within aXcess Incorporated is we help people identify what’s natural and true to them as it relates to work and what employers are working in those arenas so that they can go and work somewhere where work isn’t work, only the subject. Something else I wanted to touch on for your audience is not everybody can work. Some of us have disabilities. Some of us have things going on that limit the work we can do. Yet, we still have the right to be able to provide for ourselves.
What we do at aXcess Incorporated is connect people to funding sources. We’re not talking free money. We’re talking about utilizing their existing situations to identify how they are paid. There are ways to survive outside of sitting and waiting for a handout. We’re not giving handouts. We give hand outs because that’s what we deserve. That’s how I view work.
There are so many impactful things there. I love how you make work not work and by you doing that is getting into your genius zone. You working in your genius zone means that you’ll not even be concerned with the time because the time will whiz by. You will also be at peace and have joy. We can’t beat those things. That’s where we need to understand it.
There are so many employers that don’t get that though. They try to put Willie into a peg to say, “You are going to do all these widgets here,” but that might not be your calling. People need to understand that we would play up to the strengths of our team members instead of putting them where they are weakest. Instead, we play up to where they have strength and where they can add value. We could then be so much more productive and efficient. That’s what’s going on out here. We’re not taking that time to understand the people that are working with us. We’re dictating.
I was having this discussion about how that’s why we had that mass exodus after COVID-19. People were like, “I wasn’t happy coming here anyway. I could go somewhere else, work and do what I truly want to do. I’m out.” That’s what they said. They were like, “I’ll see you later. I’m not coming back.” You have a degree in Transformational Leadership, which I would like to touch on. People would understand that we have to break out of that box saying that there is only one way when there are many ways.
There’s more than one way to do something. You have to not get stuck in saying you have to work here 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Why not have a flexible schedule? Why not have people be able to telework in their hours? As long as the work is getting done, that’s the point. If productivity is going through the roof, what difference does it make? Play into people’s strengths. That’s how we cannot make work work too. We play to people’s strengths. You give them what they want and they’ll give you what you want as well.
A happy employer is a productive employee. Transformational leadership, in short, is helping others embrace change. We’ve done it our entire lives. It’s a very intentional way or a structured process to help people achieve change. It’s all driven by the individual. If I’m helping or asking someone to do something hard, it is because change is hard. Let’s keep it real. If it gets hard, you want to quit.
If I’m asking you to do something hard and you’re not into it, then I’m asking you because it’s a value but you don’t see it as a value. When it gets hard, you’re going to dip and be gone. If I’m asking you to do something hard based on what you want and I’ve utilized my professional and academic expertise to help guide you to a path that’s achievable, then when things get hard, you roll up your sleeve and say, “I ran into this. What do we do?” I’m going to roll up my sleeves with you and we’re going to figure it out and get it done.
That’s when work becomes not work because it’s about the individual. It’s about identifying what it is that’s important to you as opposed to creating a bunch of widgets. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, you have to do what I call the survival job so that you can get to what’s important and what’s natural for you. At the same time, you don’t get stuck there. You’ll be comfortable.
That’s what happens to a lot of us. We get comfortable. We allow ourselves to get stuck. You have to keep that mindset. In terms of mental and spiritual, what are you feeding yourself to keep yourself motivated to not get stuck and settled but instead to keep striving for becoming better and greater? Thank you. Do you have a parting thought, a quote or something that you want to leave our audience with?
It could be something that can help that person who has read this on how can they change their perspective and view. I know I will call you and take that assessment. If I’m doing something that I know I don’t enjoy, the first step is to find out what it is that I need to be doing so that I can take the steps to get to what I enjoy. What is a thought you want to leave us with?
I want to share a parting thought. It is going back to the gurus or the families. They’re not gurus because they were my Jewish family in Seattle when I got there that introduced me to workforce development. What they taught me is the importance of mentorship. If you want to do something, identify the person that’s doing it and doing it well and then figure out how to barter with them.
Don’t go to them with your handout asking, “Teach me. I see you did it. Show me.” Go to them and say, “If you teach me this, I’ll give this to you. I’ll show you this.” Barter because we all have something to offer. The whole moral of the story is to not think you’re going to become a subject matter expert on your own. Remember we are social beings. Identify the ones that are doing what you want to achieve and figure out how to connect as I did with you. Thank you for what you do.
Do not think you're going to become a subject matter expert on your own. Remember what social means. Identify the ones that are doing what you want to achieve and figure out how to connect. Share on XThat was powerful. Thank you so much for being here with me. I’m going to have you back. This is not your one-and-done. You’ll be back because there are many more things for us to talk about. I know. Thank you. I’ll see everyone again in the next segment of the show.
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What a powerful segment that I had there in our discussion with Dr. Willie Gregory. He dropped so many nuggets that make me pause. One is about how he changed his environment, not where he was where the people were bad. However, he knew that to go higher and become greater, he had to change where he was to become who he is. A lot of times, we allow our environment to hold us down instead of moving on. We have to be willing to give up to go up.
Another thing that was instrumental to me that he spoke about was the fact that he didn’t settle for no or the first answer that he received when he was looking for employment. He went around the corner to another location and secured a job. He then got to thinking as he was working on how he can be impactful and make a difference. That is what spawned and birthed his company, aXcess Incorporated.
He has a passion to help others to not settle but to do the work that inspires and motivates them. He is finding the true talents that they can put to work. Work shouldn’t be work. Work should be fun. Work in your genius. What’s more important is that we need to learn how to do our research. Use our minds. Don’t settle for what someone gives you or tells you. Instead, go and find your answer. It might take a little bit of time.
However, you are in control of your time and what you feed your mind. It’s not about what someone wants to give you. It’s what you want to make and create. You are the author and creator of what you build and write. When I say write, it’s the story that you leave behind. It’s that legacy that others will remember you by.
I want and strive for everyone to be impactful and make a difference. To be impactful and make a difference doesn’t mean that you become a president of the United States or a senator. You are impactful in the area that you’re in because what you do will make a difference in your family and neighborhood. That’s what impactful is all about.
I’ll leave you with this thought. Don’t settle because settle means that you don’t believe in who you are and what you can do. Keep striving and soaring higher in your life to become that person that I know you can become. Believe in the person that you can become because you are great. You have the one that is able to help you do all things if you believe and have faith and trust. I’ll see you again soon on the next segment of the show.
Important Link
About Dr. Willie Gregory
Dr. Willie Gregory practices innovative forms of communication which connects employers and job seekers to existing trends – holistically.
Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Willie entered the US Army after high school. It was here that the values of duty, honor and brotherhood (sisterhood) gave root. Internalizing and expanding on this principle, Willie embraced these bonds from a humanistic perspective and began to strategize change.
Upon finishing his tour of duty in the Military and returning home to Chicago, he realized he had outgrown his surroundings & embraced the need for a geographic move. Willie then ventured to the Pacific NW, entered the Workforce Development Industry and effectively served for the next 20+ years in 3 different state governments. Service that culminated defined, work experiences as a direct result of what is traditionally viewed as failure (on-ramps to humility).
While on this journey, it became apparent that the system (workforce development industry) was broken for it failed to meet the economic needs of constituents as originally designed. Desiring to impact change from within, Willie achieved the ultimate, academic measurement of excellence via his Doctoral Degree in Transformational Leadership (Bakke Graduate University) in June 2019 (1st tier).
In November 2022, aXcess incorporated gave birth as a 501c3 (2nd tier) and the work of optimal customer service from a faith-based perspective – began.
