We recently connected with Anthony Davis Jr and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Anthony, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My work ethic comes from a combination of my lived experiences and people that I have never met but admire. Growing up, I was always pushed to give my best at anything I did. Whether it was schools, sports, friendships, I’ve always seen anything that I care about as something that requires both work and nurturing. As I grew up, I also gleamed how hard others, who I looked up to, worked. My number 1 source of this inspiration was Kobe Bryant. Kobe was my favorite basketball player my entire life, and also one of the most successful players of his generation. And while Kobe was naturally talented, everyone credits his work ethic to him actually accomplishing the great feats that he did. Deemed “the Mamba mentality,” Kobe was a consummate example of never relying on your talent and never resting on your laurels. Regardless of the success he experienced and how great he was, he always found things to work on to better himself and be better in his industry. Now, I embody the Mamba mentality in the way i approach my work. At times, it can cause me to miss opportunities to acknowledge achievements or success, but a quote I live by is “I can’t watch my highlights when I got a game to play today,” which means everyday is a new challenge and a new thing to work through and accomplish and if I am so caught up celebrating something in the pass, I may miss the opportunity in front of me,
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am the Founder and CEO of the Davis System LLC, a small black-owned social impact firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Davis System serves at the intersection of power, helping connect people to power and power to the people. We specialize in project management for political candidates and community organizations across the country. We provide our clients with the tools, capacity, and expertise to reach their target audience. As a firm focused on project management, we manage political/issue based campaigns, provide data organizing structures, community engagement strategies, event planning, and training and coaching.
The Davis System was founded with the following three pillars in mind: being rooted in community, connecting the community to resources and elevating and amplifying the voices of the community. We works with government officials, and public institutions to ensure that programs and resources go to the communities that need them the most. Too often in our work and community, there are amazing programs that are geared toward helping black and brown and low-income
communities. However, the program or resource doesn’t reach the community because of a lack of strategy and cultural competency. We bring both of those to the table.
“Minority communities as a whole mean a lot to the work we do. Folks from immigrant backgrounds and from across the African diaspora mean a lot to me. My hope for the future is that we can unite these communities in a way that helps us combat white supremacy,”
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My three qualities that have proven to be impactful in my journey are being a good listener, being adaptable, and being willing to put yourself in uncomfortable positions. As I’ve gone on in my journey and had the ability to travel around the country for professional and personal pursuits, one thing I realize is the people love to hear themselves talk, but not a lot like to listen. It’s a rare but invaluable skill to be a good listener and to be able to make people feel seen and heard. I take a lot of pride in being a good listener and the way I’ve done this is to silence my own biases and personal experiences when listening to someone else. Often we are so quick to inject ourselves into situations when folks just need a listening ear or someone that can help them through their specific problem, not make it about themselves. Being a good listener requires active listening, not being distracted and an open mind and heart to new perspectives and ideas. When you assume you may be the only person this person can talk to about this, the responsibility of being a good listener weighs even heavier. Being adaptive and putting yourself in uncomfortable positions can go hand in hand. I have consistently in my professional life gone out of my way to do the thing I had no experience or comfort with as those opportunities have given me the most room to grow. Additionally putting yourself into these uncomfortable situations causes you to be adaptable. I have lived and traveled all over this country and no one region or state or city is the exact same. I’ve been asked to move to Alabama and Mississippi for weeks at a time, to train black pastors in South Carolina. and to train a room full of folks that look nothing like me in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I’ve done it all by being adaptable but never running from the discomfort. I know going into each of these spaces may require me to show up a bit different in order to connect and be effective and both listening, adaptability, and being used to discomfort has helped me thrive in each of these settings.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
One of the most impactful things I’ve started doing in the last year was starting therapy. As a young black entrepreneur, who struggles with imposter syndrome and has a number of personal responsibilities, being in therapy has really given me a healthy outlet to process the things on my plate. 2024 was a year of lessons and growth. I didn’t necessarily grow in the ways I wanted, but grew in the ways I needed. I grew as a man, as a son, as a husband, and ultimately a leader. The most important way I’ve grown in each of these aspects is having a better understanding of my emotions and triggers. While I’ve yet to master my emotions and triggers, I’m much more in tune with them, willing and able to articulate my feelings about them and better responding in the moment when I realize I’m being triggered.
One of my main triggers in life is feeling as though folks devalue my feelings, but in 2025 what I want to take more ownership over is prioritizing my own feelings and making sure I also prioritize getting in touch with my feelings. Through the work I do, my relationships and the nature of being a good listener. I take on a lot of people’s feelings and emotions and that drains me because I’m rarely taking the time to tap in with myself.
Additionally as a leader I now have a better understanding of how I need to lead. I know I can’t expect anyone to be me for the good and the bad of that, so I am learning to not hold folks to my standard, to not be overbearing and to not come down hard on them when they cannot reach the standard I set for myself. I am learning to set better expectations that will lead to better outcomes and less frustration for me.
Lastly as a leader, I need to be a better forward thinker and planner. Whether it be a budget, business plan or planning for my family, taking the time to tap in with myself must also involve planning and holding myself accountable to things I’ve set out to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thedavissystem.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_ajsystem
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theajsystem/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedavissystemllc/videos
Image Credits
Mylestone Media LLC
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