By Natalie Lasky
John Hope Bryant, an entrepreneur and author, visited Youngstown State University to speak to students about his life experiences in the financial industry during the Thomas Colloquium Lecture Series in Williamson College of Business Administration.
During the afternoon session Oct. 13, Bryant opened up about his views on mindsets and how mindsets can be valuable assets to students’ finances.
Trey Turner, a senior journalism major, was the moderator for Bryant’s lecture. Turner said he looked forward to the event and hosting the discussions.
“John Hope Bryant is coming to the [WCBA], to lead a student panel discussion or to lead a discussion about just financial literacy and how it has impacted his life because he’s very successful in that video … my job tonight is to be the moderator, asking all the questions for him, so that they can be answered for [you all] to know and then open it up to the students at the end,” Turner said.
Bryant also said mindsets dictate a person’s behavior and that being aware of the mindset a person is in can change one’s perception of profit and making money.
Bryant went on to tell the students he loved math, as well as the only time a person should not listen to what the numbers say.
“[I am going to] tell you that I love math because it does not have an opinion. The only time [I am going to] tell you to ignore [math] is in a relationship — whether [it is spouses] or boyfriend, girlfriend or fiancé or business partnership, employer, any kind of structured relationship,” Bryant said.
Bryant also explained how rainbows follow storms and how rainbows would not exist without the storm first, how life impacts everyone differently and the mindset a person has can drastically change the outcome of the storm.
Bryant said the most important aspect students should know about their current mindset is that each person is their biggest asset.
“We are our own worst enemy and our best asset. We stand in our own way. No one can hurt you more perfectly or more beautifully than yourself. So, if you can get out of your own way, and be open minded to different points of view … if you stand in your own way no one can hurt you more perfectly. So, we are our own worst enemies,” Bryant said. “What I was really saying there is if it is about putting food on the table and a roof over your head, [which] is called sustenance, poverty, then that is something the state should try and keep watching but all other poverty is a mindset. So just change your mindset and you change your life.”
For more information on YSU’s Lecture Series, visit its website.