We were lucky to catch up with Bryson Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Bryson, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
Risk aversion is the status quo. It reassures investor returns and sustains the US economy. It works — but not for everyone. According to the status quo, there are many of us who don’t qualify as good investments. Whether it’s because of credit scores, educational attainment, income, cultural capital, or social capital, there are people and places that are just too risky to stand behind. The problem is that the credentials for being deemed “less risky” ignore the historical barriers that made it nearly impossible for certain groups to achieve the coveted status of “risk worthiness.” As the old adage goes, “You have to spend money to make money.” Well, you have to have money in order to spend money, and the indolent notion that “some people” just don’t work hard enough is desperately lacking.
I take risks because the world needs the “unworthy” ones. The ones that are rejected by banks and grantors and college admissions and upwardly mobile places of employment. The ones entirely perceived by their deficits, as if the “worthy” ones are without any. This defines my work and I continue to be humbled by the amazing things that can come from the people and places that have been marked “denied” by the status quo.
Thanks for sharing that. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Husband. Father. Pastor. CEO. Urban Sociologist. Professor. Bryson wears many hats that have afforded him rich experiences in some of the most challenging and beautiful places around the world. He serves as a pastor at the Front Porch Fellowship in the Summit Lake neighborhood of Akron, OH. Recognizing the complex legacies of systemic racism that have fostered Summit Lake’s infamous reputation and economic demise, Bryson’s church engages issues of justice in the prophetic spirit of the Christian tradition and takes seriously the responsibility to be agents of justice, restoration, and healing. As CEO and co-founder of the Akron Leadership Foundation, Bryson facilitates leadership and economic development initiatives that serve grassroot leaders and communities throughout greater Akron. As a PhD candidate at Cleveland State University’s top-ranked Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs, Bryson’s research focuses on the intersection of racial justice and nonprofit efficacy. As a member of the outstanding faculty at Malone University, Bryson enjoys his role as an Assistant Professor of Sociology, as well as Criminal and Restorative Justice. From an upbringing in poverty to winning collegiate championships and executive leadership, Bryson hopes his story will encourage and inspire others to embody lives of solidarity, liberation, and grace.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Skills are gifts that can be refined through discipline. I’m grateful for the gifts of wisdom, empathy, and curiosity that I was given. I was also raised in a family that taught me perseverance and resilience. All of these allowed me to find a place in the world where I can come alongside others as they discern and pursue their gifting in the world, and then share it with others.
Skills are important for accomplishing tasks, virtue is essential for creating beauty. My advice for folk who are early in their journey is 1) move away from the Western ideal of individualism, that you are an entirely separate self pursuing a solo career that you alone will earn; instead, yield to the reality that we’re all connected. Whether you know it or not, your story is bound to the stories of others. 2) Sit at the feet of elders in your field — patiently learn from them. 3) If you want to find your way you must become lost. This indigenous, Yoruba proverb is actually quite literal in the sense that following the ways that have chosen us (the systems we’ve been born into and socialized within), rather than the other way around, will only lead us to someone else’s way. Your way demands getting lost, discombobulated, uncertain, taken into mystery. Only then can you become. So, go and get lost, and if you already feel that way, you’re in the right place.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
“Season of Life” by Jeffrey Marx was a life-changing book that I read the summer I graduated from my undergraduate institution. It was actually a gift from one of my professors — I wonder if he knew how much it would change me. This book made me address a wound that I had yet to think twice about that sent me on a journey of inner work and self-discovery. Doing the inner work of acknowledging and healing has the power to unleash a version of you that you may not even know is available!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.akronlf.org
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryson-davis-a9484272/
